76th Republic Day Parade: IAF to showcase 40 aircrafts, Agniveers join band contingent for first time (WATCH)

New Delhi: Indian Air Force will be deploying its 40 aircraft, including 22 fighter jets during the 76th Republic Day parade over Kartavaya path in Delhi.  The fighters -- Rafale, Sukhoi-30MKI, Jaguar among others will be flying in a number of formations to amaze the audience on January 26. 

Indian Air Force PRO Wing Commander Jaideep Singh said: “We will be showcasing 40 aircraft, flying in 12 formations, there is a band as well as marching contingents. The 12 formations consist of fighters, transport and helicopters. Our marching contingent consists of 12*12 column with 144 personnel, 3 supernumerary officer and a parade commander.”

“The band contingent will have 72 personnel, of which 22 are Agniveers. These Agniveers are participating for the first time as part of the band contingent.”

Last year, few of Agniveers were the part of the marching contingent. 

“The major fighters that are participating in the Republic Day parade are Mig-29, Jaguars, Rafales, and Su-30MKIs. Transport aircraft C-17 will be the part of the Netra formation. Besides, three Dornier from the Indian Coast Guard will also be participating in the Rakshak formation.” 

For the first time, there will a tri-service tableaux to be displayed on the Republic Day celebrations on Kartavaya Path. “There will be no separate tableaux from the Services – Army, Air Force and Navy, to be participating in the parade. 

A total of 15 tableaux from states, and union territories have been selected for this year’s Republic Day parade. 

The states and UTs selected include Bihar, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Goa, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Haryana.