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Gagan Shakti 2018: Amid Severe Fighter Shortage The IAF Will Field 1,100 Aircraft For Mega War Exercise
Indian Air Force celebrating its 85th anniversary in 2017 (Sushil Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
The Indian Air Force is all set to assemble its entire operational fleet of aircraft – over 1,100 of them in a series of war games titled Gagan Shakti in the next few days.
The two phase country wide exercise will involve more than 15,000 IAF personnel deploy to locations other than their bases. According to the Indian Express over 3,000 to 4,000 sorties would be flown per day during this exercise.
The first phase of the exercise will be held along the western border, while the second phase would be along the northern border. To make up for the severe depletion in fighter aircraft number the IAF is set to attempt what the Indian Express report terms as "surge operations".
During these operations personnel are expected to ensure much higher availability of aircraft fleet than during normal periods. Service personnel from support organisations such as the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will be deployed along with the squadrons to ensure extremely high serviceability rates. This, according to the report, will be the first time the IAF is practising surge operations at this level and scope.
The IAF is also reportedly fielding the locally developed Tejas aircraft during the exercise, despite the first squadron not being fully raised due to delays in supplies from HAL.
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