Indo-US joint military exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas 2018’ begins in Uttarakhand

Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2018, a joint military exercise of Indian and US armies, commenced on September 16, 2018 at Chaubattia, Uttarakhand with the unfurling of the national flags of both countries on the tunes of "Jana Gana Mana” and “The Star Spangled Banner".

Indian and US soldiers gave a ceremonial salute to the two senior most officers of the US and Indian side reviewing the ceremony. The exercise will conclude on September 29, 2018.

Exercise Yudh Abhyas is a series of one of the longest running joint military training and a major ongoing bilateral defence cooperation endeavour between India and the US.

This is the 14th edition of the joint military exercise hosted alternately by both countries. The two-week exercise will witness participation of about 350 personnel of the US Army and similar strength of Garud Division of the Indian Army.

Highlights of the Exercise Yudh Abhyas

• Exercise Yudh Abhyas will provide an opportunity to the armed forces of both countries to train in an integrated manner at Battalion level with joint planning at Brigade level.

• Multiple scenarios will be rehearsed during the joint exercise with a view to understand each-other’s organisational structure and battle procedures.

• The exercise is an ideal platform to learn from each-other’s experiences of planning and execution of operations.

• Both the sides will test the modern equipment for surveillance and tracking, specialist weapons for close quarter battle with terrorists, explosive and improvised explosive device detectors, as well as the latest communication equipment.

• Both the armies will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well-developed operations for neutralisation of threats of varied nature.

• The combined exercise will simulate a scenario where both nations are working together in counter insurgency and counter terrorism environment in mountainous terrain under UN charter.

• Experts from both sides will hold expert academic and military discussions to share each other’s experiences on varied topics for mutual benefit.

Video: Check out the latest current affairs of this week