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Prime Minister Vajpayee with President Bush, growing relationship
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By
Zafarul-Islam Khan, IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, October 4 (IslamOnline) - Indian soldiers and airmen began
joint exercises, Thursday, October 3, with their U.S. counterparts in
Alaska to increase inter-operability and familiarization with new
techniques and equipment.
The
exercises, codenamed 'Geronimo Thrust -02', are taking place at Fort
Richardson and Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, where a platoon of
32 soldiers, 35 airmen, ten pathfinders and eight senior army and air
force observers are taking part from India.
The
Indian team went by an IAF IL-76 all the way to Alaska, with Air Chief
S Krishnaswamy Wednesday, October 2, telling reporters that this was
the first time "our IL-76 has flown that far".
A
US Embassy statement said in New Delhi that the exercise, which would
go on till October 11, features a training phase, an airborne mission,
a maneuver portion and a foot march.
During
its several phases, the training portion would comprise ground
training and equipment familiarization, besides day and night jumps
from U.S. aircraft and the IAF's IL-76, it added.
Troops
from the Indian Parachute Brigade and IAF's IL-76 aircraft are taking
part from the Indian side, while from the U.S. side Army's Para
Infantry Regiment, C-130 'Hercules' aircraft and Chinook helicopters
of the U.S. Pacific Air Force are participating.
The
air Indian force had earlier participated in another joint exercise
'Balance Iroquois' in Agra, south of Delhi, in May this year.
At
about the same time Indian and American navies conducted their
largest-ever joint exercise, ‘Malabar-4’, in facilities located in
South India. The U.S. Pacific forces were represented by the
Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville, the
Spruance class destroyer USS Paul F Foster and a P-3C patrol and
reconnaissance aircraft.
The
first three joint exercises – Malabar I, II and III – were far
more modest and were held in the mid-1990s before they were suspended
after India’s nuclear tests in 1998.
Indo-U.S.
defense ties have grown rapidly during the last year. High level
defense visits have been exchanged and the U.S. is ready to sell India
military hardware, some of which was withheld or denied after the
sanctions following the Indian nuclear tests in May 1998.
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