June 24, 2013: As the IAF awaits procedures that will conclude a contract for 15 heavy-lift CH-47 Chinook helicopters that would have been extremely useful in situations like the Uttarakhand flood rescue and relief operation, the IAF has pressed into service its single serviceable Mi-26 from the Chandigarh air force base to ferry Army commandos and fuel to a remote part of Uttarakhand.

The IAF is known to have only three Mi-26 Halo heavy-lift choppers left, with only one of two of them serviceable at any given time. Lack of spares has done in the fleet, necessitating the IAF's well known heavy-lift copter competition that was won by Boeing last year for the CH-47. A variant of the Mi-26 in fact competed against the Chinook, but lost on technical grounds as the CH-47 was found to be a more capable aircraft, with greater flexibility especially for special and humanitarian missions. The IAF hopes to have a contract ready with Boeing by the end of this year.