binayak95
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Please read the bold part. WTF????The Indian Air Force (IAF) didn't take any chances guarding President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A K Antony at Pokhran in Rajasthan where the trio had gone to witness the IAF combat exercise codenamed 'Iron Fist'. For three hours on February 22, a fully-armed IAF Su-30MKI combat plane kept a tight but unobtrusive combat-mode vigil over here.
As the dignitaries flew to Pokhran from Jaisalmer in specially-configured Soviet-era Mi-8 VVIP helicopters, the Sukhoi, with its two Lyulka AL-31 engines roaring formed a 20-km security ring around Pokhran at altitudes ranging from 8,000 metres to 12,000 metres.The aircraft is fitted with a Zhuk-A Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar that can detect up to 30 targets between 130 and 200 km ranges and engage six of them at any given time . The fighter jet was assisted in the vigil by an IL-76 plane-mounted 'Phalcon' Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems (AWACS)—a virtual 'eye in the sky' radar that kept tab on enemy air fields and its own air space to send distress signals in the form of images, voice or data, if necessary. The venue was also watched for "unwanted activity" from the sky by an Israeli 'Heron' a remotely piloted long-duration, medium-altitude aircraft. But sources said that they were there only to aid the Sukhoi in case a combat situation arose. While Mukherjee has the President's Body Guard (PBG) and Manmohan Singh the Special Protection Group (SPG) for close-quarter security, the Sukhoi's mission was to keep away missiles, para-jumpers and para-gliders, apart from unmanned aerial vehicles. Its presence showed how seriously the government was taking intelligence inputs that Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terror outfits plan to use sky routes for terror strikes against India. After the 26/11 Mumbai attackers had taken an unexpected sea route, the defence establishment has been wary of all potential forms of terror attacks.
The Sukhoi is fitted with a Zhuk-A Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar that can detect up to 30 targets between 130 and 200 km ranges and engage six of them at any given time. "The Sukhoi was carrying its full range of weapons on its 12 hard points that include air-to-ground and air-to-air missiles, laser-guided high-intensity bombs and unguided dumb bombs, apart from aerial interdiction weapons," said a top IAF officer. It was a message to the "other side" across the border against any misadventure, said a military source—confirming the 25-tonne plane's CAPS mission.
Usually, Su-30MKIs keep flying over Pokhran—the only vast-area test range in the country for live rocket and missile practice—on training sorties or for weapons firing sessions. Apart from the President, PM and the defence minister, the 1,000-strong gathering—among them senior government officials, foreign diplomats and defence personnel—included IAF chief N A K Browne, Navy chief Admiral D K Joshi and Army vice chief Lt Gen Sri Krishna Singh who witnessed the might of 'Iron Fist', which was safely over at 8 pm.
