Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 1
India’s war-fighting ability in the plains facing the western front will undergo a change soon and it will have greater punch in an offensive as the first batch of Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters will be inducted at Pathankot, Punjab, on Tuesday.
This is the first attack copter from the US. The Indian Air Force currently uses the Soviet/Russian origin Mi25/Mi35 helicopters. These are tasked with tank formations. The induction of the Apache will be ‘technological leap’ as the present ones are clearly of the previous generation which was top-notch some 25 years ago.
The Apache can operate at 20,000 feet and is most likely to be dual tasked — one with the conventional tank formations of the western command, the other, if need be, can be used to target enemy at high altitudes. The existing attack helicopters can fly only up to 14,000 feet. The height occupied by Pakistan army during Kargil war (May-July 1999) was in excess of 16,000 feet. By 2020, the IAF will operate a fleet of 22 Apaches which were ordered by the Ministry of Defence in 2015. Separately, New Delhi had cleared the acquisition of an additional six Apaches for the Army in 2017. The helicopter has been customised to suit IAF’s future requirements and will have significant capability in a mountainous terrain.
It will be faster than the Mi25/Mi35, have better anti-tank missiles and fire-and-forget missiles. Due to change in engine technology in the past decades, the Apache will fly faster, carrying more ammunition and have more counter measures.
“In ground battles of tanks, a formation of attack helicopter is like taking the battle up ‘vertically’,” says Lt Gen KJ Singh (retd), a former Western Army Commander. On ground, the engagement between tanks of either side is limited and hindered due to lack of visual contact and the helicopters overcome it, he says.
In the first sign of tactical shift, India had ordered the C-130 strategic lift planes and the C-17 heavy lift planes a decade ago. Last year, the US-made M-777 ultra-light howitzers had been inducted, but these were the ground-based platform not an air-borne one.
Technological leap
- Apache can operate at 20,000 feet. The existing attack helicopters can fly only up to 14,000 feet
- By 2020, the Air Force will operate a fleet of 22 Apaches which were ordered by the Ministry of Defence in 2015
- Separately, New Delhi had cleared the acquisition of an additional six Apaches for the Army in 2017
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2ZHA7fg
via Today’s News Headlines
No comments: