Israel Air Force hosts largest international aerial training exercise in nation’s history.

Participants in ‘Blue Flag’ include the US, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Germany, and India, which is joining Blue Flag for the first time ever.

Israeli planners and their counterparts in the participating air forces began planning Blue Flag more than a year ago, preparing for exercises including evading advanced surface-to-air missiles and air-to-air maneuvers.

As part of Blue Flag, India has sent a 45-member team of its elite Garud commandos with a C-130J transport.