India-France air exercise from today
NEW DELHI: The air forces of India and France will kick off a five-day joint exercise in Rajasthan on Wednesday, with a raft of aircraft taking part in the drills, including Rafale fighters jets, Mirage 2000s, Sukhoi-30s, mid-air refuellers and airborne warning and control system (AWACS) platforms, the Indian Air Force said in a statement on Tuesday announcing the line-up of aircraft taking part in the wargames.
The exercise, codenamed Desert Knight-21 is being held at the Jodhpur air force station.
“The exercise marks an important milestone in the series of engagements between the two air forces. As part of Indo-French defence cooperation, the IAF and French Air and Space Force have held six editions of exercises named ‘Garuda’, the latest being in 2019 at Air Force Base Mont-de-Marsan, France,” the IAF said on the eve of the exercise.
Both air forces will be fielding their refuellers for the drills. While the IAF’s IL-78 tankers will be seen in action during the exercise, the French side will deploy its Airbus A-330 multirole tanker transport (MRTT) aircraft during the exercise, officials said.
The French air force has also flown its A-400M military transport aircraft to Jodhpur for the exercise, they added.
The French contingent taking part in the exercise consists of 175 personnel, the IAF said.
“To further the existing cooperation, the two forces have been gainfully utilising available opportunities to conduct ‘hop-exercises’.
The French Air and Space Force deployment while ferrying to Australia for Ex Pitchblack in 2018 was hosted by IAF at air force stations Agra and Gwalior for exercise with fighters and MRTT aircraft,” the statement said.
The French detachment for Ex Desert Knight-21 is deployed in Asia as part of its Skyros Deployment and is transiting through India.
The IAF said as the two sides would “put into practice operational experience gained across terrains and spectrums and endeavour to exchange ideas and best practices to enhance interoperability”.