Air excercise scaled down

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PEKANBARU, Riau: The Malaysian Royal Air Force has withdrawn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)