US envoy discusses defence cooperation with Eastern Army Commander

US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster on Monday called on Eastern Army Commander Lt General Anil Chouhan at Fort William here and discussed ways to strengthen defence cooperation between the two countries.

"HE Mr Kenneth I Juster, Ambassador of #USA to #India called on the #ArmyCdrEC at Fort William, Kolkata on 16 Sep. The interaction was aimed to strengthen Defence Cooperation between the two nations," the Eastern Command of the Indian Army said on its official Twitter handle.

Earlier in the day, Indian and US Army soldiers were trained jointly on the howitzers and Chinook helicopters during their 'Yudh Abhyas 2019' at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.

The exercise -- 'Yudh Abhyas' -- started on September 5 and will continue till September 18. It is a part of the ongoing Indo-US defence cooperation.

Chinook and ultra-light howitzers have been acquired by India also and both would be used during Exercise HimVijay in Arunachal Pradesh near the China border in October.

This is the 15th edition of the joint exercise hosted alternately between the two countries.

Both armies are jointly training, planning and executing a series of well-developed operations for neutralisation of threats of varied nature.

ln the end, a joint exercise will be undertaken by both countries in an operational setting under a UN mandate.