Indien/Frankreich — Su-30 MKIs to exercise in France

IAF team for Garu­da Flagged off Su-30 MKIs to exer­cise in France for the first timeGaruds at Garu­da in anoth­er first An IAF con­tin­gent of 230 Air War­riors was flagged off from Air Force Sta­tion Bareil­ly by Air Mar­shal S Varthaman, Senior Air Staff Offi­cer, Cen­tral Air Com­mand at a for­mal cer­e­mo­ny today. The IAF con­tin­gent would be tak­ing part in Exer­cise Garu­da sched­uled from 14 Jun to 25 Jun 2010, at Istres Air Base, France. 

The IAF assets tak­ing part in exer­cise include 06 Sukhoi — 30 MKIs Air Dom­i­nance fight­er air­craft , 03 Ilushin — 78 Flight Refu­eller Air­craft & 01 Ilushin – 76 Heavy Lift Trans­port Air­craft. The SU-30 MKIs would be tak­ing part in an exer­cise in France for the first time. Ear­li­er SU-30 KAs had par­tic­i­pat­ed. Also a team of Garud Spe­cial Forces would be tak­ing part in Exer­cise Garu­da for the first time. 

Address­ing the con­tin­gent mem­bers at the flag­ging off cer­e­mo­ny Air Mshl Varthaman said “Indeed it is a proud & priv­i­leged hon­our for him to bid the team good fly­ing & hap­py land­ings. We have pre­pared well for last 6 to 8 months and I am sure you will excel with your pro­fes­sion­al­ism. So fly safe, fly well, make friends, win hearts & touch the sky with glory.” 

At the Exer­cise Garu­da the French Air Force would be par­tic­i­pat­ing with their Mirage 2000s & Rafael Air­craft. It should also be not­ed that the Repub­lic of Sin­ga­pore Air Force would also be par­tic­i­pat­ing in Ex-Garu­da with their F‑16 Block 52 Aircraft. 

Gp Capt J Mishra is the Team Leader under whose super­vi­sion the IAF con­tin­gent would per­form in France. Gp Capt NN Sin­ha of IAF would be the Exer­cise Direc­tor, who would be plan­ning, coor­di­nat­ing & exe­cut­ing dif­fer­ent aspects of the fly­ing & ground maneu­vers at Ex Garuda. 

A joint exer­cise of this nature enhances mutu­al oper­a­tional under­stand­ing. It also refines the pro­ce­dur­al aspects and pro­vides for tremen­dous learn­ing expe­ri­ence, for all the par­tic­i­pat­ing Air Forces. It also enables the oper­a­tors to under­stand each other’s capa­bil­i­ty. Exer­cise Garu­da con­tin­ues to enhance & cement the close mil­i­tary ties between the Indi­an and the French Air Forces. 

Wg Cdr Mahesh Upasani from Bareil­ly
Media Offi­cer
Exer­cise Garuda 

Press release
Min­istry of Defence, India