NEW DELHI: The IAF is now getting all set to let loose deadly missiles, ‘smart’ bombs and other precision-guided munitions amounting to 40-50 tonnes at one place, then undertake a massive pan-India exercise to test operational readiness against China and Pakistan, and finally hone air combat skills with several foreign air forces in Indian skies.
The IAF will first undertake the major “Vayu Shakti” firepower demonstration, which is held once every three years, with 135 fighters, aircraft, helicopters and drones at the Pokhran field firing ranges on February 17.
The IAF’s entire war-fighting machinery will then be activated in April for the “Gagan Shakti” exercise, which is held once every five years and will involve sustained high-tempo operations from Ladakh to Andaman & Nicobar islands as well as switching of forces between the eastern and western theatres.
India’s largest multilateral air combat exercise “Tarang Shakti”, in turn, will witness air forces from several countries like the US, France, Australia, Japan and the UAE taking part in intensive drills at Jodhpur in August.
The strategic signalling behind the three major war-games is unmistakable at a time when the military confrontation with China along the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control is now into its fourth successive winter. “Vayu Shakti will showcase the full spectrum of operations that Indian aerospace power can take on. It is going to be conducted in a near-realistic scenario” IAF vice chief Air Marshal A P Singh said on Friday.
The Rafale omni-role fighters, which will fire the 70-km range MICA air-to-air missiles, Apache attack helicopters and indigenous Prachand light combat helicopters will be taking part for the first time in Vayu Shakti. Other front-line aircraft will include Tejas, Sukhoi-30MKI, Mirage-2000, Jaguar and MiG-29 fighters.
With aircraft operating from multiple air-bases during day, dusk and night, the over two-hour exercise will demonstrate IAF’s capability to deliver long-range precision weapons as well as conventional weapons with “accuracy, on time and with devastating effect”. “Around 40-50 tonnes of ammunition will be delivered in a radius of 1.5-km in a short span of time. We will also have surface-to-air weapons like Akash and Samar demonstrate their capabilities to track and shoot down intruding aircraft. There will be loitering munitions as well,” Air Marshal Singh said.
With the tagline “lightning strike from the sky”, Vayu Shakti will also see joint operations with the Army. While IAF’s Chinook helicopters will airlift the M-777 ultra-light howitzers to the exercise area, the Army will also deploy its Rudra attack helicopters. ‘Gagan Shakti’, in conjunction with the Army and Navy, will be much bigger in scale and complexity. It will revolve around real-time coordination, deployment and employment of war-waging capabilities along the northern borders with China, western front with Pakistan and maritime interdiction in the Indian Ocean region.
The IAF will first undertake the major “Vayu Shakti” firepower demonstration, which is held once every three years, with 135 fighters, aircraft, helicopters and drones at the Pokhran field firing ranges on February 17.
The IAF’s entire war-fighting machinery will then be activated in April for the “Gagan Shakti” exercise, which is held once every five years and will involve sustained high-tempo operations from Ladakh to Andaman & Nicobar islands as well as switching of forces between the eastern and western theatres.
India’s largest multilateral air combat exercise “Tarang Shakti”, in turn, will witness air forces from several countries like the US, France, Australia, Japan and the UAE taking part in intensive drills at Jodhpur in August.
The strategic signalling behind the three major war-games is unmistakable at a time when the military confrontation with China along the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control is now into its fourth successive winter. “Vayu Shakti will showcase the full spectrum of operations that Indian aerospace power can take on. It is going to be conducted in a near-realistic scenario” IAF vice chief Air Marshal A P Singh said on Friday.
The Rafale omni-role fighters, which will fire the 70-km range MICA air-to-air missiles, Apache attack helicopters and indigenous Prachand light combat helicopters will be taking part for the first time in Vayu Shakti. Other front-line aircraft will include Tejas, Sukhoi-30MKI, Mirage-2000, Jaguar and MiG-29 fighters.
With aircraft operating from multiple air-bases during day, dusk and night, the over two-hour exercise will demonstrate IAF’s capability to deliver long-range precision weapons as well as conventional weapons with “accuracy, on time and with devastating effect”. “Around 40-50 tonnes of ammunition will be delivered in a radius of 1.5-km in a short span of time. We will also have surface-to-air weapons like Akash and Samar demonstrate their capabilities to track and shoot down intruding aircraft. There will be loitering munitions as well,” Air Marshal Singh said.
With the tagline “lightning strike from the sky”, Vayu Shakti will also see joint operations with the Army. While IAF’s Chinook helicopters will airlift the M-777 ultra-light howitzers to the exercise area, the Army will also deploy its Rudra attack helicopters. ‘Gagan Shakti’, in conjunction with the Army and Navy, will be much bigger in scale and complexity. It will revolve around real-time coordination, deployment and employment of war-waging capabilities along the northern borders with China, western front with Pakistan and maritime interdiction in the Indian Ocean region.
