The 10-day war games, codenamed "Cope India 2004", signalled a new level of military cooperation between India and the United States, its largest trading partner.

The Indian Air Force (IAF), the world's fourth largest, said it was a close match for the United States Air Force (USAF).

"The USAF is very advanced but at a tactical level we are a flying match. In air-to-air and in beyond-visual-range combat, however, the Americans have lots of experience and so we are learning from them," said IAF Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnani in Gwalior.

"In the same way they are learning from us because we have completely different equipment," Bhavnani said, declining to give the results of the dogfight in which the four F-15s were "defenders" and IAF's Russian-built Sukhoi-30s and French Mirage-2000 were the attackers.

Colonel Greg Neubeck, team leader of the F-15 sqaudron, appeared satisfied.

"We leave here with a good idea how each other's air forces operate. We consider IAF as very professional," the fighter pilot said as supersonic aircraft streaked across Gwalior.

Despite the bonhommie, the USAF did not bring its latest F-16 jets, which helped destroy Iraqi air defences during the Gulf War, and the IAF politely declined to display its newest acquisition, the Sukhoi-MKI multi-role combat jets.

The wargames, which covered an area from India's Gangetic plains to the rarified atmosphere of the Himalayas, had been gruelling, said IAF spokesman Group Captain S.B.P. Sinha.

"A number of missions have been flown during the exercise and the result has been very encouraging and rewarding," said Sinha.

"The aim of the exercise is to enhance mutual understanding of fighter operations of the IAF and the USAF and sets the basis for future co-operation between the two air forces."

India traditionally tilted toward Cold War ally Moscow, which still supplies 70 percent of its military hardware, but lately it has been strengthening its defence ties with the US.

They resumed joint military training in 2002 after Washington lifted sanctions imposed on India after New Delhi held nuclear tests in 1998.

Last October, the US and Indian navies held five days of joint manoeuvres in the Arabian Sea, a month after staging week-long joint exercises in the Ladakh region of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, aimed at improving coordination between their special forces.

WAR.WIRE