Both India and the United States want to upgrade the ‘Yudh Abhyas’
After the annual Malabar naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal, India and the United States are again gearing up for a joint exercise, this time between armies in September.
The ‘Yudh Abhyas’ will be held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in the US from September 14 to 27 and over 200 Indian soldiers from the Gorkha Rifles will take part in the “battalion level field training exercise with a brigade-level command post”, Economic Times reported.
“The exercise will further boost the interoperability between the two armies at the battalion and company level. It will also help the Indian Army understand the doctrines, battle drills and procedures of the US Army,” the newspaper quoted an officer.
Both India and the United States want to upgrade the ‘Yudh Abhyas’ to a “more complex, combined arms, division-level exercise”, according to the report.
The 21st edition of the Malabar exercise was concluded on July 17. The US, Indian and Japanese navies demonstrated their strong and resilient relationship and it featured 95 aircrafts, 16 ships and two submarines.
In a recent joint report to the congress, the US departments of defense and state said that the country is witnessing a growing convergence with India on its strategic outlook for the region and that the country is viewing India as an increasingly important security partner within and beyond the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
During their recent White House meeting, President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also vowed to further strengthen the strategic ties between the two countries.
The significance of the joint exercises between India and the US further increases as China is trying to expand their control in the Asia-Pacific region.