India, UAE announce joint military exercise 'Desert Cyclone 2024'
What's the story
The first edition of the joint military exercise "Desert Cyclone 2024" will kick off on Tuesday (January 2), marking a significant milestone in the strategic collaboration between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India. The two-week-long exercise, scheduled to finish on January 15, will be conducted in the arid terrains of Rajasthan. The exercise's primary focus will be enhancing interoperability and sharing best practices in Urban Operations.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Both UAE and India enjoy strong bonds of friendship founded on millennia-old cultural, religious, and economic intercourse between the two nations. Joint military exercises between friendly nations result in constructive engagements in operational terms and enhance the armed forces' skills in various aspects of war-fighting. Under this process, current technological and tactical practices, strategies, and techniques are exchanged, contributing to military operations' continuous modernization and improvement.
Details
Focus on interoperability and urban operations
The Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADGPI) of the Indian Army confirmed the development on X (formerly Twitter). Furthermore, the Indian Army confirmed that the expansive Thar Desert will serve as the backdrop for the rigorous training exercises between the nations. The bilateral defense interaction between India and the UAE has been steadily growing in accordance with other aspects of the bilateral relationship. Regular high-level and functional-level exchanges and military education exchanges have occurred between the countries.
Twitter Post
Check out Indian Army's post on X
Exercise #DesertCyclone_2024
— ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) December 31, 2023
The Inaugural edition of Joint Military Exercise #DesertCyclone, between #India & #UAE, will be conducted from 02 Jan to 15 Jan 2024 in #Rajasthan. The exercise aims to enhance interoperability by learning & sharing best practices in Urban… pic.twitter.com/KraawpUQrl
What Next?
Goal is to strengthen bilateral defense cooperation
As per the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), potential areas of bilateral cooperation in defense are the development and production of defense equipment. It is also learned that it will explore joint exercises of the armed forces, particularly naval exercises, information sharing on strategy and doctrines, technical cooperation with respect to the Intermediate Jet Trainer, and many more.
Know more
Recent India-UAE military exercise
It is worth recalling that the first-ever Joint Air Forces exercise between UAE and India took place in September 2008 at the Al-Dhafra base in Abu Dhabi. New Delhi has also been a regular participant at the biennial International Defence Exhibition (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi. Earlier in 2023, two ships of the Indian Navy, INS Visakhapatnam and INS Trikand, participated in a bilateral exercise with the UAE to enhance synergy and interoperability between the two navies.