Indian Military Exercises
The Indian military exercises can be segregated into 3 categories:
- Domestic Exercise
- Bilateral Exercise
- Multilateral exercise
Domestic exercise
– This exercise aims to improve internal engagements and these can be inter-services or intra-services depending on nature and their application.
List of domestic military exercises:
- Gandiv Vijay (Army)
- Paschim Lehar (Navy)
- Vayu Shakti (Air Force)
- Vijay Prahar (Army)
Bilateral exercise
– These exercises are conducted between two countries.
The following table provides you with a list of important Indian bilateral military exercises.
| Exercise Name | Participant Nations |
| Sampriti | India & Bangladesh |
| Mitra Shakti | India & Sri Lanka |
| SLINEX | India & Sri Lanka |
| Maitree Exercise | India & Thailand |
| Siam Bharat | India & Thailand |
| Vajra Prahar | India & US |
| Yudh Abhyas | India & US |
| Cope India | India & US |
| Nomadic Elephant | India & Mongolia |
| Garuda Shakti | India & Indonesia |
| IND-INDO CORPAT | India & Indonesia |
| Samudra Shakti | India & Indonesia |
| Shakti Exercise | India & France |
| Varuna Exercise | India & France |
| Garuda Exercise | India & France |
| Dharma Guardian | India & Japan |
| JIMEX | India & Japan |
| Surya Kiran | India & Nepal |
| Hand in Hand Exercise | India & China |
| SIMBEX | India & Singapore |
| AUSINDEX | India & Australia |
| Indo-Thai CORPAT | India & Thailand |
| AUSTRA HIND | India & Australia |
| IN-BN CORPAT | India & Bangladesh |
| Table Top | India & Bangladesh |
| Prabal Dostyk | India & Kazakhstan |
| Khanjar | India & Kyrgyzstan |
| Ekuverin | India & The Maldives |
| IMBEX | India & Myanmar |
| IMCOR | India & Myanmar |
| Al Nagah | India & Oman |
| Naseem Al Bahr | India & Oman |
| Eastern Bridge | India & Oman |
| Exercise Indra | India & Russia |
| Ajeya Warrior | India & UK |
| Konkan | India & UK |
| Indradhanush | India & UK |
| Eastern Bridge | India & Oman |
| Lamitiye | India & Seychelles |
| VINBAX | India & Vietnam |
Multilateral exercise – These exercises are conducted by the military including more than one partner nation.
A list of major multilateral exercises conducted by the military is given below:
| Multilateral exercise | No of Participating countries |
| RIMPAC | 26 |
| MALABAR | 4 |
| COBRA-GOLD | Asia – Pacific countries |
| Samvedna | South Asian Region Nations |
Latest Important Military Exercises – 2024
The table given below mentions the latest editions of all the important military exercises of India with other nations. CSE exam aspirants must refer to the details discussed below:
| Exercise name | Country participated with India | Latest Date/Year/Edition | Held at |
| Al Nagah-III | Oman | 13th August 2012 4th Edition | Mahajan Field Firing Range, Bikaner |
| Bold Kurukshetra | Singapore | 6 – 13 March 2023 13th Edition | Jodhpur Military Station |
| Ekuverin | Maldives | 11 – 24 June 2023 12th Edition | Chaubatia, Uttarakhand |
| Garuda Shakti | Indonesia | November 2022 8th Edition | Karawang, Indonesia |
| Hand in Hand | China | 7th December 2019 8th Edition | Umroi, Meghalaya |
| Indra | Russia | August 2021 12th Edition | Volgograd, Russia |
| Khanjar | Kyrgyzstan | March 2023 10th Edition | Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan |
| Lamitye | Seychelles | March 2022 9th Edition | Seychelles |
| Maitree | Thailand | 16th September 2019 14th Edition | Umroi, Meghalaya |
| Mitra Shakti | Sri Lanka | October 2021 8th Edition | Ampara, Sri Lanka |
| Multi-national FTX/Exercise Force Eighteen | 18 ASEAN Plus countries | 2nd March 2016 | Pune, India |
| Nomadic Elephant | Mongolia | July 2023 15th Edition | Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia |
| KAZIND (Prabal Dostyk) | Kazakhstan | December 2022 6th Edition | Umroi, Meghalaya |
| Sampriti | Bangladesh | June 2022 10th Edition | Jashore Military Station, Bangladesh |
| Surya Kiran XIV | Nepal | December 2022 16th Edition | Saljhandi, Nepal |
| Yudh Abhyas | United States | October 2022 18th Edition | Auli, Uttarakhand |