Indo-French joint air exercise begins next week

NEW DELHI: India's first-ever joint exercise with combat fighters from another country will kick off in Gwalior next week when IAF and French Air Force jets will tear into the sky and perform complicated manoeuvres with each other. The joint exercise comes at a time when France and India, as reported earlier, are holding talks for the off-the-shelf sale of 18 Mirage-2000-V jets and licensed production of another 108 in India.The deal is estimated to be around $8 billion. Gwalior is the home-base of the 40 Mirage-2000H multi-role fighters acquired from France in the mid-1980s. In addition to these two squadrons, another 10 Mirage-2000H jets are scheduled to be inducted into the IAF from September onwards. "The IAF will be participating in the joint exercise with Mirage-2000s and MiGs, while the French will display their advanced Mirage-2000-Vs. The manoeuvres will range from dog-fights to combat from beyond visual range," said a source. The Mirage-2000-Vs now being offered by France are the latest version in this family of aircraft with much more powerful engines, superior avionics and radars. "IAF's long-term plan is to have six more Mirage-2000 squadrons," said the source. The IAF is also gearing up to take part in a joint combat exercise with the US Air Force later in the year. While India is likely to flaunt the latest Sukhoi-30 fighters, the US is expected to field the F-15C jets.