Livewire, Red Flag to test IAF’s mettle in 2013

In the 80^th year of its inception, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is gearing up for two major war games next year – the ‘Mother of all Exercises’ Livewire and Red Flag with the US Air Force after five years.

 

 

Complete IAF will participate in the first organizational-level war games Livewire – to be organized early next year. Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Force President Pranab Mukherjee will also witness the Fire Power Demonstration at the end of Livewire. The other major participation will be in the Red Flag exercise in the US essentially meant for the country’s NATO allies. Last time the IAF fighter jets roared in the US sky was in 2008.

“The IAF has been inducting new platforms in its inventory and since the integration is over, the next year will give an opportunity to test the wherewithal of the organisation to maximum,” officials said. The exercise, brainchild of Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne, was planned in 2012 but was postponed for 2013 when the new platforms have integrated well with the existing ones. The exercise would be the first in the history of the IAF and was planned to validate its new war strategies, inductions and technologies. Presently, the fourth largest air force in the world is on the cusp of a major transformation with the acquisition of state-of-the-art platforms in its inventory.

The built up to the month-long Livewire will be preceded by unit-level and command level exercises.  The exercise is planned to check the integration of the newly-acquired platforms and network-centric warfare system with the existing fighter fleet of the IAF. The mid-air refuellers were to be tested to the hilt for a war fought on multiple fronts.

The endurance-testing war games will be followed by India’s participation in Red Flag exercise, that is held every three months for duration of around two weeks and it generally involves NATO allies of the US. In 2008, IAF’s eight Sukhoi Su-30MKIs, two Il-78 mid-air tankers and one Il-76 heavy lift aircraft covered a distance of 19,000 km along with 91 officers and 156 other ranks.

As much as the IAF would have wanted to participate in the prestigious exercise every year, in view of the huge cost – last time the bill came to be around Rs. 100 crore – has decide to participate in the exercise once every five years. Left parties, an important ally of the UPA-I have been against Indian Armed Force exercising with their US counterpart. The COPE Indo-US exercise in West Bengal, Red Flag exercise in the US and the Malabar naval exercise had met a stiff opposition from these parties. 

The experience of participating along with the best of the air force in the world in 2008 has given invaluable experience to the force. In 2008, it was the first time ever that aircraft of the type of Sukhoi – a Russian built fighter jet- were in the US territory. It was the same for Indians who learned more about the French Rafale and the US F 15s and F 16s. The IAF had managed to outdo the US Air Force in visual and Beyond Visual Range combat simulations even as it kept its radars off and operated on training frequencies and not the wartime frequencies used for communication.