More than 120 assets, including 77 fighter jets, 43 helicopters, eight transport aircraft and remotely piloted aircraft, will participate in the biennial firepower demonstration
New Delhi:The Indian Air Force (IAF) will conduct Exercise Vayu Shakti at the Pokhran field firing range on February 27, showcasing its operational capability with front-line fighter aircraft and air defence systems.
More than 120 assets, including 77 fighter jets, 43 helicopters, eight transport aircraft and remotely piloted aircraft, will participate in the biennial firepower demonstration. The aircraft are scheduled to engage 23 targets using 277 weapons, with around 12,000 kg of ammunition to be deployed during the two-hour-and-35-minute event.
Aircraft slated to participate include Rafale, Su-30, MiG-29, Tejas, Jaguar and Mirage-2000 fighters, along with Apache and LCH Prachand helicopters. Transport platforms such as C-130J, C-17 and C-295 aircraft will also be involved. Surface-to-air defence systems Aakash and SpyDer will be part of the exercise. Army paratroopers are expected to demonstrate special operations capability.
IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor said the demonstration follows last year’s Operation Sindoor. “The message from Operation Sindoor was clear that terrorism will not be tolerated. Every act of terror conducted on our soil will be responded to, and there will be a price to pay. You will get glimpses (of Operation Sindoor) of precise targeting (during Exercise Vayu Shakti 2026),” he said, adding that “Exercise Vayu Shakti is a firepower demonstration and not an exercise.”
He said long-distance targeting carried out during Operation Sindoor would not be displayed at Pokhran due to safety considerations.
On whether the event near the western border carried any strategic message, he said, “We will do our demonstration. What message will go out to anyone? It is up to you to decide.”
Responding to questions on alleged strikes on Pakistan’s Kirana Hills during Operation Sindoor, Air Marshal Kapoor said, “We attacked terror infrastructure and several of their (Pakistan's) military installations. This is absolutely true. If you see any video, whether it's from open sources, or generated by them, or what they're trying to portray, we don't know. Whether we did something, or whether the explosion was caused by an insurgency there, or by what weapon, we don't know about all this. But these videos (of Kirana Hills) were presented by their people; they made them; we did nothing. We only struck terror and military installations.”
