A French Rafale fighter jet lands on the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean sea. (File photo: Reuters)

India and France will hold their biggest ever aerial war games Garuda-VI at a French airbase at the end of this month involving the French Rafale and Indian Sukhoi fighter jets.

"More than 150 IAF officials will take part in the drills which will begin in the first week of July and continue for a fortnight.

French Rafale fighter jets along with Sukhoi-30 fighters will be the main attraction along with IL-78 mid-air refueling tankers. The strategic partnership between France and India was signed in January, 1998.

Garuda exercises have been conducted alternately in the two countries since 2003. The first Garuda was held in February 2003 in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior. Since then, several exercises have been conducted in France and India.

The fifth edition of the Indo-French air exercise Garuda was held in 2014 at the Jodhpur Air Force Station.

The Indian Air Force's participation consisted of Sukhoi-30 MKIs, IL-78 tanker aircraft and Ilyushin IL-76 AWACS airborne early-warning and control aircraft.