Military Exercises in India
Military exercises also called as War games are a demonstration of military strength, tactics and capabilities for conducting various operations. It provides stimulation and helps in performance assessment without going into the battlefield.
The major objectives of these exercises are:
1. Enhancing cooperation and coordination between different forces.
2. Assessing the interoperability and combat readiness of forces
3. Training exercises and drills to familiarize with insurgency, peacekeeping, disaster relief operations etc.
4. To test weapons precision and operability.
5. To engage in military planning, strategies and tactical implementation exercise.
6. Exercises involving Special forces are aimed at Counter-terrorism and insurgency operation drills.
Military exercises also serve as a method to improve the diplomatic ties between nations and deeper military ties.
Military exercises are grouped as:
a) Domestic Exercises- These exercises can be inter-services or intra-services which aim at increasing the interoperability and combat readiness. E.g. PASCHIM LEHAR between Indian Navy, IAF, Indian Army and Coast Guard.
b) Bilateral exercises- These exercises involves participation of forces of two nations.
c) Multilateral exercises- These exercises are conducted with more than one military partners.
Some of the Domestic Exercises are:
|
Sl No.
|
Exercise
|
Held at
|
|
|
1
|
Gandiv Vijay
|
South Western Command of Indian Army,Rajasthan
|
-Joint air-land battle offensive drills
-Network centric employing technological advancement
|
|
2
|
Vijay Prahar
|
South Western Command Of Indian Army, Rajasthan
|
|
|
3
|
Paschim Lehar
|
Western Coast in Arbian Sea
|
-All service – Airforce, navy, Army and Coast guard
– Coast security, anti-smuggling, disaster relief etc
|
|
4
|
Vayu Shakti
|
Pokhran, Rajasthan
|
-Firepower demonstration exercise
|
Some of the Bilateral Exercises with the nations are listed here:
|
Sl. No
|
Military partner
|
Indian Army
|
IAF
|
Indian Navy
|
|
1.
|
Nepal
|
EX SURYA KIRAN
|
|
|
|
2.
|
Sri Lanka
|
EX MITRA SHAKTI
|
|
SLINEX
|
|
3.
|
Bangladesh
|
EX SAMPRITI
|
|
|
|
4.
|
China
|
EX Hand In Hand
|
|
|
|
5.
|
USA
|
Ex YUDH ABHYAS
|
Ex RED FLAG
|
|
|
6.
|
Myanmar
|
IMBAX
|
|
IMCOR
|
|
7.
|
Malaysia
|
Ex Harimau Shakti
|
|
|
|
8.
|
Indonesia
|
Ex GARUDA SHAKTI
|
|
IND-INDO CORPAA
|
|
9.
|
Vietnam
|
VINBAX
|
|
Sahyog HOP TAC
|
|
10.
|
Maldives
|
Ex Ekuverin
|
|
|
|
11 .
|
Russia
|
INDRA
|
Ex AVIA INDRA
|
|
|
12.
|
Oman
|
Al-Nagah
|
Ex Eastern Bridge
|
Naseem-al Bahr
|
|
13.
|
Japan
|
Dharma Guardian
|
|
|
|
14.
|
Thailand
|
Ex Maitree
|
SIAM BHARAT
|
|
|
15.
|
UK
|
Ex Ajeya Warrior
|
Ex INDRA Dhanush
|
KONKAN
|
|
16.
|
Kazakhstan
|
Ex Prabal Dostyk
|
|
|
|
17.
|
Mongolia
|
Ex Nomadic Elephant
|
|
|
|
18.
|
Seychelles
|
Ex. Lamitiye
|
|
|
|
19.
|
Singapore
|
Ex Bold Kurukshetra
|
|
SIMBEX
|
|
20.
|
Kyrgyzstan
|
Ex Khanjar
|
|
|
|
21.
|
France
|
|
Ex Garuda
|
Varuna
|
|
22.
|
UAE
|
|
Ex DESERT EAGLE
|
|
Multilateral exercises are :
|
Sl.No
|
Military Exercise
|
Established
|
|
Participating Countries
|
|
|
1.
|
RIMPAC
(RIM of the Pacific Exercise)
|
1971
|
Biennial Maritime exercise
|
26th edition- 2018
26 countries
27th edition- August 2020
10 nations,20 ships
|
-Hoisted by US Navy’s Pacific Fleet
-To provide mutual security support and Increase Interoperability in Indo-Pacific region
– To demonstrate capability and maritime strategic partnerships
|
|
2.
|
MALABAR
|
1992
|
Annual naval exercise
|
Japan, US and India – Permanent Partners
Non permanent partners- Singapore and Australia
|
Maritime Interdiction Operation exercises
– Exercise countering Piracy
|
|
3
|
MILEX
|
2018
|
Joint Military exercise
|
BIMSTEC Countries except Thailand and Nepal
|
Exercises for Counter terrorism operations
|
|
4
|
PEACE MISSION
|
2005
|
Biennial Exercise
|
Under framework of SCO
|
Antiterrorism Military exercise
|
|
5
|
SAMVEDNA
|
2018
|
Airforce exercise
|
India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and the UAE
|
-First Air Force centric Humanitarian Assistance disaster relief exercise in South Asian Region
|
|
6
|
Ex COBRA GOLD
|
1982
|
Annual exercise
|
39th edition 2020- 27 nations
|
-Coordination on civic action in disasters, regional cooperation and collaboration
-Held in Thailand
|
|
7
|
KAKADU
|
1993
|
Biennial exercise
|
26 nations including India, Japan ,Australia, The People’s Republic of China, Sri Lanka etc
|
-Regional Maritime engagement exercise
– enhance security and provide humanitarian relief
|
|
8
|
ARF DiR Exercise
|
2009
|
|
27 Member countries of ASEAN
|
– Providing HADR and enhancing Information sharing between nations during disasters and ships search operation
|
|
9
|
Ex KOMODO
|
2014
|
Biennial naval exercise
|
ASEAN and Observing nations
|
-HADR and civic actions drill
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Source:
1. https://www.indiannavy.nic.in/content/exercise-komodo-16-and-international-fleet-review-padang-indonesia
2. https://www.vifindia.org/article/2018/september/14/peace-mission-2018-the-larger-perspective
3. https://www.indiannavy.nic.in/operations/11
4.https://indianairforce.nic.in/content/iaf-conducts-day-night-exercise-%E2%80%98vayu-shakti%E2%80%99-rajasthan
–SNEHA NAYAK
