Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

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ArjunPandit
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by ArjunPandit »

Singha wrote:Namo is visiting peking next week

Ex was well timed
reminds me of op checkerboard
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by ramana »

The RM in thick of these exercises at many airbases has deep meaning for special delivery packages.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by nits »

BrahMos-equipped Su-30MKIs hit bull’s eye as Gaganshakti-2018 concludes
Chinese will gain entry closer to the Indian waters. Su-30MKIs fitted with BrahMos missiles carried out strikes in the Malacca Straits which will be the entry point of the Chinese military in the Indian Ocean region. The aircraft also carried out a sortie of over 2,000 kilometers where they were provided mid-air refuelling by Ilyushin 78 tankers and direction by the Airborne Early Warning Systems (AWACS), the sources said.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by pankajs »

https://sputniknews.com/military/201804 ... na-border/
India to Add Seven More Advanced Airfields Near Border With China
Notwithstanding China’s objection to the Indian stance on Arunachal Pradesh (recognized as South Tibet by China), Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Thursday that an additional seven advanced landing grounds will be built in the region.
Exactly as it should be in the context of her China vizit.

Saam, Daam, Danda and bheda should all be pursued in parallel. Why should work to shore up our border defenses stop just because of a meeting in China?
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by tsarkar »

Lady Officer overseeing testing/preparing of missile. Note the lack of rank insignia on her uniform, that is done in wartime at forward areas to prevent targeting of leadership by snipers/saboteurs.

https://mobile.twitter.com/IAF_MCC/stat ... 72/photo/4
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by srai »

^^^
How come the men have quite visible patches?
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by tsarkar »

Airmen/Other ranks are not targeted but you're right, everyone needs to remove their rank insignia. However airmen/jawans have it sewn in their uniforms and can't be removed unlike Officer insignia on uniform shoulder straps that can be easily removed by unbuttoning the shoulder straps.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by RajD »

Guys,
Yesterday, Mr. Sunil Nanodkar, Avm(Retired) was conferred upon AVSM in an investiture ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan by hon. Mr. Kovind, The president of India. We are extremely proud of him especially as an alumnus of our college.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by ramana »

RajD wrote:Guys,
Yesterday, Mr. Sunil Nanodkar, Avm(Retired) was conferred upon AVSM in an investiture ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan by hon. Mr. Kovind, The president of India. We are extremely proud of him especially as an alumnus of our college.
Raj Which college is this? And can you find the citation?
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Lalmohan »

tsarkar wrote:Airmen/Other ranks are not targeted but you're right, everyone needs to remove their rank insignia. However airmen/jawans have it sewn in their uniforms and can't be removed unlike Officer insignia on uniform shoulder straps that can be easily removed by unbuttoning the shoulder straps.
current vogue in nato seems to be a little Velcro tab worn around the chest area in low vis to denote rank
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by RajD »

@Ramanaji
Nanodkar sir graduated from B. N. Bandodkar College of Science, Thane, Maharashtra. He completed flying course at Bombay Flying Club, Juhu, Mumbai. And later joined IAF.
It's good idea. I'll request him to share the citation if possible.
Regards.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by ramana »

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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by ramana »

ramana wrote:The RM in thick of these exercises at many airbases has deep meaning for special delivery packages.

I was right...


https://twitter.com/SirfNewsIndia/statu ... 56640?s=19
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by ajay_hk »

X-post from LCA thread. Lot of good tidbits in the article. Posting in full.

Indian-made Tejas proves its mettle in IAF's biggest combat exercise

Kalyan Ray, DH News Service, New Delhi, CREATED: APR 24 2018, 21:14PM IST

Notwithstanding few snags they developed during Indian Air Force (IAF) combat exercise Gagan Shakti, a fleet of eight indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft convinced the top brass of the IAF that the homemade combat jet is ready for operation.

Tejas LCA undertook 6 sorties a day. Each mission, lasting for 45 minutes on the lower side to one and half hours, proved the indigenous fighter jet's efficiency in an operational role.

There were technical snags, but none were repetitive in nature. “These were routine glitches. The turnaround time was less than six hours during the exercise. It can't be said these are nagging problems. LCA is a capable aircraft for ground attack,” said an officer.


Besides checking the efficacy and integration of LCA and Aakash air defence missile system, IAF used its biggest war game also to examine the capabilities of upgraded Mirage-2000 and MiG-29 in an operational environment.

During the two-week-long Gaganshakti exercise – the largest buildup of Indian military since Operation Brasstacks in the 1980s, IAF flew 11,000 sorties in two days simulating destruction of enemy targets not only near China and Pakistan borders but also in the high seas. As many as 9,000 sorties were by the fighter aircraft.

A team of 300 experts now analyse different aspects of the massive war game and a report is expected within a week. It took almost nine months for the IAF to prepare for the exercise during which IAF achieved 80% serviceability with its aircraft and 97% with the missiles, some of them are 40 years old system.

The pan-Indian drill was meant to test the IAF's ability to fight in a two-front war scenario. But in reality, it became a sequential exercise rather than a simultaneous one. The men and machines were first tested in the western front and subsequently switched to the eastern front within 48 hours for operations close to the Sino-Indian border.

Also, there was a maritime component as deep strike jets flew over the Indian Ocean to hit at decoy targets set by the Indian Navy. “This is as real as one can get. In an actual war, we take calculated risk, but this was a peacetime exercise,” said an officer.

The impact of the drill was felt across the border. China employed two of its airborne radar systems to keep an eye on the Indian exercise.


“In recent days, India has issued the largest air-to-air manoeuvres in the history of the country. The total number of participating aircraft has reached 1,100! Such large-scale air exercises are currently difficult for other countries except for the United States. If India really has more than 1,100 planes involved in the drill, China and Russia must look at India differently,” says a report (English translation) in one of China's state-controlled media named zhaizou.com.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by ArjunPandit »

^^I find this part very interesting: Besides checking the efficacy and integration of LCA and Aakash air defence missile system. How would these two be integrated, through some data link (AWACS or some other mechanism) or through satcom?
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by ramana »

No.They are two new weapon systems and how they integrate in overall IAF combat system is checked.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by tsarkar »

A great photo in Ramana's link

Image
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by jaysimha »

PIB gaganshakthi update
Ministry of Defence
Conclusion of Exercise Gaganshakti-2018
Posted On: 24 APR 2018 7:28PM by PIB Delhi

The Indian Air Force conducted pan India Exercise Gagan Shakti-2018 from 08-22 Apr 2018. The aim of the exercise was real time coordination, deployment and employment of air power in a short and intense battle scenario. For an exercise of such scale, the planning process started almost nine months back. During Gagan Shakti-2018, lAF exercised its entire war fighting machinery to validate its concept of operations and war waging capability. The focus of the exercise was to check the viability of our operational plans and learn meaningful lessons.

The exercise was conducted in two phases so that all Commands get adequate opportunity to test the efficacy of their preparedness.

Phase-I of the exercise involved activation of Western, South Western and Southern Air Commands, with affiliated Army and Naval components.

Phase-II of the exercise involved activation of Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Air Commands. Re-deployment for Phase-II involved relocating the forces so as to be effective at the new Iocations within a short span of 48 hours. This was made possible by round the clock operations of heavy lift transport aircraft like C-17 and IL-76 as well as by employing a large number of tactical airlift aircraft like C-130 and An-32 aircraft. IAF also used civil chartered flight and trains for mobilisation of resources.

During the exercise, all types of combat missions, encompassing all air campaigns, were conducted. Fighter aircraft undertook surge operations i.e. generating maximum number of sorties in a 24 hours cycle. These included long range missions with concentrated live and simulated weapon releases across all air to ground ranges in India, creation of Air Defence umbrella to facilitate operation of ground forces and Counter Surface Force Operations in support of Army in various sectors, during both phases Maritime Operations involving long range maritime strikes with Maritime Reconnaissance support by Indian Navy aircraft were also practiced. The efficacy and integration of indigenous LCA aircraft and Akash Missile system in the operational matrix of the IAF was also checked out. In addition, capabilities of upgraded Mirage-2000 and MiG-29 aircraft were tested for the first time in an operational environment. All types of aerial weapons, including standoff and precision weapons were employed to validate their use in the Air Operations Matrix.

Combat Support Operations involved missions by force enablers like AWACS and Air to Air refuellers, Special Ops comprising a Battalion Group paradrop, Special Ops with Garud Commandos, Combat Search and Rescue for effective extraction of downed aircrew behind enemy lines, sea rescue and operations from Advanced Landing Grounds. The transport aircraft also undertook mass casualty evacuation missions in all Commands employing C-17, C-130 and An-32 aircraft. Helicopter missions included Special Heliborne Operations, casualty evacuation, strike missions against enemy formations and Inter-Valley Troop Transfer.

For joint operations, lAF’s joint command and control structures with Indian Army and Navy, such as Advance HQ of IAF co-located with Army Commands, Tactical Air Centres, Maritime Air Ops Centre and Maritime Elements of Air Force etc, were activated. Army troops and combat vehicles were deployed to simulate Tactical Battle Areas in all Commands and some of the Army exercises were dovetailed with air operations for simulation of realistic battlefield environment. Ships were deployed, both in the Arabian Sea as well as in Bay of Bengal, for anti-shipping strikes by IAF maritime aircraft operating from bases on the east and west coast, as well as from island territories.

During the exercise, more than 11000 sorties were flown, which include approx 9000 sorties by fighter aircraft.

To sustain the tempo of operations on such a large scale, on a 24 x 7 basis, the training status of entire IAF was enhanced, especially the aircrew. All qualified and medically fit crew upto 48 years of age were made proficient and current by giving them re-validation training on combat assets, employed during the exercise. Even the technical manpower focused on their primary tasks and rehearsed their SOPs/ practices in the run up to the exercise. Over 1,400 officers and 14,000 men were pulled out of training establishments and deployed for the exercise, to augment existing resources.

Intense operations of this magnitude, in a short span of time, involved very close coordination with Airport Authority of India for airspace coordination. It was an endeavour of the IAF to conduct this exercise with negligible disruptions of civil traffic anywhere in the country. IAF had also activated a number of civil airfields to support combat operations during the exercise.

All operations were conducted in a Network Enabled scenario with a very high reliability of communications, networked air defence systems employing op enabling software.

A major highlight of the exercise was a very high availability and reliability of all combat assets including aircraft, missile systems and radars. High tempo operations also enabled the IAF to ascertain sustainability of the logistics chain.

IAF was able to achieve 80% serviceability of aircraft while radars and surface to air guided weapons maintained a serviceability of 97%, which included some of the legacy systems that were over 40 years old. Focused effort enabled a dispatch rate of more than 95% for the Combat Assets, 100% availability of Combat Support Systems and almost 100% dispatch rates of Combat Enablers. This had been possible due to good planning and dedicated efforts of our airwarriors as well as continuous support by DPSUs that is HAL, BEL and DRDO. Flight line unserviceabilities were promptly rectified by dedicated maintenance crew. The logistics stamina of the IAF and the ability to sustain continuous operations through day and night was put through a rigorous assessment. Contingencies such as repair of battle damaged aircraft and relocation, of essential services due to enemy air action were also practiced.

The exercise also focused heavily on base security aspects. Simulated drills involving infiltration into operational area by various means were practiced. Dedicated contingencies were conducted towards sustaining operations in a Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear attack scenario. Different techniques for repairing runway after bomb damage were practiced in addition to restoration of essential services and mass casualty evacuation at forward bases. Extensive coordination with Territorial Army Units and Local Civil Administration was undertaken to refine response during various security and administrative contingencies.

Exercise Gagan Shakti-2018 provided IAF with an excellent opportunity to practice its war time drills and undertake operations in realistic scenario. Activities were undertaken in a cohesive manner to achieve the stated objectives of the Indian Air Force, in case of any contingency. The exercise also enabled the IAF to validate operational efficacy of new platforms and refine existing Standard Operating Procedures. Joint operations with Army and Navy, conducted during the exercise, would help in achieving better operational synergy between the three services, in application of combat power.

************

AB/MKR



(Release ID: 1530094) Visitor Counter : 368


http://pib.nic.in/PressReleaseIframePag ... ID=1530094
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by nits »

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) closely monitored different aspects of the Indian Air Force’s Gaganshakti-2018 exercise that concluded in the eastern sector on Sunday, said people involved in the drills.

“Gaganshakti-2018 was the biggest IAF exercise ever and the PLAAF kept an eye on it. It’s not unusual as we also do the same when our neighbours carry out military drills,” the official said on Tuesday.

Quoting IAF chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, Hindustan Times reported on April 17 that the Pakistan Air Force was monitoring the exercise through its airborne warning and control systems during its first phase in the western sector.

Another official said 300 expert teams were analysing different aspects of the exercise and a report on lessons learnt would be out in a week. The IAF took nine months to prepare for GaganShakti-2018, he added.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Aditya_V »

Any Idea how did our ground based radars, Phalcon and Netra do. I hope we got good details on the airbases and Electronic signatures of Erieye, K-9 Karakoram etc.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Lalmohan »

one important note here is the organisational, managerial and logistical capability built up within the forces which has enabled such a massive exercise to be carried out. this is at the heart of NCW and I think this exercise demonstrates that the IAF has ticked all the boxes
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by nits »

The report says - IAF took nine months to prepare for GaganShakti-2018. Its like a War Like scenario

Is this time justified or situation will differ when actual war scenario arise ?
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Arun.prabhu »

Nine months works out to about when the Doklam crisis was raging. Nice message. Next step would be to reduce the lead time once all the wear and tear of this exercise is rectified.
nits wrote:
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) closely monitored different aspects of the Indian Air Force’s Gaganshakti-2018 exercise that concluded in the eastern sector on Sunday, said people involved in the drills.

“Gaganshakti-2018 was the biggest IAF exercise ever and the PLAAF kept an eye on it. It’s not unusual as we also do the same when our neighbours carry out military drills,” the official said on Tuesday.

Quoting IAF chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, Hindustan Times reported on April 17 that the Pakistan Air Force was monitoring the exercise through its airborne warning and control systems during its first phase in the western sector.

Another official said 300 expert teams were analysing different aspects of the exercise and a report on lessons learnt would be out in a week. The IAF took nine months to prepare for GaganShakti-2018, he added.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Aditya_V »

Well to put it in a this way- we willnot get 9 months notice, but now that we have prepared what needs to be done, we are prepared. That was the State of our forces.

Ater this we would know what spares/ parts drop tanks, what works , what does not, who are are critical suppliers within and outside the country. In 2014 when Chumar incident we have 40% availability.
Last edited by Aditya_V on 25 Apr 2018 15:02, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Arun.prabhu »

nits wrote:The report says - IAF took nine months to prepare for GaganShakti-2018. Its like a War Like scenario

Is this time justified or situation will differ when actual war scenario arise ?
Yes, the shooting part of a short, intensive war may be short, but the preparation part is long and very involved. We have demonstrated very ably that we can do the latter with this exercise and no one doubted Indian army’s willingness and ability to shed blood. So very positive all around.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by rkhanna »

nits wrote:The report says - IAF took nine months to prepare for GaganShakti-2018. Its like a War Like scenario

Is this time justified or situation will differ when actual war scenario arise ?
I think (like the Chinese pointed out) no other AirForce other than the USAF has done a mass mobilization like this since WWII. 9 months of prep was probably time justified as alot of SOP's and Logistics and C&C integration was probably done for the first time.

With things now tested and with lessons learned going forward - (training or War senario) things will be different. The simple fact that right out the door the paper plans worked well is an indicator of our learning curve.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Arun.prabhu »

With the addendum that one needs to replenish the inventory drawdown from this exercise, yes. Once preparations - logistic, procedure, movement orders, etc - are done once, it is mostly maintenance and updating of inventory, SOP, etc which doesn’t take all that much monies or resource in time and manpower.
Aditya_V wrote:Well to put it in a this way- we willnot get 9 months notice, but now that we have prepared what needs to be done, we are prepared. That was the State of our forces.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Lalmohan »

If you look at GW1 and 2 and consider the large staff teams that the 'nato' forces put together and the time and effort spent on that, despite the fact that they are used to working together for years, that is the key aspect of war fighting these days that is not apparent from watching the tip of the spear
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by nits »

i believe next time it will not take 9 months as we have a framework ready; a broad plan in place and we know how to get it done in real time...And with Lesson Learn implemented this can reduce down to a month in long run

First time is always going to be long - but post that we know how things are to be done... But worth the time and effort - Send a good message inside and outside county that we are ready !!
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Arun.prabhu »

And even with that staff and logistical capabilities that we can only dream of even now, it took the US and their NATO allies six months to move troops and complete the logistical legwork for the ground war, which lasted less than a week.
Lalmohan wrote:If you look at GW1 and 2 and consider the large staff teams that the 'nato' forces put together and the time and effort spent on that, despite the fact that they are used to working together for years, that is the key aspect of war fighting these days that is not apparent from watching the tip of the spear
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Lalmohan »

yes that is the key - the logistical groundwork is massive. we are lucky that we do not have to project force across the world, so atleast we rely on our own direct lines of supply and management
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Aditya_V »

Plus we now must be having a lot of spares and ideas to get spare drop tanks etc. Specific plans for vital targets, enemies countermeasures etc. In previous wars we were pretty unprepared.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by JayS »

nits wrote:The report says - IAF took nine months to prepare for GaganShakti-2018. Its like a War Like scenario

Is this time justified or situation will differ when actual war scenario arise ?
Real war almost never comes out of blue. There are always adequate warnings months preceding actual war break out. The pressure slowly builds up and level of readiness goes up with it. The nine months would have been taken for creating plans for force mobilization, actual sortie level planning, personnel mobilization, a lot of admin activities, clearances and what not. A lot of old things discarded, new things brought in and now validated through the exercise. Now they know what exactly is needed to be done for such mobilization, where are the bottlenecks, what needs more efforts and things like that. Those will be ironed out. Lessons will be soaked up and imbibed in SOPs. Second time is always much faster. That's the whole point of conducting exercises.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by JTull »

One of the silent performers of GS-18 were the An-32. There are pictures of para drops, report of use for medvac and misc transport needs. Just like the mention of upgraded M2Ks and Mig-29s, it would be good to know how the upgraded An-32s fared.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by ramana »

nits wrote:i believe next time it will not take 9 months as we have a framework ready; a broad plan in place and we know how to get it done in real time...And with Lesson Learn implemented this can reduce down to a month in long run

First time is always going to be long - but post that we know how things are to be done... But worth the time and effort - Send a good message inside and outside country that we are ready !!

Kargil shows the lag time for IAF.

IAF had completed a big exercise in Rajasthan just before Kargil.
IA asked for helicopter strikes after the extent of intrusion was understood.
IAF needed 7 to 10 days to ensure they had enough forces to prevent escalation.

Someone can look up the dates.

In 1965 IA asked for air strikes on Pak forces in Chaamb and immediately planes were sent.

But Kargil happened after the nuke tests and no one thought Pak would be stupid to have an armed intrusion.

Now all branches of govt are aware of PAK mindset.
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Lalmohan »

yes but in 65 aircraft just had to fly and fire cannon (for the most part) and face relatively simpler threats
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by ramana »

jaysimha wrote:PIB gaganshakthi update
Ministry of Defence
Conclusion of Exercise Gaganshakti-2018
Posted On: 24 APR 2018 7:28PM by PIB Delhi


Obejective

The Indian Air Force conducted pan India Exercise Gagan Shakti-2018 from 08-22 Apr 2018. The aim of the exercise was real time coordination, deployment and employment of air power in a short and intense battle scenario. For an exercise of such scale, the planning process started almost nine months back. During Gagan Shakti-2018, lAF exercised its entire war fighting machinery to validate its concept of operations and war waging capability. The focus of the exercise was to check the viability of our operational plans and learn meaningful lessons.

The exercise was conducted in two phases so that all Commands get adequate opportunity to test the efficacy of their preparedness.

Phase-I of the exercise involved activation of Western, South Western and Southern Air Commands, with affiliated Army and Naval components.

Phase-II of the exercise involved activation of Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Air Commands. Re-deployment for Phase-II involved relocating the forces so as to be effective at the new Iocations within a short span of 48 hours. This was made possible by round the clock operations of heavy lift transport aircraft like C-17 and IL-76 as well as by employing a large number of tactical airlift aircraft like C-130 and An-32 aircraft. IAF also used civil chartered flight and trains for mobilisation of resources.

During the exercise, all types of combat missions, encompassing all air campaigns, were conducted. Fighter aircraft undertook surge operations i.e. generating maximum number of sorties in a 24 hours cycle. These included long range missions with concentrated live and simulated weapon releases across all air to ground ranges in India, creation of Air Defence umbrella to facilitate operation of ground forces and Counter Surface Force Operations in support of Army in various sectors, during both phases Maritime Operations involving long range maritime strikes with Maritime Reconnaissance support by Indian Navy aircraft were also practiced. The efficacy and integration of indigenous LCA aircraft and Akash Missile system in the operational matrix of the IAF was also checked out. In addition, capabilities of upgraded Mirage-2000 and MiG-29 aircraft were tested for the first time in an operational environment. All types of aerial weapons, including standoff and precision weapons were employed to validate their use in the Air Operations Matrix.

Combat Support Operations involved missions by force enablers like AWACS and Air to Air refuellers, Special Ops comprising a Battalion Group paradrop, Special Ops with Garud Commandos, Combat Search and Rescue for effective extraction of downed aircrew behind enemy lines, sea rescue and operations from Advanced Landing Grounds. The transport aircraft also undertook mass casualty evacuation missions in all Commands employing C-17, C-130 and An-32 aircraft. Helicopter missions included Special Heliborne Operations, casualty evacuation, strike missions against enemy formations and Inter-Valley Troop Transfer.

For joint operations, lAF’s joint command and control structures with Indian Army and Navy, such as Advance HQ of IAF co-located with Army Commands, Tactical Air Centres, Maritime Air Ops Centre and Maritime Elements of Air Force etc, were activated. Army troops and combat vehicles were deployed to simulate Tactical Battle Areas in all Commands and some of the Army exercises were dovetailed with air operations for simulation of realistic battlefield environment. Ships were deployed, both in the Arabian Sea as well as in Bay of Bengal, for anti-shipping strikes by IAF maritime aircraft operating from bases on the east and west coast, as well as from island territories.

During the exercise, more than 11000 sorties were flown, which include approx 9000 sorties by fighter aircraft.

To sustain the tempo of operations on such a large scale, on a 24 x 7 basis, the training status of entire IAF was enhanced, especially the aircrew. All qualified and medically fit crew upto 48 years of age were made proficient and current by giving them re-validation training on combat assets, employed during the exercise. Even the technical manpower focused on their primary tasks and rehearsed their SOPs/ practices in the run up to the exercise. Over 1,400 officers and 14,000 men were pulled out of training establishments and deployed for the exercise, to augment existing resources.

{This gives us the teeth to tail ratio to generate the surge sorties. Also shows there is adequate manpower reserve in IAF as there is more manpower.}

Intense operations of this magnitude, in a short span of time, involved very close coordination with Airport Authority of India for airspace coordination. It was an endeavour of the IAF to conduct this exercise with negligible disruptions of civil traffic anywhere in the country. IAF had also activated a number of civil airfields to support combat operations during the exercise.

All operations were conducted in a Network Enabled scenario with a very high reliability of communications, networked air defence systems employing op enabling software.


A major highlight of the exercise was a very high availability and reliability of all combat assets including aircraft, missile systems and radars. High tempo operations also enabled the IAF to ascertain sustainability of the logistics chain.

IAF was able to achieve 80% serviceability of aircraft while radars and surface to air guided weapons maintained a serviceability of 97%, which included some of the legacy systems that were over 40 years old. Focused effort enabled a dispatch rate of more than 95% for the Combat Assets, 100% availability of Combat Support Systems and almost 100% dispatch rates of Combat Enablers. This had been possible due to good planning and dedicated efforts of our airwarriors as well as continuous support by DPSUs that is HAL, BEL and DRDO. Flight line unserviceabilities were promptly rectified by dedicated maintenance crew. The logistics stamina of the IAF and the ability to sustain continuous operations through day and night was put through a rigorous assessment. Contingencies such as repair of battle damaged aircraft and relocation, of essential services due to enemy air action were also practiced.

The exercise also focused heavily on base security aspects. Simulated drills involving infiltration into operational area by various means were practiced. Dedicated contingencies were conducted towards sustaining operations in a Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear attack scenario. Different techniques for repairing runway after bomb damage were practiced in addition to restoration of essential services and mass casualty evacuation at forward bases. Extensive coordination with Territorial Army Units and Local Civil Administration was undertaken to refine response during various security and administrative contingencies.

Exercise Gagan Shakti-2018 provided IAF with an excellent opportunity to practice its war time drills and undertake operations in realistic scenario. Activities were undertaken in a cohesive manner to achieve the stated objectives of the Indian Air Force, in case of any contingency. The exercise also enabled the IAF to validate operational efficacy of new platforms and refine existing Standard Operating Procedures. Joint operations with Army and Navy, conducted during the exercise, would help in achieving better operational synergy between the three services, in application of combat power.

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AB/MKR



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This is as near to war as it gets. Nine months is not a long time to prepare for a war.

My suggestion is that next one should look at opposing forces using guided bombs against aircraft shelters. By then the new design HAS will be in place in most of the airbases.
Next time look at activating Phase II in defensive mode while Phase I is underway for that is a realistic scenario.
However, this needs more planes and could stretch Phase I a bit longer.
Also, I recall the Exercise started 48 hours after kickoff on 8 April as per the plans. Again forces in advance locations should be carrying out with in 4 hours and rest can follow.
ramana
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by ramana »

Lalmohan wrote:yes but in 65 aircraft just had to fly and fire cannon (for the most part) and face relatively simpler threats
And were promptly shot down. Hence the IAF caution to rush inot battle without proper path forward and escaltion control.

My comments weere about reaction time not about threat environment.
Singha
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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Singha »

i wonder if we should attempt out own Pakdaski in parallel with the AMCA . a large wet wing will give good fuel tanks and lift....upturny wingletski for additional lift .... 2 large AL51 engines or 4 smaller ones .... such a platform might offer more penetration options than a purely standoff bomb truck of the B52/Bear/H6 mould.

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Re: Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Post by Rakesh »

Gaganshakti 2018 --- 10 spectacular videos that show IAF’s might!
https://www.financialexpress.com/defenc ... t/1145174/
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