NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JAN 17
The Republic Day parade on the Rajpath this year will see the “grandest and largest” flypast ever with a total of 75 aircraft to mark the Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav celebrations, an IAF official said on Monday.
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@rashtrapatibhvn @AjaybhattBJP4UK pic.twitter.com/9BXzCbkTDm— PRO Defence Gujarat (@DefencePRO_Guj) January 17, 2022
The IAF will pay homage to some of the exploits of its pilots and also the armed forces during the 1971 war with Pakistan.
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The tableau of the IAF that will be part of the parade at Rajpath will have a display of a jet bombing the Governor’s House at Dhaka.
Also, a model of the Gnat fighter will form the display. The Gnat hadearned the name ‘Sabre slayer’ for its efficacy in shooting down the Sabres – a name for a Jet – of the Pakistani Air Force.
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The flypast will conclude with seven Jaguar fighter aircraft flying in the “Amrit” formation to commemorate the 75 years of Independence.
“The flypast this year will be the grandest and largest with 75 aircraft from IAF, Army and Navy flying during the Republic Day parade. This is in line with the Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav celebrations,” IAF PRO Wing Commander Indranil Nandi said at a virtual press briefing.
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“The flypast will include Tangail formation which will have one Dakota and two Dornier flying in Vic formation. This is tribute to the Tangail air drop operations of the 1971 War. There will also be Meghna formation of 1 Chinook and four Mi-17s,” he said.
Tangail is the place in Bangladesh where the Indian Army’s Parachute Regiment, known as Para’s, were air-dropped behind enemy lines. A Dakota – a plane used in the para-dropin 1971- will fly past Rajpath as part of the flying display. It will be flanked by a Dornier 228 and a special operations plane, the C130-J.
This segment of the display is named ‘Tangail’.
Meghna is a river east of Dhaka and crossing it was important during the 1971 war if Indian forces wanted to capture Dhaka.
IAF helicopters were used to cross thousands of Indian Army troops across the 4 km expanse of the Meghna. The flying display at Rajpath will include a Chinook heavy lift copter and four Mi17V5 copters flying in to commemorate the crossing of the Meghna. The segment is named ‘Meghna’.
Answering a query, Indranil Nandi said indigenously-made Tejas will not be part of the flypast. However, four missiles will be part of the R-Day display to show the 3 Services fire power, he added.
The flypast will begin with “Dhwaj” formation with four Mi-17 aircraft, followed by “Rudra” and “Rahat” formations with 4 and 5 Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH), respectively. Among the other aircraft that will display their might at the parade are Rafale, Indian Navy’s MiG29K, P-8I surveillance aircraft and Jaguar fighter jets.
