IAF eyes Hercules C-130J, Mi-17 choppers

BAREILLY (UP): The Indian Air Force (IAF) is eyeing the Hercules C-130J heavy-lift aircraft, even as it hopes the government will soon clear its proposal to purchase 80 more Mi-17 multi-utility helicopters to augment its capability for humanitarian operations.

"We are not looking at the C-130 because we have equivalent transports. What we are looking at is the C-130J for its multi-operations capability," the IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, said during a media interaction here following a ceremony at which the air force retired its fleet of MiG-25 spy planes.

A representative of the US aerospace major Lockheed-Martin, the C-130J's manufacturer, said the aircraft had been offered to the IAF.

"We have offered them the aircraft and it is for them to make up their minds," he said.

What could, however, prove a sticky point is that the IAF would have to float a single point tender for the aircraft and this could lead to protests from the opposition political parties.

"It will have to be a single point tender because there is no other aircraft in the world equivalent to the C-130J," the Lockheed-Martin representative pointed out.

While India's new defence imports policy permits single point tenders, defence ministry officials said they would tread very carefully as there were bound to be allegations of wrongdoing.

The cargo bay of the C-130J has a total usable volume of over 1,000 sq metres and can accommodate loads up to 18 tonnes - for example, three armoured personnel carriers, five pallets, 74 litters (stretchers), 92 equipped combat troops or 64 paratroops.

The IAF currently operates a fleet of Il-76 heavy-lift and AN-32 medium lift aircraft that are capable of transporting both men and material.

As for the Mi-17s, Tyagi hoped the deal would come through soon.

"It is less complicated because it is a follow-up of a previous order, but there are issues like offsets that have to be addressed," he told IANS.

Under the offset clause, which forms an essential part of India's defence imports policy, 30 percent of the value of all defence deals worth more than Rs.3 billion has to be spent either on projects within India or on purchasing goods from this country.

"The negotiations are on (for the Mi-17s) but I can't say when they will conclude," Tyagi stated.

US aerospace major Sikorsky is known to have offered one of its medium-lift helicopters to the IAF. The defence ministry, however, feels that even though the US craft might be a superior product, a global tender would have to be floated before it could even be considered and this would delay the acquisition.

The ministry thus feels purchasing the Russian Mi-17 - which is already in service with India's air force and the paramilitary Border Security Force - would be a better option.

The IAF, which currently has 50 Mi-17s, began feeling the need for additional helicopters after a series of natural disasters beginning with the Dec 26, 2004 tsunami, the heavy snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir and the October 2005 earthquake in the same state, as also devastating floods in various parts of the country last year.

"The Mi-17 proved to be a reliable workhorse through all these disasters but this also put tremendous pressure on us because it cut into our operational requirements. That is when we realised the need for 80 additional helicopters," an IAF official pointed out.

The Mi-17s were inducted from the mid-1980s onwards. They are deployed for a variety of tasks like ferrying troops, airdropping supplies, evacuating casualties, search and rescue, and ferrying VIPs.

They can carry 15 fully equipped troops or five tonnes of equipment. Some Mi-17s have also been fitted with 57 mm rocket pods to give them attack capability.

About 20 Mi-17s form part of the Indian contingents deployed with UN peacekeeping missions in Congo and the Sudan.