New Delhi, June 13 (IANS) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will attend the Combined Graduation Parade (CGP) of 217 Course, on Saturday at Air Force Academy (AFA) Hyderabad’s Dundigal.

Marked by military precision, the event will commemorate the successful completion of the pre-commissioning training of Flight Cadets across various branches of the Indian Air Force (IAF), the the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Rajnath Singh will be the Reviewing Officer (RO) for the parade.

During the ceremony, Singh will confer the ‘President’s Commission’ on the graduating trainees. The ceremony includes the presentation of ‘Wings’ and ‘Brevets’ upon successful completion of training to the Flight Cadets of the IAF, officers and trainees of the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and Socialist Republic of Vietnam, according to the Ministry.

This CGP will also mark the commissioning of the first batch of women cadets from the National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune, who passed out on May 30, 2025, and joined AFA for branch-specific training.

The Defence Minister will also present the ‘President’s Plaque’ to the Flight Cadets standing first in the overall order of merit in Flying, Navigation stream and Ground Duty branches.

The parade will feature military drills and aerial displays. The event will begin with demonstrations by the Akash Ganga skydiving team and the Air Warrior Drill Team (AWDT). These will be interspersed with fly-pasts led by Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh.

The flypast featured four types of trainer aircraft: the Pilatus PC-7 MkII, Hawk, Kiran, and Chetak. The ceremony’s major attractions included aerial displays by the SU-30 MKI, the Sarang helicopter display team, and the Suryakiran Aerobatic Team (SKAT).

–IANS

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