MiGs, UAVs will keep Games safe

Frontline fighters Sukhois and MiG-21 Bisons of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will guard Delhi’s skies during the Commonwealth Games. Giving them company will be Heron and Searcher — unmanned aerial vehicles, reports Aurangzeb Naqshbandi. Opening ceremony tips

Frontline fighters Sukhois and MiG-21 Bisons of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will guard Delhi’s skies during the Commonwealth Games (October 3 to 14).

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Giving them company will be Heron and Searcher — unmanned aerial vehicles hovering at a height of 6,000 to 10,000 feet, supplying monitoring centers in different parts of the city with real time pictures, a senior defence ministry official said.

The fighter planes will be stationed at nearby air bases to deal with all kinds of threats, including plane hijacks.

Anti-aircraft surface-to-air weapons along with armed helicopters will also be in ready mode at Bareilly, Sirsa, Adampur and Srinagar, the official said.

Mobile observation posts manned by different security agencies, including the police, have been set up across the city.

The IAF has, in the last three months, trained several batches of policemen in aerial observation and interception activities besides targeting sub-conventional threats in urban areas, the official said.