DHAKA: A seven-day joint exercise of US Air Force and Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) will begin at BAF Base, Bangabandhu, Bangladesh, from January 24 (Saturday). 

US Air Force and Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) personnel will participate in the fourth COPE SOUTH 15, a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored, bilateral tactical airlift exercise, said a press release.

The news release added that approximately 80 US airmen along with three US Air Force C-130H Hercules aircrafts from the 36th Airlift Squadron, 374th Airlift Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan, will join approximately 200 Bangladesh Air Force airmen and one Bangladeshi C-130 aircraft for the exercise.

The US and Bangladesh air force participants will exchange airlift, air-land and airdrop delivery tactics, techniques and procedures, as well as develop and expand combined airlift capabilities. 

The participants will conduct cooperative flight operations, to include aircraft generation and recovery, day and night low-level navigation, tactical airdrop, and air-land missions as well as conduct subject-matter expert exchanges in the operations, maintenance and rigging disciplines.

This exercise will further strengthen the USAF-BAF relationship as both Air Forces continue to seek engagement opportunities, particularly in areas of humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, aviation safety, airlift and aviation maintenance and logistics, it added. 

The relationships built and sustained through these types of exercises, civil military operations and military exchanges help the United States and Bangladesh in humanitarian efforts and in preserving peace and stability in the region.
The joint exercise will be concluded on January 30.

BDST: 1801 HRS, JAN 22, 2015