Indian Military

New Delhi — Admiral Vladimir Sergeevich Vysotskiy, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy is visiting India from 17 -19 Jan 11 at the invitation of Admiral Nirmal Verma, Chief of Naval Staff.

A press release issued by the Indian defence ministry said the two Admirals had discussions on issues of common interest ranging from the maritime environment in the IOR, operational philosophies of the two navies, ongoing projects of Indian Navy and mutual training exchanges. Discussions on ongoing projects included detailed deliberations on the training of Indian Naval personnel for the operation of aircraft carrier Vikramaditya, scheduled to commence later this year.

Whilst discussing the maritime environment, specific emphasis was laid on the growing threat of piracy in the IOR and various possibilities for the two navies to co-operate. Other matters discussed included possibilities for instituting Navy-to-Navy interactions with ’staff talks’ and the feasibility of enhancing the scope of the INDRA exercises between the Indian Navy and the Russian Navy.

New Delhi – Indo-US military ties are expected to be heightened as the Indian Army Chief General VK Singh’s six-day long visit to the US is currently underway. The US visit comes two years after former Indian Army Chief had visited the country. The current Indian delegation includes the Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar.

Among the main highlights of this US visit will be a discussion regarding the procurement of 145 ultra light howitzers (ULHs) which India intends to buy from the US through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route. It may be noted that since the infamous Bofors scam in the 1980s, Indian artillery has not seen the induction of a new gun in the last two decades. Currently, BAE Systems of US is making the M-777 ULH but the process has been disrupted again as trial reports of the howitzer were leaked prompting the Army Headquarters to order a court of inquiry.

During the current visit, the Indian Army Chief General VK Singh would also be discussing the acquisition of ten C-17 heavy lift transport aircraft and the procurement of the Javelin missile system which India plans to acquire through the FMS route as well.

NEW DELHI: From just a couple of joint exercises annually a decade ago, Indian Army is really cranking up its engagement with foreign armies now. The 1.13-million force will undertake as many as 16 combat exercises with friendly forces in 2011-2012.
The flurry of exercises constitute an effective diplomatic tool to enhance overall strategic ties and military-to-military cooperation with countries in India's "immediate" and "strategic neighbourhood" as well as "priority nations'' far away.
From US, UK, France, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Maldives, Seychelles, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, the response has been "simply overwhelming", say Army officers.
"Other armies are very keen to exercise with us since we have six decades of combat experience across the entire spectrum of conflict. One of the main focus areas in the exercises has been counter-terrorism/counter-insurgency in rural, semi-urban and urban terrains," said a senior officer.

NEW DELHI: India and the United Kingdom will embark on their annual joint naval exercise 'Konkan' off the coast of Goa starting Saturday keeping the focus on submarine operations including nuclear underwater vessels.
India will field its Shishumar Class INS Shankush HDW submarine and the British will have one of their Trafalgar Class nuclear submarines on show during the week-long exercise, Navy officials said today.
Though India has held a number of joint exercises with other countries where nuclear submarines were involved this would be the first time when the focus would be on operation of submarines, they said.
The exercise will help the Navy to hone its skills in operating nuclear submarines as it is expected to get the Nerpa K 152 nuclear submarine on lease from Russia and is also planning to induct the indigenous INS Arihant submarine in the near future.
During the exercise, the Indian crew will also get to visit on board the British nuclear submarine.
The British vessel will be supported by 'RFA Diligence', a dedicated nuclear submarine support vessel.

New Delhi — The Indian Defence Ministry has given its approval for the participation of the Indian Army and the Indian Navy in the joint amphibious exercise at the US Marines base in Okinawa, Japan. While India had backed out for the same war-games at the last instance in 2009, officers from the Indian Army and Navy have been finalised this time around for the joint exercises scheduled later this week.

The joint amphibious wargames called Exercise Habu Nag is a bilateral exercise that focuses on operating skills based on exercise scenarios to gauge the theoretical ability of Indian and U.S. forces to jointly respond in critical situations. Exercise Habu Nag is an annual feature occurring since 2006. The exercise specialises in building skill sets to enable American and Indian interoperability on humanitarian aid and disaster response operations. The third Habu Nag exercise was successfully carried out between India and the US in September 2008 and it took place in Vishakapatnam in India.

NEW DELHI: Ahead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to India in December, France has made a pitch for the two nations to cooperate in operations where their armed forces are deployed, including in the anti-piracy efforts in Gulf of Aden.

French Defence Minister Herve Morin also wants to enhance consultations between the two counties on regional issues such as terrorism and situation in Afghanistan.

"As I had the opportunity to convey to defence minister A K Antony during my visit in December 2009, we can go even further in enhancing our consultations on the regional situation -- I am specifically referring to Afghanistan, where France is engaged -- but also on major international issues," he said.

"We could also intensify our cooperation at the theatres of operation where both our armed forces are deployed, piracy in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden being such a case."

"Lastly, we could develop more armament programmes that are efficient and adapted to the needs of both armed forces," Morin said to a question on how Indo-French strategic partnership could be improved in the defence sector.

New Delhi – A host of joint military exercises or ‘wargames’ have been envisaged by the Indian Armed Forces in the coming months with various countries including Asian nations, European nations as well as the US.

Currently, two major exercises are taking place in India including the “Indra” wargames between India and Russia in Uttarakhand and ‘Indra-Dhanush’ air combat wargames between the Indian Air Force (IAF) and British Royal Air Force (RAF) in West Bengal. The former has crack troops from the Indian 99 Mountain Brigade and Russian 34 Independent Mountain Infantry Brigade as participants and for the latter, the British RAF has deployed its Eurofighter Typhoon fighters, E-3D AWACS (airborne warning and control systems) and VC-10 mid-air refuellers. As for the IAF, it is participating with Sukhoi-30MKIs, Mirage-2000s, MiG-27s and the Phalcon AWACS.

Apart from these ongoing joint military exercises, the near future will unfold greater military exercises between India and other countries that will not only heighten multi-national military operations but also prove beneficial to India in terms of national security.