IAF leaves for Malaysia to participate in bilateral exercise 'Udarashakti'

Tags: Defence

A contingent of the Indian Air Force left for Malaysia on 12 August to participate in a bilateral exercise named 'Udarashakti'.

About Udarashakti Exercise 

• This is the first bilateral exercise being conducted between the Indian Air Force and the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF).

• This exercise will take place at the RMAF base of Kuantan.

• The Indian Air Force will participate in the aerial exercise with Sukhoi-30 MKI and C-17 aircraft while the RMAF will fly Su-30 MKM aircraft.

• The exercise will give an opportunity to the IAF contingent to share and learn best practices with some of the best RMAF professionals while discussing mutual combat capabilities.

• Various aerial combat exercises will be conducted between the two air forces in the four-day exercise.

• It will help in strengthening defence cooperation between the two countries.

• In 2021, the RMAF issued a request for proposal (RfP) to five countries: Italy, Russia, China, South Korea and India to purchase fighter jets.

• Malaysia is expected to announce its decision to purchase the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) 'Tejas' in September.

Pitch Black Air Combat Exercise

• Both India and Malaysia are participating in a multilateral aerial warfare exercise Pitch Black which is conducted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

• The drill is starting from next week and 17 countries are participating and 100 aircraft will take part in the Defensive Counter Air (DCA) and Offensive Counter Air (OCA) Combat Drills.

• 17 countries are participating including Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea.