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This year’s IAF parade a prelude to Air Force Platinum Jubilee

New Delhi, Sep 26 (ANI): The Indian Air Force Day parade will be held this year at Air Force Station Hindon (AFS Hindon) as against Palam and will be a prelude to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations beginning on October 9 and concluding on October 8, 2007. The shifting of venue has been done to prevent disruption of commercial flights at Palam.

Giving details to the press of the Air Force Day parade, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Western Air Command, New Delhi, Air Marshal A.K.Singh, said that the venue was shifted to avoid disruption to the civil air traffic in the capital city, and during the main show the civil air traffic in Hindon would be restricted for a couple of hours.

Singh also added that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will not participate in the show owing to their slow speed.

A complete air show with various formations and some air exercise manoeuvres will be showcased by the IAF as part of the parade. A total of 85 aircraft both airborne and standby will be on display.

Owing to constraints of air space Jaguars will fly from right to left at a speed of 420 knots at this year’s parade. ’Small Team Insertion and Extraction’ operations will be carried out by the IAF special forces team, ‘‘Garuds’’ for the first time. The aircraft to participate in the air show are Mi-17, Mi-35, SU-30, Chetak, ALH- Sarang, IL-78, Jaguar, Suryakirans, Mirage-2000, with the parade commencing with an Ensign Formation of three Mi- 17 helicopters and an aerobatics ballet to be performed as a grand finale by the Surya Kiran Aerobatics Team.

The rehearsals shall take place on 03, 04, 05, and 06 October. Also the parade will be open to the common public as opposed to previous years where entry was only by invitation. Around one lakh spectators are expected.