Indian, French Rafales to be part of Desert Knight-21 war games in Jodhpur

By Sumit Kumar Singh New Delhi, Jan 18 : For the first time, French and Indian and Rafale jets would be flying and exercising together during the Desert Knight-21 war games scheduled between January 20 and 24 in Jodhpur, a government source said.
The Indian Air Force is hosting the French Air and Space Force (Armée de l’Air et de I’Espace) at Air Force Station Jodhpur for Ex-Desert Knight 21, a bilateral Air exercise. The French forces are currently deployed in Asia as part of their ‘Skyros Deployment’, and will transit through India.
The aim of the exercise is to provide operational exposure and share best practices towards enhancing combat capability. Both the forces will participate with Fighter, Transport, and Tanker aircraft.
Source said that the current exercise is in addition to the ‘Garuda’ series that the two Air Forces engage in, and is indicative of the earnestness of Indian Air Force and French Air and Space Force to enhance and further mutual co-operation by making use of the available opportunities for fruitful interaction.
“Both the Air Forces will be operating with the Rafale, war gaming various scenarios in Jodhpur,” said the source adding that other fighters jets like Sukhoi 30s and Mirage would also be part of the war drill.
India has signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 of these aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.