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F-16s will take part in exercise

Special Correspondent

Air Force station at Kalaikunda revamped for 12-day exercise

NEW DELHI: The U.S. Air Force will fly its F-16 planes for the first time in India in a joint exercise next month with frontline Indian Air Force (IAF) fighters at a newly revamped airbase in West Bengal.

The F-16s will be supplemented by the airborne warning & control systems (AWACS) or sophisticated radars mounted on planes which, at a height of 30,000 feet have a surveillance radius of 400 km and the capability to simultaneously detect hostile movement of several aircraft. Few countries — not even China — own AWACS while India is currently building them with Israeli and Russian assistance. This is the first time that the AWACS, called "eye in the sky," will participate in war games in India.

The IAF had requested its American counterparts to bring the F-16 fighters as the previous joint exercise in India had seen the deployment of an earlier version of these fighter planes. The 12-day exercise beginning on November 7 will have larger force levels.

Besides a squadron of F-16s from a U.S. Air Force base in Japan, the participating forces include various types of IAF fighter aircraft such as the SU-30K, Mirage-2000, MiG-21 BISON and MiG-27. "This experience will go a long way in preparing the IAF aircrew in operating in an AWACS environment before the induction of the IAF AWACS into the service. The tanker fleet will participate during the induction and de-induction of forces for the exercise. The practice missions will include Dissimilar Air Combat Manoeuvring (ACM) and Large Force Engagement (LFE) in the Beyond Visual Range (BVR) regime," said IAF officials.

The aim is to enhance mutual operational understanding and refine procedures for future joint exercises between the two Air Forces.

The primary objective is to become familiar with each other's operational, technical and administrative practices. The IAF, in the recent past, has participated in joint exercises with the French and Republic of Singapore Air Force.

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