India and France kicked off the third air combat exercise with India field Sukhoi-30s, Mirage-2000s and MiG-27s and France its Mirage-2000D and Mirage-2000V for mutual exposure to "fighter tactics" and "build interoperability." In Garuda-III, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will deploy an IL-78 mid-air refueller and the French Air Force will showcase a E-3F AWACS platform.

While the combat exercise results are not usually revealed and the objective is to expose each side to operational, technical and administrative practices, IAF pilots proved to be more than a match to their French combat pilots in Garuda-I and Garuda-II exercises. The third exercise will happen out of Kalaikuna airbase in West Bengal.