Indradhanush-IV: A bitter turn to 10-day Indo-UK bilateral Air Exercise

NEW DELHI: Claims by members of an Indian Air Force fighter squadron that they were miles ahead of their British counterparts in a recent air exercise have been ridiculed by the Royal Air Force and some observers.

In an interview to a TV channel, Group Captain Ashu Srivastav, who led the IAF contingent during the exercise, said the performance of Indian pilots who were flying Russian Sukhoi-30 fighters was exceptional.

Group Captain Srivastav, IAF's most experienced Su-30 pilot, said his pilots showed "flexibility and adaptability to a new environment and operating conditions, and on this benchmark I would rate them exceptional".

The report claimed that IAF pilots registered an impressive 12-0 score-line against Royal Air Force Typhoon jets in visual range dogfights. And in the large force exercises featuring combined Eurofighter Typhoon and Su-30 formations, IAF fighters were less successful, but still performed better than the Eurofighters.

The IAF took four Su-30 MKI fighters for the fourth edition of the 10-day 'Operation Indradhanush' — an India-United Kingdom bilateral exercise — that was held in RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, England, from July 21.

In the wake of the report, British media quoted RAF sources as saying that the Indian claims were "comical" and "designed for domestic audience". 'The Independent' quoted an RAF source as saying, "There must have been some clouded recollection on the flights back to India, as the headlines of the Indian press bear no relation to the results."