IAF flexes muscle, massive wargames on Indo-China border

On Thursday China would have been able to hear the Indian frontline fighter jets roar in the skies of north-eastern India as the Indian Air Force (IAF) began a major exercise close to Indo-China border to test its "combat potential".

The exercise codenamed "Pralay", literally meaning devastation, will be testing the mettle of its Sukhoi-30MKIs that were recently deployed on the Indo-China border. The exercise in the Brahmaputra and north-eastern region began on February 29 and will involve day and night operations in the inhospitable mountainous region. Lessons learned from this exercise would be incorporated in "future operational strategies".

The four day exercise will also span over the territory of Arunachal Pradesh. The annual exercise comes in the backdrop of China protesting a recent visit of Defence Minister AK Antony to Arunachal.

Beside Sukhois, IAF's Mirage-2000, MiG-29, Jaguar, MiG-21 Bisons, Mi-17 helicopters, AN-32 transport aircraft, special operations aircraft C-130J, its aircraft-mounted radars AWACS (Air-borne Early Warning and Control System), mid-air refuellers and the Army’s unmanned aerial vehicle will be taking part in this mammoth exercise.

“The exercise will include conduct of Special Forces operations and night operations in conjunction with ground forces,” Gallway added. The exercise will also put to test the facets of network centric operations, electronic warfare as well as information warfare.