IAF to hold exercise with UK and France in 2014

Indian Air Force will conduct two joint air exercises , christened “Indradhanush” with the UK and “Garuda” with France, in 2014 with a gap of six months, sources said. The last exercise was held in 2010.    

       While the “Garuda” exercise with the French Air Force is likely to take place in the IAF base in Gwalior, the exercise with the Royal Air Force may happen in the RAF base in Waddington. Venue of the 2010 edition of “Indradhanush” was Kalaikunda, while “Garuda” was held in Istres, France.
         The exercises assume additional significance in the IAF training schedule after the last minute cancellation of “Exercise Red Flag” in July at the US Air Force (USAF) base in Nevada, sources said. The USAF has abandoned plans of holding the exercise citing budgetary constraints. Conceived after the Vietnam war, “Red Flag” is the world’s most challenging air-exercise that provides air force pilots with realistic combat experience. Participation in the exercise was earlier restricted to close US allies, but was extended to India after bilateral relations between New Delhi and Washington improved in the last decade.

IAF practices for twin-front contingency against China, Pak in biggest wargame

To make the forces ready for the twin-threat posed by China and Pakistan, the largest-ever combat exercise was undertaken by IAF. The main objective of the was to test its capability for a two-front contingency by deploying "swing forces'' from the western theatre right across to the eastern one.
       IAF did "extremely well'' during the 'Live-Wire' exercise, conducted from March 18 to April 4 with over 8,000 hours of flying sorties, to maintain the "high-tempo surge operations'' to "validate its two-front deployment capability''. Frontline Sukhoi-30MKIs even flew long-range missions from Chabua (Assam) to the western front, with mid-air refuelling, for bombing missions, sources said.