India-Thai joint military exercise 'Maitree' ends

Image Courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: A joint "Maitree Exercise" between the Indian Army and the Royal Thai Army, designed to strengthen the partnership between the two forces, ended on Sunday in Thailand, the Defence Ministry said.

The annual two-week-long platoon level exercise started on August 6.

Srinagar: 2 week long platoon level joint military exercise b/w Indian Army & Royal Thai Army culminated today.Exercise Maitree is an annual event designed to strengthen the partnership b/w Royal Thai Army & Indian Army. Exercise commenced on 6th Aug in Thailand. #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/yqyL9dOJUf — ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018

"The exercise culminated with a 72-hour joint exercise on planning and execution of series of tactical operations like raid, pursuit, establishing military check post and cordon and search operations. 

"Both the armies benefited immensely from each other's expertise and experience in the conduct of tactical level counter-terrorist operations," a Ministry statement said. 

"The exercise helped in enhancing the cooperation between the two armies and bonhomie between the troops," it added.

The statement said the exercise began with a "cross-training period involving familiarization training between the two armies to evolve drills and procedures involved in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations in urban, rural and jungle terrain under the UN mandate. 

"The initial days of field training focused on familiarizing with each other's modus operandi, basic manoeuvres and evolving joint drills. 

"The second phase included practising of various drills and tactical scenarios in the counter-insurgency environment, execution of tactical operations like search and destroy operation, house intervention and survival techniques," said the statement.