India, US to conduct joint military exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’

The Indo-US joint military exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’ will be undertaken at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Seattle, US in the third week of January.

The exercise would see a 45-member Special Forces team from Indian Army’s Southern Command train alongside US soldiers.

About the Exercise

• ‘Vajra Prahar’ is an Indo-US Special Forces joint training exercise, which is conducted alternately in India and the US.

• Though it was initiated in the year 2010, there was a gap of three years between 2012 and 2015.

• The last edition of the exercise was held in Jodhpur in March 2017.

• This edition’s Indian Army team is from the Pune-headquartered Southern Command.

Key Objectives

• The main aim of the exercise is to promote military relations between India and US by enhancing interoperability and mutual exchange of tactics between the Special Forces.

• The joint training further aims to enable:

- Sharing of best practices between the two armies.

- Development of joint strategies by sharing the expertise of conducting operations in a counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism environment.

- Capitalising on the rich repository of experiences of each of the armies.

• The exercise will mainly focus on special operations in urban areas.

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