Multinational exercises build trust among countries: Rajnath

Jodhpur: Union defence minister Rajnath Singh, while addressing a gathering at multinational military exercise ‘Tarang Shakti 2024’ at the Air Force station here on Thursday, said the exercise was an effort to strengthen cooperation, coordination and trust with partner countries, and through this, India had instilled confidence among partner countries that it would stand together whenever the need arose.
Reiterating India’s vision of coexistence and cooperation, Singh said when an exercise of such complexity and magnitude takes place, soldiers with different work cultures, air combat experiences and war fighting principles learn a lot from each other.
Singh termed the exercise a “grand opportunity to celebrate great achievements of the Indian Air Force”. “Today the country is not only celebrating the achievement of being the fastest growing economy but also the fact that our armed forces are now being considered as one of the most powerful in the world, evolving from only six squadrons of two types of aircraft at the time of independence,” he said.
Air Chief Marshal VR Choudhari said such exercises will form the foundation for future collaborations. “Such exercises are likely to be held biennially from next year. An exercise of this scale has been organised after 61 years in India,” he added.
The defence minister, who inaugurated the International Defence and Aerospace Expo (IDAX-24), said that India has transformed itself from being an importer of arms and equipment to a nation that exports these to about 90 countries.
“Domestic defence sector has taken strong steps towards indigenisation in the manufacturing of weapons, platforms, and aircraft. Today, we have become self-reliant to a great extent in manufacturing light combat aircraft, sensors, radars and in executing electronic warfare,” Singh said, while referring to the recent collaboration of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited with French company Safran Helicopter Engines.