New Delhi: The country celebrates 72 years of India’s Constitution coming into effect and the becoming of a republic. In today’s parade, like every year there will be a grand flypast that shows the Indian Air force's strength.
Ahead of the parade and flypast, there were four helicopters of the Air Force that reached the sky. On one there was a tricolor and on the other three there were flags of the three wings of the security forces, that is Army, Air Force, and Navy that showered flowers on the audience.
After the parade ended, there was the grand finale and the most keenly awaited segment of the parade, the FlyPast, for the first time, witnessed 75 aircraft and helicopters of the Indian Air Force displaying a number of formations, as part of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
The flypast included Tangail formation which saw one Dakota and two Dornier flying in Vic formation. This was a tribute to the Tangail airdrop operations of the 1971 War. There was also a Meghna formation of 1 Chinook and four Mi-17s.
The flypast began with the 'Dhwaj' formation with four Mi-17 aircraft, followed by 'Rudra' and 'Rahat' formations with four and five Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH), respectively.
Among the other aircraft that displayed their might at the parade are Rafale, Indian Navy's MiG29K, P-8I surveillance aircraft and Jaguar fighter jets.
Vintage, as well as current modern aircraft/helicopters like Rafale, Sukhoi, Jaguar, Mi-17, Sarang, Apache, and Dakota, displayed different formations, including Rahat, Meghna, Eklavya, Trishul, Tiranga, Vijay, and Amrit.
The ceremony culminates with the national anthem and the release of Tricolour balloons. For the first time, IAF has coordinated with Doordarshan to show cockpit videos during the flypast.