By IANS,
New Delhi : India and Russia Friday began a 10-day counter-terror joint military exercise in the mountainous terrain of Uttarakhand, an official said here.
The Indra-2010 exercise has over 200 Russian military personnel and an infantry battalion participating, a defence ministry spokesperson said Friday.
Counter-insurgency plans in mountainous terrain will be the main focus of the battalion-level drill that will have infantry troops from both the armies.
The Russian Air Force’s Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft carried the troops from Russia’s 34th mountain brigade, based in the North Caucasus, to Uttarakhand Thursday.
They are equipped with lightweight Permyachka infantry suits, which protect at least 80 percent of the body surface from small-caliber bullets and low-speed shrapnel.
“The exercise will enhance the defence cooperation and military-to-military relations between the two armies,” a defence spokesperson said here.
The first of the Indra exercise series was conducted in India in October 2005 and the second was held in Russia in 2007.
The exercise comes days after an inter-governmental commission for military and technical cooperation meeting headed by the defence ministers of the two countries concluded last week.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov met over two-days to discuss defence relations, buying and selling of military hardware and cooperation in military technologies.
India’s military cooperation with Russia goes back nearly half a century. New Delhi accounts for about 40 percent of Russian arms exports.