Vayu Shakti 2019

Vayu Shakti 2019 – 7th edition of the Fire Power Demonstration of Indian Air Force

Indigenous firepower, including a missile launch and helicopter gun firing, will be displayed at a major Indian Air Force exercise later this week, said the IAF.

The IAF will be showing several indigenous aircraft weapons and equipment at Exercise Vayu Shakti-2019. Some of these are the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas attacking ground targets, gun firing from the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), firing of the Akash surface-to-air missile and even of the Astra air-to-air missile. The demonstrations by the ALH and the Akash will happen for the first time in the exercise.

There are also other firsts in the exercise, which will be held at Pokhran Air to Ground Armament range on February 16. These include a MiG-29 upgraded fighter jet in an air-to-ground role and P-IV or precision guided bomb firing at a simulated radar target. Earlier, MiG-29s were demonstrated in air-to-air roles only.

The exercise, which is a major fire power display on ground and aerial targets, will witness the participation of 137 aircraft. These include MiG-29s, Jaguars, Su-30s, Mirage 2000s fighters, besides transport aircraft and helicopters.

First conducted at Tilpat range in Delhi in July 1953, it is held once in three years. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be attending the event. This time the aim of the exercise would be to detect and identify targets and neutralise them in day, dusk and night capability demonstrations.

Revealing the participation of the indigenous weapons, the IAF said that Akash missile will be fired at a ‘manoeuvrable expendable aerial target’. IAF’s Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Anil Khosla said that the indigenous content is ‘high’ in the exercise. “Vayu Shakti is a firepower demonstration. It is to display what can be done on targets- on ground and air. So you will see a mix of lethality and precision. There are also many firsts…will see variety of weapons, aircraft…the LCA will be engaging ground targets,” he said.

Khosla added that the event will also be a training exercise. “Pilots do derive training value,” he said.

Source:ET

Image Courtesy: DNAIndia