India's frontline Sukhoi-30 MKI warplanes on Friday had the opportunity to prove their mettle against the new generation of fighters as they crossed swords with Britain's Eurofighter Typhoons in a war game in Waddington.
The Sukhois took on Royal Air Force Torandoes and Typhoons in intricate simulated beyond visual range combat over the skies here to ring down the curtains on the second bilateral Indo-UK air exercise.
Typhoons are among the newest fighters to be developed and have just entered squadron service with the Royal Air Force.
The simulated combat began with low-level exercises and touched a crescendo in a highly complex conceivable scenario -- a six versus six aerial combat involving four Sukhois, four Tornadoes, two Typhoons and two GR9 Sea-Harriers.
The RAF E3D sentry AWACS were also in play along with IL-78 Air to Air refuellers to make the combat network-centric.
Air Force Chief Fali Homi Major was at hand to see his air warriors in action against the latest generation of fighters. This was the first time the air warriors were in action anywhere over the English skies.
The Indian Sukhoi which has built up a reputation in air combat proved to be a big draw as hundreds of people watched the air exercise carried out over the Royal air base in Waddington.
"It was an excellent learning curve for our pilots," Major said after the exercise, declaring that the air warriors 'will go back with a lot of new experiences.'
This is the third series of air exercise with foreign air forces that IAF has participated with full use of AWACS. Senior officers said these experiences would come in handy as the IAF was on verge of getting its own force multipliers.
This was the maiden appearance of Sukhois over the European mainland. Though designed and manufactured in Russia, the Sukhoi 30MKI has not been witnessed by aviation lovers on the western end of the continent.
And the thrust vector fighters proved to be an immense draw, with people flocking in cars and scooters to drive to the edge of the air base to see the jets in combat action.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Clive Loader, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Air Forces air command who accompanied the Indian Air Chief, said that RAF had adopted 'building block' approach to train the IAF pilots in NATO's flying procedures.
British Station Commander of RAF said the exercise achieved all its aims and objectives.