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| India-UK hold joint air exercise | | |
Saturday, October 14,
Gwalior:In the first ever exercises between India and the UK in 43 years, British pilots are doing just that, flying the Indian Air Force's Sukhoi 30s.
They are being candid enough in admitting that their own jets are being outgunned by the IAF's best.
A Royal Air Force (RAF) AWACS plane over Gwalior is a part of Exercise Indra Dhanush. For the RAF, which fielded some of their senior most pilots it was an opportunity to train with the IAF's Sukhoi 30.
India has never been a world-beater in the field of aviation but with the Sukhoi 30, the Indian Air Force has a real top gun.
Royal Air Force pilots who flew the jet were candid enough to admit that they came back with silly grins after flying a sortie on the fighter.
"This is a third straight or 4th generation fighter behind me absolutely wonderful piece of kit. I would love to fly that (pointing to Tornado). It is a magnificent warplane it's 1980s technology. If you want to put this in Star Wars terms, that is a Battle Station and this is an X Wing fighter," said Air Commodore Julian Stinton, Royal Air Force.
In fact, the Sukhoi 30 and the IAF's MiG-21 Bisons were able to knock out British Tornados in several training engagements though the IAF insists on playing down the real score.
"We are operating with RAF aircraft after 43 years. We have had our pilots trained there, especially when we inducted the Jaguar in 1979 after which we have recently had the Hawk pilots being trained and they have brought back the experiences of how the RAF flies," said Air Commodore K G Bewoor, Air Officer Commanding 40 Wing, IAF.
These latest exercises are part of a larger process to prepare for scenarios where the IAF is able to jointly operate with air forces like the Royal Air Force and the US Air Force anywhere in the world.
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