Republic Day parade: Triservice tableau in place of individual service tableau

Republic Day parade features a single triservice tableau, 44 aircraft in flypast, and IAF marching contingent excellence.

A single triservice tableau will be present at this year’s Republic Day parade on Kartavya Path instead of three individual service tableau while the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv will be conspicuous by its absence as the entire fleet remains grounded for checks following the crash of a Coast Guard helicopter on January 5 that killed two pilots and a diver onboard.

A total of 44 aircraft and helicopters will be part of the flypast which includes 22 fighters, 11 transport aircraft and seven helicopters. As a policy for safety reasons, no single engine aircraft or helicopters are flown over Kartavya Path which means that the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) will not be part of the flypast as is the norm. So effectively all the fighter jets will be foreign, highlighting the ongoing crisis in the IAF modernisation due to delays in manufacturing and inductions.

The various IAF aircraft will operate from 10 different bases and the flypast will end with a single Rafale jet performing the ‘vertical charlie’ manoeuvre, said Wg. Cdr. Manish Sharma briefing the media on Thursday.

The IAF marching contingent will comprise of four officers, one Contingent Commander and three supernumerary officers and 144 airmen. The Contingent Commander would be Sqn. Ldr. Mahender Singh with Flt. lt. Damini Deshmukh, Flt. Lt. Nepo Moirangthem, Fg. Offr. Abhinav Ghosh as supernumerary officers.

Along with marching contingent will be the IAF band, consisting of 72 musicians including 22 Agniveer Vayu and three drum majors lead by Sgt. Charles Anthony Daniel, Wg. Cdr. Sharma said.

For Beating The Retreat ceremony held at Vijay Chowk from January 27 to 28 and the finale on January 29, the IAF Band comprising 121 musicians would be performing led by conductor Warrant Officer Ashok Kumar.

As per convention, the RD parade will commence with homage paid at the National War Memorial by the Prime Minister where an inter-services Guard comprising of 21 inner guards (seven from each Service) along with six buglers (two from each Service) are in attendance.