NEW DELHI, JANUARY 20: The Agni, Trishul, Akash and Nag missiles will make their debut public appearance during the `Parade of the Millennium' at Rajpath on January 26. And for the first time all the soldiers who will march down Rajpath on Republic Day will carry the indigenous 5.56 rifle. Also on display for the first time will be the air defence gun Tunguska Mount, the improved reporter radar and the satellite phone system.Apart from this, the Navy will show a model of its Kilo class submarine and the Vikrant aircraft carrier, and the Mi-35 attack helicopters and a flypast will be part of the Air Force display.Briefing mediapersons about the two-hour parade, Major General Surinder Kumar Awasthy, General Officer Commanding (Delhi Area) and the Republic Day Parade Commander said that there would be a spectacular flypast by 31 aircraft in various formations - the IL-76, the AN-32 and the Dorniers in a big boy formation with the biggest aircraft in the centre being flanked by the smaller ones on the sides, the Jaguars in a shock wave formation and the SU-30s in a vertical charlie.Awasthy will be followed by the parade's second-in-command and Deputy GOC Brigadier Rajeshwar Singh. Apart from a group of physically challenged children from Thiruvananthapuram, three groups of children from Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East will also take part in the parade.``The last parade of the century will show a glimpse of India from the beginning of this century till the turn of the century and encompass the country's military might and progress in other areas,'' Major General Awasthy said.One mounted column, 12 marching columns, 15 military bands and 16 pipes and drums will be part of the parade along with 27 tableaux which will showcase India's cultural diversity. Twenty seven officers, 92 junior commissioned officers, 2,829 personnel of other ranks and 34 ex-Servicemen will also walk down Rajpath on January 26.The children can look forward to an exciting display by the daredevil motorcycle riders, Awasthy added. He hoped that the weather would improve in the next couple of days so that the flypast rehearsals and the `Parade of the Millenium' could go on smoothly.
