New Delhi: With an all-women tri-service contingent and 15 women pilots leading the flypast, the “women-centric” Republic Day Parade this year is poised to enthral the country and French President Emmanuel Macron, who will be the sixth French leader to attend the parade as chief guest.
Besides a French marching contingent, the parade will see the participation of two Rafale fighter jets, a Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) mid-air refueller and the debut of the IAF’s first C-295 transport aircraft.
The all-women tri-service contingent will consist of 144 women Agniveers — 48 each from the Air Force, Army and Navy. Agniveers are soldiers who entered the forces through the central government’s Agnipath scheme.
Of the 15 women pilots part of the flypast, six will be flying the fighter jets.
Furthermore, a total of 144 IAF officers will march down Kartavya Path, led by four women officers. Squadron Leader Rashmi Thakur will be the parade commander with Squadron Leaders Sumita Yadav and Pratiti Alhuwalia, and Flight Lieutenant Kirti Rohil as supernumerary officers.
The Navy, meanwhile, will have a mixed contingent of 144 men and women.
The three Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), namely Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Border Security Force (BSF) will also be represented entirely by women this year.
Instead of the military band, the parade this year is to be heralded by 100 women artists from across India playing either the shankh, nadaswaram or nagada.
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Debut of ‘Tejas’ formation in flypast
Flanked by two C-130 aircraft in echelon, the C-295 transport aircraft inducted into the IAF last September will make its debut at the Republic Day Parade this year as part of an ‘Arjan’ formation.
As many as 40 units of the C-295 are to be manufactured jointly by Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Airbus Defence and Space at a final assembly line in Gujarat’s Vadodara as part of a Rs 21,935-crore deal. The C-295 transport aircraft will replace the ageing Avro fleet of the IAF.
With a thrust on indigenisation, an aircraft formation named the ‘Tejas’ will also make a debut during the Republic Day Parade flypast. This formation will include four Tejas aircraft in a ‘diamond’ formation.
The flypast will include a total of 51 aircraft — 29 fighter aircraft, eight transport aircraft and 13 helicopters as well as one heritage aircraft. In addition to the IAF’s aircraft, four Army helicopters and a P-8I maritime patrol aircraft from the Navy will also fly in two separate formations alongside the IAF aircraft.
These aircraft will operate from six different bases and display a total of 14 formations.
A 95-member marching contingent and a 33-member band contingent from France will also take part in the parade.
The parade will consist of a total of 25 tableaux including those of 16 states/UTs and nine ministries. The defence secretary had said earlier that to address the concerns of some states/UTs over non-inclusion of their tableau, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has devised a unique three-year roll-over plan, which ensures equitable participation on a rotational basis.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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I would like to see a female field marshal in future.