India will join the elite club of nations during the Beating Retreat ceremony here on January 29 when more than 1,000 locally made drones will depict 75 years of Independence at Rajpath. US, China and Russia are the other three countries in the world to have the capability to launch 1,000 drones simultaneously for events of such magnitude and size.
Giving details here about the exceptional event, defence ministry sources said on Tuesday the drones show is brainchild of a start-up venture of the Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Delhi.
Moreover, for the first time, on the parapet of the North Block and the South Block, there will be a laser projection mapping show to commemorate 75 years of independence, they added. This is the first time that the Beating the Retreat ceremony will have a laser show and a drone show, officials said.
These two shows will take place in addition to the foot-tapping music and classical renditions that are there every year at the ceremony, they said.
Botlab, a startup from IIT-Delhi, will put up the drone show with nearly 1,000 drones. It will be themed on 75 years of independence. With this launch, India will become the fourth country to conduct a drone show of this size that has been designed and conceptualised indigenously, sources said. The Beating the Retreat ceremony marks a centuries-old military tradition, dating back to the days when troops disengaged from battle at sunset.
New Delhi: Eastern Command chief Lt General Manoj Pande will be the next Vice Chief of Army after incumbent Lt General C P Mohanty retires this month end. Pande will be senior most after present Army Chief General M M Naravane retires in April end. If the government follows the tradition of appointing the senior most officer as the top boss, Pande will then be the next Army chief, sources said here on Tuesday adding he will be the first officer from the Engineer Corps if he makes it to top. The government is yet to select the next Chief of Defence Staff after first CDS General Bipin Rawat died in a helicopter crash in December last year.
As soon as the buglers sounded the "retreat", the troops ceased fighting, sheathed their arms and withdrew from the battlefield.