India has accepted an invitation from the US to participate in
its first multinational advanced aerial combat training exercise in
August next year, local Calcutta-based newspaper The
Telegraph reported Tuesday.
The outgoing air officer commanding-in-chief of the Eastern Air
Command, Air Marshal P.K. Barbora, described the opportunity to
participate in the Red Flag program as a "historic" one.
"We will simulate war conditions, a sort of mock drill with full
military equipment as part of preparations for any real war
situation," he told the media Monday in Shillong, the Meghalaya
capital in northeastern India.
The advanced aerial combat training program will be at the
Nellis airbase in Nevada, the United States. The US Air Force, its
military units, NATO allies and others have been part of such
exercises since 1975. The use of live ammunition for bombing
exercises is one of the specialties of the program.
The Indian Air Force received Delhi's permission to participate
in the Red Flag program last month after much browbeating by the
left parties, which had argued that it would be tantamount to
surrendering to the United States.
Barbora said the Red Flag program will give India "phenomenal
exposure" to the air capabilities of the other participating
countries.
(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2007)
