Rafale an excellent aircraft, says Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar

A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command of Indian Air Force, Raghunath Nambiar on Saturday said that the Rafale was an excellent aircraft.

“I had the opportunity to fly it in France two week ago let me assure you that I believe this is a very good platform highly capable and a game changer in this area (Northeast). Its presence would give us lot of deterrence provides us with a huge modicum (degree) of capability which never existed in this part of the world (Northeast).

Air Marshal Nambiar was speaking on the sidelines of the Air Fest 2018 which kicked off with a fly past of Mi-17 Helicopters and Su-30 MKI multi-role fighter aircraft on Saturday morning.

The event was part of the festival organised for the 86th Air Force Day celebrations.

Speaking to journalists he said that the Indian Air Force is here for the Eastern Air Command and it do not keep forces for any particular country as such.

“It is for our capability, for our deterrence. We have five countries in the Eastern Air Command and one of them is China,” Air Marshal Nambiar said.

He also said that under his Command, the Eastern Air Command has challenges to improve training capability, to absorb new platforms and learn modern technologies and best practices prevalent all over the world.

Meanwhile, during the Air Force Fest a demonstration of slithering operations by “Garud”, the elite commandos of the Indian Air Force was also part of the festival while a static display of Aircraft and performance by the military band were some of the highlights of the festival. The festival was inaugurated at the Shillong Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) Upper Shillog by Eastern Air Command Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Air Marshal R Nambiar.

The festival will conclude on Sunday and IAF has set up various stalls which include IAF publicity stall, souvenir stall and delectable food stalls. Various adventure activities such as zorbing ball, rappelling and crawling were also offered.

A large number of people especially students from various schools and colleges witnessed the festival and acquired information regarding career opportunities in the IAF.