New Delhi: Top guns of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the flying aces of the Egyptian Air Force (EAF) met and engaged for a full month—from June 24 to July 23—to churn out the best ways of ‘large force engagements’ involving complex, multi-aircraft missions. The effort is a tangible result of the IAF chief’s visit to Egypt three months ago.
The first-of-its-kind interaction took place at the Egyptian Fighter Weapon School in Cairo West Air Force Base where six combat instructors from India’s premier Gwalior-based Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) had flown in with three Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft.
The interaction and training operations which included undertaking “flights of over six hours with mid air refueling support from the IAF and UAE Air- to-Air refuellers” yielded a rich harvest of fruitful experience in the domain of Large Force Engagements involving complex, multi-aircraft missions, a release said. From the IAF’s tactical point of view, the sheer sweeping range of aircraft operated by the EAF in itself would have been an attractive proposition.
One of the biggest air forces in the region, the EAF, among the well-known platforms, operates American F-16s, C-130s, to Russian MiG-21 and MiG-29s, to French Rafale and Mirage 2000 fighters to Chinese J-7s. The interaction is replete with strategic geo-political significance.
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Besides being the operator of the vitally important Suez Canal, Egypt—a key player in ensuring open sea lines of communication—is the gateway to the Mediterranean and could be an important channel for India to lay out her global ambitions and outreach to Europe and Africa. The move acquires added significance in the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Along with India, Egypt is also one of the founder members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and has been successful in maintaining a non-aligned posture vis-à-vis the two major global players the US and Russia.
The very fact that UAE’s Air-to-Air refuellers were used in the combined IAF-EAF sorties is very interesting and significant in the backdrop of the newly-formed I2U2 grouping that includes India, Israel, the UAE and the US. I2U2 is seen as a platform to combat the growing assertiveness of China. With its considerably large military, Egypt is also a potentially huge market for Indian military products.
Nor is the IAF-EAF relationship a new one.”The bond between the two Air Forces dates back to the 1960s when Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava, an IAF Test Pilot, test flew the Egyptian prototype of the Helwan HA-300 with Test Pilots from the EAF. This was followed by Indian Qualified Flying Instructors training young Egyptian pilots - a programme that continued into the 1980s,” an official release points out.
