Yudh Abhyas 2018: India, US joint military exercise held in Uttarakhand

India and United States joint military exercise Yudh Abhyas 2018 commenced at Chaubattia, Uttarakhand.

• It will be fourteenth edition of exercise in Yudh Abhyas series which was started in 2004 under US Army Pacific Partnership Program.
• This will be fourth time exercise will be conducted at Chaubattia in Uttarakhand.

About Yudh Abhyas 2018:

• The aim of this exercise will be to enhance interoperability between both the armies. 
• It will also focus on enhancing counter-terror cooperation.
• The scope and intensity of this year's exercise is much wider and is in reflection of upswing in defence ties between the two countries.
• This year's Yudh Abhyas drills will be upgraded to battalion-level field training exercise (FTX) and division-level command post exercise (CPX).
• It will see participation of around 400 soldiers from each side, increase from around 200 each earlier.
• US contingent was represented by 1st Infantry Battalion, 23 Infantry Regiment, US Army while Indian side is represented by an Infantry Battalion.
• Participating contingents will hone their tactical and technical skills in countering insurgency and terrorism in United Nations peace keeping scenario involving combined deployment at brigade level.
• They will be also deploying state of the art equipment for surveillance and tracking, specialist weapons for close quarter battle with terrorists, explosive and improvised explosive device detectors, as well as the latest communication equipment.
• Both sides will also jointly train, plan and execute a series of well-developed tactical drills for neutralisation of likely threats that may be encountered in UN peace keeping operations during division level command post exercise.
• Experts from both sides will also hold discussions to share each others' experience in varied topics for mutual benefit.

Question:

Q. Where has the India and United States joint military exercise Yudh Abhyas 2018 commenced?
a. Agra, Uttar Pradesh
b. Pokhran, Rajasthan
c. Mau, Madhya Pradesh
d. Chaubattia, Uttarakhand