Watch: Indian Air Force wows crowd at 71st Republic Day parade by performing gravity defying manoeuvres

Indian air force stuns audience at the Republic Day parade.

As India celebrates its 71st Republic Day today the fly-past by Indian Air Force took everyone’s breath away as IAF pilots performed some of the most amazing gravity-defying stunts. The grand finale and one of the most keenly awaited segments of the parade was the fly-past by the Indian Air force.

Piloted by Wing Commander Yathartha Johri along with Flight Lieutenant S Mishra, a lone Su-30MKI flew at a speed of 900 km/hr and split the sky with a gravity-defying ‘Vertical Charlie’.

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The stunt from another angle left everyone speechless.

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The entire national capital has been put under multi-layered security cover with thousands of armed personnel keeping a tight vigil over it, including the celebration venue Rajpath.

The grand parade at Rajpath, which is performed as a tribute to India’s unity in diversity and rich cultural heritage comes to an end today with the Indian Air force performing some enthralling stunts with its aircraft.

The India air force also stunned the crowd with the ‘Arrowhead’ formation. Five Jaguar Deep penetration strike aircraft, in ‘Arrowhead’ formation flew past at a speed of 780 kmph. The formation was led by Group Captain Parijat Saurabh.

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The Sukhoi 30MKIs of Indian Air Force executed the ‘Trishul’ manoeuvre.  The formation was being led by Group Captain Nishit Ohri. The captains of the other two aircraft were Wing Commander Nilesh Dixit and Wing Commander Karan Dogra.

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Wing Commander SK Chauhan leads the ‘Vic’ formation, comprising three Dornier aircraft. The captains of the other two aircraft are Squadron Leader Vikas Kumar and Squadron Leader Abhishek Vashisht.

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This is 1st time that a “Tri-service Formation” took part in the Republic Day celebrations. It comprised of three ALH (Advanced light helicopters) in a ‘Vic’ formation. This formation was devised during World War 1. Three or more aircraft fly in close formation with the leader at the apex and the rest flying to left and right. The entire arrangement looks like a ‘V’. The tri-service formation is significant as India got the post of Chief of Defence Staff, a tri-service chief looking after Navy, Army and Air Force.

Today, for the first time, the Rajpath saw the formation of the formidable Apache attack helicopters. The Indian Air Force in a tweet on the Republic Day even shared the video from the rehearsals.

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Apache was first inducted in the IAF in September 2019.

Additionally, three Chinook helicopters took part in the Republic Day parade for the first time after being inducted last year.

Breaking from the tradition, Prime Minister Modi had paid homage to the fallen soldiers at the newly built National War Memorial (NWM) at the India Gate, instead of Amar Jawan Jyoti, on Sunday morning prior to participating in the 71st Republic Day celebrations.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia