Jaiselmar: Indian Air Force’s firepower demonstration — Exercise Vayu Shakti — began at the Pokharan range in Western Rajasthan near the India-Pakistan border on Friday in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, IAF chief Air Marshal A P Singh, Rajasthan Governor Haribhau Bagade, and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat are also present at the event.
IAF fighter jets, transport aircraft and helicopters are participating in the day-dusk-night demonstration that involves synchronised operations aimed at validating operational preparedness, precision strike capability, and rapid response mechanisms.
Tight security arrangements have been put in place in Jaisalmer in view of the President’s visit and the IAF exercise.
The entire area from Chandan to Pokharan has been temporarily declared a “no-fly zone” while the police, administration, and security agencies are put on full alert. Additional surveillance is being maintained in the border areas.
LCH Prachand is India’s first indigenously designed and developed combat helicopter, built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
Designed to operate in diverse terrains — from deserts to high-altitude regions — the helicopter is capable of operating at altitudes exceeding 5,000 metres, making it well-suited for deployment along mountainous borders.
Equipped with advanced avionics, stealth features, night-attack capability and a formidable array of weapons including air-to-ground and air-to-air missiles, rockets and a 20 mm gun, the LCH significantly enhances the combat capability of the IAF.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had undertaken a sortie in the Prachand, which translates to fierce, during the formal induction of the first LCH into the IAF at the Jodhpur Air Force Station in October 2022.
In the evening, the President will attend the IAF’s mega firepower demonstration ‘VayuShakti’ at the Pokhran Field Firing Range near the India-Pakistan border.
The event follows a full dress rehearsal held on February 24, which showcased coordinated day-to-dusk-to-night operations in a near-realistic combat scenario.
During the rehearsal, frontline fighter jets, transport aircraft and helicopters had carried out simulated strikes on designated targets. Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft targeted enemy runways and positions, MiG-29 jets struck a simulated convoy of tanks, and the Akash missile system engaged aerial targets.
A C-130 aircraft had conducted a night landing, while a C-295 transport aircraft carried out landing operations. Prachand and Apache helicopters, as well as Jaguar aircraft, also participated in the dress rehearsal.
Friday’s sortie in the LCH will add to a series of high-profile engagements by the President with frontline military platforms.
Murmu undertook a sortie in a Rafale fighter aircraft at the Air Force Station in Ambala in October last year, becoming the first Indian President to have flown in two different fighter aircraft of the IAF.
In April 2023, she undertook a sortie in a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam, flying for about 30 minutes over the Brahmaputra and Tezpur valley with a view of the Himalayas.
