A C17 Heavy-Lift aircraft dropping Mahindra AXE Light Military Utility Tactical Vehicle

Gliders India Limited’s Ordnance Parachute Factory at Kanpur is seeking industry partners to develop, manufacture and qualify the G-11 Heavy-Drop Platform, intended for air-dropping loads of up to 19 tons.

The platform is being developed for operations from the Indian Air Force’s C-130J Super Hercules tactical airlifters and C-17 Globemaster-III strategic transport aircraft.

A heavy-drop platform enables military stores, vehicles, engineering equipment and other outsized cargo to be delivered by parachute where an airfield is unavailable, unusable or exposed to hostile action.

The proposed collaboration is expected to cover design development, prototyping, manufacturing, ground testing, airworthiness-related assessment and qualification of the platform for operational use.

The requirement points to the need for an indigenous aerial-delivery system capable of handling heavier payloads for tactical and strategic airlift missions.

The C-130J can support tactical insertion and resupply missions from relatively short or austere airstrips, while the C-17 provides substantially greater strategic lift capacity and can transport heavy equipment over long distances.

A common or compatible heavy-drop solution for both aircraft could give the Indian Armed Forces greater flexibility in sustaining forces deployed in remote, mountainous, disaster-affected or operationally contested areas.

The initiative could also reduce reliance on imported heavy airdrop equipment and associated certification support, while creating opportunities for domestic specialists in aerospace structures, textile systems, parachutes, restraint equipment, release mechanisms and cargo-handling systems.

Gliders India Limited, a Ministry of Defence undertaking headquartered at Kanpur, specialises in military parachutes, cargo systems and aero-sport equipment. The company has also developed the indigenous ADC-150 air-droppable container with DRDO for delivery of 150 kg payloads.

Agencies