Enhanced airlift capability key to India’s LAC buildup

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 29

Behind an unprecedented military buildup along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh to confront a belligerent China is the IAF’s never-before-seen heavy lift capability. The induction of assets like C-17 Globemaster, C-130 Super Hercules and CH-47 Chinook over the past few years has enormously enhanced the IAF’s ability to ferry troops and equipment.

With no immediate signs of de-escalation, IAF sorties to the Himalayan frontier continue unabated, bringing in military equipment and supplies. The most significant aspect of the air effort, perhaps, is airlifting of India’s newest and most powerful tank, the T-90, which now spearhead the Army’s strike formations, from the plains to Ladakh.

Airlifting the T-90 was possible due to the payload capacity of C-17. A T-90 weighs about 46 tonnes, which is more than the capacity of the IL-76, which can airlift about 45 tonnes, says an IAF officer. Another six IL-78 midair refueling tankers based at Agra, which are same as IL-76, can also be used in the conventional transport role. The IAF’s workhorse is 104 AN-32 medium lift aircraft.

The Army had three regiments of the older T-72 tanks, which weigh around 40 tonne, deployed in this sector. Many of these tanks, along with BMP-2 mechanised combat vehicles, have been airlifted to Ladakh by IL-76 since 1990s. Given the weight and length of the tractor-trailer, it is not practical to negotiate the high mountain passes, hairpin bends and narrow stretches that lie on the road link from the mainland to Ladakh. 

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