BOEING'S VERSATILE RELATIONSHIP WITH IAF

Surendra Ahuja, Managing Director, Boeing Defence India talks about the wide ranging and comprehensive relationship between the American aerospace giant and the country’s armed forces in this exclusive conversation

- Surendra Ahuja

The C-17 has been in the limelight with its role in evacuation in Afghanistan – what makes the C-17 such a versatile heavy lifter and how is Boeing assisting the IAF in maintaining the serviceability of its fleet?

The C-17 fleet has been a vital part of the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) strategic and combat airlift capability. The IAF C-17s have performed a wide range of operations in military missions, and provided peacekeeping support, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief in India and internationally, since induction to the Sky Lords squadron in 2013.

Boeing is supporting the IAF C-17 fleet under the Globemaster Integrated Support Programme (GISP) and has been maintaining the fleet through technologistics support and training for aircrew that operate the platform. The C-17 fleet has maintained high serviceability rates since its induction. Boeing is responsible for maintenance, field support services, modifications and upgrades, technical manual support and logistics engineering services. The IAF’s C-17 fleet, since their induction in 2013, have logged more than 31,000 flight hours.

Boeing’s C-17 simulator training centre provides training services to the IAF. Boeing’s C-17 training centre in India has completed thousands of training hours for aircrews and loadmasters for the IAF. Boeing’s Global C-17 support programme is a Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) contract designed to provide the United States Air Force (USAF) and international partners with maximum aircraft availability while optimising affordability, and lowest sustainment risks for all C-17 support elements.

The C-17 is the world’s premier heavy-lift aircraft and will continue to prove itself as a versatile strategic airlifter in future operations to come.