Cope India Exercise

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Context

The `Cope India’ exercise between India and US from April 10 to 21 will “further enhance operational capability and interoperability between the two air forces”.

About the exercise

It is a bilateral exercise between the air forces of the two countries.
The exercise comes amid India’s continuing three-year-long military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh as well as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which has seen Beijing and Moscow get into a tighter strategic clinch.

Aircrafts

The IAF will be fielding the French-origin Rafale, Russian-origin Sukhoi-30MKI and indigenous Tejas fighters as well as AEW&C (airborne early-warning and control) planes, C-17 Globemaster-III strategic airlift aircraft and IL-78 mid-air refuellers for the exercise.
The US, in turn, will deploy F-15 Strike Eagle jets.

Background

Cope India began in 2004 as a fighter training exercise held at Air Station Gwalior, India.
The exercise has evolved to incorporate subject matter expert exchanges, air mobility training, airdrop training and large-force exercises, in addition to fighter-training exercises.
The exercise showcases U.S. and India’s efforts and commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Recent Exercises of IAF

Veer Guardian

India deployed four Sukhoi-30MKI fighters, two C-17s, one IL-78 and around 150 IAF personnel, for the first-ever air exercise with Japan called ‘Veer Guardian’ at the Hyakuri air base in January.

Desert Flag

5 Tejas fighters, two C-17s and 110 personnel were dispatched for the multi-nation `Desert Flag’ exercise at UAE from February 23 to March 17.
This was the first time that the home-grown Tejas light combat aircraft took part in an international exercise outside India.

Cobra Warrior

5 Mirage-2000 fighters, two C-17s, one IL-78 and 145 personnel of the IAF also took part in another multi-nation exercise `Cobra Warrior’ in the UK from March 6 to 24.

Shinyuu Maitri

The IAF also participated in the `Shinyuu Maitri’ exercise with the Japan Air Self Defence Force at Komatsu, on the side-lines of the bilateral Army exercise `Dharma Guardian’ from February 13 to March 2.

Joint Exercises conducted by Army

Joint Exercises conducted by Navy

S. No.	Country	Exercise
1.	Australia	AUSINDEX
2.	Bangladesh	IN-BN CORPAT
3.	Brazil & South Africa	IBSAMAR
4.	France	VARUNA
5.	Indonesia	IND-INDO CORPAT
5.	Indonesia	IND-INDO BILAT
6.	Malaysia	IN-MN Table Top Ex
7.	Myanmar	IMCOR
7.	Myanmar	IN-MN BILAT
8.	Oman	Naseem-al-Bahr
9.	Russia	INDRA NAVY
10.	Sri Lanka	SLINEX
11	Singapore	SIMBEX
12.	Thailand	INDO-THAI CORPAT
13	UAE	In-UAE BILAT
14	UK	KONKAN
15.	USA	MALABAR
15.	USA	RIMPAC (Multilateral)
16	Multilateral Exercise by Brunei	ADMM+ Exercise
17	Multilateral Exercise by Indonesia	Ex KOMODO
18	Multilateral Exercise by India	MILAN

Joint Exercises conducted by Air Force

S. No.	Country	Exercise
1.	Bangladesh	Table Top Ex
2.	Israel	Ex Blue Flag-17
3.	Oman	Ex EASTERN BRIDGE-IV
4.	Russia	Ex INDRA-17
5.	Singapore	JOINT MILITARY TRAINING
6.	Thailand	Ex SIAM BHARAT
7.	UAE	DESERT EAGLE-II
8.	UK	INDRADHANUSH-IV
9.	USA	RED FLAG 16-1
10.	Multinational Air Exercise	Ex Samvedna with Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, UAE

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q) How many of the following pairs with reference to India’s joint exercises is/are incorrectly matched?

Country ::Exercise

a. Bangladesh::Table Top.

b. France ::Varuna.

c. USA :: Hand-in-hand.

Answer: Option I