Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman flies at Air Force parade

Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service 
Hindon (UP) October 8

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman on Tuesday made a ‘grand entry’—flying a MiG 21 fighter jet—amid cheers from the audience at the Hindon Air Base to mark the annual Air Force Day parade here, some 20 kms east of New Delhi.

Abhinandan led a team of three MiG 21’s at the air display here. Another team, named ‘Avengers’—flew past in a Mirage 2000 and Sukhoi 30 MKI—included the members of the IAF squadrons that carried out air strikes at Balakot in Pakistan on February 26 this year.

Wing Commander Abhinandan was part of the air duel over Nowshera in Jammu and Kashmir the next day. He had to eject in Pakistan and was released 48 hours later. He has been awarded the Vir Chakra, the third highest battle honour.

At the parade, US-made helicopters, the Chinook and Apache, made their public debut. 

It is for the first time in more than 60 years that the Indian Air Force is now operating US-made copters, a change since the times the IAF flew Soviet /Russian-built copters. 

The two copters are made by American aerospace giant Boeing. The heavy-lift capability Chinook CH 47 was inducted in Chandigarh in April this year while the Apache 64E attack copter was inducted at Pathankot in September this year.

So far the IAF has been using the Mi26 for heavy lift role while the Mi35/Mi25 for attack role. 

Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, who took charge as Indian Air Force Chief on September 30 said the IAF will focus on indigenous production as part of its modernisation plan and two new helicopters will be inducted into the force soon. 

He specifically mentioned the light utility helicopter and the light combat helicopter being developed by public sector giant Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) as the two future inductions.

Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said the IAF was on the path of modernization and mentioned the induction of the Rafale and the S400 missile system in this regard.