CDS Bipin Rawat witnesses India-France joint defence exercise
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Jodhpur, Jan 22: Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat witnessed the joint defence exercise between India and France in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur on Thursday. The roaring Rafale fighter jets took off to the skies alongside aerial beasts Sukhoi-30s and Mirages in the presence of the CDS.
Rawat said, "the significance of this exercise is that Rafale fighter which has been inducted recently in our Air Force & French Rafale aircraft along with our (Indian) Su-30s, Mirages have trained together & we have shown that how quickly we have adapted to Rafale fighters."
After flying in an Airbus-330 Multirole Tanker Transport Aircraft at the exercise today, the senior most defence officer in the country stated that he was impressed with the way Indian pilots quickly learned how to manoeuvre and refuel from the French aircraft in the Indian skies.
Gen Bipin Rawat #CDS visited #AirForceStation Jodhpur today & flew a sortie on the French MRTT ac along with Maj Gen Laurent Lherbette of @Armee_de_lair. CDS interacted with both contingents & remarked that he was enthused with the opportunity to witness the #IndoFrenchEx. pic.twitter.com/N1ziMfMSgT
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) January 21, 2021
The IAF kickstarted the first major international wargames involving its Rafale fighter jets in Jodhpur on Wednesday with their French counterparts.
As part of the first edition of the exercise Desert Knight-21, four French Rafale fighters landed in Jodhpur after flying directly for around four hours from the Djibouti airbase using their A-330 multirole tanker transport aircraft which also landed here. Exercise Desert Knight-21, is being at Jodhpur Air Force Station from January 20 to January 24 this year.
The French are participating with Rafale, Airbus A-330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), A-400M Tactical Transport aircraft and approximately 175 personnel. Besides, IAF is participating in the exercise with Mirage 2000, Su-30 MKI, Rafale, IL-78 Flight Refuelling Aircraft, Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS) and AEW&C aircraft. The exercise marks an important milestone in the series of engagements between the two air forces.
As part of Indo-French defence cooperation, the Indian Air Force and the French Air and Space Force held six editions of air exercises named 'Garuda' -- the latest being in 2019 at Air Force Base Mont-de-Marsan in France.