acetophenol
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Air India One
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Air India One or AI 001 is the call sign of any aircraft carrying either the Prime Minister of India or the President of India.[1] The aircraft are operated as VIP flights by the Indian Air Force (IAF).[2] The IAF's Air Headquarters Communications Squadron that is based at the Palam Air Force Base in New Delhi is in charge of operating these aircraft.[3]
[edit]Current fleet
The IAF currently owns four 14 seater Embraer 135 and three customised 46 seater (with a VVIP cabin) Boeing Business Jets (BBJ) Boeing 737 aircraft that are used for VIP movement. Of these the Boeing 737s are used by either the Prime Minister or the President when on official overseas visits.[3][4]
Each Embraer 135 is equipped with missile-deflecting systems, modern flight management system including global positioning system as well as category II instrument landing system. These aircraft cost the IAF Rs. 140 crore each.[4] The Three BBJ, christened Rajdoot, Rajhans and Rajkamal cost the IAF Rs. 934 crore each (Rs. 734 crore for the actual aircraft plus an additional Rs. 200 crore for Self Protection Suites).[2][3] Self protection suites include radar warning receivers, missile-approach warning systems and counter-measure systems. The aircraft have the capability to shoot metal chaff and flares to deviate radar-guided missiles and heat-seeking missiles off the track along with other security gadgets.[2] The aircraft have been configured to the same security specifications as the Boeing-747 Air Force One that flies the President of the United States according to a news report.[3]
The BBJ have a four class configuration. For the President/Prime Minister, there is a separate enclosure in the aircraft which includes an office and a bedroom. Everyone aboard the Air India One is required to wear a colour coded identity card. Members of the official delegation (Joint secretary level and above) are tagged in purple and sit in First Class while accompanying officials (junior officers) are given pink tags and sit in Business Class on the upper deck. Journalists and others from the media sit in the Executive Class and sport yellow tags. Support staff join the security team in a small economy class section at the back of the aircraft and are tagged in red.[5]
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