Watch: First Ever Joint Exercise Of India’s Garud Commandos And Israel’s Elite Unit 669

Garud commandos of the Indian Air Force recently participated in the Blue Flag exercise in Israel and trained alongside Unit 669 of the Israeli Air Force.

The 45-member Indian contingent led by Group Captain Maluk Singh worked closely with Israel’s elite special force to boost its capabilities, including cross-border counter-terrorist operations and interoperability.

The motto of Garud Commando Force - ‘Defence by Offence’ - matches closely with the task assigned to Israel’s special force Unit 669. The members of this elite unit undergo the longest training phase of any unit in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), lasting 22 months, and training has a heavy emphasis on navigation.

The IDF on Thursday posted a video of the exercise on Twitter.

The IDF also shared a video on its Facebook page earlier this month.

In a rare move, while other participating nations sent fighter aircraft, the IAF decided to send C-130J Super Hercules special operations aircraft.

The Blue Flag drill is a biannual exercise designed to strengthen Israel’s military cooperation internationally. This was the first time India participated in the drill, along with the US, France, Germany, Italy, Greece and Poland. An unidentified eighth nation is also said to have participated in the military exercise as per local media.

With inputs from PTI