Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria Leaves for Egypt, to Hold Talks with Top Military Brass

NEW DELHI: In line with the overall policy to step up the military outreach to Africa, a continent where China has made strategic inroads, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on Monday left for a visit to Egypt to boost defence cooperation.

The IAF chief, during his official tour till December 28, will hold talks with the top military brass of the Egypt, a country which links northeast Africa to the middle-east, as well as visit various military operational and training establishments.

The Egyptian Air Force, incidentally, also operates the French-origin Rafale fighter jets. India, in turn, is gearing up to induct the 36 Rafales it has ordered from France in the Rs 59,000 crore deal inked in September 2016.
“The visit will provide an impetus towards enhancing defence cooperation between the Indian and Egyptian Air Forces as well as strengthen the long standing bilateral relations between the two countries,” said an official.
The visit comes after the Indian Army conducted the first Africa-India military field training exercise-2019 (AFINDEX-19), which included Egypt and 17 other countries from the continent, at the Aundh military station at Pune in March this year, as was first reported by TOI.

Moreover, defence minister Rajnath Singh went to Mozambique in his first foreign visit as the country’s defence minister, while Army chief General Bipin Rawat had earlier visited Tanzania and Kenya. India has also been holding defence cooperation talks with countries like Botswana, Egypt, Kenya, Lesotho, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The defence engagement with South Africa is, of course, at a much higher level, with warships and aircraft from the two nations along with Brazil regularly holding the IBSAMAR naval exercise.

Source: TOI

Image Courtesy: IAF