India irked at Pakistan China joint air war games close to Indian borders
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New Delhi: China is carrying out joint air force exercises with Pakistan in Sindh in response to the Indo-Pacific Quad link exercises in which the Indian Navy participated recently, Times of India has reported.
The war games, merely 200 km from the Indian border, are taking place just a week after Chinese Defence Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe visited Pakistan to sign an MoU for closer military cooperation link.
The exercises, named 'Shaheen' or Falcon-IX, are underway at the newly operational Bholari air base near Karachi. According to the Nikkei Asia magazine, the Pakistan Air Force link released a video showing the wide range of military aircraft link display in the exercise, which will last until late December.
China has sent its fourth-generation Shenyang J-11 air superiority fighters and Chengdu J-10 multirole jets.
Pakistan, meanwhile, is flying a mix of third-generation Chinese-made Chengdu F-7 interceptors, French Dassault Mirage 5 attack planes and the new multirole JF-17 Thunder jointly produced by China and Pakistan.
No American equipment, such as the F-16, has been deployed, the Pakistanis said. China's Defence Ministry said the drills will "deepen practical cooperation between the two air forces".
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