Air Force backs down on Indo-UK exercise 'claims'; says no wins and losses

NEW DELHI: The Air Force has backed down on claims over an absolute 'win' during a recent Indo-UK exercise with an official statement arguing that there are no 'wins and losses' during such war games. A detailed statement has come from the Air Force on exercise ' Indradhanush' that was held in the UK in July, days after reports surfaced quoting IAF officials that the Indian side had a whitewash victory.

The statement comes a day after the UK officially raised the matter with a senior diplomat bringing it to the notice of his counterpart in Delhi, as was first reported by ET. A nuanced release on the exercise says ‘there are no classic wins and losses as no weapons are fired as per their actual capability’.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) has been peeved by Indian reports that IAF Su 30 MKIs had a 12-0 victory over their Typhoons during the exercise. The reports partly quoted the delegation leader of the IAF for the exercise but the victory claims were attributed to unnamed officials.

Official of the RAF have commented strongly on the reports, saying that they were not based on facts and the actual result of the exercise. However, after the official protest by the UK in New Delhi, the IAF statement seeks to correct the image around the exercise, toning down the rhetoric.

"Such exercises are conducted under controlled conditions with mutually agreed weapons performance parameters, with the basic aim of learning from each other’s best practices. Additional advantages that accrue are greater understanding of each other’s general operational philosophy and exposure to a different operating environment," the release says.