It seems the HAL TEJAS performed rather well at the recently held Desert Flag-VIII exercise that concluded in the UAE on March 17th. "Let's see if we hear more about this from official quarters", remarked defence analyst Saurav Jha on his Twitter handle.

To recap, the indigenously developed TEJAS fighter aircraft made its debut at a foreign military wargame during Exercise Desert Flag, which was held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between February 27 and March 17. It's quite surprising that Desert Flag-VIII didn't get the reporting prominence it deserved in the Indian mainstream media.

An Indian Air Force contingent comprising of 110 air warriors participated in the extensive exercise at UAE's Al Dahfra air base.

The IAF participated with five TEJAS light fighter jets and two C-17 Globemaster-III transport aircraft.

"This was the first occasion when the TEJAS participated in an international flying exercise outside India," said an official.

Exercise Desert Flag is a multilateral air exercise in which air forces from the UAE, France, Kuwait, Australia, the UK, Bahrain, Morocco, Spain, Republic of Korea, and the US will be participating.

"The aim of the exercise was to participate in diverse fighter engagements and learn from the best practices of various air forces across the globe," the official further added.

The TEJAS, manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, is a single-engine, highly agile multi-role supersonic fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments.