News Highlight
The 18th edition of the India-U.S. Army exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas’ is underway at Auli in Uttarakhand, about 100 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Key Takeaway
- The Indian Army is currently engaged in bilateral exercises with five countries underway, both inside and outside the country, meant to improve interoperability.
Yudh Abhyas
- About
- It is the most effective joint military training and defence cooperation between India and the US.
- Foundation
- The exercise was started in 2004 under the US Army Pacific Partnership Program. The exercise is hosted alternately between both countries.
- Aims
- The exercise aims at enhancing understanding, cooperation and interoperability between two Armies.
- Significance
- This will help them undertake joint operations at the battalion level in mountainous terrain with cold climatic conditions under the ambit of the United Nations.
- The 18th edition
- The 18th edition of it is underway in Uttarakhand.
- Other Exercises between India and the US
- Exercise Tiger Triumph
- Exercise Vajra Prahar
- Cope India
- Malabar Exercise
- Red Flag
India-US defence and strategic cooperation
- Defence Relation:
- The Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) between India and the United States aims to promote co-development and co-production initiatives.
- The United States designated India as a “Major Defence Partner” in 2016, committing the US to enable technology sharing with India on a par with its closest friends and partners.
- The Defence Framework Agreement:
- GSOMIA (General Security of Military Information Agreement )-a military information agreement signed in 2002.
- LEMOA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement)-logistics exchange agreement signed in 2016
- COMCASA (communications security agreement) was signed in 2018
- BECA (Basic Exchange Cooperation Agreement) was signed in 2020.
- Multilateral organisations:
- The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States that is maintained by talks between member countries.
- The I2U2 Group is a grouping of India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
- The grouping aims to cooperate on “joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.”
- Energy:
- The bilateral Strategic Energy Partnership between the two countries, which was launched in 2018, is strong and diversified across conventional and renewable energy sources.
- A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the US EXIM Bank and the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to offer US$ 1 billion in financing for India’s transition to a low-carbon economy.
- Military exercises
- Yudh Abhyas
- Tiger Triumph
- Malabar
- Formal Mechanism
- 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue between the Defence Minister and External affairs ministers of both nations
- Science and Technology:
- NASA – ISRO Corporation for joint Mars exploration.
- NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) Mission
- Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement.
- Science and Technology Endowment Fund.
- Establishment of Global Initiative of the Academy Network.
Content Source: The Hindu