New Delhi, June 10: Showcasing its strong presence in Indian Ocean Region, the Sukhoi-30MKI fighters practised long-range precision strikes in the western seaboard of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) in a combat training mission that lasted for almost eight hours.

 

 

 

 

Reports suggest that the “large package” of Sukhois and some other assets took off from an air base in Gujarat and then “hit” the designated target near the Gulf of Oman after mid-air refuelling by IL-78 tankers.

 

"Another outing into the Indian Ocean Region! This time, with #IAF Su-30s flying nearly eight hours, on a different axis. Both Seaboards covered," the IAF tweeted on Friday.

 

 

Notably, this drills of Sukhois comes days after Rafale jets undertook a similar exercise on the eastern one. The Rafales, after taking off from the Hasimara airbase in northern West Bengal, had also conducted an over six-hour mission to hit a target in north Andaman on the eastern seaboard last week. Now both the seaboards were covered.

 

 

These exercises in the backdrop when China is going all out to increase the aggression in the far seas and its warships are increasingly foraying into the Indian Ocean Region.

 

The twin IAF training missions constitute strategic signalling to China, which with the world’s largest Navy with 355 warships and submarines is steadily stepping-up its presence in the IOR.

 

Amid the continuing military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh since May 2020, the IAF has been practising such interdiction missions in the IOR to choke China’s sea lanes of communication for huge energy and other imports from the Malacca Strait to the Persian Gulf.

 

For a while now, the IAF is keeping an eye on the IOR closely and is active in the region. From carrying out drills with like-minded countries to reaching out to states in the IOR, the Indian Navy is focusing on checking China’s rising ambitions in the region and sending out a strong message that Beijing’s power play in South China Sea cannot be replicated in the Indian Ocean.