Article Posted on : - May 12, 2011

NEW DELHI (PTI): Aiming to achieve a greater degree of coordination and inter-operability between the air power and ground forces, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has deployed an array of assets in the Army exercise 'Vijayee Bhava', which is currently taking place in northern Rajasthan.

“IAF is participating in the exercise with some of its frontline fighter aircraft like MiG-21s, MiG-29s and Jaguars.

“Mi-35 and Mi-25 choppers would be used for heli-borne attack missions while Mi-17 helicopters would be used to slither down troops for ground attack drills,” IAF officials said.

The fighter aircraft would be specially used for dedicated reconnaissance missions in the ‘hostile territory’ while transport planes like An-32 and Il-76s would be used to air-drop Army paratroops and Special Forces (SF) commandos near the enemy frontiers.

“The aircraft would fly from bases in Adampur, Ambala, Chandigarh, Suratgarh and other air stations under Western Air Command (WAC). IAF is providing complete air support and the flying missions are fully integrated with the missions planned for the ground troops,” the officials added.

While the Army is looking forward to test and validate the operational efficacy of new concepts developed during its transformational studies, the IAF has got a major task to integrate its operations with the ground forces.

“While performing attack operations across the enemy lines, the IAF also needs to support the ground forces in their advance movement by providing information and transporting troops and logistics in the war zone. Such exercises help in improving the operational understanding of the two forces,” they said.

50,000 army troops are participating in the six-day-long exercise which started on May 9.