Exercise AVIAINDRA involving the IAF and the Russian Federation Aerospace Force (RFASF) was conducted at Air Force Station, Jodhpur from 10 to 21 December 2018. This was the second edition, the first having been held at Lipetsk in Russia 17 to 28 September 2018.
Objective of this exercise was to “expose” RFASF and IAF pilots to single and multi aircraft missions in a counter terrorism scenario “within a predefined scope and understanding each other’s concept of operations”. The 30-member RFASF contingent comprised fighter, transport and helicopter pilots, led by Lt General Lurii Sushkov.
Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, Chief of the Air Staff, met and interacted with the members of the participating contingents and spoke about the long standing military partnership between the RFASF and the IAF and the commonality of the equipment operated by both the nations. He complimented the efficiency of the Russian equipment in “having played a pivotal role during various IAF air campaigns”.
AVIAINDRA is a unique exercise since the foreign participants do not bring their own assets and is seen as “testimony of the Indo-Russian military relationship, mutual co-operation and understanding between the IAF and the RFASF”.