• Australia has informed India that its premier multilateral air combat training exercise Pitch Black 2020 has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation.
Key highlights:
• The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Chief informed of his decision to cancel the exercise this year due to the current and anticipated impacts of the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19.
• The exercise is also an opportunity to interact with forces from across the globe, a second defense source said. The next edition of Pitch Black is scheduled in 2022.
• The defense and strategic engagement with Australia has steadily gone up in recent years especially on the bilateral front with naval cooperation at the forefront.
• The bilateral naval exercise AUSINDEX early last year saw the participation of the largest Australian contingent ever to India with over 1,000 personnel.
• The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) has been long pending and is expected to be concluded soon as well as a broader maritime cooperation agreement including the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) to elevate the existing strategic partnership.
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