India's joint air exercises this week with Oman, New Delhi's strongest partner in the sensitive Gulf region, marks a major milestone in the evolution of the Indian Air Force and underlines its potential contribution to regional security in the Indian Ocean littoral.

The IAF has been tied down for too long as a mere adjunct to the Indian Army's mission of territorial defence. Delhi has tended to ignore IAF's role in securing India's wider strategic objectives. As a consequence, the IAF remained an inward looking and under-utilised force.

Over the last few years there has been a welcome change. Like the Indian Navy, the IAF too has begun to see the virtues of greater operational reach and military diplomacy in the Indian Ocean littoral.

To be sure, the IAF has conducted joint exercises in recent years in foreign lands, including the United States, South Africa and Singapore. But the exercises with Oman, called Eastern Bridge, are about developing the methodology for operating beyond borders and contributing to public goods in the Indian Ocean.

Besides improving IAF's ability to operate together with the RAFO, the exercises should generate a framework for the deployment of Indian air power in a variety of ways for collective security in the northern Arabian Sea.

According to Vice-Chief Air Marshal P.K. Barbora, the IAF could be called upon "to support anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast to deal with the expanding footprint of the pirates." In such a situation, Barbora said, "the Navy may not be able to cover the entire area due to constraints of speed and vessels. This is when the IAF may be asked to offer help."

... contd.