Indo-Russian joint military drill INDRA concludes

The 10th edition of Indo-Russian joint military exercise INDRA culminated at Babina Military Station here on Wednesday after a joint tactical exercise and a grand closing ceremony.

The 11-day long joint training that commenced on November 18 included developing "common understanding of transnational terrorism, interoperability and conduct of joint tactical operations" controlled by a Joint Command Post working under the aegis of United Nations.

Classes were organised on cordon and search operations, raid on terrorist hideout, intelligence gathering and sharing, perception management, humanitarian laws and hostage rescue, officials said.

Integrated live firing was carried out apart from specialised joint training which included road opening drills, clearance of built up areas and destruction of a rebel stronghold in an urban terrain setting.

The participating contingents also carried out specialised joint training on hostage rescue by slithering from MI-17 helicopters.

Major General P.S. Minhas, General Officer Commanding of White Tiger Division of the Indian Army and Major General Tsekov Oleg Moosovich, Commander, Fifth Army of the Russian Army witnessed the validation exercise conducted at the field firing ranges here.

"The troops learnt about each other's organisations and exchanged ideas and best practices being followed in peace enforcement under aegis of the United Nations," officials said.

--IANS

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