Exercise Eastern Bridge – the first joint air exercise between Indian Air Force (IAF) and Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) concluded on Thursday, successfully. The exercise was held from Oct 22-29, at RAFO’s Thumrait airbase in Oman.

All six IAF Jaguars that participated in the exercise landed safely at Jamnagar on Thursday. In a rare first, six fighters refueled from a single IL-78 MKI mid-air refueller during their overseas flight. The IL-76 carrying the remaining team members arrived at Gorakhpur via Jamnagar close to midnight on Thursday. The Jaguars also returned to their parent airbase Gorakhpur, today.

Before conclusion of the exercise, Chief of Staff of the Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Ahmed Harith Nasser visited the IAF delegation and interacted with the IAF team. His visit as the Head of the Sultan’s armed forces outlines the great importance and honour Oman extended to the visiting Indian delegation. He expressed great satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise.

RAFO Thumrait Commander, Air Commodore Mattar Al Obaidani in his closing address at the exercise debrief, praised the professional conduct of the IAF contingent. “You have really set an example for our youngsters and have shown how disciplined and professional you are,” he said.

“One of the objectives was to win friends, a friendship that was lost in a long time,” he said, apprising that it was for the first time that RAFO had looked east for an exercise. So far the only exercises RAFO have been participating are with the GCC countries and west. He conveyed that RAFO was keenly looking forward to bringing their aircraft to India in near future.

IAF Team Leader Group Captain VV Dedgaonkar also thanked RAFO for all the facilitations on behalf of the Indian contingent. Referring to consolidation of IAF-RAFO ties, he said, “Bridges are not built by machines but by each one of us and will be only consolidated in the future.”

Exercise Eastern Bridge was a platform for the airmen on both sides to show their professional mettle and learn from each other. Unlike IAF, seldom do RAFO pilots get an opportunity to change aircraft type once they begin to fly operationally. The exercise provided them the chance to assimilate some experience from their IAF counterparts who have flown both western and Russian aircraft.