Varuna 19: Indo-French bilateral naval exercise concludes with impressive flypast

 New Delhi: The Indo-French bilateral naval exercise Varuna 19 concluded on Friday. The Indian and French Navies carrier task forces have been executing close range manoeuvres. 

Dignitaries from both the places visited the French carrier task force and were briefed on the conduct of the exercise. It is reported that the second part of the naval exercise, Varuna 19.2, is scheduled to be held during the end of May in Djibouti in East Africa.

An impressive flypast consisting of four Rafale, five MiG 29-Ks and one Hawkeye was witnessed by Focinc West, the French Ambassador to India and nine French dignitaries onboard the French Carrier Charles De Gaulle. 

A briefing was held between the planning staff of both the task forces to review the conduct of the exercise and identify areas for improvement. The exercise concluded with Indian and French helicopters carrying out extensive cross-deck operations for personnel transfer.

The bilateral naval exercise was initiated in 1983 and was named as Varuna in 2001. The Varuna exercise aims at developing interoperability between the two navies and fostering cooperation by learning from each other's best practices to conduct joint operations.