Exercise 'Tiger Triumph' signals growing India-US defence bond in Indo-Pacific

It is through exercises like Tiger Triumph that the US and India achieve mutual security objectives and assure a free and open Indo-Pacific region and beyond, said Jennifer Larson, US Consul General, Hyderabad as the fourth edition of Tiger Triumph between the two countries reached its final stages on Friday with large-scale operations training.

Tiger Triumph is an amphibious bilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) exercise between India and the US in which as many as 1,000 US and Indian armed forces personnel took part.

The amphibious drill on Friday represented an HADR scenario in which the joint combined forces were tasked with securing space in a coastal area. It also involved setting up a field hospital and supply distribution site there following the replication of a natural disaster.

The amphibious landing concluded the sea phase of the exercise. The sea phase also included underwater manoeuvering drills, integrated well-deck and flight-deck operations, and personnel exchanges.

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Before the sea phase, the harbour phase, which included operation planning, unit-level training, subject matter expert exchanges and cultural events, in Visakhapatnam.

A closing ceremony aboard the US Navy's Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Comstock will be held in the coming days to end the exercise officially, a press release stated.

The landing force included US Marines and Indian Army personnel from the 4/8 Gurkha Rifles Infantry Battalion and the 91st Infantry Brigade. The exercise involved approximately 3,000 personnel and at least four ships and seven aircraft from the two countries.

According to Larson, the forces of the US and India are working closer than ever before and the relationship will only get stronger.

Defence