<p>The Indian Air Force, which is under scanner for the VVIP helicopter scam, may get a pat on its back from none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who would be witnessing a massive IAF fire power demonstration in the Pokhran deserts on Friday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Besides the Prime Minister, President Pranab Mukherjee who is the supreme commander of the armed forces, Defence Minister A K Antony, Army and IAF chiefs and foreign dignitaries would watch the exercise in which IAF would showcase its capability to hit the enemy by day, dusk and night. “This is for the first time the Prime Minister will have a first hand experience of an exercise by the armed forces,” an official said.<br /><br />IAF has decided to fly its most advanced Su-30 MKI fighters as part of the exercise notwithstanding a crash on Tuesday. During a rehearsal, a Su-30MKI fighter jet crashed in the Chandan range in Pokhran in Jaisalmer, but the two pilots ejected safely.<br /><br />According to the general practice, the IAF grounds the entire fleet of any aircraft that crashes and re-checks their systems before flying them again. This is not being followed in the Iron-Fist exercise and the IAF offered an explanation for the deviation. <br /><br />“The problem was with the bomb fuse. There is nothing wrong with the Su-30 MKI aircraft. So it will fly,” an IAF spokesperson told Deccan Herald. Tuesday's crash was the fourth Su-30 accident since 2009.<br /><br />The IAF demonstration comes days before the presentation of the Budget in Parliament. <br />With a cut of Rs 14,000 crore from last year’s allocations, the armed forces are hoping that the 2013-14 budget would take care of some of their long pending acquisition programmes, including the acquisition of 126 fighter jets in which French firm Dassault Aviation was shortlisted as the preferred supplier.<br /><br />The controversy-ridden AW-101 VVIP choppers are unlikely to ferry the Prime Minister and the President, as these choppers have not yet been inducted in the service though they arrived in December. The three AW-101 were in Hindon and pilots were going through the training when the kick-back scam broke out.Indigenous light combat aircraft Tejas will also make its debut in the IAF exercise in Jaisalmer, though their induction in the IAF is still years away. <br /><br />Close to 200 aircraft, including front-line fighters like Su-30 MKI, Mirage-2000, Jaguars and MiG-29 and the latest acquisitions like C-130J Super Hercules carriers and Pilatus basic trainers will fly. “A demonstration of this magnitude is being carried out for the first time by day, dusk and night. Very few air forces in the world can achieve this feat,” the spokesperson said.<br /><br />Other aircraft to be used to demonstrate day and night operability of air power are MiG-21, MiG-27, MiG-29, Hawks AN-32, Embraer and IL-76, while Mi-8, Mi-17 V5, Mi-17 1V as well as Mi-35 and Rudra attack helicopters will constitute the rotary wing ingredients.<br />DH News Service</p>
<p>The Indian Air Force, which is under scanner for the VVIP helicopter scam, may get a pat on its back from none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who would be witnessing a massive IAF fire power demonstration in the Pokhran deserts on Friday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Besides the Prime Minister, President Pranab Mukherjee who is the supreme commander of the armed forces, Defence Minister A K Antony, Army and IAF chiefs and foreign dignitaries would watch the exercise in which IAF would showcase its capability to hit the enemy by day, dusk and night. “This is for the first time the Prime Minister will have a first hand experience of an exercise by the armed forces,” an official said.<br /><br />IAF has decided to fly its most advanced Su-30 MKI fighters as part of the exercise notwithstanding a crash on Tuesday. During a rehearsal, a Su-30MKI fighter jet crashed in the Chandan range in Pokhran in Jaisalmer, but the two pilots ejected safely.<br /><br />According to the general practice, the IAF grounds the entire fleet of any aircraft that crashes and re-checks their systems before flying them again. This is not being followed in the Iron-Fist exercise and the IAF offered an explanation for the deviation. <br /><br />“The problem was with the bomb fuse. There is nothing wrong with the Su-30 MKI aircraft. So it will fly,” an IAF spokesperson told Deccan Herald. Tuesday's crash was the fourth Su-30 accident since 2009.<br /><br />The IAF demonstration comes days before the presentation of the Budget in Parliament. <br />With a cut of Rs 14,000 crore from last year’s allocations, the armed forces are hoping that the 2013-14 budget would take care of some of their long pending acquisition programmes, including the acquisition of 126 fighter jets in which French firm Dassault Aviation was shortlisted as the preferred supplier.<br /><br />The controversy-ridden AW-101 VVIP choppers are unlikely to ferry the Prime Minister and the President, as these choppers have not yet been inducted in the service though they arrived in December. The three AW-101 were in Hindon and pilots were going through the training when the kick-back scam broke out.Indigenous light combat aircraft Tejas will also make its debut in the IAF exercise in Jaisalmer, though their induction in the IAF is still years away. <br /><br />Close to 200 aircraft, including front-line fighters like Su-30 MKI, Mirage-2000, Jaguars and MiG-29 and the latest acquisitions like C-130J Super Hercules carriers and Pilatus basic trainers will fly. “A demonstration of this magnitude is being carried out for the first time by day, dusk and night. Very few air forces in the world can achieve this feat,” the spokesperson said.<br /><br />Other aircraft to be used to demonstrate day and night operability of air power are MiG-21, MiG-27, MiG-29, Hawks AN-32, Embraer and IL-76, while Mi-8, Mi-17 V5, Mi-17 1V as well as Mi-35 and Rudra attack helicopters will constitute the rotary wing ingredients.<br />DH News Service</p>
