Five bilateral Army exercises under way, including ‘Yudh Abhyas’ in Uttarakhand

At ‘Yudh Abhyas’ with U.S. at Auli, 100 km from LAC, Army showcases kites trained to counter drones

The Indian Army is currently engaged in bilateral exercises with five countries under way both inside and outside the country meant to improve interoperability. The 18th edition of India-U.S. Army exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas’ which is under way at Auli in Uttarakhand, about 100 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC), has entered the validation phase and is set to conclude later this week.

Other ongoing exercises are ‘Ex Austra Hind’ with Australia at Mahajan field firing ranges in Rajasthan from November 28 to December 11 and ‘Ex Agni Warrior’ with Singapore at Deolali from November 13 to December 3. The outgoing exercises are ‘Ex Harimau Shakti’ with Malaysia from November 28 to December 12 and ‘Ex Garuda Shakti’ with Indonesia, between Special Forces began on November 21. ‘Ex KazInd’ with Kazakhstan is scheduled in mid-December.

“Yudh Abhyas reinforces our commitment to the Indo-Pacific region and improves interoperability with our Indian Army partners,” U.S. Army Pacific, the Army service component command to the Indo-Pacific Command. This is the first exercise to be held at the newly set up foreign training node at Auli in Uttarakhand located at an altitude of 9,200 feet.

Indian Army soldiers from 9 Assam Regiment and U.S. Army soldiers of 40th Cavalry Regiment under 2nd Brigade of the 11th Airborne Division are taking part in the exercise. The previous edition of the exercise was held at Alaska, U.S., in October 2021.

In an interesting development, U.S. Army Pacific said that in full view of Nanda Devi in the tallest mountain range in the world, Capt. Cerruti, Lt. Russell, Lt. Brown and Lt. Hack became the first four U.S. Army Officers “to be promoted in the Himalayas” during ‘Ex Yudh Abhyas’.

In a sign of increasing commonality of platforms at various levels, Indian soldiers used Sig Saur assault rifles procured from U.S. while India Air Force deployed a Chinook heavy-lift helicopter on a Combat Enabling Operation as part of the exercise. Indian Army showcased in action how it is trained birds, kites, to counter the increasing threat of drones. 

The training schedule focuses on employment of an Integrated Battle Group (IBG) under Chapter VII of the United Nations Mandate and will include all operations related to peace keeping and peace enforcement, the Army said in addition to Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations. Soldiers attended expert demonstrations and lectures on avalanche rescue, counter-IED operations, HADR and a route opening demonstration.