New Delhi: Indian Air Force fighter pilots had to wear diapers when they flew non- stop for more than nine hours to carry out their farthest and longest bombing exercise a few days ago.

They took off in Sukhoi-30 MKI fighters from Bareilly and Pune to destroy mock targets on uninhabited patches of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, over 1200 km from mainland India.

True, it wasn't diapers alone that made the non- stop flying possible. The Sukhois had to re-fuel and it was done in midair. Russian Ilyushin-78 re-fuellers went from Agra to enable them tank up even as they were crossing the Bay of Bengal. This was the first time such an exercise was carried out,“ a senior IAF officer said.

“We want to exploit the location of these islands to train fighter pilots for extreme missions.“ The IAF will be planning even longer-range missions regularly from now on, the officer said, that will test the limits of technology and human endurance. The IAF has already started providing diapers as `standard clothing', he added.

“In future missions will get longer and more complex, requiring pilots to stay airborne for 12 to 15 hours, he said. “We can keep our fighters airborne for as long as we want, now that we have these refuellers. Human endurance in the cockpit should not be a limiting factor, said former IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major.

Share OR Bookmark This News With

| More

EMAIL THIS NEWS

COMMENTS No comments yet