Exercise Surya Kiran-VIII commences in Nepal
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, February 23 2015:
The 8th India-Nepal Battalion level Combined Military Training named "Exercise Surya Kiran-VIII" commenced February 23 at Integrated Army Training Centre, Saljhandi, Nepal.
According to a press note of PRO Defence Wing, the Nepalese Contingent was represented by a Battalion from an Infantry Division of Nepalese Army while the Indian side was represented by an equivalent strength from a Mountain Brigade.
Major General Padam Villas Karki of Nepalese army welcomed the Indian soldiers and urged both contingents to achieve optimum cohesion and interoperability to achieve military objectives of the exercise.
He stressed upon importance of free exchange of ideas and concepts between the troops and the necessity to learn each other's experiences.
The focus of the ongoing exercise is to carry out Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorist Operations in mountainous and jungle terrain and to practice facets of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief including actions to be taken during Pandemic, Epidemic and various other humanitarian assistance situations.
Aviation aspects and environmental conservation are also included in the scope of this exercise.
The two week long exercise will see the contingents hone their tactical and technical skills in countering insurgency and terrorism.
State of the art equipment for surveillance and tracking, specialist weapons for close quarter battle with terrorists, explosives and IED detectors, as well as the latest communication equipments are being fielded by both sides.
Both sides will train, plan and execute a series of well developed combined tactical drills for neutralisation of likely threats that may be encountered in Counter Insurgency / Counter Terrorism operations.