Defence News India: Indian Air Force Tuesday commenced the air force phase of joint tri-service exercise between Indian and Russian Armed Forces. The second edition of the joint military exercise that began last week is being simultaneously at Pune and Gwalior for Air Force bases.
The theme of the exercise is to organise a Joint Task Force for undertaking planning and execution of air operations for eliminating terrorists at the request of the third country under UN mandate.
“Combined missions between IAF and RFAF would also be undertaken for enriching experience and maximising training value in terms of interoperability,” IAF said in a statement.
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IAF is undertaking service specific and joint missions during the exercise. Russian Federation Air Force (RFAF) element is participating in the exercise along with IAF counterparts.
Tri Services Ex INDRA-2019 will further strengthen mutual confidence, interoperability and enable sharing of best practices between the Armed Forces of both countries.
The INDRA exercises are being regularly held since 2003, initially being a bilateral single service exercise between India and Russia. The first-ever Joint Tri-Services Exercise was held in the Eastern Military District of Russia in Oct 2017.
This year IAF has fielded Sukhoi-30MKI, Jaguar, MI-17 helicopters, Airborne Warning & Control System aircraft and Garuds of IAF are participating in the exercise.
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