Amid India’s ongoing Operation Brahma to assist Myanmar following last week’s devastating earthquake, India and the United States will commence the fourth edition of Exercise Tiger Triumph, a bilateral tri-service humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) exercise, on Tuesday. The 13-day exercise will take place on the Eastern Seaboard and will continue until April 13.
“The exercise is aimed at developing interoperability for conducting HADR operations and for the formulation of standard operating procedures to establish a combined coordination centre that would enable rapid and smooth coordination between Indian and US joint task forces during exercises and in times of crises or contingencies,” said an Indian Navy spokesperson.
The Indian side will be represented by four Navy ships — the landing platform dock INS Jalashwa, amphibious warfare vessel INS Gharial, guided missile destroyer INS Mumbai, and fleet tanker INS Shakti — along with their complement of helicopters and landing craft. The Navy’s P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft will also participate. Additionally, troops from the Army’s 91 Infantry Brigade and 12 Mechanised Infantry Battalion will take part. The Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) C-130 transport aircraft, Mi-17 helicopters, and Rapid Action Medical Team (RAMT) will also be involved. On the US side, the exercise will see the participation of US Navy ships Comstock and Ralph Johnson, with troops from the US Marine Division embarked.
The harbour phase of the exercise is scheduled to commence at Visakhapatnam on Tuesday and will continue till April 7. During this phase, participants from both sides will engage in training visits, subject matter expert exchanges, sports events, and social interactions. Upon completion of the harbour phase, the ships, with troops embarked, will proceed to the sea phase and undertake maritime, amphibious, and HADR operations off Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.