By Asia-Pacific Defense FORUM Staff
Photos by Maj. Thomas A. Seagrist, USA.
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Indian Army Brig. Sheonan Singh, Commander, 50th Independent Parachute Brigade, inspects U.S. Army Special Forces communications equipment. |
Marking the renewal in India-U.S. defense cooperation, about 260 personnel from the Indian Army’s 4th Parachute (Para) Battalion, 50th Independent Para Brigade, and members of U.S. Special Operations Command, Pacific (SOCPAC) — including more than 60 members of 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (A) and 78 Air Force personnel from the 353rd Special Operations Group — participated in Exercise BALANCE IROQUOIS 2002 at Air Station Agra, India, from 7 to 27 May 2002. Indian Air Force aircraft also participated. India’s Army Airborne Training School provided administrative and parachute rigging support, and India’s Air Force Parachute Training School provided fixed-wing aviation support.
BALANCE IROQUOIS is the result of Defense Policy Group (DPG) meetings between India and the U.S. that have charted a new course in their bilateral relations. In a joint communiqué following the 20-23 May 2002 DPG meeting in Washington, D.C., the two countries highlighted the importance of the ongoing special operations exercise, BALANCE IROQUOIS, in building interoperability between Indian and U.S. armed forces, and agreed to conduct further exercises.
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Members of the Indian Army's 4th Parachute Battalion demonstrate their weapons to Indian paratroopers and U.S. Army and Air Force Special Operations Forces participating in BALANCE IROQUOIS. |
"This was the first time since 1998 that SOCPAC had an opportunity to train with Indian military forces," said MSgt. Dave Shell, noncommissioned officer in charge of SOCPAC’s international Training Division. "With the lifting of the Glenn Amendment sanctions, and in the aftermath of the 11 September 2002 terrorists attacks in the United States, the Global War on Terrorism created a new era of cooperation between allies." (Imposed on India in 1998 for its nuclear tests, the Glenn Amendment prohibited all U.S. economic and military assistance to any non-nuclear weapon state — as defined by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty — that carries out a nuclear explosion.)
Compiled by the Asia-Pacific Defense FORUM staff from a 29 May 2002 article in REDIFF.com, and a 16 May 2002 article by the Tribune News Service (New Delhi).
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