Mid-air refueling is a standard practice for any modern air power in the world. The ability of a fighter aircraft to refuel in flight not only gives it extended range to reach out to a target but also enhances its ability to stay up in the air to protect an asset.

However, when an Indian Sea Harrier fighter “buddy refueled” from an F-18 Super Hornet in the middle of the Bay of Bengal, the commander of the largest forward deployed US Navy fleet considered it to be the highlight of the six day Malabar 07-2 war games. “These are the sort of things that require really high end skills. There is no other exercise available to develop such capabilities,” Vice Admiral William Crowder, US 7th fleet commander said, minutes after explaining that the five-nation exercises are not directed towards “any particular country.”

Forget China — the two aircraft carrier strike groups in the exercise (Viraat and Kitty Hawk), sailing just a few hours away from the Malacca straits, are competent enough to squeeze the Asian economic giant’s energy imports, Indian officers say that such skills pave the way for joint strikes and missions by the five countries against any common threat.