India-US forces hone combat readiness during 2-week drill

The Indian and US forces have bettered their combat readiness to operate jointly against future challenges in the Indo-Pacific, says an internal assessment of the Ministry of Defence.

The armies of the two sides were locked in a two-week exercise called “Yudh Abhyas” in Alaska, US, from September 1-14.

The military exercise comes in the back-drop of trade-related tensions triggered by US President Donald Trump’s move to impose tariffs and punitive tariffs on India.

Sources said the two armies enhanced their capacity to inter-operate and bettered combat readiness to operate jointly against future challenges in Indo-Pacific.

The drills forged long-standing Indo-US defence partnership and adopted best practices as a measure to improve tactics training and procedures.

This was the 21st edition of the Yudh Abhyas and it continues to remain a hallmark of growing military-to-military interaction between India and the US aligned with the comprehensive global strategic partnership between both countries.

The Indian Army had sent 450 troops from all arms and services, including Infantry, Artillery, Signals, Air Defence, Engineers and Logistics.

The theme of the exercise was employment of a “joint integrated battle group” in extreme cold climate. The aim of the exercise was to refine tactical coordination and cultivate mutual understanding between the two forces through a series of joint-command level planning, tactical drills and field operations, in order to improve coordination when operating in international joint operations scenario.

The exercise had academic discussions by subject matter experts on various domains such as cyber, electronic warfare, multi-domain operations, combat medical, intelligence, drones and counter drones.

This was followed by field training in challenging sub-arctic terrain, including drills and manoeuvres, specialist training such as sniper and recce, laying of obstacles and demolitions.

The exercise also included live-fire activities during which artillery units from both sides conducted joint firing. This was supplemented by mortar live-fire exercises that tested coordination in fire control and communications in a demanding terrain, providing valuable lessons in precision, adaptability and joint targeting.

All infantry, artillery, aviation, electronic warfare and counter-drone systems were employed under joint India-US command.