Lok Sabha Question No. 1578 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-19
Subject: Military Excercises
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH, T. RADHAKRISHNAN, ASHOK SHANKARRAO CHAVAN, VIJAY KUMAR S.R., S. RAJENDRAN, SUDHEER GUPTA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1578

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 19 TH  DECEMBER, 2018

## MILITARY EXERCISES

1578.  KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH:

SHRI  T. RADHAKRISHNAN:

SHRI ASHOK SHANKARRAO CHAVAN:

SHRI S.R. VIJAYAKUMAR:

SHRI S. RAJENDRAN:

SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE j{kk ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  conducted  three  major  military  exercises  with  the United States, Russia and Japan recently;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  aims  and  objectives  thereto  and  the expenditure involved therein;
- (c) the  number  of  troops  involved  from  each  country  for  the  said  joint  military exercises;
- (d) the details of the joint military exercises that are likely to be undertaken with other countries during the next year; and
- (e) the steps taken / being taken by the Government to boost military cooperation with other countries?

## A    N    S    W    E    R

MINISTER OF STATE

(DR. SUBHASH BHAMRE)

IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

र  ा रा य मं ी

(डा. सुभाष भामरे)

(a) to (e): A statement is attached.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e) OF  LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1578 FOR ANSWER ON 19.12.2018

(a) to (c): The  details  of  military  exercises  conducted  in  2018  by  our armed Forces with the United States, Russia and Japan are as under:

Joint Exercises conducted by Army:

|   S. No. | Country       | Name                                           |
|----------|---------------|------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | United States | Exercise Yudh Abhyas and Exercise Vajra Prahar |
|        2 | Russia        | Exercise INDRA                                 |
|        3 | Japan         | Exercise Dharma Guardian                       |

Joint Exercises conducted by Air Force:

|   S. No. | Country       | Name                   |
|----------|---------------|------------------------|
|        1 | United States | Exercise Cope India-18 |
|        2 | Russia        | Exercise AVIAINDRA-18  |
|        3 | Japan         | Exercise Shinyu Maitri |

Joint Exercises conducted by Navy:

|   S. No. | Country               | Name                             |
|----------|-----------------------|----------------------------------|
|        1 | United States & Japan | Trilateral Exercise MALABAR 2018 |
|        2 | Russia                | Exercise INDRA NAVY 2018         |
|        3 | Japan                 | Exercise JIMEX-2018              |

In  the  Exercise  Yudh  Abhyas  with  United  States,  350  personnel participated  from  each  side.  36  Personnel  from  Indian  Army  and  13 from  US  Army  participated  in  Exercise  Vajra  Prahar  with  US.  With Russia, 250 personnel participated from both sides in Exercise INDRA. In  Exercise  Dharma  Guardian  with  Japan  25  personnel  participated from  each  side.  In  Air  Exercise  Cope  India-18  with  US, 202 US Air

......2/-

## :  2  :

Force  personnel  participated. In Air  Exercise  AVIAINDRA-18  with Russia,  30  member  delegation  participated  from  both  side.  In  Air Exercise Shinyu Maitri with Japan, 18 aircrew / observes participated. In  Naval  Exercises,  navies  of  US  /  Japan  /  Russia  /  India  participated with relevant naval assets / ships / aircrafts etc. Our armed forces are represented by various units / troops in such exercises  which  is  decided  based  on  the  nature  and  requirement  of specific exercise. The expenditure incurred varies on the magnitude of our  participation  and  assets  deployed  during  such  exercises  and  are met almost entirely from operational budget of the Services. The aims and objectives of these exercises include providing operational exposure to the armed forces, enhance interoperability and undertaking  mutual  exchange  of  best  practices,  special  operations tactics and  to develop cooperation among  the  armed  forces  of participating  nations  etc.  In  this  process  the  current  tactical  and technological  practices  /  techniques  etc.,  are  exchanged  during  such exercises. (d) & (e):

The conduct and planning of such exercises is a continuous process. Relevant steps are taken from time to time to engage friendly countries to  enhance the scope of defence cooperation based on the principle  of  mutual  benefit  and  our  own  strategic  requirements.  The countries  with  which  joint  military  exercises  are  proposed  to  be conducted during the next year include  Australia, Bangladesh, China, France,  Indonesia,  Kazakhstan,  Kyrgyz  Republic,  Maldives,  Mongolia, Nepal,  Russia,  Singapore,  Sri  Lanka,  Thailand,  UK  and  USA  among others.

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