PANAJI
Curtains came down on the biggest naval exercise conducted by the Indian and French navies to date - Varuna-19 - late on Friday evening. Close range manouvers were conducted and top brass from both navies were briefed on the entire exercise.
Four Rafale fighters, five MiG 29-Ks and one Hawkeye participated in the fly-past which was viewed by Flag Officer Commander in Chief of the Western region, the French Ambassador to India besides several French dignitaries who were onboard Charles De Gaulle the French carrier, the Indian Navy said in a statement.
Indian and French navy helicopters conducted cross deck operations for personnel transfer which was the closing exercise.
Begun in 1983, the Indo-French joint naval exercise came to be known as 'Varuna' in 2001.
This year, the harbour phase ended on May 6 and the sea phase, including air defense exercises, air-to-air combat, surface shoots and anti-submarine exercises had begun on May 7 and concluded on Friday.
Apart from the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle, other French Navy ships La Touche Treville, Provence, tanker Marne and Forbin besides a submarine participated.
From the Indian side, naval ships INS Mumbai, INS Chennai, INS Tarkash, tanker INS Deepak and a submarine were in action.
