Air force day parade, flypast to be held in Prayagraj: Defence Ministry

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will celebrate its 91st anniversary on October 8.

Keeping with a new tradition of hosting the Air Force Day celebrations in different parts of the country, this year's parade and air display will be held in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on Friday.

The ceremonial parade will be conducted at Air Force Station, Bamrauli, while the air display will take place at the Sangam area, the picturesque confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers in Prayagraj. 

“The scenic surroundings would add to the appeal of the stream of aircraft flying-by in close formation,” the MoD said.

The Air Force Day celebrations will commence more than a week before with an air display near Bhojtal Lake in Bhopal on September 30. The IAF was officially established on October 8, 1932.

Its first aircraft flight came into being on April 1 1933, with six officers trained by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and 19 “havai sepoys” (air soldiers). 

The IAF’s aircraft inventory at that time consisted of four Westland Wapiti IIA biplanes, which had the primary task of co-operation with the army.

Today, the IAF is authorised a muscular fleet of 42 combat squadrons, with tasks ranging from air defence (preventing the enemy air fleet from damaging or destroying our own aircraft fleet or air bases); interdiction (destruction of enemy war waging potential on the ground); and close air support (directly supporting our own ground troops).

However, a worrisome weakness of India’s military arsenal is the reduction of the combat aircraft fleet to just about 30 squadrons.

The IAF’s doctrine, the latest version of which was published in 2022, envisions its transformation into a modern aerospace force that is capable of controlling and exploiting the air and space environments in order to achieve India’s national and security objectives. 

The doctrine foresees the emergence of asymmetric and hybrid warfare concepts that require us to dovetail our space and information warfare capabilities into a CONOPS (concept of operations) that will ensure an operational continuum. 

Network centric warfare is now fundamental to the IAF’s power projection, with offensive and air defence operations being conducted synergistically through an Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS). 

“While networking and automation have enhanced operational efficiency at all levels, the precept of conduct of air operations through joint planning, centralised command, distributed control and decentralised execution remains at the core of our doctrinal belief,” the IAF doctrine said.

The IAF is currently grappling with challenges of transforming its organisational and operational structures into tri-service theatre commands, in which all the three services – Army, Navy and Air Force – are required to play an integrated role.

The IAF is expected to be in charge of the “Air Defence Command” as also the operational command that will oversee operations on the India-Pakistan border. 

The IAF stated that it is “looking forward to greeting and enthralling the local populace with its exciting range of aerobatic performances at Prayagraj and Bhopal.”

The previous edition of the Air Force Day Parade was held at Chandigarh, with a flypast over the Sukhna Lake.