Joint military exercises of India

Introduction to joint military exercises

Joint military exercises serves as a platform for militaries of two or more countries to build trust amongst each other, share best practices specific to terrains and situations as well as evaluate their readiness for deployment in different theaters around the globe. They can be limited to one branch of the military (Vis-à-vis Army, Navy, Air Force) or they can also be comprehensive exercises. Joint military exercises also look to address new challenges that are cropping up including but not limited to counter-terrorism operations, low-intensity conflict operations, piracy along maritime routes etc. Some of these  exercises are bilateral whereas some of them are multilateral involving more than two countries.

Significance of joint military exercises

With India looking to play an important role in global geopolitics and given that it is a major military power in the South Asian region and the world joint military exercises have become increasingly important. Also given that the armed forces of the country have to protect a large land border and a large coastline these joint military exercises serve as important barometers of their readiness.

Location of joint military exercises

Given the fact that the Indian geography presents varied terrains from mountains to snow blocked table tops to forests, coastlines, oceans, deserts and the like India becomes a very good choice as a location for these joint military exercises. However a lot these joint military exercises are held alternatively between India and the other host countries. Below is the summary of joint military exercises conducted with different countries across different streams of military:

Schedule of joint military exercises

Similarly the frequency of these joint military exercises vary with some being conducted annually some being conducted biannually and some being conducted biennially. Also some of these joint military exercises are conducted frequently whereas some have just been one time affairs. A lot of these joint military exercises have also been an outcome of summits and announcements at multilateral forums.

List of joint military exercises with different countries

S.No.	Country	Army	Navy	Air Force
1	USA	Yudhabhyas Vajra Prahar Shatrujeet	Malabar RIMPAC(Multilateral) SALVEX	Red Flag
2	UK	Ajeya Warrior Emerald Mercury	Konkan	Indradhanush
3	France	Shakti	Varuna	Garuda
4	Russia	Indra	Indra Navy	Avia Indra
5	Thailand	Maitree Cobra Gold	Indo Thai CORPAT	SIAM Bharat
6	Oman	Al Nagah	Naseem Al Bahr	Eastern bridge
7	Singapore	Agni Warrior Bold Kurukshetra	SIMBEX	Joint Military Training
8	Sri Lanka	Mitra Shakti	SLINEX	NA
9	Australia	Austra Hind	AUSINDEX KAKADU	NA
10	Indonesia	Garuda Shakti	IND-INDO CORPAT IND-INDO BILAT KOMODO(HADR) (Multilateral)	NA
11	Bangladesh	SAMPRITI	NA	NA
12	China	Hand in Hand	NA	NA
13	Mongolia	Nomadic Elephant Khan Quest	NA	NA
14	Nepal	Surya Kiran	NA	NA
15	Kazhakhstan	Prabaldostyk	NA	NA
16	Kyrgyztan	Khanjar	NA	NA
17	Maldives	Ekuverin	NA	NA
18	Seychelles	Lamitiye	NA	NA
19	Vietnam	VINBAX	NA	NA
20	Brazil and South Africa	NA	IBSAMAR	NA
21	Brunei	NA	ADMM(Multilateral)	NA
22	Malaysia	HARIMAU SHAKTI	ARFDIREX	NA
23	Myanmar	IMBAX	IMCOR	NA
24	Japan	NA	JIMEX Sahayog Kaijin Malabar	NA
25	UAE	NA	NA	Desert Eagle

 

Prominent multilateral joint military exercises:

Malabar: Malabar is a trilateral naval exercise involving the United States, Japan and India as permanent partners. It began in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between India and the United States. The exercise was suspended in 1998 following Indian nuclear tests but resumed in 2002. Japan became a permanent partner in 2015.  Australia and Singapore have joined the exercise in the past. The 22^nd edition of the exercise was held in Guam. Like other naval joint military exercises Malabar focuses on combined carrier strike group operations, surface and anti-submarine warfare, medical operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance operations, damage control, helicopter operations and visit, board, search and seizure operations.

 

Milan: Milan is a multilateral naval exercise hosted by the Indian Navy under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command. The biennial event is held in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and features Milan was first held in 1995. Apart from the Indian Navy, the navies of Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand participated in the inaugural edition. The most recent edition of Milan was held at Port Blair from March 2018. Sixteen foreign nations participated in the event.

Force 18 ASEAN+: Multinational Field Training Exercise – Exercise FORCE 18, involving ASEAN Plus was a ground forces exercise ever conducted in 2016 with themes based on ‘Humanitarian Mine Action’ and ‘Peacekeeping Operations’.

Dosti:vDosti is a multilateral Coast Guard exercise between Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives to strengthen corporation and enhance the inter-operability of forces.

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