India-Russia Joint Army Exercise “INDRA-2015” culminated

Indian and Russian Armies concluded the joint military exercise “INDRA-2015” that was held from 07 November to 20 November 2015.

• Exercise INDRA-2015 was the 7^th edition in a series of bilateral exercises since 2003.
• 2015 Pivot – “Counter Terrorism Operations in Desert Terrain under a United Nations Mandate”
• The wind-up ceremony was held in Mahajan Field Firing Ranges, Bikaner.

Highlights of INDRA – 2015

• Two Phase Exercise – “Combat Conditioning & Tactical Training” and “Validation phases”. The training received by both the armies in the first week was put to practice in the second phase
• Skill Improvement – Focus on ensuring a high degree of physical fitness, tactical drills, techniques and procedures
• Missions – Participants engaged in variety of missions including joint planning, Cordon and Search operations, Search and Rescue, joint tactical drills and special arms skills.
• Yoga Sessions – Participants performed “Anulom-Vilom”, “Suryasana”, “Vajrasana” and “Ardha Matsyendrasana” during special sessions on Yoga.
• Cultural aspects – In addition to their training schedule both the contingents learnt about the cultural aspects of each other’s countries.

Difference between Both Armies

• Infantry – Unlike the Indian Army, Russian Army doesn’t have infantry but has mechanised infantry and each section consists of 8 men as compared to 10 in India.
• Division – Indian Army has a division over a brigade whereas Russian Army directly has a corps over brigade bypassing the system of division.
• Officers – Russian armed forces have about 2lakh officers as compared to India’s 45,000 officers.
• Weapons – Russian Army uses a bore of 5.46mm for its assault rifles and machine guns and its weapons are Ak-74, rocket-propelled grenade, machine guns, automatic grenade launchers whereas India presently uses a bore of 5.56 mm.