New Delhi: Continuing its series of joint training exercises with friendly nations, the Indian Army is conducting the sixth edition of its exercise with the French Army starting November 15 to 26. Titled “Ex SHAKTI 2021”, it has commenced at the Military School of Draguignan, France with an opening ceremony on Monday. The joint exercise is being conducted for close to two weeks, said a statement.
The training will focus on aspects of jointly operating in a Counter-Terrorism environment under United Nations mandate. The participating contingents have also been put through paces of combat conditioning and tactical training which included firing drills and ‘battle hardening’ work sessions.
The exercise is being conducted in two phases which will culminate with a gruelling 36 hours exercise to validate the standards achieved during the two phases. The Indian Army contingent is being represented by a composite team of three Officers, three Junior Commissioned Officers and 37 soldiers from a battalion of Gorkha Rifles and support Arms.
The contingent apart from joint training went to visit MAZARGUES War Cemetery in Marseilles where 1,002 Indian soldiers of the First World War have been cremated. The Indian and French contingents together presented a Guard of Honor and paid their homage to commemorate the valour of the fallen bravehearts. The last edition of Exercise SHAKTI was conducted at Foreign Training Node in Mahajan Field Firing Ranges, Rajasthan from October 31 to November 13, 2019.
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