Marking 90 years of excellence, the Indian Air Force (IAF) celebrations began at Sukhna Lake in Punjab’s Chandigarh with a band march and parade. This is the first time that the annual parade and fly-past is being held outside Delhi-NCR in relation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives to take major events and festivities out of the National capital region to different parts of the country
Air Force Day marks the official induction of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 1932. Every year on October 8, the IAF day is celebrated in the presence of the Indian Air Force chief and senior officers. People across the country observe this day to honour the Indian Air Force and be familiar with the important force for national security.
While addressing the IAF ceremony, the Chief of the Air Staff of India Vivek Ram Chaudhari announced that the government has approved the creation of a weapon system branch for the officers in the Indian Air Force.
“This is the first time since independence that a new operational branch is being created. The creation of this branch would result in savings of over Rs 3,400 crore due to the reduced expenditure on flying training. He informed that the creation of infrastructure is in progress. We are also planning on induction of women Agniveers starting next year”, he said
The celebration programme has been divided into two parts- the morning parade and the air show. The program is scheduled to begin at around 9:00 am on Saturday with a 2-hour morning parade followed by fly past. In the afternoon, the IAF will put out a dazzling show with a range of aircraft during its air show as a part of its 90th-anniversary celebrations.
Aircrafts including – Rafale, Tejas, Su-30, Mi-17, Mirage, and others will participate in the air show along with the aerobatic display teams like the Suryakirans and the Sarang. The newly-inducted Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) Prachand is also made public at the celebration venue. Nearly 80 military aircraft and helicopters will be participating in the Air Force day fly past on Saturday at the Sukhna lake complex.
