External affairs minister S Jaishankar visited Israel's Ovda Airbase on Tuesday

JERUSALEM: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday visited Israel's Ovda Airbase to meet the Indian contingent participating in the biennial Blue Flag exercise involving Air Force missions from eight countries, that aims to share knowledge and combat experience to improve operational capabilities.

A total of 85 Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel are taking part in the exercises along with five upgraded Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft. They are the latest updated technological version of the French aircraft, equipped with advanced avionics and weapons systems.

The US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Greece and Israel are the other nations participating in the exercises, which will for the first time see the participation of F-35 aircraft.

India had also participated in this biennial event in 2017 with the focus then on boosting special operations capabilities, including search and rescue operations under different conditions and cross border counter-terrorist operations.