India, US armies to train together in mountain warfare

New Delhi : Some 700 Indian and US soldiers will hone their counter-terrorism skills in mountainous terrain in the foothills of Himalayas in Uttarakhand from next week, furthering interoperability between the armies of the two countries.

The two-week joint military training "Yudh Abhyas 2018" will be conducted in Chaubattia from September 16 to 29.

This will be the 14th edition of the joint military exercise hosted alternately by both countries.

"The joint exercise will simulate a scenario where both nations will work together in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism environment in mountainous terrain under United Nation charter," an army spokesperson said here.

"The exercise will witness participation of about 350 personnel of the US Army and similar strength of the Indian Army."

The military drill curriculum is progressively planned where the participants are initially made to get familiar with each other's organisational structure, weapons, equipment, confidence training and tactical drills.

Subsequently, the training advances to joint tactical exercises wherein the battle drills of both the armies are coherently unleashed.

The training will culminate with a final validation exercise in which troops of both countries will jointly carry out an operation against terrorists in a fictitious but realistic setting.

"Over the years, the two countries have decided to progressively increase the scope and content of this joint exercise. Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2018 will witness a Division Headquarter based Command Post Exercise, an Infantry Battalion carrying out field training exercise and discussions on issues of mutual interest by experts of both countries."

The spokesperson described the exercise as "a great step for the armies of the two democratic countries to train together and gain together from each other's rich operational experiences" to help further build interoperability between the forces of the two countries.