Days after Tawang clash, IAF to hold massive exercise to test capabilities on China front

Several fighter aircraft, transport aircraft, helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will participate in the 2-day exercise, scheduled to take place in Assam and West Bengal.

<p>Image: IAF Rafale fighter aircraft</p>

Within days of the violent confrontation between troops of India and China along the Line of Actual Control, the Indian Air Force will carry out an exercise in the eastern sector on December 15-16. 

Sources in the IAF said the exercise would be at the command level to test its capabilities on the China front.

Several fighter aircraft, transport aircraft, helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will participate in the 2-day exercise, scheduled to take place in Assam and West Bengal. 

Sources further stated that the air bases like Tezpur, Chhabua, and Jorhat in Assam and Hasimara in West Bengal are expected to be activated during the exercise. It must be noted that the Rafale fighter jets are based in Hasimara.

In the recent clash, the soldiers from both sides sustained injuries in the Yangtse area in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh.

However, the sources added that the exercise is a routine exercise and planned in advance. 

"It has nothing to do with the recent clash in Arunachal Pradesh," they said.

It should also be noted that the clash, which was taken place on December 9, was the first major clash between two countries after the Galwan Valley clash of 2020 in Eastern Ladakh.