ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Armed forces pull out all stops for grand R-Day parade

Swapna Khanna in New Delhi

The Indian defence forces, fresh from their victory in the Kargil conflict, are mounting an aggressive show on Republic Day with several new exhibits.

For the first time, four Param Vir Chakras will also be awarded on the occasion. Another army officer will be awarded the Ashok Chakra, the peacetime equivalent of the PVC, for laying down his life in the fight against terrorism in Kashmir. The PVC is being awarded after almost a decade.

The parade will include mounted columns, marching contingents, elements of the Armoured Corps, Corps of Artillery, and Corps of Engineers with equipment that is current, military bands, pipes and drums.

After a gap of 40 years, 147 gentlemen cadets from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, will participate in the parade to mark the golden jubilee of the Indian Republic.

For the first time, the Platform P-60, Gemini boat, snow boat and mine-protected vehicles imported from South Africa will also be on show.

Maha Vir Chakra winner Major Sonam Wangchuk will lead a contigent of the Ladakh Scouts, who are partcipating in the parade after 11 years. Major Wangchuk was awarded the MVC for his leadership of a 20-member team to occupy a strategically important ridgeline on May 30, when the Kargil war had just begun.

Another MVC winner, Lieutenant Balwan Singh, who led a column of Grenadiers in the capture of the crucial Tiger Hill, will also lead a contigent of his regiment in the parade. Lt Singh led a group of 22 men who scaled the peak at night with ropes and surprised the Pakistanis who had been holding Tiger Hill for weeks.

Yogendra Singh Yadav, one of the two living Param Vir Chakra awardees who will receive the medal from the President on January 26, was a member of Lt Singh's team. During the crucial operation, Grenadier Yadav ran through the enemy, paving the way for the rest of his team to capture the crucial peak, which the army had failed to retake twice before.

Major Sudhir Kumar of the 9 Para Special Force will be awarded the Ashok Chakra posthumously for his bravery in the Kashmir Valley. Major Kumar, who received two Sena medals and had been an aide-de-camp to the chief of army staff, was killed during an anti-terrorist operation last year.

The fathers of Captain Vikram Batra and Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey will receive the posthumous PVCs awarded to their sons.

The Indian Navy will for the first time unveil its most potent fighting arm: the Marine Commandos, an amphibious force that can carry out surprise attacks in water, air or ground. Known as Macros, the force consist of highly trained commandos proficient in using state-of-the-art weaponry, combat, diving, paratrooping, undersea operations and unarmed combat.

In its endeavour to remain at the forefront of technology with self-reliance as its objective, the Navy has been indigenously building frigates and other vessels. For the first time, it will soon begin constructing an aircraft carrier at the Cochin Shipyard. To epitomise this indigenisation thrust, the naval tableau will depict the three main classes of frontline warships -- INS Mysore, INS Kora and INS Brahmaputra -- all built indigenously.

The flypast over Rajpath will include a Tupolev 142M long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft based at Arakkonam near Madras. The plane will take off from Arakkonam on January 26 morning and, without halting, fly over Rajpath and return to Madras. The aircraft has a speed of 500 knots and an endurance of 16 hours. It also has a host of sensors for submarine detection and prosecution.

The Indian Air Force also has a number of firsts in its list. These are the Mi-17 helicopters with Rocket pods, Mi-21 and Mi-27 choppers with armaments, the Mirage-2000 fighter-interceptors and INDIRA-II radar, which has recently been inducted into the air force. INDIRA-II is a low-level radar filling a vital gap in the air defence network. A heavy order of mobility and low deployment time makes it ideally suited for tactical applications.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation will also exhibit the Agni-II intermediate-range ballistic missile, which was recently tested. Pinaka, the DRDO's multi-barrel rocket launcher, will also be exhibited for the first time. Pinaka is at an advanced stage of testing. An Advanced Experimental Torpedo will also be exhibited by the DRDO. All three weapons are likely to be inducted into the Indian defence forces soon.

Tell us what you think of this report