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Indian Air Force - News Folder - December 2004
Iskra flies into history
[Times of India, 17 December 2004]
Hyderabad: IAF jet trainer aircraft Iskra was decommissioned at an impressive function at the Air Force Station, Hakimpet, on December 16th. Meaning 'spark', Iskra was inducted into the air force on 01 Oct 1975. Of the 12 Iskra aircraft, three were stationed for public display after a fly-past with two newly-inducted Kiran Mark 1 aircraft. Aerobatic display by the Suryakirans lent colour to the event. Air force personnel turned emotional as Wg Cdr Dabral followed by his team taxied in the Iskras for one last time. "Flying over 1,90,000 hours in the last 30 years, Iskra trained 1,500 pilots in 58 courses," said Air Commodore Rakesh Kacker, air officer commanding of air force station, Hakimpet. During the Kargil War, Iskras operated from the Srinagar valley, armed with 57mm rockets and loaded cannons, he said. For the time being, Kiran Mark 1, indigenously developed at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, will serve the purpose of training pilots in place of Iskra, said Air Commodore Kacker, a Vayu Sena Medal recipient.
The advanced jet trainers (AJTs) will be inducted into the IAF by 2007, he said. "The decommissioning of a safe and cost-effective aircraft after 30 years is touching," said Air Vice Marshal (retd) C V Parker, Maha Vir Chakra and Vayu Sena Medal recipient. The only Air Vice Marshal who had witnessed the induction and decommissioning of an aircraft in the IAF, he said unlike the phasing-out ceremony, there was no induction ceremony for Iskra. Iskra posed teething problems for pilots like any other aircraft, but it has served well with a track record of safety, said Group Captain (retd) D Ramanaiah.
[Times of India, 17 December 2004]
Hyderabad: IAF jet trainer aircraft Iskra was decommissioned at an impressive function at the Air Force Station, Hakimpet, on December 16th. Meaning 'spark', Iskra was inducted into the air force on 01 Oct 1975. Of the 12 Iskra aircraft, three were stationed for public display after a fly-past with two newly-inducted Kiran Mark 1 aircraft. Aerobatic display by the Suryakirans lent colour to the event. Air force personnel turned emotional as Wg Cdr Dabral followed by his team taxied in the Iskras for one last time. "Flying over 1,90,000 hours in the last 30 years, Iskra trained 1,500 pilots in 58 courses," said Air Commodore Rakesh Kacker, air officer commanding of air force station, Hakimpet. During the Kargil War, Iskras operated from the Srinagar valley, armed with 57mm rockets and loaded cannons, he said. For the time being, Kiran Mark 1, indigenously developed at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, will serve the purpose of training pilots in place of Iskra, said Air Commodore Kacker, a Vayu Sena Medal recipient.
The advanced jet trainers (AJTs) will be inducted into the IAF by 2007, he said. "The decommissioning of a safe and cost-effective aircraft after 30 years is touching," said Air Vice Marshal (retd) C V Parker, Maha Vir Chakra and Vayu Sena Medal recipient. The only Air Vice Marshal who had witnessed the induction and decommissioning of an aircraft in the IAF, he said unlike the phasing-out ceremony, there was no induction ceremony for Iskra. Iskra posed teething problems for pilots like any other aircraft, but it has served well with a track record of safety, said Group Captain (retd) D Ramanaiah.
Entire IAF station pushed off the map in Car Nicobar
[Newindpress, 28 December 2004]
CAR NICOBAR ISLANDS: The day after, the sea here almost mocks in its ordinariness. The sun blazing, when you look down from the AN-32 on its way to Car Nicobar from Port Blair, there are just tiny white flecks on the calm Bay of Bengal. If you don't search for land, it's as if yesterday didn't happen. But once you land, you know why this is where an estimated 2,000 are feared dead, this is where once an Indian Air Force Base was. The base has been pushed off the map by the sea and along with it, have perished over 100 officers and IAF personnel - of the total base strength of 1700. The entire coastline is strewn with trees that snapped like twigs. Those people who survived are so traumatised that even the slightest movement of wind or wave makes them run out into the open from the Air Force station hangars and other installations which are doubling up as shelters. This was a plum posting, says Group Captain and Station Commander V Bandopadhyaya. "The officers and men wanted to stay here, wilfully." Because the picture-postcard Air Force colony was drawn along the coastline, dotted with elegant two-storeyed bungalows. The sea was barely 200 meters away, the front yard almost a private beach. But not today. Most of those houses have been flattened. In many spots, even debris is missing, the house swallowed up whole. Standing, then staggering on the debris, Captain P Maheshwar counts himself lucky - he lost everything but has his wife and child. "The night before, we had a Christmas party and when the earthquake hit early in the morning, people were scared but we all took it in the right spirit. Every family rushed out of their homes and began to assemble together. One of us even began filming the chaos on his handycam saying it will be precious visual evidence for posterity. Suddenly, I saw the water level rise and that officer (the one with the handycam) vanished." Captain Maheshwar stops, his eyes lock on a metal frame stuck on a tree branch about 20 feet from the ground. "That looks like my refrigerator," he says, under his breath. "The skeleton of my car is lying there," he points. "Every belonging of my 12 years of married life has been wiped out." Except, his family, of course, which Maheshwar says he can't explain other than saying it must be a miracle. Not for six officers and their families, including several Squadron Leaders, the Met Officer and the Doctor of the Air Force station - all among the 102 that have been killed. The waves hammered the coast for over two hours and once the water receded, the bodies of 23 IAF personnel were found strewn on the tarmac. Two more were retrieved from the debris, another 77 believed to have been sucked into the sea by the retreating waves. The tarmac was the safe haven here. Being the highest point in the station. It stuck out, eyewitnesses said, amid the waves like the back of a giant tortoise in the sea. Most of those who could clamber onto it were saved. The Mi-8 choppers were safe but the top floor of the three-storeyed Air Traffic Control was sliced off from the main structure, so neatly that it looks as if a giant crane ripped off the top floor and neatly placed it at a distance. The neighbouring village of Malacca has been wiped out, most of the other half a dozen villages here are still inaccessible. This was why the toll could rise alarmingly, Lt Governor Ram Kapse told visiting Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Sonia Gandhi when they arrived here on December 27th afternoon. Commander in Chief B S Thakur said that several sorties were carried out right through the day with over 430 people being evacuated from Car Nicobar. About 70 of them were brought to the Naval Hospital in Port Blair. The importance of Car Nicobar base, which is the operational heart of the Andamans and Nicobar Command, lies in its location. It sits on the mouth of strategic Malacca Straits, which accounts for 52% of world cargo and is the second-most busy shipping lane in the world. More than 114 supertankers carrying 9.5 billion oil barrels for South Asian markets traverse through this 10 degree channel route that bisects the Andamans Islands and the Great Nicobar Island. Besides handling the reconnaissance and surveillance activities, the Car Nicobar base has a major role in tracking down gun-runners and narco-traffickers that push in arms and drugs to India's north-east through the Cox's bazaar and Chittagong route in Bangladesh. The runway of Car Nicobar base was extended to handle fighter operations in 2001 after the government cleared the Andamans and Nicobar Tri-Service Command. Since then, the IAF was conducting fighter exercises involving Jaguars and Su-30s twice a year so that it would be ready in case India wanted to project force in the Indian Ocean. Apart from the Car Nicobar base, the Indian Navy has 12 amphibious landing ships and fast attack crafts at the Port Blair harbour. Top Navy officials said that none of the ships were damaged in the tsunami as they were pushed to mid-stream the moment the first wave came and hit Port Blair. The state-of-the-art Thomson CSF radar that monitors traffic north of Landfall Islands is safe but the building housing the equipment has developed cracks.
[Newindpress, 28 December 2004]
CAR NICOBAR ISLANDS: The day after, the sea here almost mocks in its ordinariness. The sun blazing, when you look down from the AN-32 on its way to Car Nicobar from Port Blair, there are just tiny white flecks on the calm Bay of Bengal. If you don't search for land, it's as if yesterday didn't happen. But once you land, you know why this is where an estimated 2,000 are feared dead, this is where once an Indian Air Force Base was. The base has been pushed off the map by the sea and along with it, have perished over 100 officers and IAF personnel - of the total base strength of 1700. The entire coastline is strewn with trees that snapped like twigs. Those people who survived are so traumatised that even the slightest movement of wind or wave makes them run out into the open from the Air Force station hangars and other installations which are doubling up as shelters. This was a plum posting, says Group Captain and Station Commander V Bandopadhyaya. "The officers and men wanted to stay here, wilfully." Because the picture-postcard Air Force colony was drawn along the coastline, dotted with elegant two-storeyed bungalows. The sea was barely 200 meters away, the front yard almost a private beach. But not today. Most of those houses have been flattened. In many spots, even debris is missing, the house swallowed up whole. Standing, then staggering on the debris, Captain P Maheshwar counts himself lucky - he lost everything but has his wife and child. "The night before, we had a Christmas party and when the earthquake hit early in the morning, people were scared but we all took it in the right spirit. Every family rushed out of their homes and began to assemble together. One of us even began filming the chaos on his handycam saying it will be precious visual evidence for posterity. Suddenly, I saw the water level rise and that officer (the one with the handycam) vanished." Captain Maheshwar stops, his eyes lock on a metal frame stuck on a tree branch about 20 feet from the ground. "That looks like my refrigerator," he says, under his breath. "The skeleton of my car is lying there," he points. "Every belonging of my 12 years of married life has been wiped out." Except, his family, of course, which Maheshwar says he can't explain other than saying it must be a miracle. Not for six officers and their families, including several Squadron Leaders, the Met Officer and the Doctor of the Air Force station - all among the 102 that have been killed. The waves hammered the coast for over two hours and once the water receded, the bodies of 23 IAF personnel were found strewn on the tarmac. Two more were retrieved from the debris, another 77 believed to have been sucked into the sea by the retreating waves. The tarmac was the safe haven here. Being the highest point in the station. It stuck out, eyewitnesses said, amid the waves like the back of a giant tortoise in the sea. Most of those who could clamber onto it were saved. The Mi-8 choppers were safe but the top floor of the three-storeyed Air Traffic Control was sliced off from the main structure, so neatly that it looks as if a giant crane ripped off the top floor and neatly placed it at a distance. The neighbouring village of Malacca has been wiped out, most of the other half a dozen villages here are still inaccessible. This was why the toll could rise alarmingly, Lt Governor Ram Kapse told visiting Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Sonia Gandhi when they arrived here on December 27th afternoon. Commander in Chief B S Thakur said that several sorties were carried out right through the day with over 430 people being evacuated from Car Nicobar. About 70 of them were brought to the Naval Hospital in Port Blair. The importance of Car Nicobar base, which is the operational heart of the Andamans and Nicobar Command, lies in its location. It sits on the mouth of strategic Malacca Straits, which accounts for 52% of world cargo and is the second-most busy shipping lane in the world. More than 114 supertankers carrying 9.5 billion oil barrels for South Asian markets traverse through this 10 degree channel route that bisects the Andamans Islands and the Great Nicobar Island. Besides handling the reconnaissance and surveillance activities, the Car Nicobar base has a major role in tracking down gun-runners and narco-traffickers that push in arms and drugs to India's north-east through the Cox's bazaar and Chittagong route in Bangladesh. The runway of Car Nicobar base was extended to handle fighter operations in 2001 after the government cleared the Andamans and Nicobar Tri-Service Command. Since then, the IAF was conducting fighter exercises involving Jaguars and Su-30s twice a year so that it would be ready in case India wanted to project force in the Indian Ocean. Apart from the Car Nicobar base, the Indian Navy has 12 amphibious landing ships and fast attack crafts at the Port Blair harbour. Top Navy officials said that none of the ships were damaged in the tsunami as they were pushed to mid-stream the moment the first wave came and hit Port Blair. The state-of-the-art Thomson CSF radar that monitors traffic north of Landfall Islands is safe but the building housing the equipment has developed cracks.