Two years after taking part in exercises “Blue Flag” in Israel, “Desert Flag 6” in the United Arab Emirates and “HopEx” in Egypt, India is extending its connectivity with the Mediterranean and Southern Europe via Greece and the “Iniochos”. an exercise that has aroused the interest of major players in the region.
The taxiing in the next few days of Indian Su-30s to the 117th Fighter Wing in Andravida as part of the “Iniochos” exercise is certainly the big surprise and at the same time news that has its own political, diplomatic and military context.
After all, many contacts have been made with the Indians over the past four years, even at the highest political level, with the Prime Minister having a meeting with his Indian counterpart in New York at the UN.
And Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias traveled to New Delhi to publicize Greek positions regarding international law, the law of the sea and Turkish provocations.
And many may be waiting for April 24, the opening day of the “Iniochos”, to see the legendary Russian/Indian-made Su-30 up close. New Delhi has already sealed the upgrade of its military relations with Athens by sending a swarm of Mirage 2000s which flew alongside the “blue F-4 Phantoms”.
This joint formation, from which the images come, as the Greek military leaders note “is part of the network of international actions of the Armed Forces which aim to strengthen military cooperation with friendly countries and during its missions of interception of area defence, low-level flight navigation and virtual attacks on surface targets, contributing to the advancement of the operational readiness level and combat capability of the armed forces of Greece and India”.
It should also be noted that as a result of the actions of the Air Force and the Air Staff, the closest cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries was sealed, a fact which cannot be ruled out after the Iniochos exercises will continue with other activities.
Su-30 vs F-16 with Pakistan in the background…
The twin-engine Su-30s that will take part in the Iniohos exercise are 4th generation advanced multi-role fighters and are the main aircraft of the Indian Air Force. An important detail worth mentioning is the fact that from 2022 India, like Greece, will also fly with Rafale.
It is also considered important for the Indian Air Force to fly alongside or opposite its host whose backbone is full of F-16s with the most advanced reaching the Viper version.
The F-16 is the aircraft that the Pakistanis also fly with, but with which New Delhi has many important differences and there are not a few times that fighters from both countries have been involved in air battles, or even slaughtered.
Over the past four years, India has managed to get closer to the Gulf countries, while Greece has done the same, on several levels. Indeed, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have expressed their distaste for Pakistan, which is Turkey’s strategic partner and which has often shown that it embraces all of Ankara’s neo-Ottoman tendencies for the Mediterranean and beyond.
Iniochos paves the way from India to Europe
New Delhi has left its mark on the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia by placing a balancing mechanism in its relations with the Muslim world and at the same time in its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir.
However, the fact of India’s participation in Iniochos reveals, strategically, India’s desire to place its own footprint alongside important and de facto players on a “ground” located in the Old Continent.
For many years, India has sought to redefine its role in Asia and Europe, with regard to the world economy, and above all to remove the possibility of its isolation from China, which has created an aggressive world trade and whose the ally in Greece the country seeks to compete.
Thus, India, through its developed relations with the Gulf countries, can easily reach Israel, with which it maintains excellent relations, especially on the military level, given that it uses a lot of electronics and weapons. of Tel Aviv in his fighter planes.
And from there she reached the longed-for Mediterranean, while through Greece, which is a constant “crossroads” between East and West, New Delhi reaches the European continent…
Giorgos Sideri is a regular contributor to Hellas Journal.
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