Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha PVSM AVSM VM ADC, Chairman COSC & CAS is on an official visit to Sweden from 07 Jun to 11 Jun 16. The visit is intended to take the existing defence cooperation between the Armed Forces of the two countries to the next level. During his stay at Sweden the Chief of the Air Staff will be calling on the Swedish Defence Minister Mr Peter Hultqvist and is scheduled to hold bilateral discussion with the Supreme Commander of Swedish Armed Forces and the Chiefs of Staff of Army, Navy and Air Force.
The challenges faced by the Defence Forces of both the countries in the current world scenario, is expected to be discussed during these meetings. The CAS will also be visiting a flying base of the Swedish Air Force and the production facilities of SAAB at Linkoping where Gripen aircraft are manufactured. The visit assumes greater significance as it is taking place after the Swedish PM Stefan Lofven’s Feb 20106 visit to India to attend the Def Expo-2016 held at Goa. The Prime Ministers of both India and Sweden had also identified Defence as one of the key areas of cooperation between the two countries during the visit.