Indo-Uzbekistan Exercise 'Dustlik II’ Underway

A joint military exercise with troops from India and Uzbekistan is underway as part of Exercise ‘Dustlik II’ and will conclude on March 19.

The second edition of the annual bilateral joint exercise is taking place at the Indian Army’s Foreign Training Node in Chaubatia, Ranikhet located in the Northern state of Uttarakhand.

The first edition of the exercise was held at Uzbekistan in November 2019.

The contingents taking part in the exercise from both armies comprise of 45 soldiers each with the aim of sharing their expertise and skills in relation to Counter Terrorist operations in mountainous/rural/urban scenarios.

Dustlik II will conclude with a 36 hour joint validation exercise scheduled from March 17-18, which will act as a test bed in which the participating troops will undergo the challenges of actual operations in such scenarios.

In addition to training of Uzbekistan Army troops, the Indian Army is also training Turkmenistan Special Forces (SF) in Combat Free Fall techniques. A series of customized courses will also be held as part of Indian assistance to build Turkmenistan’s SF capability.

Images of the exercise provided by the Indian Army, showed Turkmenistan SF personnel training in Combat Free Fall from the indigenous Dhruv helicopter.