The International Fleet Review (IFR) being hosted by the Indian Navy from February 4 to 8 at Visakhapatnam will be conducted on a larger scale than ever before on the East Coast.
The International Fleet Review (IFR) being hosted by the Indian Navy from February 4 to 8 at Visakhapatnam will be conducted on a larger scale than ever before on the East Coast. As many as 52 countries will be participating in the event along with their 90 warships and 20,000 naval soldiers. To participate in the event, 12 warships were moved from the city including INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya. The last IFR to be held in India was in Mumbai in 2001 and saw the participation of 29 countries.
According to senior Navy officials, they have been preparing for this event for the past one year. In order to ferry the soldiers during the event, they have rented ferryboats from Goa. Meanwhile, the process of gathering fuel for warships during the fleet review was started six months ago and the navel headquarters at Kochi, Delhi, Mumbai, Goa and Karwar have all been gearing up for the event for the past one year.
IFR is held every five years, in which the President of the host country inspects the fleet. A flypast will also be conducted during the event. It will showcase 45 aircrafts presenting 15 formations. Two of these formations will be by the Indian Coast Guard. Along with it 24 skydivers from all over India will take part in the review. All the skydivers, who will descend with colourful parachutes, are personnel of the Indian Navy’s Marine Commandos (MARCOS). This year countries like America, Japan, Russia and Australia are participating in the review. According to Navy officials, the event will see 24 foreign navy ships and 25 chiefs of navy taking part in it.
