India and the United States pitted their war jets against each other over central India on Monday as the two countries staged their first-ever aerial combat games, Indian officials said.
The gruelling exercises, due to last 10 days, were another sign of the intensifying military relationship between the countries, which were on opposite sides during the Cold War.
The exercises began in the skies over the central Indian city of Gwalior after the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Indian Air Force scrambled their fighter jets, Indian defence ministry spokesman Amitava Chakravarty said.
"The major joint exercise is aimed at building a higher degree of co-ordination between the two air forces," he told AFP.
The exercises are intended to facilitate future joint peacekeeping operations, not for any Indian combat role alongside US forces, press reports have quoted IAF officials as saying.
The USAF flew F-15 Eagle fighters while their Indian hosts sought to match the speed and manoeuvrability of the twin-engine US planes with their Russian-designed MiG-29s, Indian Air Force (IAF) officials said.
The MiG-29 and the F-15s have a maximum speed of around 2,661 kilometres (1,650 miles) an hour and roughly match each other's climbing rate of around 15,151 metres (50,000 feet) a minute, experts say.
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