On March 18, Indian Air Force (IAF) put up its greatest ever show of air power. The event was witnessed by the President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cabinet ministers and political leaders, and the entire military brass. Also present were the air attachés of various countries.

• The attachés of China and Pakistan were not invited as these countries do not invite their Indian counterparts for similar exercises.
• The event earlier called ‘Vayu Shakti’ got its current name ‘Iron-Fist’ when last held in 2013.
• The exercise logo shows an Iron Fist with a long arm to depict the long reach of the IAF. The Himalayan eagle perched on top with wings spread wide portrays IAF’s readiness for flight.
• The event was a showcase of all facets of air power and was packaged into six themes covering IAF’s transformation, net-centric operations, air-defence, combat support, night ops and soft power.
• All manned and unmanned aircraft, air-to-air and surface-to-air weapons, and Special Forces took part.
• The unfolding Make in India success in military aviation was on showcase.
• A special feature was the swing role capability displayed by the Tejas which in the first pass dropped a laser-guided bomb on a ground target and then fired an air-to-air R-73 missile on a simulated air target.
• Tejas had recently successfully firing the BVR Derby Air-to-Air missile at Jamnagar and now awaits clearance to fire the Close Combat Missile Python-5 in the near future.