A contingent of the Indian Air Force reached Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates to participate in Exercise Desert Flag-10, a premier multinational air combat exercise, the Ministry of Defence said on Sunday

The IAF is fielding MiG-29 and Jaguar aircraft in the exercise.

Exercise Desert Flag

Exercise Desert Flag is a multinational exercise being hosted by the UAE Air Force, with participating contingents from the Air Forces of Australia, Bahrain, France, Germany, Qatar Saudi Arabia, Republic of Korea, Turkey, UAE, United Kingdom, and the United States in addition to the Indian Air Force.

The exercise is scheduled to take place between April 21 to May 8.

Aim

The aim of the exercise is to undertake complex and diverse fighter engagements, with exchange of operational knowledge and best practices with some of the most capable Air Forces in the world.

"Participation in such exercises enhances mutual understanding interoperability, and strengthens military cooperation among the participating nations," read a statement issued by the Indian government.

The IAF's participation underscores India's commitment to strengthening defence ties and interoperability with friendly nations in the region and beyond.

India-UAE Defence Relationship

Bilateral Defence Interaction between India and UAE has been steadily growing in accordance with other aspects of the bilateral relationship.

"There have been regular high level exchanges at the level of Service Chiefs, functional level exchanges and military education exchanges between the countries. The ships of the Navies of both countries have regularly made port calls enhancing bilateral defence co-operation," read the Indian Embassy in the UAE's website.

India and UAE hold an Annual Defence Dialogue to discuss the security and defence co-operation issues between the two countries.

Defence co-operation between the two countries is steered through a Joint Defence Co-operation Committee (JDCC) at the Ministry level and Naval Staff Talks at the HQ level which identify new areas of co-operation between the two nations.

A permanent resident Defence Adviser (DA) has been posted to this Mission with effect from March 2013.

After the establishment of the DA’s office, bilateral defence co-operation has been strengthened further, notably in the field of defence training and regular exchange programmes.

"Co-operation in the field of Defence, Security and Energy has shown a positive change after the VVIP exchange of visits in the last two years," the website said.