Air excercise scaled down

PEKANBARU, Riau: The Malaysian Royal Air Force has withdrawn eight Hawk fighter planes which were originally scheduled to take part in ongoing joint air exercises with its Indonesian counterpart, Antara reported.

The thick haze covering Pekanbaru was cited as the reason behind the decision.

The eight planes were originally slated to take part in coordinated tactical combat exercises with 12 similar planes belonging to Indonesia, Antara quoted an Indonesian Air Force spokesman as saying yesterday.

The spokesman said the 18th Elang Malindo joint exercise was scaled down because of the haze.

The exercise was to focus on the Hawk's operation and combat methods against helicopters, he said. (emb)