Tiger Triumph: India-US joint tri-services exercise to be held in Andhra Pradesh
India and the United States are set to hold their first tri-services exercise code-named as ‘Tiger Triumph’ at Visakhapatnam and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. It is scheduled to be held in November 2019.
This will be only 2nd time that India will deploy assets and manpower from its Army, Navy and Air Force together for an exercise with a foreign country. India had earlier conducted similar tri-service exercise ‘Indra wargames’ with Russia at Vladivostok in 2017.
Tiger Triumph: India-US tri-services Exercise
This first-ever tri-Service exercise between India and US will focus on large-scale amphibious Humanitarian Relief and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations. It will be held along eastern coast in Bay of Bengal.
It is being organised under the aegis of headquarters of Integrated Defence Staff.
The announcement in this regard was made by US President Donald Trump in Houston during the ‘Howdy, Modi!’ event.
The scheduled exercise highlights strong and growing bilateral defence ties between India and America.
Background
The announcement about the tri-services exercise comes after Final Planning Conference (FPC) for India-US Tri-Services Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) concluded at Headquarters Eastern Naval Command on 20 September 2019. The conference was attended by delegates from US Navy and Marine Corps and representatives from Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force.
During the conference, participants had a discussion on planning of exercise and interactions on issues related to the conduct of exercise. Both teams from US and India also visited campsite at Kakinada and conducted table-top exercises as preparatory activities.
NOTE:
Every Year, India and the US, hold a flurry of combat exercises namely-
- Naval Malabar (with Japan as 3rd participant)
- Counter-terror Vajra Prahar
- Yudh Abhyas drills between India-US armies.
As of now, India and the US have conducted defence hardware trade around $18 billion over last 10 years and many more defence deals are still in the pipeline.
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Month: Current Affairs - September, 2019