{"id":88564,"date":"2026-02-18T17:05:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=88564"},"modified":"2026-02-18T17:05:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:35:49","slug":"india-thailand-air-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/india-thailand-air-exercise\/","title":{"rendered":"India-Thailand Air Exercise, About, Objectives, Significance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The India-Thailand Air Exercise is a joint drill between the Indian Air Force and the Royal Thai Air Force. It aims to improve coordination, air combat skills and defence cooperation. The exercise strengthens bilateral ties and supports India\u2019s Act East Policy and regional security in the Indo-Pacific.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About India &#8211; Thailand Air Exercise 2026<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In February 2026, the Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted a <\/span><b>joint air exercise with the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) in the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indian-ocean\/\" target=\"_blank\">Indian Ocean<\/a> Region.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The exercise aimed to strengthen defence cooperation and improve coordination between the two countries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>India deployed Su-30MKI fighter aircraft<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, along with<\/span><b> IL-78 mid-air refuelling tankers and AWACS aircraft <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for surveillance and command support. Thailand participated with its <\/span><b>SAAB Gripen fighter jets<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The Indian aircraft operated from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, while the Thai aircraft flew from bases in Thailand.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>India-Thailand Air Exercise Objectives<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The main objective of India-Thailand Air Exercise was to improve interoperability, enhance air combat skills and demonstrate India\u2019s operational reach in the Indian Ocean Region. It also provided both air forces an opportunity to exchange best practices and gain operational experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>India-Thailand Air Exercise Significance<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The India-Thailand Air Exercise highlights the growing defence partnership between India and Thailand under <\/span><b>India\u2019s Act East Policy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It also reflects <\/span><b>Thailand\u2019s \u201cAct West\u201d approach<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, strengthening cooperation in the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/indo-pacific-region\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Indo-Pacific region<\/strong><\/a>. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands played an important strategic role as a forward operating base in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>India\u2019s Act East Policy<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Act East Policy was launched in 2014<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/narendra-modi\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Narendra Modi<\/strong><\/a> as an upgraded version of the earlier Look East Policy. It aims to strengthen India\u2019s engagement with Southeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific region, with ASEAN at its centre. The policy shifts India\u2019s approach from only building relations to actively participating in regional affairs.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>India\u2019s Act East Policy Objectives<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The main objectives are to increase trade and investment, improve connectivity, strengthen diplomatic and strategic partnerships and promote cultural exchanges. It also focuses on cooperation in areas like maritime security, counter-terrorism and disaster management to ensure regional stability.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>India\u2019s Act East Policy Pillars<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>The policy has three main pillars:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Economic Pillar &#8211; Promote trade, investment and integration with regional supply chains.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Socio-Cultural Pillar &#8211; Strengthen people-to-people ties and cultural relations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Political-Security Pillar &#8211; Enhance defence cooperation and ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India Thailand Air Exercise 2026 enhances air combat skills, boosts IAF RTAF cooperation and supports India Act East Policy in the Indo Pacific.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":88521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[5530,5323,5392],"class_list":{"0":"post-88564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-studies","8":"tag-india-thailand-air-exercise","9":"tag-international-relations","10":"tag-international-relations-notes","11":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88564"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88571,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88564\/revisions\/88571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}