New Delhi: The country is celebrating 72 years of the coming into force of the Constitution of India and becoming a republic. Like every year, there will be a grand flypast of the might of the Indian Air Force in today’s parade.
Four helicopters of the Air Force reached the sky before the parade and flypast. On one was the tricolor and on the other were the flags of the three wings of the security forces i.e. Army, Air Force and Navy which showered flowers on the spectators.
After the parade ended, the grand finale and the most eagerly awaited segment of the parade, the flypast, saw for the first time 75 aircraft and helicopters of the Indian Air Force displaying multiple structures as part of ‘Azadi Ka’. Amrit Festival’.
Grand Finale of Republic Day Parade – Flypast with 75 Indian Air Force aircraft pic.twitter.com/k2SnYgTYeC
— ANI (@ANI) 26 January 2022
The flypast included the Tangle Formation in which a Dakota and two Dorniers were seen flying over the Wick Formation. It was a tribute to the Tangail airdrop operation of the 1971 war. There was also a Meghna formation of 1 Chinook and four Mi-17s.
The flypast began with the formation of ‘Dhwaj’ with four Mi-17 aircraft, followed by ‘Rudra’ and ‘Rahat’ formations with four and five Advanced Light Helicopters (ALHs) respectively.
Other aircraft that displayed their might in the parade include Rafale, Indian Navy’s MiG29K, P-8I surveillance aircraft and Jaguar fighter jets.
Vintage, as well as current modern aircraft/helicopters such as Rafale, Sukhoi, Jaguar, Mi-17, Sarang, Apache and Dakota displayed various structures including Rahat, Meghna, Eklavya, Trishul, Tiranga, Vijay and Amrit.
The function ended with the national anthem and tricolor balloons. For the first time, IAF has coordinated with Doordarshan to show cockpit videos during the flypast.