Indian Air Force and Indian Army conducted a major joint airlift (an act of transporting supplies by an aircraft) exercise on Wednesday with the aim of strengthening logistics supply in the Northern Sector, which includes the border with Pakistan and China.
In case of a conflict on the border, one of the most important things is to ensure that our troops get their supplies on time. This includes arms and ammunition but also simple things like food, clothes, bedding, and other supplies.
The process of ensuring that these supplies reach their destination on time and efficiently is called Logistics.
As you can imagine, logistics plays a very important role in any situation.
The exercise was named ‘Operation Hercules’. The platforms utilised for the airlift were C-17, IL-76, and An-32 aircraft, which took off from one of the forward bases(a forward base is a station that is close to the border of a country) of Western Air Command.
This would improve winter stocking in operational areas as the region would get cut off for the next 4-5 months from the rest of the country due to winter and the forces would need ration and resources.
The standoff in Eastern Ladakh continues since May 2020, with a major deployment of around 60,000 troops from both sides. (The tension started from Galwan valley and both sides are still discussing the border issues).
Image: Indicative image of Air Force planes from the official Twitter of Indian Air Force