New Delhi: China is carrying out joint air force exercises with Pakistan inSindh in response to the Indo-Pacific Quadlink exercisesin which the Indian Navy participated recently, Times of India hasreported.

The war games, merely 200 km from the Indian border, are taking place justa week after Chinese Defence Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe visited Pakistan tosign an MoU for closer military cooperationlink.

The exercises, named ‘Shaheen’ or Falcon-IX, are underway at the newlyoperational Bholari air base near Karachi.According to the Nikkei Asia magazine, the Pakistan Air Forcelink releaseda video showing the wide range of military aircraftlink display inthe exercise, which will last until late December.

China has sent its fourth-generation Shenyang J-11 air superiority fightersand Chengdu J-10 multirole jets.

Pakistan, meanwhile, is flying a mix of third-generation Chinese-madeChengdu F-7 interceptors, French Dassault Mirage 5 attack planes and thenew multirole JF-17 Thunder jointly produced by China and Pakistan.

No American equipment, such as the F-16, has been deployed, the Pakistanissaid.China’s Defence Ministry said the drills will “deepen practical cooperationbetween the two air forces”.

Source:link