The French Air Force has announced Mont-de-Marsan air base is hosting the ‘Garuda’ exercice from the 1^st to the 12^th of July. The French Air Force explained: this bilateral tactic exercice “aims at enhancing the current level of interoperability of French and Indian crews in air defense and ground attack missions”.

To do so, several aircraft are participating to the Garuda exercice. On the French side, the fleet is composed of aircraft such as: Rafale, Alpha Jet, Mirage 2000, C135, E3F, C130 and Casa. However, the air force did not precise the total number of platforms that are mobilized for this exercice. For its part, India deployed four Su-30 MKIs, two C17s and one Ilyushin Il-78.

These aircraft have rejoined Mont-de-Marsan air base 118 on June 28^th, after having left India two days earlier. The French Air Force precised: “After a stopover in the United Arab Emirates and in Egypt, they were refueled in this last stage by a French C135 over the Mediterranean sea.”