New Delhi: The roar of indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv and fighter aircraft Tejas will not be heard at the 76th Republic Day parade this year as both these are not participating in the flypast this time.
Talking to media, the Indian Air Force spokesperson said that the indigenously developed Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv and indigenous fighter aircraft Tejas will not take part in the flypast.
The IAF spokesperson said that after the accident of a Dhruv helicopter of the Indian Coast Guard on January 5, they have been stopped from flying. The Armed Forces currently has 330 Dhruv helicopters and all of them have been 'grounded' after this accident.
Tejas aircraft has not been included in the flypast because it is a single engine aircraft and due to security reasons the IAF has not been flying single engine aircraft in the flypast for the last few years.
He said that this time, 40 fighter planes, cargo planes and helicopters will take part in the flypast. Of these, 22 fighter aircraft, 11 cargo aircraft and seven helicopters will demonstrate their capabilities.
The aircraft taking part in the flypast will fly from Adampur, Ambala, Palam, Sirsa, Jodhpur and Hindon Air Force stations.
The Republic Day parade will begin with a flag formation of four Mi-17 helicopters. One of these helicopters will have the national flag and three will have the flags of the three forces. The flypast will begin with three MiG-29 fighter aircraft flying in hawk formation. After this, three Apache helicopters will fly at a height of 60 meters on the Kartavya Path in Ajay Formation.
After these, C-130 and C-295 aircraft will also be seen in Arjun formation. Later, two Sukhoi fighter aircraft will be seen in Netra formation and C-17 and Sukhoi fighter aircraft will be seen in Bhim formation.
Behind them, five Jaguars will display their strength in Amrit formation, six Rafale fighter aircraft in Vajrang Formation and three Sukhoi aircraft in Trishul Formation. The flypast will conclude by a Rafale fighter aircraft in Vijay formation.
Moreover, the IAF marching contingent will consist of 144 airmen and the band will consist of 72 bandsmen. The number of Air Force band personnel in the Beating Retreat will be 121.
This time, instead of separate tableaux of the three forces, an integrated tableau will be seen in the Republic Day Parade.
