Exercise Garuda-2 , Istres, France.

hope someone gets good photos due to more relaxed attitude to planespotters in europe.

Bareilly, June 9 (UNI) An Indian Air Force team, comprising six Su-30K air superiority fighters and an Il-78 mid-air refueller, today left for France to participate in ‘Garuda-II’ — the second joint fighter exercise with the French Air Force.

The Su-30Ks, from the No 24 Squadron (‘Hunting Hawks’) and the Il-78 from the Agra-based Mid Air Refuelling Squadron (MARS), were flagged off from here by Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal S K Malik.

Speaking on the occasion, the Vice Chief called on the Air Warriors to ”live up to the reputation” of the IAF by doing well in the exercise.

Observing that it was ”very difficult” to build a reputation and ”equally difficult to maintain it”, Air Marshal Malik said the exercise offered them ”a big challenge” of flying in ‘a different environment and tight air space”.

The exercise, which follows ‘Garuda-I’ — the first ever joint fighter exercise held in India, at Gwalior, in February 2003 — will see the IAF’s Sukhois match their expertise against the French Air Force’s Mirage 2000-5 fighters — who are also fielding an older version of the fighter the Mirage 2000C The 15-day exercise, at Istres Air Force Base between June 16 and 30, will help the IAF augment its power projection skills in beyond visual range (BVR) combat and air-to-air refuelling by learning from the French Air Force’s ”experience and employment philosophy,” a senior IAF official said.

”During Garuda-I, we realised that while we were flying the same aircraft (Mirage-2000) as the French, they were using it in a somewhat different way and getting good results… this formed a part of our learning process,” Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Ops C&D) Air Vice Marshal Sumit Mukherjee said at a press briefing on the exercise in New Delhi on Monday.

The IAF contingent, led by Group Captain Shreesh Mohan, comprises 120 personnel of which Sukhoi aircrew number 18 while the Il-78 has a five-man crew. The remaining 97 include a total of 10 flight engineers, administrative officials and medical personnel besides 87 technicians.

The flying component is led by Commanding Officer of the ‘Hawks’ squadron Wing Commander KV Raju.

The upcoming exercise will afford Indian controllers an opportunity to be present as Observers on board an AWACS platform to be fielded by the French — an E2C ‘Sentry’ shall be part of the French contingent to the exercise.

The aircraft will fly to Jamnagar, where they will stay for two days and leave on June 12 for Istres, where they are expected to reach on June 15, after a stopover in Jyanklis (Egypt).

The support team will reach France on an accompanying Il-76, which will return after dropping them, and later go to pick them up on the completion of the exercise