China (PLAAF) and guess who?

http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031103084312.mgpcoiix.html

China, India to hold joint naval exercises this month

BEIJING (AFP) Nov 03, 2003

In a sign of warming ties, the Chinese and Indian navies are slated to hold joint exercises this month while their air forces are mulling joint jet fighter operations, state press reported Monday. The naval exercises are expected to entail search and rescue operations including up to two naval vessels from each side in neutral waters in the Bay of Bengal off India’s east coast in mid-November, the Extensive Military Readings Journal said.

India could dispatch its Delhi guided missile destroyer, with China expected to send a comparable vessel, the report said. China’s ministry of defense refused immediate comment. The announcement came as Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Beijing Monday to hold summit level talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao. China and Pakistan carried out joint naval exercises off the coast of China’s largest city Shanghai last week.

The drill, code-named “Dolphin 0310,” simulated an emergency rescue operation and was the first time either country had engaged in joint naval operations with another nation. The Indian-Chinese joint military exercises were first proposed by Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes during a March visit to Beijing. Both sides agreed to the proposal during Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to China in June, the Chinese journal said.

Sino-Indian relations were badly damaged in 1998 when New Delhi conducted nuclear tests and Fernandes suggested at the time they had been carried out with an eye on China, but recently he appears to have changed his thinking. “China wants to be friends with India. China is seeking India’s friendship and I believe that if someone wants to be friendly with us, we should stretch our hand,” Fernandes told the BBC’s HardTalk programme last week.

According to the journal, India first proposed a joint anti-pirate military exercise in the Straits of Malacca with the Chinese navy, but Beijing refused out of consideration for its long-standing ties with Pakistan, India’s main rival.

The two sides are also mulling a joint air force operation later this year involving Sukhoi 27 fighter jets of China’s People’s Liberation Army and the Indian military’s Sukhoi 30 MKI war planes, the journal said.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200310/20/eng20031020_126434.shtml

India’s after joint military maneuver with China
According to a recent report in the newspaper “The Hindu”, Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes appealed in Patna, capital city of Bihar state in India on October 10 “Indian and China’s armies should develop more military contacts including joint military exercises, which will benefit both countries.”

According to a recent report in the newspaper “The Hindu”, Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes appealed in Patna, capital city of Bihar state in India on October 10 “Indian and China’s armies should develop more military contacts including joint military exercises, which will benefit both countries.”

As early as Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s successful visit to China in June, the news that China and India would jointly launch the first marine military exercise has drawn much attention from among various international media. On June 27, Vice Chief of Indian Naval Staff, Vice Admiral John C. DeSilva announced in New Delhi that India and China’s navies planned to launch their first marine military exercise later this year, which was one of the significant achievements of Vajpayee’s visit. According to DeSilva, subjects such as naval searching, rescue at sea will be included in the joint military exercise. He pointed out that as Sino-Indian relations by and by thawed, navies of the two countries are constantly making increasing exchanges and have sent officials to each other’s military educational departments for study and exchanges, yet with regard to joint military exercise, it’s so far the first time. Currently, relevant personnel of the two parties are mapping out a detailed plan concerning the date and place etc. of the military exercises through negotiation.

Reporters with “Times of India” got through various channels that the idea of Sino-India joint navy maneuver was first put forward by India. In fact, India has long had such an idea since April 2003 when Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes visited China. As DeSilva put it, the main gunboats of the two parties will conduct the three-day marine search and rescue exercises. It is a common view among observers of international military affairs that the first Sino-India military exercise will strike a symbolizing significance. This joint exercise is one of the measures taken to establish mutual trust, indicating the two countries are ready to abandon the past “pain and suspicion” and ending the lethargy over decades in the past.

In recent years, Indian military department has been keen on joint military exercises with its foreign counterparts. Among its partners are military powers such as the United States, Russia, Britain and France as well as Oman, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar and Japan. Due to historical reasons, China’s defense construction has always been an important element for Indian military department to work out a long-term strategy and development plan. Ever since Sino-Indian relations were being gradually improved in the 1990s, India military department has expected to have exchanges with its Chinese counterpart, so as to get a closer view of China’s army and improve its own.

This is an article on the thirteenth page of Global Times, October 15, 2003, written by Qian Feng, translated by PD Online staff member Gao Lanrong.

Suprised? That’s nothing compared to,

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200311/05/eng20031105_127684.shtml

My impression of training system of Indian Air Force

In late June, together with other students of the Advanced Course of the PLA Air Force Command Institute, I made a study trip to India, during which we visited the Indian Air Force units and schools, watched their trainings, aircraft assembling, and maintenance and repair, and listened to the briefings given by the departments concerned. Throughout the visit I was deeply impressed by the advanced concept of the Indian Air Force, and their remarkable rules and regulations and scientific way of doing things.

In late June, together with other students of the Advanced Course of the PLA Air Force Command Institute, I made a study trip to India, during which we visited the Indian Air Force units and schools, watched their trainings, aircraft assembling, and maintenance and repair, and listened to the briefings given by the departments concerned. Throughout the visit I was deeply impressed by the advanced concept of the Indian Air Force, and their remarkable rules and regulations and scientific way of doing things.

There must first be advanced concepts before military talents can be cultivated
The Indian Air Force believes that officers shoulder the task of producing effective fighting units by combining advanced equipment with well-trained soldiers. The experience of the past wars has proved that the most effective way to achieve this is to improve the quality of commanders. According to the Indian Air Force, the competence and strong leadership of commanders are decisive factors in war, and the cohesion of troops, to a great extent, depends on the quality, art of leadership, professionalism and dedication of commanders. The Indian Air Force also holds that if officers, especially high-ranking officers, are poor in quality, it would result in incompetence of the whole armed forces and to support such an armed forces would be “a great loss of money” for the country.

Perfect rules and regulations must be in place for cultivation of military talents
One of the prominent features of the Indian Air Force in talents cultivation is to avoid randomness. There are specific, rational and complete rules and regulations to ensure the smooth operation of talents policy throughout the process from the import to export of talents.

The Indian Air Force has worked out perfect regulatory systems for recruitment of new recruits, enrolment of cadets by military schools, enrolment of pilots and flying instructors. In 1989, the Indian Air Force officially issued “Temporary Regulations on Recruitment”, requiring all the recruits to be secondary school graduates in addition to their political and physical qualifications; for junior military schools, all their students must have official 12-year secondary school diplomas; candidate pilots must hold university degrees in addition to their physical, psychological and moral qualifications; flying instructors must be up to even higher standards. For example, they must have flied for more than 7 to 13 years, with total flying hours no less than 500 hours.

The Indian Air Force has a set of strict rules governing the selection and promotion of officers and transfer of officers’ posts. Its training is strict and specific. Flying instructors must complete their training before they are assigned to the posts or before they are promoted to higher posts. Officers have to go to different colleges or institutes to receive training, before they have chance to be promoted. An Indian Air Force commanding officer, if he is to be promoted from pilot officer to air commodore, must receive training in military colleges for 6 to 10 times, and each training course lasts for 3 months to 1 year.

Military talents should be cultivated by relying on the armed forces itself, supplemented by training of civilian colleges

The Indian Air Force holds that military talents cultivation should mainly rely on military schools, and the military school education should be given priority in the development of the armed forces due to its strategic importance. At the same time, national education system should play an important supplementary role.

The Indian Air Force training system has a full range of schools. At the moment, the Indian armed forces have 102 military schools, of which 51 are air force schools (and in addition there are 20 other training organizations for the Air Force). They fall under three categories: command schools for training commanding officers and staff officers which are the main body of the schools of the Indian Air Force; schools for training grassroots backbones, including junior officers, warrant officers and NCOs; schools for training all kinds of technical support personnel. As far as the system is concerned, these schools can be classified into junior schools, intermediate schools and advanced schools.

While letting the military school education playing the leading role, the Indian Air Force also attaches great importance to relying on national educational system in its efforts to cultivate military talents. For regular universities and research institutes in India, in addition to train talents for civilian purpose, they also cultivate military talents. The Indian Air Force not only recruits outstanding graduates directly from civilian universities, but also sends military personnel to study in civilian colleges or scientific research institutes for further training or education.

In addition, the Indian Air Force also sends outstanding commanding officers to study in the U.S., the U.K., Russia, Canada and other countries to further their studies or learn more advanced technologies or training methods.