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Indo-Sri Lanka joint exercise Mitra Shakti-VII focuses on counter terrorism drills
The joint exercise began on December 1 and will conclude on December 14
The seventh edition of the Indo-Sri Lanka joint military and army exercise Mitra Shakti -VII aimed at enhancing interoperability and operational efficiency between the armies of both the countries when deployed as part of the United Nations peace keeping forces is underway at Aundh Military Station.
The joint exercise began on December 1 and will conclude on December 14.
The ongoing exercise, which reached its sixth day on Friday, a lot of ground has been covered by the participating nations. Detailed lecture cum demonstration and discussions on various aspects of counter insurgency including intelligence gathering and sharing, perception management, humanitarian law, human rights, casualty management, hostage rescue and cyber threat have been covered so far.
On Friday, the troops carried out specialised joint training exercised which included silent insertion, jungle lane shooting, special heliborne operations practice, improvised explosive device handling and familiarisation, room intervention by house intervention team, unarmed combat and rock climbing.
The joint exercise will conclude on December 14 at Aundh Military Station with a validation exercise and a closing ceremony.
According to officials, so far, the exercise has been successful in increasing the bonhomie and camaraderie amongst the participating nations. The troops also shared best practices being followed by respective countries with respect to counter terrorist operations in a semi-urban backdrop.
Objective of exercise
The objective of the exercise is to build and promote positive relations between the armies of India and Sri Lanka through focus on subunit level training on counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in urban and rural environment under the United Nations mandate.
The joint training exercise also signifies the strength of Indo-Sri Lankan relations in the field of military cooperation and engagement, which is vital for refining the interoperability and operational preparedness.
