Then, the Commander of the Common Gulf Shield Exercise 1, parade Brig. Gen. Hassan bin Saleh Al-Shehri requested the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud to start the military parade. The parade began with formations of symbolic units of participating forces from 25 friendly countries, following the flag of Saudi Arabia. The military parade included Special Forces units, advanced military vehicles and missile systems that paraded before the King and the leaders of participating countries. Squadrons of aircraft from participating forces made an air show that provided variety of configurations, including those used by attacking aircraft and other multi-task, showed the overall skill and efficiency of the pilots involved. The aircraft formed in the sky a shield representing the countries participating, in the exercise. The show also witnessed parade of several modern aircraft and their missions, including the MRT aircraft, which has the ability to fuel airborne aircraft, at all altitudes, the AWACS, an airborne control system for round-the-clock surveillance, used for offensive and defensive operations and the RJ surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. The K3, a floating fuel station in the sky, helps aircraft stay longer in the air to achieve their missions, over the enemy airspace, while the C-130 transport plane missions include cargo and quick and flexible air support. A variety of helicopters made up of three high-speed, reactive Apache helicopters, that can attack from multiple distances or from the depth of the battle and primarily used to destroy tanks and armored vehicles, have been also paraded. Cougar aircraft used for search and assistance operations, with high potential able to rescue air or ground crews from the enemy territories, were also among displayed warfare paraded gadgets. Super-Puma aircraft to carry out combat operations against naval targets, support forces of countries in their combat operations, at sea, to pass information to fleet control centers displayed a formation of Black Hawk aircraft transporting personnel within the area of operations, offered a live air maneuver and a direct clash between Typhoon and F-15S. Then all participating fighter planes paraded before the VIP compartment to greet and coincidently announce the end of the air show, and the Common Gulf Shield Exercise I. -- More 18:59 LOCAL TIME 15:59 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w669557