IAF command along the western front has gone on a high alert with a major exercise across all its 18 airbases and other installations from Srinagar to Bikaner.
The 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.
IAF is 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.
As for the Talon exercise underway till September 30, 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.
The exercise also involves camouflaging runways, moving aircraft to their blast pens and deploying decoys to prevent or minimize losses during enemy attacks.