SCO 2018: IAF’s IL76 takes off with Army personnel in joint anti-insurgent exercise

The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF) held a joint anti-insurgent exercise on Monday. As part of the Exercise Peace Mission of the armed forces, IL76 aircraft of the Indian Air Force took off with two squads of special forces of the Indian Army.

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, the Indian Air Force shared pictures of the joint exercise by the defence forces. The tweet read, “With the insurgents on the run, the SCO forces are building up to a crescendo. Towards the joint air-land campaign, IAF's IL76 took off with two squads of Indian Army's Special Forces, displaying high degree of jointness within the Indian Armed Forces.”

#ExercisePeaceMission: With the insurgents on the run, the SCO forces are building up to a crescendo. Towards the joint air-land campaign, IAF's IL76 took off with two squads of Indian Army's Special Forces, displaying high degree of jointness within the Indian Armed Forces. pic.twitter.com/zzmTaSKVVi — Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) August 27, 2018

#ExercisePeaceMission: A Glimpse into the preflight meteorological and emergency brief of the forces by Wg Cdr KBS Samyal of Indian Air Force.#SCO2018 #SCO pic.twitter.com/bRhZBZEPjc — Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) August 27, 2018

A pre-flight briefing was given to the Indian Army personnel to deal with any meteorological and emergency situation. The briefing was given by Wing Commander KBS Samyal of the Indian Air Force.

The exercise was part of a multi-nation counter terrorism wargame being held under the aegis of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Russia. As many as 200 soldiers from the Rajput Regiment and the Indian Air Force are participating in the exercise, which has China, Russia and Pakistan among other participants.

The aircraft used for the exercise, IL 76, is a transport aircraft developed by Russia. The IAF has, according to The Economic Times, has footed a Rs 4000-crore proposal for the upgradation of the aircraft.