‘Gaganshakti’ exercise - a shock for the enemy nations: Indian Air Chief Marshal

New Delhi: Air Chief Marshal, B.S. Dhanoa inspected the ‘Gaganshakti 2018’ training exercise of the Indian Air-force conducted near the Pakistan border. Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa expressed satisfaction and said that this exercise will shake-up the earth and the skies for the enemies.

More than 5000 sorties were conducted by the airforce fighter jets during the exercise and have destroyed the planned targets accurately.

The ‘Gaganshakti 2018’ started on the 10th of April and will continue till the 23rd of April. One thousand aircrafts and 15000 personnel from the air-force have participated in this exercise. Indian Airforce had organised ‘Operation Brasstacks’ in 1987 and ‘Operation Parakram’ in 2001. At that time, there was extreme tension on the Pakistan border following the attack on the Indian Parliament. Since then, this has been the first exercise, on such a large scale, to check the war preparedness and coordination between the different departments.

At the time of rapidly changing international situation and the rising tension on both the Pakistan and China borders, the importance of these military manoeuvres has increased. The capabilities of each department of the air-force, of every aircraft in the air-force fleet and of the arms, are being tested in this exercise. Therefore, both Pakistan and China are closely watching the Indian Air-force exercises.

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa reviewed the exercise. It is actually visible that the Indian Air-force has shook the land and the skies for the enemies, said Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa. ‘Shaking the heaven and splitting the earth’ were the words used by the Air Chief Marshal this time. The United States Study group RAND Corporation had used these words in their report to describe the Chinese air power in 2011. Against this background, the Air Chief Marshal seems to have delivered a significant message using these same words to describe the strength of the Indian Air-force.

Most importantly, ‘Gaganshakti 2018’ has been organised in two phases and the exercise near the Pakistan border was its first phase. The second phase is starting near the Chinese border on Tuesday. Army and naval fighter jets will also participate in this exercise to increase its importance furthermore.