By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, March 9:
The 12-day joint exercise “Dharma Guardian” between Indian and Japanese Army being held at Maratha light infantry regimental centre, Foreign Trading Node, in Belgaum in Karnataka will conclude on Thursday.
15 th Maratha Light Infantry regimental centre and 30 th infantry regiment of Japanese Ground Self Defence Forces (JGSDF) are participating in the exercise which began on February 27. The exercise included house interventions drills, raids on terrorist hideouts in semi-urban terrain, combat first aid, unarmed combat, and close quarter combat firing where both sides jointly executed a series of well-developed tactical drills for neutralization of likely threats.
The exercise also included an insertion by helicopter into the area of operation, swift combat actions of the soldiers, induction through helicopters, slithering, house clearing drills, and the use of new technology equipment in various combat situations. These joint field training exercises will culminate in a final validation exercise on Wednesday. Special emphasis was laid on enhancing tactical skills to fight global terrorism and on enhancing inter-operability, forestry, and reconnaissance security operations, a Defence spokesman said.
The exercise is crucial and significant in terms of security challenges faced by both nations in the backdrop of the current global situation. The scope of this exercise covered platoon-level joint training and promotion of Army to Army relations.
Dharma Guardian is an annual military training event been conducted in India since 2018. Earlier exercises took place between Indian and Japanese Armies at Vairengte, Mizoram. This year is the third edition of the exercise.
Other important Indian bilateral army exercises are Sampriti ( India and Bangladesh), Mitra Shakti (India and Sri Lanka), Maitree Exercise (India and Thailand), Vaira Prahar (India and US), Yudh Abhyas (India and US), Nomadic Elephant (India and Mongolia), Garuda Shakti (India and Indonesia), Shakti Exercise (India and France), Surya Kiran (India and Nepal), SIMBEX(India and Singapore) and CORPAT (India and Thailand).
