Indian Army Contingent departs for 9th India-Seychelles Joint Military Exercise at Mahe Island, Seychelles

New Delhi: A contingent of the Indian Army arrived at Mahe Island, Seychelles today to take part in the 9th joint military exercise between the Indian Army and Seychelles People's Defence Forces, which is scheduled from 22 to 31 March 2022. The exercise is named "LAMITYE" which in the local dialect 'Creole', means friendship. This exercise is the 9th in the series of bilateral exercises being conducted in the beautiful island nation.

Indian Army in a tweet informed, "Indian Army contingent departed for participating in the 9th Edition of India – Seychelles Joint Military Training 'Exercise LAMITIYE', being conducted at Mahe, Seychelles from 22 to 31 Mar 2022."

The Army Contingent comprised of troops from the 2/3 GORKHA RIFLES group (PIRKANTHI Battalion).

The 10 days long joint exercise will include field training exercises, combat discussions, lectures, demonstrations and culminate with a two days validation exercise. The objective of the joint training exercise is to build and promote bilateral military relations in addition to exchanging skills, experiences and good practices between both armies. Both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well-developed tactical drills for neutralistion of likely threats that may be encountered in a Semi-Urban environment while exploiting and showcasing new generation equipment and technology for conducting joint operations. Due emphasis will be laid on enhancing tactical skills in combating hostile forces in Semi-Urban environment and on increasing interoperability between forces.

Major Abhishek Nepal Singh, Company Commander of Indian Army contingent stated, "The biennial exercise, which has largely contributed to strengthening bilateral military cooperation & interoperability between both armies, is an outbound exercise being held in Seychelles. We look forward to share practical aspects to comprehend and put in practice the validated drills, procedures as well as amalgamation of new technology in sub-conventional operations through numerous situation based discussions and tactical exercises."

India and Seychelles share an elaborate architecture of defence and security cooperation that has deepened over the years with the growing piracy menace and other economic offences in the strategic Indian Ocean region. The bilateral cooperation in this area has manifested across a wide spectrum ranging from maritime security, antipiracy operations, air surveillance, training and capacity building.

Both the countries have been conducting this joint exercise since 2001 with the aim of enhancing military cooperation and interoperability between the Armies of the two countries.

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