NEW DELHI – The Indian Air Force (IAF) tested its capability in dealingwith a possible scenario of nuclear warfare during a 13-day-long megamilitary exercise whose aim was to sharpen its war waging capability in thewake of fast evolving regional security situation.

Official sources said the focus of the Gagan Shakti exercise from April8-20 was to check the viability of IAF’s operational plans to deal with anykind of challenge including nuclear warfare and a possible situation ofa two front with China and Pakistan.

A major focus of the exercise was to check combat capability of theindigenously developed LCA and their performance was satisfactory, IAFsources said.

They said eight Tejas were deployed during the exercise and some of thesehad reported minor technical issues, adding each of the six Tejas had flownsix sorties daily like any other platforms including Sukhoi, Mirage 2000and MiG 29 jets.

The sources said aim of the exercise was to test IAF’s combat readiness ina real time scenario, adding it had never carried out an exercise of thisscale earlier.

A key focus of the exercise was to check IAF’s readiness to deal with abiological, chemical and nuclear war and we were satisfied with ourcapability to deal with such situations, they said.

They also said all types of aerial weapons, including standoff andprecision weapons were deployed to validate their use in the air operationsmatrix.

As part of the massive drill, the IAF deployed its entire assets for thepan-India exercise with fighter jets, equipped with strategic weapons likeBrahmos and Harpoon anti ship missiles, carrying out deep penetrationstrikes to revalidate its strategic reach.