With about 1.4 million active members, the Indian Armed Forces are the world's second-biggest armed force and boast the world's largest volunteer army. According to the GlobalFirepower report for 2020, 2021, and 2022, it also has the world's fourth most powerful military.
The Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces is the President of India and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Government of India is in control of it.
The Indian Armed Forces take part in several military exercises across the world. The major goals of these military exercises are to improve defence cooperation and to put the Armed Forces to the test.
The Indian military exercises may be classified into three types:
- Domestic exercise attempts to improve internal interactions and may include inter-services or intra-services depending on the nature and application.
- Bilateral exercises are those that take place between two countries.
- Multilateral exercises are military exercises that involve more than one partner nation.
Military exercises can also be categorized by the branch of the armed services, such as Army exercises, Naval exercises, and Air Force exercises, or as Tri-service exercises (a military exercise in which all branches of the armed forces take part).
Now, let's have a look at the list of Military Exercises that India will be conducting/participating in 2022.
Complete List Of Indian Navy Exercises 2022
The following is a list of significant Indian navy bilateral/domestic/multilateral exercises of 2022:
Exercise Sea Dragon-22
- Venue – Guam, USA (Pacific Ocean).
- Date – January 5-20, 2022.
- Type – Multinational Ex.
- Aim – To enhance interoperability among participating nations.
- Participating Countries – USA, India, Japan, Canada, Australia & South Korea.
- Aircrafts Deployed – P8A, P8I, (Poseidon) P1, CP140 Aurora & P3C Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
Passing Exercise
- Venue – Arabian Sea.
- Date – Jan 2022.
- Participating Countries – India & Russia.
- Aim – Cohesiveness, and interoperability.
- The drill included the Indian Navy's indigenously constructed and built guided-missile destroyer INS Kochi and the Russian Federation Navy's destroyer Admiral Tributes.
Exercise Paschim Lehar (XPL-2022)
- Venue – West Coast, India.
- Date – January 5-25, 2022.
- Type – Domestic Ex.
- Aim – To collaborate in responding to modern marine concerns under realistic settings.
- Western Naval Command Indian Navy, IAF, Indian Army, and Coast Guard participated in this exercise.
- Headquarters –
- Western Naval Command – Mumbai.
- Eastern Naval Command – Visakhapatnam.
- Southern Naval Command – Kochi.
Exercise Milan-2022
- Edition – 11th.
- Venue – Visakhapatnam.
- The earlier venue was Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar.
- Date – February 25 - March 4, 2022
- Participating Countries – 40+
- Theme – Camaraderie – Cohesion – Collaboration.
- Largest multilateral exercise of Indian Navy.
- Aim – To hone operational skills, imbibe best practices and procedures.
- The Indian Navy started this biannual multilateral naval exercise in 1995 in the Andaman and Nicobar Command with 4 members (with Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka & Thailand).
SLINEX
- Edition – 9th.
- Venue – Visakhapatnam.
- Harbor Phase – Visakhapatnam.
- Sea Phase – Bay of Bengal.
- Date – March 7-10, 2022
- Participating Countries – India & Sri Lanka.
- Largest multilateral exercise of Indian Navy.
- Aim – to develop mutual understanding and interoperability between the fleets of the two neighboring nations in the strategically important Indian Ocean Region
- Indian Navy – INS Kirch, a guided missile corvette & Sri Lanka Navy – SLNS Sayurala, an advanced offshore patrol vessel.
Complete List of Indian Army Military Exercises 2022
The following provides you with a list of important Indian bilateral/domestic/multilateral exercises army exercises.
Exercise Dharma Guardian 2022
- Edition – 3rd.
- Venue – Belagavi (Belgaum, Karnataka).
- Date – February 27 - March 10, 2022.
- Participating Countries – India & Japan.
- Aim – Operations in the jungle and semi-urban/urban terrain.
- An annual training event which is being conducted in India since 2018.
Complete List Of Indian Air Force Exercises 2022
The following provides you with a list of important Indian bilateral/domestic/multilateral exercises airforce exercises.
Ex Cobra Warrior 22
- Venue – Waddington (UK).
- Date – March 6-27, 2022.
- Participating Countries – United Kingdom, India, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Bulgaria, etc.
- India is participating in this for the first time with IAF Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas.
- Aim – providing operational exposure and best practices sharing among participating Air Forces, ultimately improving combat capabilities and developing friendship relationships.
- One of the largest exercises conducted annually by the Royal Airforce of the UK.