>> US-India air exercise
by Derek Yeo


AMID GROWING TIES between India and the United States, both countries are holding an air force exercise starting 7 Nov. However, this year's exercise - the fifth in the annual series - is taking off in controversy.

Hundreds of Communist Party of India's supporters protested in Kolkata against the drill at Kalaikunda air force station in Marxist-ruled Bengal. The CPI is against India's warming relations with the US. Indian communists fear that the air exercises are a plot to increase American military influence in the region.

But Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee insisted there is nothing unusual about the joint manoeuvre. "It is a routine exercise, it is nothing new," Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee assured newsmen.

Kalaikunda air base, situated near the Indo-Chinese frontier, defends India's strategic front-line facing its northern neighbour, China.

Indian air force's Jaguars, Mirages and MiGs; and US F16s are taking part in the exercise.