IAF airbases along western front on high alert, hold major air defence exercise

NEW DELHI: The IAF's premier operational command along the western front has gone on high alert with a major exercise across all its 18 airbases and other installations from Srinagar to Bikaner. The move comes amid heightened tensions with Pakistan in the aftermath of the Uri attack.

The primary objective of 'Exercise Talon', involving the crucial Western Air Command (WAC), is to "improve operational preparedness and air defence " in the entire stretch from J&K to Rajasthan, defence sources said on Monday .

Though the four-day war games are largely defensive in nature, with combat air patrols and PAD-GD (passive air defence and ground defence) operations, it's significant that WAC had conducted a similar Talon exercise just about a week before the Uri attack on September 18.

Repeating the intensive manoeuvres within such a short time is highly unusual, said sources, adding that it showed that the IAF was leaving nothing to chance at a time when Pakistan's F-16s and other fighters have been taking to the skies on a regular basis across the border, apart from practising landing on highways.

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The Indian Army , of course, has been refining different contingency plans in conjunction with the IAF after the Uri attack to further syner gise the integrated air-land fighting machinery . It has also steadily upgraded its “readiness“ all along the 778-km Line of Control with additional troops, "forward movement" of ammunition and fuel dumps and the like, as was earlier reported by TOI.

As for the Talon exercise under way till September 30, the IAF also continues to deploy Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or spy drones to maintain "a constant surveillance" over all airbases ranging from Srinagar, Leh, Thoise, Awantipur to Ambala, Amritsar, Halwara and Nal.