Indo-US Joint Military Exercise Code Named "Yudh Abhyas"To Focus On Counter Terror

Indian Army Exercise (Representative file picture)

New Delhi, 12 September 2016

As part of the ongoing Indo-US defence cooperation, a joint military training Exercise YUDH ABHYAS 2016 is being conducted at Chaubattia in Uttarakhand from 14 to 27 September 2016. Exercise YUDH ABHYAS is a series of one of the longest running joint military training Exercises and a major ongoing bilateral defence cooperation endeavour between India and US. This will be the twelfth edition of the joint military exercise hosted alternately by both countries.

The combined exercise Yudh Abhyas 2016 will simulate a scenario where both nations are working together in a Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism environment in mountainous terrain under a UN charter. The two week exercise will witness participation of about 225 personnel of the US Army and similar strength of the Indian Army. The exercise curriculum is progressively planned where the participants are initially made to get familiar with each other’s organizational structure, weapons, equipment 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.