ndian Air Force personnel during Exercise Pitch Black 22 hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force at its Darwin Air Base, Australia. PTI File
Vijay Mohan
Chandigarh, October 4
The Indian Air Force will be introducing a new disruptive pattern combat uniform for its personnel on October 8, the Air Force Day.
“The new uniform will have a digital camoflauge pattern and a different fabric and design. It will be unveiled by Chief of the Air Staff at the Air Force Day parade in Chandigarh,” an IAF officer said.
The new uniform will be somewhat similar to the new digital pattern introduced by the Army in January this year. “The colours and shades of the new IAF uniform will be a little different, more conducive to the air force’s working environment,” the officer said.
At present, the camouflage pattern used by the air force for ground duty roles is akin to that used by the army in the eighties and nineties. The IAF’s Garud Special Forces use a digital pattern though.
As many as 80 fighters, transport aircraft and helicopters will participate in the flypast and demonstration over the Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh to mark the Air Force Day. This includes almost all fighters, transport aircraft and helicopters in the IAF’s inventory at present except the Avro, Dornier, Chetak and Cheetah, the officer said.
The indigenously developed Light Combat Helicopter, Prachand, which was formally inducted into the IAF at Jodhpur on October 3, will make its first public appearance in a three aircraft formation.
Another novel formation is Sekhon, dedicated to the IAF’s sole Param Vir Chakra recipient, Flt Lt Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon. It comprises a Rafale, Jaguar, Tejas and Mirage 2000, with the Rafale breaking away in front of the dias and doing a vertical Charlie to symbolise the ‘missing man’.
The Globe formation, comprising a C-17 Heavy lift aircraft trailed by nine Hawk- 132 jet trained from the Surya Kiran display team and joint aerial maneuvering by a Rafale, Su-39 and Tejas in the Transformer formation are other attractions of the air show.
Demonstration by the IAF’s Akash Ganga skydiving team, manoeuvring and underslung operations by Chinook helicopter, flypast by Harvard and Dakota vintage aircraft are also being organised.