Article Posted on : - Dec 10, 2011

C-130J Super Hercules.

NEW DELHI (PTI): The C-130J Super Hercules aircraft of the Indian Air Force has set the record for the longest ever flight undertaken by a military aircraft in the country without refuelling.

"Two C-130J Super Hercules aircraft successfully flew non-stop for 9 hours and 45 minutes from Rome in Italy to Muscat in Oman in June this year setting a record for longest flight without refuelling by any IAF aircraft," IAF officials said here.

IAF's fighter aircraft such as the Su-30MKI are learnt to have registered flights of longer duration but they are refuelled in the air by oil tanker aircraft which help in extending their ranges.

"The sortie was preceded by meticulous pre-flight planning and was undertaken after arriving at the optimum value of fuel consumption to successfully accomplish the mission within the flight safety ambit," they said.

The C-130J was procured from the US under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route in a USD one billion deal and was inducted into the IAF in February this year.

All the six aircraft have arrived in India and have been deployed at the Hindon air base near here under IAF's 77 Squadron.

India is planning to procure six more such aircraft and will deploy them at the Charbetia airbase in Odisha from where it will look after requirements of the Andaman and Nicobar Island territories and the Northeastern states.