Editor's Note: The Russians had offered to help the US in Afghanistan and it appears that they are. Russian President Medvedev recently met with his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, and promised him help with organizing the Afghan government. (MUMBAI) In a major violation of Indian airspace, a Russian aircraft hired by the US military which was overflying India on Friday evening was forced to land in Mumbai airport.
The Antonov 124, which intelligence sources said had 18 Russians on board as well as trucks and arms., was on its way from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to a US base in Kandahar in south Afghanistan when it was intercepted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on orders from the defense ministry.
The defense ministry’s public relations official, Captain M Nambiar, confirmed that a foreign aircraft was instructed to divert to Mumbai airport. "There has been a violation of our airspace by a civilian aircraft," he said. However, he denied that any IAF aircraft had escorted the US aircraft even as sources maintained that two IAF jets had indeed escorted the aircraft to Mumbai airport.
The An-124 is similar to the American Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, but has a 25% larger payload. Because it is the largest transport aircraft in the world, it is used to move over-sized cargo. Lockheed Martin contracts the An-124 to transport the Atlas V launch vehicle and the Centaur upper stage). Space Systems Loral also contracts the An-124 to transport satellites. Rolls-Royce contracts the Antonov AN-124 to move Trent family engines to and from their test facilities worldwide.
According to the sources, the aircraft while seeking permission from the defense ministry to fly over Indian airspace had identified itself as a civil aircraft doing a non-scheduled (charter) operation. All foreign aircraft doing non-scheduled or defense flights are required to submit their flight plans to obtain permission from Indian authorities to overfly Indian airspace.
"This aircraft had asked for the status of a non-scheduled aircraft and it flew over Indian flight information region as such. But to enter Pakistani airspace, it identified itself as a defense aircraft. It was still in Indian territory when this happened. The ambiguous status of the aircraft forced the defense ministry to issue orders to divert it to Mumbai," said a source.
The Ukrainian-make AN-124 aircraft is owned by Russian private airline Volga-Dnepr. It will be allowed to get airborne again today after the External Affairs Ministry gives the Air Operations Routing (AOR) authority to fly over Indian airspace.
"The aircraft is awaiting clearance and will take off once it is given by the government," a Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesman said in Mumbai. "The US and the Russian operators have already approached the Ministry of External Affairs to obtain the AOR authority. The US has admitted that it was a mistake of the operator from whom they had hired the aircraft," IAF officials said in New Delhi.
The AN-124, the largest heavy transport aircraft manufactured by Ukrainian Antonov company with NATO code name Condor, was carrying military cargo, which included land vehicles, equipment and weapons for the US' fight against terrorism in Afghanistan, they said.
"The aircraft was apparently carrying military cargo for US armed forces personnel fighting Taliban under Operation Enduring Freedom. The aircraft, chartered by the US military, took off from Diego Garcia, a US military base on an island near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean," the IAF officials said.
The aircraft was moved to a parking bay at the cargo terminal, the Indian officials said. Indian security had cordoned off the aircraft and sleuths from the Intelligence Bureau and officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation carried out checks in the plane's cargo hold. They also questioned the crew and passengers on board the aircraft, they added.
IAF sources said the AN-124 had been operating on the same flight plan in the last fortnight and had come under adverse notice because of its call sign.
"The plane used a civilian aircraft call sign VDA 4466, whereas its original call sign was REACH 813, which implied it was a military cargo aircraft," IAF sources said.
"Since obtaining a military clearance for using Indian airspace by foreign military aircraft is cumbersome, the operator adopted a short-cut," they added.
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