India Russia Indra-2018 Military Exercise: Indian and Russian armies have completed the tenth edition of Indo-Russian joint military exercise INDRA-2018 in Babina military station in central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday after conducting a joint tactical exercise.
The eleven-day-long joint training that commenced on 18 November 2018 included developing common understanding of transnational terrorism, interoperability and conduct of joint tactical operations controlled by a joint command post working under the aegis of United Nations.
Both Indian and Russian militaries practiced cordon and search operations, raid on terrorist hideout, intelligence gathering and sharing, perception management, humanitarian laws and hostage rescue among other things.
Integrated live firing was carried out apart from the specialized joint training which included road opening drills, clearance of built-up areas and destruction of a rebel stronghold in an urban terrain setting.
India and Russia have both fought bloody wars against insurgency and terrorism in their border states like Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir and Russian region of Chechnya and Dagestan.
While Russian military has largely succeeded in crushing the Chechen separatists and other fundamentalists but Indian army continues to face the challenge of cross border terrorism supported by Pakistan, which is the biggest security challenge for the force.
Indian and Russian soliders at Babina Military Station in Central India.
It is imperative for both the countries to share their expertise in anti-terror operations including psychological warfare against the propaganda used by the sponsors of terrorism and a special session on perception management was conducting during this edition of Indra-2018 military exercise held in Babina military station.
The participating contingents also carried out specialised joint training on hostage rescue by slithering from MI-17 helicopters.
Major General PS Minhas, General Officer Commanding, White Tiger Division of Indian Army and Major General Tsekov Oleg Moosovich, Commander Fifth Army of Russian Army along with representatives and military officials of both countries witnessed the validation exercise conducted at Babina Field Firing Ranges.
The troops learnt about each other’s organisations and exchanged ideas and best practices being followed in peace enforcement under aegis of the United Nations.
