U.S. Army Alaska will host soldiers from the Indian Army for Yudh Abhyas, a bilateral training exercise, Oct. 15-29, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage.
Yudh Abhyas is a two-week training exercise that seeks to improve “the combined interoperability of the Indian Army and U.S. Army Alaska to increase partner capacity for conventional, complex and future contingencies throughout the Indo-Pacific region,” according to an Army press release. Yudh Abhyas was held bi-annually over the past decade at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, in Washington state. Back then, the exercise was focused on desert environments, but that’s changing, according to Maj. Gen. Peter Andrysiak, former commander of U.S. Army Alaska. “The focus is no longer the desert, or that type of training. The focus is mountainous, cold environments,” Andrysiak told a discussion panel hosted by the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute late last year.