Closing Ceremony: Indo-Thailand Joint Exercise Maitree 2018

Exercise Maitree 2018, a two week long platoon level joint military exercise between Indian Army and Royal Thai Army culminated on August 19, 2018. The Exercise Maitree is an annual event designed to strengthen the partnership between Royal Thai Army and Indian Army and the exercise commenced on August 6, 2018 in Thailand.

The exercise began with a cross training period involving familiarization training between two armies to evolve drills and procedures involved in counter insurgency & counter terrorist operations in urban, rural and jungle terrain under UN mandate. The initial days of field training also focused on familiarizing with each other’s modus operandi, basic maneuvers and evolving joint drills. The second phase included practicing of various drills & tactical scenarios in counter insurgency environment, execution of tactical operations like search and destroy operation, house intervention and survival techniques. 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 immensely benefitted from each other’s expertise and experience in conduct of tactical level counter terrorist operations. The exercise helped in enhancing the cooperation between two armies & bonhomie between troops.