|
Hercules
aircraft
·
On Feb 6,
2008 Air
Chief
Marshal FH
Major, Chief
of Air
Staff, told
India
Strategic
website and
defence
magazine
that India
has signed
its biggest
military
deal yet
with US to
buy six
Super
Hercules
C130J
aircraft in
a $1
billion-plus
package
deal.
·
A Letter of
Agreement
(LAO) was
signed Jan
30 in New
Delhi for
six
aircraft,
infrastructure,
spares and
spare
engines,
related
equipment,
and
operational
and
maintenance
training.
·
Lockheed
Martin, the
world's
biggest
military
equipment
manufacturer,
has made the
aircraft.
·
Notably, the
US
government
guarantees
supplies of
equipment
and
infrastructure
package
under its
FMS
programme.
·
But its
procedures
do not take
into account
any
commercial
details like
offsets, and
it is left
to the
manufacturing
company to
sort that
out.
·
As India has
made 30
percent
minimum
offsets
obligatory
for any
defence deal
worth or
over Rs.3
billion ($70
million)
under its
Defence
Procurement
Policy (DPP)
2006
·
This is the
third Indian
agreement
for military
equipment
with the US.
·
The first
two were for
Weapon
Locating
Radars (WLRs)
from
Raytheon for
the
artillery
and the
other for
second-hand
amphibious
operations
ship LPD
(landing
Platform
Dock)
Trenton,
now named
INS Jalashwa
along
with its six
onboard
Sikorsky
helicopters.
·
The C-130J
model is the
latest
optimised
version of
the Hercules
C-130,
configured
for landing
and takeoff
from a
grassy, or
dirt patch
the size of
a football
field. It
can climb
and get out
of a threat
area faster
after
dropping or
carrying
troops or
wounded
personnel.
·
Named after
a powerful
Greek
figure, the
4-engine
Hercules is
one of the
oldest
transport
aircraft in
the world.
Introduced
in
the 1950s,
and used in
67 countries,
it has been
deployed for
recovering
space
capsules and
also been
able to land
in the
Antarctica
by wearing
skis.
·
The aircraft
has a low
power
Northrop
Grumman
display,
digitally
stored maps,
a Honeywell
Global
Positioning
System/Inertial
Navigation
System
(GPS/INS),
an Enhanced
Traffic
alerting and
Collision
Avoidance
System (E-TCAS),
a ground
collision
avoidance
system, and
other
sophisticated
equipment |
