EX Ocean Sky 2025: Indians in the Canaries

Mike Lintott-Danks
Dec 19, 2025
3 min read

This year’s Exercise Ocean Sky had an added spice to it with the Indian Air Force sending four Sukhoi SU-30MKIs to Gran Canaria, who were participating with Ejército del Aire y del Espacio F/A-18 Hornets and EF2000 Tifons, Hellenic Air Force F-16s, Força Aérea Portuguesa F-16s, Luftwaffe EF2000s and U.S Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles. This is the first time that a non-NATO and allied force have participated in the EX which is designed to improve interoperability and air control tactics.

“The Canary Islands offer ideal weather conditions that allow for full mission execution, and critically, they provide traffic-free airspace in the south, ensuring minimal disruption to civil aviation,” explained Ejército del Aire y del Espacio Lieutenant Colonel Jesús Andrés Margaretto, the Exercise Control Director for Ocean Sky 2025.

The exercise focuses on training for air superiority missions in: -

· Defensive Counter-Air and Offensive Counter-Air domains,

· Simulated combat between large, combined air forces.

· Leadership in tactic execution and interoperability

The supporting cast for this multinational force were tanker aircraft including an MMU A330 MRTT, Aeronautica Militare KC-767, Armée de l'air et de l'espace A330 MRTT Phénix, and Ejército del Aire y del Espacio A400M which were all based on the island of Lanzarote.

The Indian Air Forces decision to participate in Ocean Sky was an opportunity to foster mutual learning, enhance interoperability, sharpen air combat skills, and strengthen defence cooperation with friendly nations. This marks a significant development in Spain-India cooperation in defence demonstrating the Indians Air Forces ability to work closely with NATO and other Allied partners.

Voices from Ocean Sky

Mission Commander for one of the largest missions during Ocean Sky was Ejército del Aire y del Espacio Tifon pilot Major Juan Bengoechea which saw two opposing forces made up of 20 aircraft each.

“The idea of these missions is to take the strengths that every nation has in its capabilities in order to put them together for the task”, he said.

Lieutenant Colonel Christian Blohm, Chief of Detachment for the German contingent said “Our task is to defend our airspace or NATO airspace, and this can only be achieved by constant training. As Germany, we will never do it alone. We always rely on our partners and work together. Here (...) we can train at a really high level, together with our partner nations”

“The Sukhoi is our main opponent and threat, so we train against it. As this is a Russian aircraft, it is useful for my crews to see it live, experience its performance and fly and fight against it”, he added. “The things we learn here, we apply in our missions”.

The EF2000s from the Ejército del Aire y del Espacio and Luftwaffe had the opportunity to put their skills and missile load to the test out against the SU-30MIKs. “It is a very capable, very agile aircraft,” says German Eurofighter pilot, callsign ‘Bigfoot’. “The Russians have also the Su-30s, and that is why (training with the Indians is) very useful and very important for us, to get to know this aircraft and see what it can do in the air, how it fights, in order to leverage the strengths of the Eurofighter,” he added.

The USAFE 48^th Fighter Wings personnel reflected on the exercise and the missions from the aircrew to maintainers.

“There have been moments airborne where it feels like it all meshes and makes sense,” said Capt. Lydia Knutson, 492nd FS pilot. “But it’s really great in debrief when we all get to sit down and watch those moments happen, speak to them and understand why it worked well.”

“The team is really coming together as one to fix any issues with the aircraft,” said Master Sgt. Jarrid Bartoy, 492nd FGS production superintendent. “They have gotten after all of it so we can do what we’re here to do - get the jets back in the air and train with our partner nations.”“The best part was being able to work alongside and see the other nations launching their jets right there with us,” said Staff. Sgt. Justin Elcombe, 492nd FGS F-15 electrical and environmental systems craftsman. “The perspective offered through this exercise has been incredible.”

Ocean Sky Squadrons

Indian Air Force

24 Squadron ‘HAWKS’ SU-30MKIs