Air Warriors

Palak Gupta

The military uses helicopters to move troops and get supplies to ships and in Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW). Helicopters can rescue people in hard-to-reach places like mountains or oceans. Helicopters can do things that airplanes cannot — they can take off or land without a runway and also hover in the air in one spot.

Mi26

Many of the Indian Army’s outposts are located in areas which do not have road connectivity, especially in the Northeast. Hence, not only are helicopters required for transportation of heavy equipment such as artillery guns, personnel vehicles, tanks etc, they are needed to transport troops, especially during times when there is a hostile situation. This is particularly critical in the northern and eastern borders with China, which, incidentally, has huge lift capabilities, both fixed wing and helicopters. While fixed wings can transport more troops and faster, they can only be used in places where aircraft can land. It is beyond that where helicopters are needed.

“The country faces a multitude of security challenges and we require a vertical-airlift capability for a very diversified terrain. The Chinook will give the Indian Air Force (IAF) a quantum leap to transport cargo to precarious high-altitude locations,” former Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa had said after the induction ceremony of four Chinook heavy-lift helicopters at Chandigarh’s Air Force Station 12 Wing on 25 March 2019.

The India specific CH- 47F (I), where CH stands for Cargo Helicopter, is an advanced multi-mission helicopter that is expected to provide the IAF with a much-needed strategic airlift capability across the full spectrum of combat and humanitarian missions.

The IAF currently has 15 Chinook helicopters on order; the first Chinooks arrived on February 2019 ahead of schedule at the Mundra port (via sea route) in Gujarat. At the ceremony, the first four of 15 Chinooks, ordered from Boeing in September 2015, were commissioned into the IAF’s 126 hel