News Highlights:
- Recently, the fourth edition of the India-Japan bilateral Army exercise ‘Dharma Guardian’ began at Camp Imazu in Shiga province, Japan.
- Indian Army troops from 2 Garhwal Rifles and an Infantry Regiment from the Middle Army of the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force (JGSDF) are participating in the exercise.
Key takeaway:
During the exercise, participants will engage in various missions involving joint planning, joint tactical drills, and the basics of establishing integrated surveillance grids, including employment of aerial assets.
Bilateral Army exercise ‘Dharma Guardian’:
- About:
- Dharma Guardian is an Indo-Japan Joint Military Exercise that started in 2018.
- The exercise takes place between the armies of both countries.
- The fourth edition of this bilateral exercise will take place between Indian and Japanese Armies in Feb 2023, beginning at Camp Imazu in Shiga province, Japan.
- Significance:
- The scope of this exercise covers platoon-level joint training on operations in jungle and semi-urban/urban terrain.
- The joint exercise schedule includes house intervention drills, raids on terrorist hideouts in semi-urban terrain, combat first aid, unarmed combat & close quarter combat firing, where both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well-developed tactical drills for neutralisation of likely threats.
- Special emphasis is being laid on enhancing tactical skills to fight global terrorism, enhancing inter-operability between the forces and promoting Army to Army relations.
India- Japan Military Strategies:
- Overview:
- India and Japan also have military ties, and they have shared interests in maintaining the security of sea lanes in the Indo-Pacific and in cooperation in fighting international crime, terrorism, piracy and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
- The military powerhouse of China, along with its expansionist behaviour and belligerent North Korea, have necessitated close cooperation between democracies such as India and Japan.
- As energy-deficit countries heavily dependent on oil and a gas importer, India and Japan are naturally concerned by China’s efforts to assert control over energy supplies and transport routes as well as by its claim to more than 80 per cent of the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest and most-strategic waterways.
Military Exercises between India and Japan:
- Malabar exercise:
- India invited the Japanese navy to participate in the annual Malabar exercise in 2014 with the USA in pacific waters, reviving an earlier practice of joint India-USA-Japan trilateral exercise.
- Since 2015, Japan has been a permanent feature of these exercises.
- JIMEX:
- JIMEX is biennially conducted between the Indian Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force.
- Dharma Guardian:
- Dharma Guardian is an Indo-Japan Joint Military Exercise that started off in 2018. The exercise takes place between the armies of both countries.
- SHINYUU Maitr:
- SHINYUU Maitri- bilateral air exercise between the Japanese Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) and Indian Air Force.
Conclusion:
- The variables that pushed Tokyo to incorporate Delhi in its Indo-Pacific matrix will perhaps become even more urgent, given the geopolitics and geo-economics of the post-Covid-19 world.
- Strong India-strong Japan will not only enrich the two nations, but it will also be a stabilising factor in Asia and the world.
Pic Courtesy: Freepik
Content Source: The Hindu