New Delhi, 24 January: The Indian Army personnel will be seen in the Republic Day parade this year in different army uniforms from 1950 till present day. This includes everything from the first uniforms worn in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s to the new digitally patterned combat uniforms unveiled on Army Day this year. It will be six marching contingents of the army wearing different uniforms with different weapons.
The Army personnel in the parade will be seen in olive green worn in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and the new digitally patterned combat uniform unveiled on Army Day this year. The soldiers of the Rajput Regiment, wearing 1950 uniforms, will be seen marching with 303 rifles. After this, the soldiers of the Assam Regiment with 303 rifles will wear the uniform in practice in 1960.
Similarly, Soldiers of Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry will be seen in 1970 uniform with 7.62 mm with rifle. The Parachute Regiment contingent will be seen wearing the new combat uniform launched this year along with the latest Tavar rifles. Soldiers of Sikh Light Infantry and Army Ordnance will be seen in olive green dress with INSAS rifles. Six marching contingents of the Army wearing different uniforms with different weapons will participate in the parade.
The Army Chief of Staff Major (Delhi Region) General Alok Kakar said that there will be a total of 16 marching squads in the parade. Besides six contingents from the Army, one each from the Navy and Air Force, 4 from the Central Armed Police Forces, 2 from the Delhi Police, National Cadet Corps (NCC) and a marching contingent from the NSS will be inducted into the Republic Parade.
When asked about the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s favorite tune ‘Abide with Me’ from the Beating Retreat ceremony, he said, “Ours is to organize a charter event, so cannot comment on the selection of tunes.” From the old platform HT 16 for electronic warfare to the modern powerful Akash missile system, the parade has also been made part of the parade.
Gun systems used in the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan will also be displayed on the Rajpath including older platforms like the PT 76 and Centurion, modern Dhanush gun systems and Arjun tank warfare. Indigenous air defense systems developed for surveillance of airspace up to 150 km and systems with the capability to target enemy air platforms up to a range of 25 km will also be part of the parade.
However, the theme of 75 years of India’s independence will be 1,000 drone displays for the first time during the Beating the Retreat ceremony on January 29. These have been indigenously developed by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi-based start-up BottleNub Dynamics. Countries such as the US, the Russia and the China have conducted similar demonstrations using drones on such a large scale.
