NEW DELHI: India is gearing up for the next round of military exercises with the US, with the top-notch "Malabar" naval war games in the Pacific and the intensive "Yudh Abhyas" counter-terror drills in Uttarakhand, in the first such maneuvres after the Modi government came to power last month.
Just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for Japan to meet his counterpart Shinzo Abe on July 3 and 4, India will dispatch four to five warships, including a Rajput-class destroyer and a Shivalik-class stealth frigate, on the long-range overseas deployment.
"The warships will first head for the 'Indra' exercise with Russia off Vladivostok and then reach the North Pacific towards end-July for the Malabar exercises, which apart from India and US will include Japan," said an official.
India had invited Japan to participate in this year's Malabar war games, which have ruffled the feathers of a prickly China in the past, during Abe's visit to New Delhi in January.
Modi himself is very keen to further strengthen the strategic partnership with Japan, the second country he will visit after Bhutan. The chemistry is reciprocated by Abe, with Modi being one of the only three persons he follows on twitter.
Both India and Japan are wary of China's growing military might and increasing assertive behavior in the Asia Pacific. India, however, prefers to be seen as "neutral" in the escalating power-play between the US, Japan and others on one side and China on the other in the region.
India has largely restricted the Malabar exercise to a bilateral one with the US after China protested against its 2007 edition in the Bay of Bengal since they were expanded to include the Australian, Japanese and Singaporean navies as well.
On the US front, though the flurry of joint combat exercises has slowed down a bit, Indian and American officials in the "initial planning conference" last week decided to hold the Yudh Abhyas exercise at Chaubatia (Uttarakhand) from September 17 to 30.
"The main thrust will be counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency in hilly terrain. There will be around 250 troops from each side, including special forces. The two armies usually hold two to three exercises every year but this will be the only one this year," said a source.
Yudh Abhyas, the last edition of which was held at Fort Bragg in the US in May last year, was to be held earlier but got delayed amid the diplomatic wrangling during the Devyani Khobragade episode.
India and the US have held over 70 exercises between their armed forces over the last decade, in what is one of the most evident symbols of their military cooperation. The US, of course, has also bagged Indian arms deals worth almost $10 billion, with the latest being the $1.01 billion one for six additional C-130J "Super Hercules" aircraft, as was first reported by TOI.
The other deals on the anvil are the ones for 22 Apache attack helicopters, 15 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, four P-8I maritime patrol aircraft and 145 M-777 ultra-light howitzers, together worth another $4 billion or so.
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