Joint Indian-US army exercise to begin in Uttarakhand

As part of the ongoing Indo-US defence cooperation, a joint military training exercise, 'Yudh Abhyas 2016' is set to be conducted in Uttarakhand from September 14 to 27, a military official said on Monday.

The exercise in Chaubattia was being conducted by the headquarter Central Command.

"It is a series of one of the longest running joint military training and a major ongoing bilateral defence cooperation endeavours between India and the US. It is the 12th edition of the joint military exercise hosted alternately by the two countries" the official said.

The exercise is aimed at simulating a scenario where both nations were working together to counter insurgency and terrorism in mountainous terrain under UN charter.

The two week exercise will witness participation of about 225 personnel of the US Army and similar strength of Congo Brigade of the Indian Army.

The exercise curriculum is progressively planned where the participants are initially made to get familiar with each other's organisational structure, weapons, equipment and tactical drills, the official said.

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, the official added.