The Indian Air Force contingent touched the skies of the UK with glory during the two week-long Exercise Indradhanush. The title of the exercise signifies display of glorious power in the sky. This exercise was fourth in the series and is held alternately in the UK and India. The last was held in India in the year 2010.
The IAF contingent demonstrated strategic deployment capability, flying in 4 x Su-30MKI aircraft along with 01 x IL-78 Tanker ac, 01 x C-17 and 01 x C-130 aircraft providing transport support. The deployment was completed within 54 hrs, travelling across three continents, covering a distance of over 8000 miles. The 190 strong contingent was led by Group Captain A Srivastva. The first aircraft landed in the UK on 17 July 2015 and the last aircraft departed the UK airspace on 31 Jul 2015. The IAF team flew combat training missions along with RAF involving contemporary tactics. The combat support aircraft crew are also associating/interacting with the RAF Globemaster Sqn, Hercules Sqn, Voyager (Air to Air Refueling) Sqn and gaining from the RAF experience.
The IAF Garud regiment of Special Forces operated with the RAF Regiment in various aspects of training. The troops practiced various missions in urban warfare which also included combat insertion missions in a near-realistic scenario. The IAF aircrew performed exceptionally well and demonstrated their high standard of training, op preparedness, flexibility and adaptability while flying outside Indian national borders. Full cooperation was evident between RAF and IAF in meeting all operational, maintenance and administrative requirements.
