Gagan Shakti 2018: The IAF Will Field 1,100 Aircraft For Mega War Exerc

[Berkut]

Bhai log, can someone put this exercise into perspective. Like the ordinance dropped in one day was equal to such and such. I want to brag in front of the goras about the exercise. Apologies in advance for being childish about this achievement.

 

[captscooby81]

This exercise is more about the logistics part I don't think they used any live ammo to hit targets it's more like non ammo but all out live attack simulation .

@sjmaverick Reports are also saying Tejas had hit some snag but then it was rectified in 12 hours and the jets were up in the air again . Not sure how credible this news is .

Bhai log, can someone put this exercise into perspective. Like the ordinance dropped in one day was equal to such and such. I want to brag in front of the goras about the exercise. Apologies in advance for being childish about this achievement.

 

[patriots]

This exercise is more about the logistics part I don't think they used any live ammo to hit targets it's more like non ammo but all out live attack simulation .

@sjmaverick Reports are also saying Tejas had hit some snag but then it was rectified in 12 hours and the jets were up in the air again . Not sure how credible this news is .

Bhai you are right...on tejas


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[Mikesingh]

Bhai you are right...on tejas


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8 Tejas fighters took part but I wonder what these 'snags' were? Minor hopefully!

And it was nice to know that Hawks too were employed in the interdiction role! In emergency situations during war, these Hawk-i trainers can double up as fighters too and make up for squadron strength. Can be used for CAPs too.

And Dhanoa said on Monday that "Pakistan was closely watching the operation that is shaking the heavens and splitting the Earth!! The western neighbour was rattled by the sheer scale and complexity of Gaganshakti-2018"!

I ain't surprised as pissing in their pants is an old habit of the Pakis! :biggrin2:

 

[scatterStorm]

Imagine what could a 42 squadron of IAF would've done, the biggest problem is not jets but tankers, deployment form east to west in an actual war could be problematic considering we have less air refuelers.

Anybody have any information on future IAF upgrades of fuel tankers?

 

[Prashant12]

IAF is effectively exercising its Maritime war fighting concepts on both the Western and Eastern seaboards. Air Dominance, over the entire extended area of the IOR in support of the Indian Navy is being demonstrated by employment of combat enablers like the FRA (Flight Refueling Aircraft) in conjunction with our maritime fighter forces of the #SU30 and #Jaguar class carrying potent long distance anti-shipping weaponry.

Missions have been flown in the initial phase to address both near and in depth targets over the Western Sea Board utilising Su-30 and Jaguar fighter aircraft equipped with the potent #Brahmos and #Harpoon Anti-Ship missiles respectively. The Su-30 ac has also showcased its strategic reach by operating from the eastern most air bases on the peninsula and engaging maritime targets well out into the western seaboard with support of AAR. After quick repositioning of Maritime Assets the focus has now shifted in Phase–II to addressing targets over the Eastern Sea Board right upto the Malacca Straits. The full compliment of Maritime Assets would now operate from bases in the Southern peninsula and Andaman & Nicobar islands. Extensive missions would be flown by the Su-30 and Jaguar in conjunction with the IN P-8MR ac using long range weapons to refine and practice offensive and defensive tactics against maritime targets.

https://www.facebook.com/IndianAirForce/

 

[Chinmoy]

Bhai you are right...on tejas


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Show me one report from prehistoric times till now, when Hindustan Times was anywhere near upbeat about Tejas.

 

[patriots]

Show me one report from prehistoric times till now, when Hindustan Times was anywhere near upbeat about Tejas.

I am a tejas lover

but rahul Singh is a good reporter .......
and snag is not a big issue....and indigenous product ka yehi faida hay ...agar ye mirage ke..saath..hota...then we have to wait for France help...

 

[Samsung J7]

Imagine what could a 42 squadron of IAF would've done, the biggest problem is not jets but tankers, deployment form east to west in an actual war could be problematic considering we have less air refuelers.

Anybody have any information on future IAF upgrades of fuel tankers?

Do youn think it is economically feasible to operate 42 squadrons of high end imported jets? We cant afford that. As per Dassault chief one rafale is equal to 3 mirage 2000s. Same with su 30s. During 60-90s we operated 500-600 mig21s. Mig21s is dirt cheap. Someone need to question IAF and MoD over this 42 squadron bs. If IAF is adamant on one-one replacenent,govt should force iaf to accept 300-400 tejas. We cant afford this nos with imported jets

 

[tharikiran]

the biggest problem is not jets but tankers, deployment form east to west in an actual war could be problematic considering we have less air refuelers.

Looks like West to East was done in 48 hours. The Air Chief has himself stated in interview.

 

[lcafanboy]

Porkistanis are rattled and have started to piss and shit in their pants.....

 

[Kalki_2018]

Porkis are always aage se gila peeche se pila. Let them keep crying. The faster they bankrupt themselves better for the world.

 

[abingdonboy]

8 Tejas fighters took part but I wonder what these 'snags' were? Minor hopefully!

And it was nice to know that Hawks too were employed in the interdiction role! In emergency situations during war, these Hawk-i trainers can double up as fighters too and make up for squadron strength. Can be used for CAPs too.

And Dhanoa said on Monday that "Pakistan was closely watching the operation that is shaking the heavens and splitting the Earth!! The western neighbour was rattled by the sheer scale and complexity of Gaganshakti-2018"!

I ain't surprised as pissing in their pants is an old habit of the Pakis! :biggrin2:

Hawks aren’t an option, who will fly them in combat?

“Snag” affected some of the LCAs but was resolved in under 12 hours by HAL, for a new type participating in an exercise for the very first time these things are to be expected. Fact is IAF has ample experience operating all other fighters, LCA operating in smaller numbers at bases away from home base will be prone to these issues.

Some will try and inflate this and use it to demean the LCA even more

Imagine what could a 42 squadron of IAF would've done, the biggest problem is not jets but tankers, deployment form east to west in an actual war could be problematic considering we have less air refuelers.

Anybody have any information on future IAF upgrades of fuel tankers?

IAF has selected A330 MRTT twice how and each time fin min has blocked the procurement. Now IAF trying for a THIRD time.

Problem is they are only looking to by 6, the numbers are just too small to support meaningful large scale ops.

 

[Samsung J7]

IAF has selected A330 MRTT twice how and each time fin min has blocked the procurement. Now IAF trying for a THIRD time.

Problem is they are only looking to by 6, the numbers are just too small to support meaningful large scale ops.

Because we dont hav enough money to spend in western equipments. From where did finance minister will find money for this equipment

 

[Akshay_Fenix]

My only shikayat, not a 1080p video. We'll get there.

 

[tharun]

Porkistanis are rattled and have started to piss and shit in their pants.....

Oh...! Man what an over confidence those idiots got.........
1 jF17 = 100 sukhoi's.

 

[scatterStorm]

Looks like West to East was done in 48 hours. The Air Chief has himself stated in interview.

No this is not what I meant, In a two pronged war condition you have to strategically place long range air superiority fighters, multi role mid range jets and interceptors. Right now I believe, SU30s were flown form eastern airbases to a western airbase :

• First, it was a single sortie multiple refuel long range mission.
• Once they reached the western air bases, they conducted 3 sorties for 3 days / jet.

Situation can become complicated if the requirements exceeds the current limit set, especially in a multi front war.
IAF does require more tankers. 4 just doesn't cut in!

IAF has selected A330 MRTT twice how and each time fin min has blocked the procurement. Now IAF trying for a THIRD time.

Problem is they are only looking to by 6, the numbers are just too small to support meaningful large scale ops.

Exactly, we require not just squadrons but tankers as well. Large scale operations involving air assets to scramble from West bengal to new delhi or Rajasthan could be very well a reality. PAF and PLAF should not be underestimated.

 

[Mikesingh]

IAF Wargame wins praise from State run Chinese Media

The immense scope, dimension and huge effort that has gone into the ongoing Indian Air Force’s (IAF) war exercise Gagan Shakti, possibly IAF’s biggest till date, has drawn grudging but effusive praise from unlikely quarters — the state-run Chinese media.

In China, media reports have to be vetted by the government, so in a way they reflect the government’s stand and line of thought.

A report in a leading news aggregator Zhaizao declares that such large-scale air exercises are at present difficult for any other country except the United States and if India indeed has involved more than 1,100 air force assets then Russia and China will have to change their assessment of India.

The report marvels at India’s ability to involve hundreds of Su-30MKIs and MiG-21s, Jaguars, MiG 27s, and MiG 29s, including Navy MiG-29Ks, LCA fighters, and transport aircraft of various sizes besides helicopters and arming/detection/ refuelling aircraft in the giant exercise which is a “demonstration of the development results of the past 10 years”.

The report, loosely translated from Mandarin, says: “We cannot but affirm India’s progress in these years’ progress. In 2008, the Indian military had announced that the operational availability rate of its domestic Su-30MKI was only 50 per cent, and that after 10 years, it actually reached 90 per cent of the time it could be dispatched…This shows that the Indian military has strengthened its emphasis on maintenance work and other logistic tasks”.

On the fact that about 10,000 ground support personnel working together and more than 3,000 air sorties were being planned, it said: “It also shows that India has established and established a complete logistics system”.

On much-delayed LCA project, the report says that despite being very late, LCA over the last 30 years has produced a bountiful harvest of a very large number of “technicians cultivated and promoted through LCA research and development”.

Besides testing IAF’s war-readiness, the other big objective of Gagan Shakti is to study the logistical sustainability of a “short, intense and swift” war as they are predicted to be in future.

“In terms of scale, magnitude, timeframe, geography and nature of activation of every component of IAF’s fighting machine, Gagan Shakti 2018 is a monumental one where the entire range of IAF assets including light, medium, heavy variants of various aircraft are being used. It is clearly the simulation of a ‘swift, intense and short’ two-front conflict. It is not just an exercise but an actual real-time simulation of a war,” said Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Kak (Retd).

http://defencenews.in/article/IAF-Wargame-wins-praise-from-State-run-Chinese-Media-547674

So it's not just the Pakis who are rattled, but the Chinese too! They now know who they're up against!

 

[Mikesingh]

Hawks aren’t an option, who will fly them in combat?

Those who are flying them now in Ex Gagan Shakti!

By the way, why are we spending millions on weaponizing the Hawk if they can't be used in combat? This one has been christened the Combat Hawk or Hawk-i.

 

[sjmaverick]

This exercise is more about the logistics part I don't think they used any live ammo to hit targets it's more like non ammo but all out live attack simulation .

@sjmaverick Reports are also saying Tejas had hit some snag but then it was rectified in 12 hours and the jets were up in the air again . Not sure how credible this news is .

As credible as it can get :

More than 1,100 aircraft – half of them fighter jets – have logged over 6,000 flight hours in three days during the Indian Air Force’s largest exercise in the past three decades, with Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh ’Tony’ Dhanoa saying on Monday that Pakistan was closely watching the operation that is “shaking the heavens and splitting the Earth”.

As IAF’s assets in the largest-of-its-kind exercise, Gaganshakti-2018, move from the western sector to the eastern front “in less than 48 hours,” Dhanoa said, all training activities in the force will remain suspended till the two-phase drill ends on April 22. It is usually in wartime that militaries shelve all training activities.

“We are flying a lot of sorties and dropping a lot of bombs. So in that sense -- borrowing a phrase from a Rand monograph -- I would say we really are shaking the heavens and splitting the Earth,” Dhanoa said in his first public comments on the exercise in which every wartime drill is being rehearsed.

United States-based think tank Rand Corporation had in 2011 published a document titled Shaking the Heavens and Splitting the Earth: Chinese Air Force Employment Concepts in the 21st Century.

The Gaganshakti-2018 exercise seeks to test the IAF’s readiness and stamina for a two-front war with China and Pakistan. “I wouldn’t like to comment on the two-front aspect… But every single platform in the IAF’s inventory is being exercised and we are carrying out surge operations – highest tempo operations where fighters and other platforms have clocked more sorties in three days than they normally would in over a month,” said Dhanoa, a decorated fighter pilot.

From deep strikes to air dominance and long-range maritime strikes off the west coast to air defence, the IAF is practising every manoeuvre in the book in its preparation for a short and intense war.

“India has not witnessed anything at this scale since Operation Brass Tacks in 1987. Weapon delivery scores for air-to-ground munitions were exceptional, both by day and night, and pilots have done a wonderful job in overcoming fatigue during surge operations,” the IAF chief said.

Conducted in 1987, Operation Brass Tacks was India’s largest peacetime military exercise that sent shock waves through Pakistan.

Once again, Dhanoa suggested that the western neighbour was rattled by the sheer scale and complexity of Gaganshakti-2018, despite being notified about the first phase of the exercise in the western sector.

“We have noticed that they (Pakistan) are monitoring Gaganshakti-2018 closely through their airborne sensors (airborne warning and control systems),” the air chief said.

Dhanoa said the IAF jets have recorded a serviceability rate of 80% and flown very long range missions flawlessly. In IAF parlance, serviceability of a fleet refers to how many warplanes are available for missions at any given time.

The exercise has had no glitches so far except a Jaguar fighter veering off the runway at the Bhuj airbase due to bad weather and a few Tejas light combat aircraft developing snags. “Hindustan Aeronautics Limited was able to fix the Tejas problems in less than 12 hours,” Dhanoa said.

British-origin Hawk advanced jet trainers, capable of dropping bombs, are also taking part in the exercise as the IAF is struggling with a shortage of warplanes.

Compared to an optimum strength of 42-plus units required to fight a two-front war, the count of the IAF’s fighter squadrons has shrunk to 30 (excluding the Tejas squadron with eight aircraft).