US and Indian Special Forces Wargames

US and Indian Special Forces troops are preparing to engage in military exercises as the two nations once again carry out joint wargames.

The exercises will see Indian troops and their US counterparts practice combined counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism roles at the Special Forces Training School located in Himachal Pradesh, Northern India.

Together, these Special Forces will participate in this year's instalment of the regularly-staged Vajra Prahar exercises.

Special Forces Wargames

Speaking to media representatives ahead of the upcoming Exercise Vajra Prahar 2012, Indian military officials described the purpose of this and the other military training exercises carried out by the two countries' warfighters. The hope, they said, was these Special Forces wargames would give the US military troops involved greater insight into India's military capabilities, and vice versa.

It's notable that, in recent years, India and the US have been working closely, especially in the field of terrorist threat response training. India has also been buying US arms en masse, with its past purchases including Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft and C-130 Hercules airlifters.

In fact, according to data published by SIPRI (the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) in March 2012, India was 2011's largest global arms importer, accounting for 10 per cent of all worldwide acquisitions. At the start of 2012, India announced that the French-built Dassault Rafale would be its new multirole combat aircraft while it's also strengthening its navy's position and is involved in a number of fast-moving missile test programmes, too.

Other recent Indian armed forces weapons purchases have included M-4 assault rifles, of the type heavily used by US warfighters on deployment in Afghanistan and Iraq.

US and Indian Wargames

Exercise Vajra Prahar's US and Indian wargames get underway on 15 October and will last for 20 days.

In related news, China and India agreed earlier this month to cooperate more on defence matters. These will include a new series of combined military exercises and a boost in what the two nations termed "border security cooperation".

To that end, Chinese and Indian troops are planning to train together in coming months. More on this in future Armed Forces International News.