Skip to main content

on Thursday Indian air force successfully landed a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft at the Mechuka


.
NEW DELHI: 
The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Thursday successfully landed a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft at the Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) in Arunachal Pradesh. The move is aimed at calibrating India's response capabilities at the border with China.

ALGs are airstrips close to the international border. They play a critical role in the defense of the border in remote areas, by enabling the armed forces to either quickly deliver troops to a particular region or supply rations to troops already stationed in remote areas.

This is part of a larger efforts of the Air Force to test and increase its capabilities at the ALGs. The C-17 Globemaster - inducted into the IAF in 2013 - is among the largest military transport planes in service and the fact that the Air Force can land it at any ALGs signifies an expansion of the overall military capability in that region.

So far, a vast majority of the ALGs have been served by smaller transport aircraft like the AN-32. To put that in perspective, the AN-32 is capable of carrying no more than 50 soldiers at a time, while the Globemaster can carry close to thrice than number.

As part of similar efforts at increasing its capacities along the eastern extremity of the border with China, the Air Force had landed a C-130 J Super Hercules medium-left transport aircraft at the Daulat Beg Oldi ALG close to Siachen in August 2013

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Plane that crashed in Malta was monitoring migrant trafficking off Libya for France

VALLETTA, MALTA—A small plane heading toward Libya’s coast to monitor migrant trafficking routes for the French government crashed soon after takeoff from Malta’s airport Monday, killing all five French crew members, authorities said. The twin-prop Fairchild Metroliner banked to the right and slammed into the ground in a huge fireball soon after lifting off at 7:20 a.m., according to video of the moment captured by a dashboard videocam and posted on Facebook. Malta’s government said all five victims were French. It said the flight was part of a French Customs surveillance operation tracing routes of illicit trafficking, both of humans and drugs, leaving Libya’s lawless coasts. Libya is the main point of departure for the tens of thousands of migrants who have been paying smugglers to bring them toward Europe by boat. Earlier, authorities had said the flight was headed to Misrata, Libya; the government said later that the aircraft was due to return to Malta within a few hours withou...

First woman president in Namibia

Namibia has its first woman president. Namibians say it won’t mean much for women Namibia’s presidential and National Assembly elections this year have been historic on many fronts. They were the country’s most controversial elections, with accusations of foreign interference and election rigging at the forefront; while the country’s first female president was elected. The South West Africa People’s Organisation’s (Swapo’s) Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was announced as the president-elect on Tuesday night, with 57.69% of the vote. The announcement was made at the Electoral Commission of Namibia’s (ECN’s) headquarters in Windhoek, but many parties were absent — contributing to a sombre mood. Multiple parties, including the incoming official opposition party, the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) boycotted the announcement, as they do not recognise the election’s results. In a statement issued moments before the announcement, the IPC reaffirmed its...

Donald Trump touts foreign contacts on Twitter, lashes media report

WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump used his Twitter account on Wednesday to denounce reports of problems in his transition team, singling out the New York Times for saying world leaders have had trouble getting in touch with him. Trump, whose aggressive use of Twitter against rivals was a key element of his presidential campaign, tweeted a list of several world leaders he had spoken with since his upset victory in the  Australia, New Zealand, and more. I am always available to them. @nytimes is just upset that they looked like fools in their coverage of me," Trump continued. He focused on the Times, a frequent Twitter target for Trump, because it said U.S. allies were "scrambling to figure out how and when to contact Mr. Trump." "The failing @nytimes story is so totally wrong on transition," he tweeted. "It is going so smoothly. Also, I have spoken to many foreign leaders." On Tuesday night, Trump had defended his transition team amid reports ...