Ajay Banerjee
New Delhi, September 7
The US Air Force has flown in 15-plus sorties to India only to ferry communication and security equipment, including Presidential Cadillac, the Beast that would be available to President Joe Biden when he arrives here tomorrow for the G20 summit. The equipment and cars were flown on multiple sorties by Boeing C-17 Globemaster III planes, a large military transport aircraft. Normally, two cars or even three similar cars are flown in to avoid the car getting “marked” by adversaries.
Will travel in the beast — world’s safest
- Communication system from the US
- Army, NSG commandos on standby
- IAF jets to do combat patrols
- Snipers deployed atop buildings
- Will travel in the Beast, which is considered the world’s safest car
Communication equipment is classified, encrypted and totally secure for use by Biden during his stay in India for two days. The security equipment flown in includes specialist devices to secure the President in case of an exigency. The Air Force One is slated to land in India on Friday at 7 pm. Again, two planes fly with Biden — the second one for standby. Biden and his entourage will be staying at ITC Maurya Sheraton in Chanakyapuri. Access to the floor where Biden will be staying is restricted.
Biden will be using his cars while travelling from Maurya to Pragati Maidan. Vehicles will be used when the President travels for a bilateral with PM Modi at his residence at Lok Kalyan Marg and also for the Presidential banquet on September 9 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Beast is touted as world’s strongest and safest bulletproof car and is operated by the US Secret Service.
Biden’s security detail is in three layers. The outermost layer has paramilitary personnel while the second layer will have commandos from Indian SPG and the innermost circle will have weapon-carrying US Secret Service agents.
Separately, the air space around Delhi has been segregated in three stages for the summit. The first stage is stopping threats at borders. The second stage of the air space control would be a radius of 200 km and the last stage — the immediate stage — would be controlling air space within 50 km of Delhi.