Indian, British troops begin high altitude war games

By IANS

New Delhi : Elite soldiers of the Indian and British armed forces Monday began a month-long joint training drill in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir aimed at honing their survival and basic infantry skills while operating at heights above 15,000 feet.


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Exercise Himalayan Warrior that ends Oct 11 also includes a period of acclimatisation.

“The manoeuvres will include mock strikes on ‘enemy’ hide-outs and hit-and-run raids by troops operating in small groups. They will also involve helicopter-borne operations with small units of troops being dropped at extreme heights,” a defence ministry statement said.

“This specialist environmental training is the culmination of three years interaction between the Royal Marines mountain leaders and the Indian Army High Altitude Warfare School,” the release added.

“The Royal Marines welcome the opportunity to train alongside the Indian Army in one of the most challenging environments in the world that will test their specialist high altitude and mountain leadership skills,” the release said.

The Royal Marines are Britain’s amphibious infantry and, along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service. They are also specialists in mountain and Arctic warfare.

A key element in Britain’s Rapid Deployment Force, the Royal Marines are able to operate independently in all types of terrain.

Similarly, the Indian airborne forces participating in the exercise are especially trained high altitude warfare troops capable of operating independently in varied snow-bound mountainous regions.

Himalayan Warrior is the latest in a series of engagements between the Indian armed forces and “friendly foreign” counterparts.

Earlier this month, the Indian Navy joined those from the US, Japan, Australia and Singapore in Malabar-2007, the biggest war games conducted in the Bay of Bengal.

In March-April, five Indian Navy vessels participated in joint drills with the navies of Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, China and Russia during an extended deployment to east and southeast Asia.

Some 400 crack paratroopers from the Indian and Russian armies are participating in a joint airborne drill that began in the chillingly cold riverine plains of Pskov in Russia Sep 11. Codenamed Indra-2007, this is the second in a series of joint drills that began in the deserts of Rajasthan in October 2005.

With counter-terrorism as the theme of the 10-day drill, the special airborne forces of the two countries would simulate “joint planning and conducting air and ground manoeuvres to neutralize, under a UN mandate, a concentration of international terrorists in a third country”, a defence ministry release said.

The Indian and Chinese armies will also conduct their first joint drill in November.

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