India, Japan to kick off ‘Dharma Guardian’ exercise next week

NEW DELHI: India and Japan will next week kick off their 'Dharma Guardian' military combat exercise at Mount Fuji, continuing with the upward trajectory in their bilateral military engagements and defence cooperation.

The aim of the exercise, slated from Feb 25 to March 9, is to enhance interoperability between the two forces while undertaking joint urban warfare and counter-terrorism operations, an officer said.

India is dispatching around 120 soldiers from the Madras Regiment, among others, for the 6th edition of the exercise, which will see the two armies also share their best practices in tactics, techniques and procedures.

India and Japan have cranked up their military-to-military ties in recent years, with the Dharma Guardian exercise between their armies, JIMEX between navies and Veer Guardian between air forces, with an eye firmly on China’s aggressive moves in the Indo-Pacific.

Japan, of course, also regularly takes part in the top-tier Malabar naval exercise, which began as a bilateral exercise between India and the US in 1992 but now includes all the four 'Quad' countries, including Australia, all of whom have a common outlook on the need to preserve peace, security and stability in the Indo-Pacific.

India and Japan are also progressively enhancing their defence-industrial collaboration for cutting-edge technologies, which includes the “Unicorn” stealth antenna system for Indian warships, as well as cooperation in space and cyber domains.


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