Exercise Bahubali: IAF demonstrates its strategic airlift capability

Such an airlift would be invaluable in wartime, for reinforcing a threatened sector, such as Ladakh, with troops or equipment

Signalling the coming of age of India’s strategic airlift capability, the Indian Air Force (IAF) mounted an unprecedented airlift in which its transport aircraft fleet airlifted almost 500 tonnes of equipment to Ladakh in one coordinated operation on Tuesday morning. It was called Exercise Bahubali.

Terming this an effort to evaluate its own rapid airlift capability, the IAF announced: “The effort was accomplished with the aid of a fleet of 16 fixed-wing transport aircraft comprising C-17 Globemaster, the Ilyushin-76 Gajraj and the medium-lift tactical aircraft, Antonov-32. All aircraft were loaded and took off from Chandigarh airbase early in the morning.