Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha Visits South Africa Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of the Air Staff has proceeded on a four day visit to South Africa. The IAF Chief is visiting South Africa on the invitation of Lieutenant General FZ Msimang, Chief of Air Force, South African Air Force. During the visit, Air Chief Marshal Raha is scheduled to hold talks with senior military leadership and discuss a wide range of bilateral issues on enhancing defence cooperation between the two countries. While at Johannesburg, the Air Chief will also meet the High Commissioner of India Ms Ruchi Ghanashyam. The itinerary also includes a visit to Armscor, the Armament Corporation of South Africa and conducted tour of airbases as the 'Fighter Centre of Excellence' at Makhado and the South African Flight Test facilities at Overberg. In recent years, there have been close and frequent contacts at political and military levels between the two countries which are members of the tri-lateral initiative IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa). Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha's visit to South Africa would further boost bilateral relations between the two Air Forces and provide impetus to the 'Make in India' initiative. SSB/MKS
