New Delhi. 07 October 2022. One of the success stories of military aviation in India has been the US aerospace major Lockheed Martin’s C-130J. The Indian Air Force operates a fleet of 12 C-130Js. India is one of 21 countries operating the C-130J Super Hercules, which is the world’s choice for tactical airlifters. The Indian Air Force (IAF) uses its C-130Js to support a variety of missions, from cargo delivery to providing vital humanitarian aid. The Super Hercules is also part of India’s C-130J Roll-On/Roll-Off University Design Challenge. Through this initiative, US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin provides research grants for teams from Indian universities to work with local industry partners and mentors from India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation to develop design specifications for proposed modules that could be used on a Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules cargo aircraft. Thus it matches steps with Skill India and Start Up India programmes. As IAF turns 90 Lockheed Martin reiterates it’s committment to the Indian military aviation ecosystem.
William L. Blair, Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin India Pvt. Ltd.,“Lockheed Martin is proud of its long-standing association of seven decades with the Indian Air Force which began with the Super Constellation aircraft and continues with Super Hercules in active service. It has been an honour to work with the Indian Air Force and support their fleet of C-130J aircraft, which represents a strong legacy of partnership between the U.S. and India. We congratulate the Indian Air Force on its 90th anniversary and remain fully committed to being the strategic partner of choice in their modernization journey.”
And this is just the right moment to recall and reflect on this long standing relation . When on 8th June 1948 Air India, flew its maiden international flight from Mumbai to London via Cairo and Geneva, with 35 passengers on board including JRD Tata, little did the pilot Captain K R Guzdar realise that his 40 seater Lockheed Martin L-749 Constellation aircraft Malabar Princess, was not only creating history for Indian aviation, but also for Indo-US aviation ties. This was the beginning of the long standing relationship for Ind0-US military ties too. The Indian Air Force took charge of eight Lockheed Super Constellations that have been handed over from Air India, which were operated in the Maritime Recce Role. In 1977, Six of the Super Connies were handed over to the Navy’s 315 Squadron. The remaining two served as freighters with No.6 Squadron till they were finally phased out in the early 80s. And all this is in the annals of Indian military history. And the Lockheed Martin story continued and continues.
Tracing back the history it dawns that in fact, Lockheed’s design was so good, that the U.S. military, readying for war, saw its potential as a transport for troops and supplies in Europe and took over production in 1942. The first official flight test for a Constellation, sheathed in olive green paint and redesignated C-69, came early the next year. It was a plane equally beautiful in form as well as function. First flight went so well that five more flights were performed the first day. The Connie as it was fondly called averaged 331 mph, flying nonstop in six hours, 57 minutes, and 51 seconds on this flight. After setting the record, that aircraft was returned to the military and during service testing at Wright Field, Ohio, Orville Wright, who had made the first powered flight, made his last flight, serving as copilot on a test run.
Coming back to 2022 Lockheed Martin has been a committed member of the Indian aerospace and defense industry for over three decades. It’s strategy for India has always been focused on building and nurturing partnerships with the Indian industry, with whom it shares technology and capability to co-produce and co-develop for India and from India for the World. And since the Indian government relooked into the earlier shelved 114 MRFA programme and issued the fresh RFIs, F-21 is Lockheed Martin’s offer which will be Make in India, for India and from India.
Michael Kelley, Vice President – India, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Strategy and Business Development, stated, “Congratulations to the Indian Air Force for 90 glorious years of service to protect the Indian skies. We feel privileged to have played a small part in the same through our association with the Super Constellation aircraft in the 1940s and now with Super Hercules in service for over a decade. We hope to further build upon our partnership with the Air Force and the Indian industry through our F-21 offering for the Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft competition. We strongly believe that F-21 is the ideal solution to meet Air Force capability, force structure, affordability, Make in India and Skill India requirements as we have an unmatched track record of establishing robust partnerships and defence industrial capabilities across multiple fighter platforms and countries worldwide. We have been investing in building capability in country in advance of the fighter competition. As a show of confidence in Indian industry we have even qualified our joint venture with Tata, Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures Ltd., to build one of the most technologically complex aerostructures ― a fuel-carrying 9G, 12,000 hour, interchangeable/replaceable fighter wing with >70% detail parts indigenously produced.”
Lockheed Martin officials have always reiterated that F-21 is not an old wine in a new bottle and will be made only for India with Indian needs in mind, F-21 will have a unique dorsal section, triple launcher and the probe-drogue system. In addition it will have advanced avionics, the APG-83 active electronically scanned array radar, above-wing fuel tanks for increased range, and an automatic ground collision avoidance system. The fighter also has a structural service life of 12,000 hours. It’s weapon carrying capacity is of ten missiles—eight medium range, radar-guided AMRAAM missiles plus two AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles, will make it unique. The F-21 can be seen carrying a Sniper electro-optical targeting pod, also produced by Lockheed Martin in one of the promotional videos. In service with the U.S. Air Force, the Sniper pod provides HD forward-looking infrared (also known as thermal imaging), a dual mode laser, video data link, and digital data recorder. The F-21 also features a huge flat panel cockpit display. It also has a new Electronic Warfare system planned for Indian Air Force. There are many more points which make F-21 a totally different aircraft, the company states.
Competitions will be competitions and the customer is the final judge. But logics of the netizens in today’s world where every one is a defence analyst will surely not be the reason for judgement. The nation decides on its need , the defence forces’ gaps and the most appropriate solution. The process is on and the choice will definitely be of the best amongst the bests. This will be the ultimate Atmnirbhar Bharat and Make in India achievement.