0 Comment(s) *
* The moderation of comments is automated and not cleared manually by indianexpress.com.
The exercise, being conducted since 2018, will begin on Sunday and go on till March 10 at the Foreign Training Node in Belagavi (Representational) Indian and Japanese armies to start their annual Dharma Guardian exercise in Karnataka over the weekend. The exercise will begin on February 27 and go on till March 10 at the Foreign Training Node in Belgaum, Karnataka.
The exercise with Japan “is crucial and significant in terms of security challenges faced by both nations in the backdrop of current global situation” and the “scope of this exercise covers platoon level joint training on operations in jungle and semi-urban/urban terrain”, the Army said in a statement on Friday.
The 15th battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry regiment will participate for India, and for Japan, the 30th Infantry Regiment of Japanese Ground Self Defence Forces (JGSDF) will participate, the Atmy said. They will “share experiences gained during operations in order to enhance inter-operability in planning and execution of various operations in jungle & semi urban/ urban terrain.”
While the Army statement did not mention China, but both India and Japan have strained relations with China, which claims parts of Indian and Japanese territories. The exercise is being conducted annually since 2018.
The 12 days long joint exercise schedule includes house interventions drills, raid on terrorist hideouts in semi urban terrain, combat first aid, unarmed combat & close quarter combat firing where both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well-developed tactical drills for neutralisation of likely threats, the Army said.
“The joint field training exercises, joint combat discussions and joint demonstrations will culminate with a two day validation exercise” on March 8 and March 9 and “special emphasis is being laid on enhancing tactical skills to fight global terrorism and on enhancing inter-operability between the forces and to promote Army to Army relations.”
The exercise will “enhance the level of defence co-operation between Indian Army and Japanese Ground Self Defence Forces, which in turn will further foster the bilateral relations between the two nations,” the statement mentioned.
India and Japan are two of the four members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad), the other two being the United States and Australia. All four nations also participate in the naval wargaming exercise named Malabar.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
