DEFENCE MINISTER NIRMALA SITHARAMAN VISITS ARUNACHAL PRADESH, ASSAM

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited the Indo-China border in Arunachal Pradesh to inspect the Indian Air Force’s Advanced Landing Ground at Pasighat there. Sitharaman also visited the Chabua IAF base station in Assam’s Dibrugarh district to witness its Gagan Shakti Exercise 2018, a pan-India exercise which is in its second phase.

The minister inspected operations of SU-30 MKI fighter aircraft, C-17 Globemaster aircraft and rocket loading on Mi-17 V5 helicopters at Pasighat. She also witnessed a assault drill by the IAF’s Garud commandos. The minister visited the Air to Ground weapons range at Dullong Mukh, where the strike package of Su-30 aircraft was displayed.

Mi-17 V5 Helicopters also demonstrated their strike capability delivering 80mm rockets on a simulated target.

Sitharaman then visited Chabua, interacted with the air warriors and was also briefed on employment of Air Power in the defence of Eastern Sector.

The defence minister has been visiting various air force establishments to gauge the operational capability and preparedness of the IAF. Stating Exercise Gagan Shakti-2018 is a large scale IAF exercise which is currently in its second phase, he said the assets have now been deployed along the northern region and operations are taking place in full swing.