The Indian Air Force and the Indian Army’s strategic forces did a joint multi-domain drill in the Eastern Theater to test their plans for the strategic airlift of specialized forces like the Special Forces and Garud.
Last week, the Indian Air Force’s fixed and rotary wing platforms took part in a joint drill. These platforms did landing and dropping exercises in designated areas so that they could do physical actions to help regular land troops with their operations.
Sources in the defense establishment say that these drills are a mix of traditional and nontraditional military actions that are done by specially chosen, trained, and equipped groups.
IAF assets like C-17 Globemasters, Chinooks, and Mi-17s used multi-mode insertion into marked greenfield landing zones with surgical precision.
They also said that the paratroopers from the Shatrujeet Brigade did Special Heliborne Operations. The goal was to make sure they could quickly move into dangerous situations.
The drill also showed the speed, agility, and lethality of the specialized troops. It showed how quickly they could move into a hostile environment, secure landing zones, and attack the enemy with speed and accuracy based on the tactical setting, they said.
At almost the same time, a marine commando died after a failed parachute jump over Panagarh air in West Bengal. He was training with troops from the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force’s special forces.