Article Posted on : - Oct 20, 2017

An Indian Army twitter photo

NEW DELHI (PTI): India and Russia will kick start today a 10-day-long mega war game involving their armies, navies and air forces for the first time to further ramp up military ties.

The exercise Indra, which is being held in Russia, will primarily focus on achieving coordination between forces of the two countries in a tri-services integrated theatre command scenario.

"The joint tri-service exercise will be a demonstration of the increasing commitment of both nations to address common challenges across the full spectrum of operations," the defence ministry said in a statement.

It said the exercise will serve towards strengthening mutual confidence and interoperability as well as sharing of the best practices between the armed forces of both the countries.

It will be for the first time India will participate in a tri-services exercise with a foreign country with such a large scale participation by the Navy, the Army and the Air Force, a senior army official said.

On Wednesday, the Indian contingent flew in an IL-76 aircraft to Vladivostok.

The contingent, led by the Task Force Commander, Maj Gen ND Prasad was accorded a warm welcome by Commander of the Fifth Army of Russia's Eastern Military District, Maj Gen Kutuzov.

On Thursday, two indigenously built Indian Naval ships INS Satpura and INS Kadmatt arrived at Vladivostok Port and were given a traditional ceremonial welcome, the defence ministry said.