The Indian Air Force Brought 100 Aircraft From 12 Air Bases to Varanasi for Wings Over Ganges, a Three-Day Display Over the Ganga for Its 94th Anniversary

The Indian Air Force flew its 94th-anniversary display over the Ganga at Namo Ghat in Varanasi on 22, 24 and 25 October 2026, under the title Wings Over Ganges. An Air Force briefing, as ETV Bharat reports it, put the fleet at 100 aircraft: 52 fighters, 32 helicopters, 15 transport aircraft and one heritage aircraft.

The flying included the Tejas fighter and the Prachand light combat helicopter, both designed in India, along with Rafales, Su-30MKIs, the Surya Kiran and Sarang display teams, and a formation in which Navy, Army and Air Force helicopters flew together.

One hundred aircraft from twelve bases

PTI’s report from the opening day, carried by ETV Bharat on 22 October, quotes officials as saying the Air Force would fly 100 aircraft from 12 air bases across the country. India Sentinels, writing on 21 October, adds that the farthest base was the naval station at Arakkonam near Chennai and that the aircraft would fly in 25 formations. ETV Bharat’s report of 24 October repeats the 52, 32, 15 and one breakdown and attributes it to an Air Force briefing.

Indian Masterminds headlines its report “more than 100 aircraft”, but the breakdown inside it adds up to exactly 100. None of the reports opened counts aircraft in the air on a given day, so the figure describes the fleet assembled for the three days.

ETV Bharat lists the types. The fighters were the Su-30MKI, Mirage 2000, Rafale, Tejas, MiG-29 and Jaguar. The helicopters were the Prachand, Chinook, Apache, the Advanced Light Helicopter in its Mk III and Mk IV versions, Chetak, Mi-17 V5 and the Navy’s Kamov-31. The transport and support aircraft were the C-295, C-17 Globemaster, C-130, An-32, an airborne early warning aircraft, an IL-78 tanker and the P-8I maritime patrol aircraft. The Army contributed two Advanced Light Helicopters and the Navy a P-8I and the Kamov-31. ETV Bharat identifies the heritage aircraft as a Harvard trainer, which flew under the name Sarnath.

Three days and a gap

The News Mill’s report of 17 October, with ANI inputs, gave the dates as 22 to 25 October and quoted Wing Commander Debartho Dhar, the Ministry of Defence’s public relations officer at Prayagraj, on what the display would show. PTI reports that the first day, Thursday 22 October, ran from noon to 2 pm. ETV Bharat records the second day, Saturday 24 October, as running from 11:40 am to about 2:30 pm. The finale on Sunday 25 October lasted over an hour, according to PTI.

There was no flying on 23 October. ETV Bharat gives the reason as the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections. The dates also moved during planning. The Organiser reported on 9 October that early reports had given 22, 23 and 25 October, and that after a state review meeting on 3 October the days were reported as 24 to 26 October. The days that were flown were 22, 24 and 25.

Varanasi’s police commissionerate divided the city into 32 zones, 50 sectors and 80 sub-sectors and deployed around 11,900 personnel, ETV Bharat reports. India Sentinels adds that, to lower the risk of bird strikes, the city banned the sale and slaughter of meat, fish and poultry within 30 km of the venue from 19 October.

Formations named for the city

ETV Bharat’s account of the second day gives the formation names. Many of them are Shiva’s names or Varanasi’s landmarks: Kashi, Trishul, Mahadev, Pashupatinath, Neelkanth, Vishwanath, Sarnath, Ganga, Assi and Alaknanda. A retired Air Force officer, Rajashvi Pandey, told ETV Bharat that aircraft were arranged to suggest a Shiva lingam with Nandi behind it, and that three aircraft formed a trident.

Some of the sequences, as the reports describe them:

• Kashi: three Kiran aircraft flew a V in the colours of the national flag, according to PTI.
• Omkar: three Mi-17 V5 helicopters carried the national flag and the Air Force flag, led by Group Captain Anuj Gupta, according to IANS. Three Chetaks followed and showered flowers.
• Bhagirathi: Prachand helicopters and Apaches flew in a diamond.
• Tridev: a Navy Kamov-31 and two Advanced Light Helicopter Mk IIIs, one from the Air Force and one from the Army, flew as one formation, which the reports present as the three-service element of the show.
• Nataraj and Mahadev: a P-8I flew with two Mirage 2000s, and an IL-78 flew with three.
• Prachand: on 24 October, six fighters from the Su-30MKI, Rafale, Jaguar, Mirage 2000, Tejas and MiG-29 fleets flew an arrowhead. ETV Bharat links it to the strikes of Operation Sindoor.
• Dashashwa: a C-17 led nine Surya Kiran Hawks over the viewing area, and the team then flew its own display.

On the finale, IANS reports that a Tejas closed the show with what it calls a Spider-Man farewell.

The Indian-built aircraft

ETV Bharat says the Tejas flew under the call sign Assi and performed low-altitude aerobatics. The Tejas programme has its own article on this site.

The Prachand has a record in the Ministry of Defence’s own words. The release of 3 October 2022 calls the Light Combat Helicopter the first indigenous multi-role combat helicopter designed and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and says it was formally inducted at Jodhpur into the newly raised No. 143 Helicopter Unit. The Defence Minister said at the time that the need for such a helicopter was felt strongly during the 1999 Kargil War and that the helicopter came from two decades of research and development.

The Surya Kiran team flew nine red-and-white Hawk Mk 132 jets, according to IANS, and the Free Press Journal says HAL builds the Hawk under licence. The same report says the team was formed in 1996, has more than 850 displays to its name and counts five officers from Uttar Pradesh. India Sentinels reported beforehand that the Sarang team, set up in 2003, would fly five Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv helicopters.

A display that moves from city to city

A PIB release of 21 July 2023 describes a “new tradition” of holding the Air Force Day celebrations in different parts of the country. It records the previous parade at Chandigarh with a flypast over Sukhna Lake, then the 2023 display over the Sangam area at Prayagraj and an earlier display near Bhojtal Lake in Bhopal on 30 September that year.

News On AIR reported the first full-scale air show in Guwahati on 9 November 2025: more than 75 aircraft in over 25 formations above the Brahmaputra at Lachit Ghat, flown from seven air bases. On 20 February 2026 it reported a Surya Kiran and Sarang show at the Jal Mahal in Jaipur.

India Sentinels and the Organiser both call Varanasi’s show the first IAF air show over the Ganga in the city’s history. The ANI release of 20 October, which carries a PIB photo credit, does not use the word “first”. Given the Prayagraj display of 2023, the claim holds for Varanasi.

Air Vice Marshal P. V. S. Narayana, quoted by India Sentinels, gave two aims: letting the public see how the Air Force works, and encouraging young people to join the armed forces. The ANI release lists the same two purposes. At the finale, Air Chief Marshal A. P. Singh and the Postmaster General for the Varanasi region released a special postal cover, ANI reports, citing Central Air Command’s post. The Prime Minister, the Defence Minister, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh and the Chief Minister watched the last day, PTI reports.

What the sources do not settle

The three-day total of 100 aircraft is an Air Force briefing figure, reported before and during the show. No source opened gives an official count of spectators. India Sentinels’ pre-show estimate was 20 to 30 lakh visitors (2 to 3 million) across the three days.

Reports also differ on who led the Neelkanth formation of three Rafales: IANS calls him Squadron Leader Kaustubh Nalawade and Indian Masterminds calls him a Wing Commander. No Press Information Bureau release on the display itself turned up in searches as of 2 November 2026. The Air Force, established on 8 October 1932 according to PIB, reaches its 95th anniversary on 8 October 2027.