India and the United States will hold a joint combat exercise in Rajasthan, India, India, bordering Pakistan next week. Indian media believe that the exercise will strengthen India’s importance as a partner in the United States.
Indian officials said that the exercise highlights the continuous strengthening of defense cooperation between the two countries. .
India and the United States will hold a large-scale joint combat exercise in Rajasthan, India (on the border with Pakistan) next week.
This is the first bilateral military exercise between India and the United States since Biden took office.
It will strengthen the importance of India as a partner of the United States in the India-Pacific region. .
Indian officials said that the exercise called “Yudh Abhyas” will be held at the Mahajan shooting range in western Rajasthan, India from February 8 to February 21, and the exercise will once again highlight the rising trend of India and the United States in defense cooperation.
According to the report, the task force sent by the U.S. military to participate in the exercise will include a brigade headquarters and a battalion combat team, which will be composed of about 250 soldiers from a Stryker armored vehicle brigade combat team.
India will send a light infantry brigade headquarters from Kashmir and a battalion combat team to participate in the exercise.
“Our aim is to further strengthen the interoperability of counter-terrorism operations in semi-urban, semi-desert areas, involving equipment including attack helicopters and infantry fighting vehicles,” said an Indian officer.
The report mentioned that last November, India carried out the highest-level “Malabar” maritime exercise with the United States, Japan and Australia, which sent a strong “strategic signal”.
In addition, India sent a P-8I anti-submarine patrol plane to Guam from January 14 to 27 to participate in the anti-submarine exercise code-named “Sea Dragon” with the United States, Japan, Australia and Canada, with the aim of strengthening the interoperability between partner countries to deal with “regional emergencies”.
According to the report, the new U.S. Secretary of State Blincoln, Defense Secretary Austin, National Security Adviser Sullivan and others expressed their willingness to continue to promote the “Indo-Pacific Strategy” under the Trump administration in talks with foreign ministers of India and other countries last week.
Defense cooperation between India and the United States will continue to be the main driving force of bilateral strategic partnerships.
Last year, India signed four “Basic Military Agreements” with the United States and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for Geospatial Cooperation.
In recent years, the United States and India have been getting closer and closer in military cooperation. Last year, despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the two countries actively carried out military cooperation and held many military exercises.
India, the United States, Japan and Australia held a joint “Malabar” military exercise last November, and the United States and India participated in the exercise with a “two aircraft carrier” lineup.
Zhao Lijian, spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a regular press conference that he had taken note of the news of the military exercises of the four countries and stressed that military cooperation between countries should be conducive to regional peace and stability.
