The Indian Air Force will carry out a joint exercise with its United States counterpart at West Bengal's Kalaikunda airbase under the Eastern Air Command in the first week of November.
The US would deploy its F-16s and other sophisticated combat aircraft for the exercise christened 'Cope India', Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the EAC, Air Marshal F H Major, told newsmen in Shillong today.
The IAF will deploy its frontline fighter aircraft in the 10-day long exercise, Air Marshal Major, who took over as the AOC-in-C at the EAC headquarters in Shillong during the day, said.
The drill is part of the ongoing military exercise between the two countries and would be a learning experience for both, he said.
Air Marshal Major, who was deputy chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Operations) in New Delhi before assuming his new charge, said the EAC was manning an area that has borders with five countries and has a huge responsibility in terms of national security and projection of air power.
"The EAC is prepared for any threats from the neighbouring countries at any point of time... Assessing threats is our main job on a daily basis," the AOC-in-C said.
WASHINGTON: The United States is deploying its F-16 fighter jets for large scale air exercises with India to be held at the Kalaikunda Air Base outside Kolkata in November this year.
Twelve F-16 CJs and an E-3 AWACS from the Misawa and Kadena Air Base on Okinawa in Japan will be flying down for the ten-day Cope India exercises starting November 7, according to defence sources.
It is the first time the US is deploying F-16 fighter jets for exercises in India. Washington held back its F-16s and sent six F-15 Eagles from the Elmendorf Air Base in Alaska during the last exercises in Gwalior in February 2004, partly due to concerns over reactions from Pakistan, whose air force inventory centers around the F-16s.
But in a surprising twist, the US F-15s suffered reverses at the hands of the IAF is a friendly shooting match, leading to a serious appraisal in the US about where its air force stands in relation to the rest of the world.
This time the US wants to get it right. Besides, both sides appear to have decided that Pakistan is relatively marginal to their military relationship, which is pegged to broader and deeper concerns.
In fact, when the Indian Air Chief announced in Srinagar last month that US and India were holding air exercises, there was hysterical reaction from Pakistan, which assumed that the exercises were being held in Kashmir (because it was announced there). Washington subsequently clarified that the exercises were at the Kaliaikunda Air Base outside Kolkata, calming Islamabad’s frenzy.
Not that Kashmir has been off bounds for New Delhi and Washington. The two sides have conducted joint land exercises in Kashmir before. Army units from both sides participated in a high-altitude warfare training in September 2003 in exercises that saw the marriage of Indian techniques with American technology.
Meanwhile, ahead of November’s Cope India exercises, six IAF personnel visited Misawa and Kadena last month for familiarization courses that included flying the F-16s. At the same time, two American airmen went to India with a similar purpose and they flew India’s topline SU-30s.
Apart from their fighter jets and equipment, the US is also sending nearly 250 military personnel from the Japan-based 35th Fighter Wing and 961st Airborne Warning and Control Systems in exercises that officials say are becoming bigger and more potent with every passing year. Last year, around 200 Indian airmen had flown to Alaska for exercises there.
