Indian, US troops to carry out military drill in Alaska to enhance ties

Indian Army contingent departed for the United States on Thursday to take part in joint military exercise 'Ex Yudh Abhyas 2021' at Joint Base Elmendorf – Richardson in Alaska, official said. As part of the ongoing Indo-US Defence Cooperation, the Joint Military Training Exercise 'Ex Yudh Abhyas 2021' will be conducted at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska (USA) from October 15 to October 29. The contingent, comprising of 350 personnel of an Infantry Battalion Group departed on Thursday. The exercise YudhAbhyas is the largest running joint military training and defence cooperation endeavor between India and the US. This will be the 17th Edition of the joint exercise which is hosted alternately between both countries. The exercise aims at enhancing understanding, cooperation and inter-operability between two Armies. The joint exercise will focus on Combined Arms Manoeuvres in cold climatic conditions and is primarily aimed at sharing tactical level drills and learning best practices from each other. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgEGzLcC8vI&feature=youtu.be The exercise will culminate after a 48 hours long validation. The previous version of this exercise was held at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges in Bikaner, Rajasthan in February 2021. This exercise is another step in the growing military cooperation between the two countries. The 16th edition of the joint exercise aim was to focus on counter terrorism operations under the mandate of the United Nations. The training focused primarily on subject matter exchange of topical issues of contemporary significance, drills at tactical level and sharing of best practices of each other. The joint training developed into an excellent professional forum which strengthened the capabilities of joint operations by both armies. The exercise was conducted in two phases. The first phase of combat conditioning, tactical training and inter-operability was completed successfully by both the contingents. The training received by both the armies in the first phase was validated in the second phase.