Oman and India are set to ink a flight safety agreement, following which the air forces of both the countries will exchange information on flight safety.
"We are in the process of signing the agreement on flight safety between the two air forces," Air Vice Marshal C Hari Kumar was quoted as saying by the Gulf News.
Kumar is leading a team of Indian Air Force for the bilateral exercise 'Eastern Bridge' (Al Jisr Al Sharqi) that started on Sunday at the Royal Air Force of Oman's airbase on Masirah Island.
India and Oman are the only countries in the world that use Jaguar fighter planes, Kumar said, adding that the countries have "common platform and inputs to exchange".
On recent accidents involving Jaguar planes in India as well as Oman, he said that the Jaguar platforms were safe and crashes were related more to environmental issues such as bad weather.
Last November, an IAF aircraft Jaguar fighter aircraft crashed in North Sikkim. Last month, two Jaguar planes crashed in Oman during a routine training mission in Rakhyut, about 1,110 km south of Muscat.
"Close to 150 personnel and six Jaguar Strike aircraft from the Indian Air Force's No 6 Squadron, supported by an IL-76 transport aircraft and an IL-78 airborne refueller will participate in the exercise from the Indian side," Kumar said.
RAFO Jaguar, Hawk and F-16 aircraft are expected to participate from the Omani side.
"The bilateral Air Force exercise 'Eastern Bridge' provides an excellent opportunity for the IAF and the RAFO to fly together, enhance inter-operability and exchange best practices," Kumar said.
He said that the exercise, which ends on October 13, also provides a valuable opportunity for the IAF to operate in a foreign environment and strengthen people-to-people contacts with their counterparts in the RAFO, "which is a valued partner of the IAF in the Gulf".
The importance of this exercise, he said, in the context of bilateral air force cooperation can be gauged from the fact that 'Eastern Bridge' is the only bilateral exercise that the IAF conducts with any country in the GCC.
This will be the third edition of the biennial exercise, which is alternately held in India and Oman. The last edition of the exercise was conducted in Jamnagar in 2011.
"Bilateral cooperation between the IAF and RAFO is underpinned by strong operational cooperation, of which exercise 'Eastern Bridge' is an important pillar," Kumar said.
He said that Oman also provides excellent support for refuelling and operational turnaround of IAF aircraft operating west of Indian airspace.
