US budget cut grounds joint air combat exercise

Sources said the high profile “Red Flag” exercise that was to be held at the Nellis Air Force base in Nevada in July was called off by the USAF due to a series of budget cuts that have affected the US military in recent months,which could even lead to the closing of several domestic military bases to save costs.

The last-minute cancellation has come as a surprise for the IAF which was getting ready to send a team of its top- line Su 30 MKI fighters along with support aircraft for the war game. Besides eight of the combat aircraft,the IAF was to send two C 130 J special operations aircraft,two IL 78 air refuellers as well as an IL 76 transport aircraft for logistics support.

This was to be the largest interaction of the IAF with its US counterpart in recent years,the last being the Red Flag exercise in 2008 where India sent its Su 30 MKI fighters.

As former air chief P V Naik said,the IAF has been very cautious in recent years while planning exercises and long overseas deployments to rationalise training costs.

In fact,the Nellis “Red Flag” exercise was planned two years ago,taking into account the money allocated to the IAF to conduct training programmes. By most estimates,the IAF would have incurred a cost of over Rs 100 crore to deploy the aircraft,along with the 150-odd personnel,for the exercise. The IAF will now have to re-plan its training schedule,but may not be able to squeeze in such a high-profile exercise due to the last-minute notice.

In the US,the cancellation of the air combat exercise comes after a series of budget cuts by the administration due to the economic crisis. With the defence budget this year remaining steady at $526.6 billion without accounting for inflation,cuts have been required to maintain US military’s global presence.

The US has also called off its Red Flag-Alaska exercise that was to take place this month and was to be attended by Canada and UK Air Forces. The Nellis exercise was called off after a series of new budget cuts that came into effect on March 1 in an attempt to save $ 300 million by temporarily curtailing training operations.