Exercise FORCE 18, largest ‘Multinational Field Training Exercise (FTX),’ was conducted by the Indian Army from March 2-8, 2016, at Pune. The theme of the exercise was Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) and Peacekeeping Operations (PKO). The maiden multinational exercise ever conducted by ground forces on Indian soil saw participation of 18 ASEAN Plus nations which include India, along with Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the US who form part of the ASEAN Plus whereas 10 countries are from South East Asia – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — all members of the ASEAN. The foreign participants of ASEAN Plus countries enthusiastically took part in the training activities on HMA conducted at the College of Military Engineering (CME) in Pune and PKO at Aundh Military Garrison displaying true jointmanship and team spirit.

The essence of the exercise was to learn and share the best practices with the other armies of the world and display our commitment for peace and stability in the region.

“This exercise is an outcome of our effort because the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting, ADMM Plus, had planned for two separate exercises for HMA and UN PKO in 2016. During ADSOM Plus (ASEAN Defence Senior Officers’ Meeting) held in Malaysia in March 2015, we offered to bring the two exercises together and conduct the joint FTX this year,” a senior army official said.

As a testimony to the team spirit and achieving of global jointmanship, a unique feature was embedded in the execution of Exercise Force 18, that is, to train the foreign trainers of the ASEAN Plus countries for one week before the commencement of actual exercise. In this regard, over 25 foreign trainers arrived in Pune on February 23, 2016. These trainers who had experience in the field of HMA and PKO were trained by the Indian Army from February 24 till March 1, 2016. The training of trainers facilitated bringing all foreign trainers on an optimum threshold level, conversion of training material into native language to understand the conduct of actual FTX. The trainers would thus perform a dynamic role to cater for the challenges caused by language barriers and formulate common operating procedures for various activities to be conducted during the main FTX.

On February 26, 2016, soon after their arrival, the foreign trainers were welcomed and briefed by Brigadier Alok Chandra, Commander of Shivneri Infantry Brigade. The trainers were later oriented to all the training and administrative infrastructure created for the mega exercise.