RBT's Defense Blog

It’s been over a decade since the last Boeing C-17 Globemaster III rolled off the assembly line in Long Beach, California.  When India bought the ‘White Tail’ it seemingly brought an end to the era of America's premier heavy-lift tactical transport. However, global security dynamics have shifted dramatically. India needs to double its heavy lift transporter fleet, and I had created a blog about how the C-17 production line could be shifted and started in India. Now, buzz from major defence circles, including official acknowledgments from Boeing leadership; indicates that early-stage discussions are underway regarding a potential, highly extraordinary reboot of the C-17 Globemaster III production line. In the world of military aviation, once a production line closes, it’s almost always dead for good. The tooling gets dismantled, the specialized supply chains evaporate, and the engineering talent disperses to other programs. The Strategic Void: Why C-17 is Irreplaceable ...

An AFV (Armored Fighting Vehicle) is the broad category for any armored combat vehicle; while APCs (Armored Personnel Carriers) focuses on transporting troops with light arms (like MGs) for basic protection, while IFVs (Infantry Fighting Vehicles) are an advanced type of AFV, designed to fight alongside infantry, boasting heavier armor, stronger cannons (20-40mm+), and anti-tank missiles for direct fire support, essentially merging transport and fighting roles.  armored personnel carriers mostly built out of modified tank hulls (sometimes literally old tank hulls). They usually carry the full squad of an APC, have the weapons fit of an APC (machine guns), but have tank level protection (proof against autocannons, MGs, highly resistant to RPGs and some ATGMs). Some armies use them for moving infantry into very dangerous areas (like Israel into the RPG/ATGM rich Hezbollah areas, or high-resistance Hamas zones) but the other use f...