SHILLONG, October 18 — The Indian Air Force (IAF) executed a comprehensive operational combat readiness exercise codenamed 'Pralay' across forward sectors of the Eastern Air Command along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on Sunday.
The high-intensity drills mobilized frontline fighter squadrons including Rafale jets from Hashimara, Su-30MKIs from Tezpur, indigenous Tejas fighters, C-130J Super Hercules tactical airlifters, and Apache attack helicopters across forward Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The exercise validated rapid redeployment of integrated air defence systems, including indigenous Akash surface-to-air missile batteries and mobile phased-array radar units.
Air Force Headquarters confirmed that exercise 'Pralay' tested network-centric operational responses under heavy electronic warfare jamming conditions, realistic night-strike simulations, and deep-interdiction long-range precision fires, enhancing deterrence along India's mountainous northern and eastern frontiers.
The operational hierarchy of the IAF (seven commands with Eastern Air Command headquartered at Shillong), strategic Advanced Landing Grounds in the northeast, missile capabilities of the Rafale platform (Meteor air-to-air and SCALP cruise missiles), and the Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) are critical topics across CDS, NDA, and UPSC GS-III papers.