NEW DELHI: India, France and the UAE on Wednesday kicked off a major air combat exercise called “Desert Knight” over Arabian Sea, strengthening trilateral defence cooperation and enhancing military interoperability, amid the ongoing geopolitical churn.
IAF deployed several fighters like Sukhoi-30MKIs and Jaguars, backed by IL-78 mid-air refuellers and AEW&C (airborne early-warning and control) aircraft, from airbases like Jamnagar on the west coast for the exercise, while Rafale and F-16 jets and other aircraft from France and the UAE operated from the Al Dhafra airbase, sources told TOI.
The “large force engagement” with intensive combat manoeuvers was conducted around 350 to 400 km southwest of Karachi over Arabian Sea.
“The exercise will continue for three days. It is the second such trilateral endeavour this year to build synergy among the three air forces as well as improve combat skills, with multiple aircraft types operating in a realistic scenario,” a source said.
The exercise is yet another indicator of the way India is steadily building military interoperability with countries in the region, especially the Persian Gulf, in conjunction with others like the US, France and Australia.
All such exercises on a bilateral, trilateral or multilateral basis build strategic cooperation with like-minded countries in the crucial Indo-Pacific, a region where China’s continued muscle-flexing and expansionist tactics have raised concerns among many nations.
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