The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Mock air battle over sea

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Saturday, Jul 19, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Mock air battle over sea

Staff Reporter

Sukhois and Jaguars were the ‘combatants’

– Photo: S. Mahinsha

Meeting point: An Indian Air Force chopper demonstrates a search-and-rescue operation at an air show rehearsal in the city on Friday.

Thiruvananthapuram: Indian Air Force fighter jets rehearsed a mock air battle over the Shanghumugham beach on Friday afternoon. Two Russian-made Sukhoi 30 MKI “heavy class air-superiority multi-role strike aircraft” of the Number Eight Pursuit Squadron engaged four U.K.-made Jaguar “deep penetration bombers” of the Number Six Dragon Squadron in a “dog fight.” The brief but grand display occurred low over the sea and a few hundred metres away from the coastline.

The roar of the twisting, turning, climbing and diving fighter jets drowned the sound of the sea for a few enthralling moments. The Sukhois took off from Pune, refuelled from an IL-78 tanker over Kochi and appeared low over the Valiathura pier in time for the air show around 2.20 p.m.

Peering out to the sea from his make-shift observation tower on the beach, Air Vice Marshal Rajender Singh (the air operations chief) seemed satisfied that the Sukhois had arrived in time.

The veteran fighter pilot turned to his Group Captain M.C. Mishra and said he wanted the fighters to maintain a lower altitude while approaching the VIP dais.

The Sukhois climbed to 2,000 feet and circled over the beach in combat air patrol formation. Four Jaguars appeared over the pier and raced parallel to the beach in attack formation. An air raid warning was sounded. The Sukhois orbiting overhead peeled off in opposite directions to engage the “enemy.” They swooped down on the tail of the Jaguars. The Sukhois’ pilots aligned their aircraft for a “gun kill.”

The bombers executed low level inverted turns to throw the interceptors of their tail. The Jaguars “jettisoned their payload far away from the target to gain escape speed” and raced away from the interceptors.

The Sukhois executed a few hard turns over the spectators and one of the fighters broke formation to display the aircraft’s low speed manoeuvring capability. (The Sukhoi is capable of a top speed of 2,120 km/hour and could climb to an altitude of 57,000 feet in less than a minute.)

A Coast Guard vessel and a Navy ship supported the IAF operations. The vessels were tasked to carry out search-and-rescue if any fighter pilot had to eject from his aircraft. Bird watchers equipped with wireless sets were on the ground to warn pilots. The demonstration was in an imaginary rectangle box 15 nautical miles long and 10 nautical miles wide.

Four subsonic Hindustan Mark-II jet trainer aircraft of the Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team (SKAT) rehearsed their 20 minute routine.

The rehearsal began with a fly past of two MI-8 medium lift helicopters. One “trooped” the colours of IAF. The other showered rose petals on the spectators. The helicopters fired flares designed to draw away infra-red radiation guided ground-to-air missiles.

Southern Air Command chief Air Marshal S. C. Mukul and Group Captain M.K.K. Thampi were present.

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