The Indian Air Force or IAF CH-47F (I) flew 1910 km from Chandigarh to Jorhat, breaking the record of longest sortie in India. The Chinook covered the distance of 1910 km by air in seven and a half hours on Monday.
IAF Chinook
The helicopter had set a record for the longest sortie to be ever made in India by flying from Chandigarh to Jorhat in a duration of seven and a half hours. Since the helicopter did not have a mid – air refueling capability, it had an additional fuel tank that helped it to complete the mission.
These type of helicopter is extensively used in Ladakh since the conflict zone has erupted between India and China.
As per reports from a spokesperson from Defence, ” The sortie was possible because of the capabilities of the Chinook along with operational planning and execution by IAF.”
The helicopter is mainly used for carrying men and other material resources in areas that are otherwise unaccessible. Most of time, Chinook is usually used in the disaster relief and other such missions that require large tonnes of materials and goods to be transported. The helicopter has proved to be very essential in times of humanitarian aid and also in times of combat.
The longest sortie hence proves the capabilities and the power of the Air Force . India in total has 15 Chinook and 22 Apache respectively. The aim of such a bulk order was to uplift the capabilities of the Indian Air Force.
India has been a biggest importer of arms and military weapons of Russia followed by France and then USA.
