In peace time, the Indian Air Force primarily makes news either because of inadequate equipment or planes crashing. Once in a while, though, we get some news we can be happy about. And this time it involves beating our old colonial masters at their own game.

In the latest bilateral air combat exercise between India and the United Kingdom, IAF pilots completely outshined the UK Royal Air Force. Flying Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighters, the Indian pilots racked up a 12-0 score line against the UK's Typhoon jets in Within Visual Range dogfighting operations.

The 10-day exercises which started on July 21 was the fourth edition of the Indo-UK Bilateral exercise called 'Indradhanush'. “We are working and sharing best ideas and practices. First impression is very positive and it’s a privilege to operate Royal Typhoon alongside IAF’s Sukhoi,” said wing commander Chris Moon of Royal Air Force.

The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a heavy, all-weather, long-range fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under license by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Indian Air Force.

The first day of the dogfighting operation commenced with IAF’s Sukhois flying and turning sharply into the extremely agile Typhoons using their thrust-vectored engines to keep the RAF jets locked in their sights. Sukhoi also proved its edge over Typhoon with its Infrared Search and Track System, a passive sensor, which cannot be tracked. It allowed IAF’s pilots to take lead in close-combat maneuvering. Group Captain Ashu Srivastav, the Contingent Commander in the exercises, told NDTV that his pilots showed "flexibility and adaptability to a new environment and operating conditions and on this benchmark, I would rate them exceptional."