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Ministry of Defense sources say that
the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Border
Security Force (BSF) are planning to
buy 12 C-130J Transport planes from
the US defense major Lockheed-Martin
for use by its special forces in
anti-terrorist operations. IAF
currently uses the ageing medium-lift
AN-32 planes for these operations and
has embarked on an emergency upgrade
of the 100 AN-32 and heavier IL-76
planes in its fleet to extend their
usability by another 10-20 years.
The C-130J is the transport plane of
choice for most Western Special Forces
units because of its ability to land
in makeshift runways and in complete
darkness. Typically, this plane is
used to land Special Forces troops to
storm terrorist locations, resolve
hijack situations, and storming
hostage situations. The ‘J’ series is
supposed to have flat panel displays
in a “glass cockpit” environment and a
vastly reduced set of dials. It uses
state-of-the-art propellers that are
reversible to give the aircraft
increased mobility on the ground.
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