For your knowledge I would like to mention that there is no major rail connectivity to all NE states except a meter guage line to agartala and dibrugarh.so how will we take our logistics to NE border area in the time of surprising attack by China.so here c17 will come for our use.except c17 ,transportation of logistics through road to NE border will take at least 2 days .
We need to procure more Mil-26T2, which is a newer model, and has less crew. These helicopters were very useful in mobilizing troops in the North East
According to M. L. Sali, author of "India-China Border Dispute: A Case Study of the Eastern Sector," one Mil-26 can do what two Antonov-12s can do with space for take off and landing.
In 1986, the Mil-26 was part of Operation Chequerboard, that quickly moved troops to the North East.
The Mil-26 has done a lot of commendable work in the mountains:
Quotes from BR:
- Feb 89, MI-26 helicopter undertook the only of its kind underslung operation taking Pontoon bridge form Ludhiana to Sirhind canal.
- Early 1999, a crashed MiG-21 was airlifted by the Unit to Chandigarh.
- 21 Nov 2001, the Mi-8 which crashed in the Rann of Kutch was helilifted by the Mi-26s to Bhuj.
- 2002, a MiG-21 Bison which crashed in the fields near Ambala was airlifted by the Unit to Ambala Air Force Station.
- In Jul 2002 the Mi-26 recovered the first civilian aircraft (Beechcraft), which had met with an accident at Kangra airfield. Another first was achieved as the unit flew the longest ever underslung flight (3:15 hrs).
- 22 Feb 2006 - An Mi-26 flown by the CO, Wg Cdr Sushil Ghera, airlifted an Mi-17 that forcelanded in a river bed a few days earlier to Chandigarh Air Force Station.
-Sept 2007 - Mi-17 1V airlifted from Bandipore to Awantipura
-In 2010, the helicopter was actively used to lift heavy equipment for the Katra-Quazigand Railway project providing rail connectivity to the Srinagar Valley.
It also did a commendable job by laying out the roads in Anini sector in the east. Anini sector was earlier totally air maintained.
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678 Kargil passengers airlifted in IL76 Lastupdate:- Tue, 5 Mar 2013 18:30:00 GMT GreaterKashmir.com
"Srinagar, Mar 4: At least 678 stranded passengers of Kargil were airlifted in IL76 Indian Air Force plane between Jammu-Leh and Srinagar-Leh, today, an official spokesman said."
This does not look like an IL-76 fleet that is grounded for spares. You would never risk so many civilians in an unsafe plane.
You forget how our forces work when they want to buy some expensive foreign toy. They will keep on making excuses and will keep on filling files with notings that denigrate their current stuff.
The import lobby is very strong and journalists are not difficult to buy in this country. I would trust government audit reports far more than random news in our newspapers.
We have spare issues with the Mil-26 Halo. Ilyushin-76 has been the mainstay of India's military cargo transport. I am not aware of any spare issues with the Ilyushin-76.
I would like India to set up domestic manufacturing facility for this helicopter, including the turbines.
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No doubt il76 is a good plane but we need to keep up with the changing time and advance technology .c17 fleet has advance technology and ew suit ,navigation system that il 76 do not have.but still I will say il76 has the capabilities to augment the c 17 fleet.
C-17 is needed to keep our operational costs down. The Ilyushin-76 should also be kept in our fleet, and used sparingly, because, those will be our mainstay if we are subjected to sanctions. For peacetime operations, C-17 should be used most of the times, as it is fuel efficient and requires less crew, thus keeping our operational costs down.
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God save us if within our country and within our land borders we have to depend on air supplies as the major source of replenishment !! That is why infrastructure is very very important >
That is very true. No matter how many planes we acquire, without proper roads, our planes will always be vulnerable. The urgency should be to develop roads in the mountainous border regions, and broad gauge connectivity up to the foothills of these mountains.
