Context:
In order to strengthen military cooperation and develop the operational capability, Indian Air Force for the first time is set to participate in ‘EX BLUE FLAG-17’ exercise which is going to be conducted in Israel.
More Facts:
- ‘EX BLUE FLAG-17’ is a bi-annual multilateral exercise which aims to strengthen military cooperation amongst participating nations.
- Indian Air Force is participating with the C-130J special operations aircraft along with Garud commandos.
- India is Israel’s top destination for arms exports, buying 41% of export between 2012 and 2016.
- Israel is India’s third-largest source of arms, with a 7.2% share of imports between 2012 and 2016, next to the US (14 percent) and Russia (68 percent).
- And while in 2017 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Israel many more deals and MoUs got inked in the field of defence.
Source: PIB