India has been in close defence cooperation in recent times, from acquiring arms to the latest LEMOA, India is eyeing US as a major military ally in the east. Following this, the Indo-US armies are participating in an annual joint military training exercise, ‘Yudh Abhyas 2016’.
- The exercise is being held in Uttarakhand’s Chaubattia and is being conducted under the aegis of Headquarter Central Command
- The exercise will go on from September 14 to September 27.
- This is an annual bilateral exercise being held between the two armies in their respective homeland every alternate year.
- Last year’s Yudh Abhyas, Yudh Abhyas 2015, was held in the USs’ Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
- It is the 12th edition of the joint military exercise and will span over 2-week.
- About 225 personnel of the US Army will participate in this exercise and similar strength of Congo Brigade of the Indian Army will represent the Indian side.
- The exercise curriculum is progressively planned where the participants are initially made to get familiar with each other’s organisational structure, weapons, equipment and tactical drills.
- Subsequently, the training advances to joint tactical exercises wherein both the armies coherently unleash their battle drills.
- Brigade Headquarter based Command Post Exercise, an Infantry company carrying out Field Training Exercise and discussions on issues of mutual interest by experts of both countries will all be a part of this exercise.
- The final phase of exercise will be marked when troops of both countries will jointly carry out an operation against terrorists in a fictitious but realistic setting.
The joint venture is a great step for the armies of the two democratic countries to train together and gain together from each other’s rich operational experiences. The latest exercise will help further build interoperability between the forces of both the nations, the statement added.
