These require a larger fleet of smaller transport planes, which can land and take off from short, largely unpaved runways as well have a high availability ratio through easy maintainability as well as sheer numbers. Lift of military ration and equipment to provision a corps-sized army formation movement, either in defence or in attack at either Indo-Pak or Indo-China borders. This requires the Air Force to possess a fleet of large- bodied planes and heavy-lift helicopters, which can position stores, personnel and heavy equipment like tanks, infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), artillery and multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL) vehicles in not-so-remote locations for onward road-based transport to the Sikkim and Arunachal borders as well as at Leh, Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) and Chushul. Strategic lift in emergency positioning of troops, equipment and stores before or during a war at our Northern or Eastern Borders. The role of military transport fleet in the IAF can be broadly defined as below:
This helps make an inference about the nature and role of transport fleets in the defence of a nation. This has brought a substantial increase in the strategic lift roles of the IAF while also improving its tonnage capacity per mile.Įxcept for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), most countries in the world have reduced their military transport fleet numbers over the last 30 years since the fall of the Soviet Union. A fleet of 13 Hercules CJ-130 and 11 C-17 Globemaster III was added to the IAF over the last 15 years. India’s recent proximity with the United States has had a profound effect on the capability enhancement of the transport fleet of the IAF.
However, India also possesses locally-built fleets of Avro HS-748 and Dornier 228 for small lifts over short distances for the military. The IAF benefitted from the close relationship between India and Russia, thereby possessing a large number of IL-76MD aircraft and a substantial An-32 fleet. Indian Air Force (IAF) has a remarkably large transport fleet, probably one of the largest in the world.
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