C-17s for India: 10 Aircraft by 2015

IAF’s 1st C-17

In November 2009, reports surfaced that India was negotiating to buy 10 C-17A Globemaster III heavy transports for its air force. A Defense News article added that:

“The C-17’s advantages include its easier handling (compared with the IL-76) and ability to operate from short and rough airstrips, added the sources… The Indian military needs to do three things: augment its ability to quickly lift larger numbers of troops as it views possible threats on its border with China; strengthen its presence on the Pakistani border; and fight terrorism and low-intensity warfare, said a senior Defence Ministry official. India needs to triple its lift capacity, said the official.”

Fighting Goes On in Gaza, Tripoli

• After a brief lull fighting continued in Gaza: USA Today | WaPo.

• The US evacuated its embassy in Tripoli as fighting in Libya’s capital has been worsening. DoD | Daily Beast | NYT.

• Richard N. Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, compares the situation in the Middle East to Europe’s 17th century Thirty Years’ War. There are limits to that analogy, but this, as then, indeed looks like a protracted conflict with a mix of religious and political causes. Will it eventually be resolved with something akin to the era-defining Peace of Westphalia?