Military Exercises - 2026 Tracker
A running log of India's 2026 military exercises and expeditions - who trained with whom, where and to what end. The year opened with the Navy's flagship MILAN drawing 74 navies off Visakhapatnam, ran through Himalayan army drills with Japan, anti-submarine flying from Guam and a first civil-military fusion exercise at home. Kochi hosted Operation Southern Readiness 26-2 in July and the eighth India-US bomb-disposal exercise in August, and the all-women Samudra Pradakshina sail returned to Mumbai on 22 July. Late August widened the map: the Air Force flew Rafales in Australia's Pitch Black and then in Udara Shakti with Malaysia, an Army contingent is in Thailand for MAITREE-XV (18-31 August), sail trainer INS Sudarshini's Lokayan 2026 voyage reached Lisbon, and the Coast Guard lined up SAHYOG-HOPTAC with Vietnam for 27 August. Every entry is confirmed from a PIB or Ministry of Defence release.
- MILAN 2026
- Dharma Guardian
- Lamitiye
- Dustlik
- Sea Dragon
- Sanjha Shakti
- military exercises
- Indian Navy
Read the full living note — free
The complete note in both exam lenses (UPSC analytical / fact capsule), its full version history, and “what changed since you last read” — plus tonight's quiz.
Open in CA·WikiAI-assisted, human-reviewed · sourced from PIB, RBI & ministries · editorial policy
More living notes in Defence & Security
- ASW Shallow Water Craft (Mahe class)Mangrol, the third of eight Mahe-class submarine-hunters from Cochin Shipyard, was delivered to the Navy on 21 August 2026 — added its Gujarat namesake, its minesweeper predecessor retired in 2004, its waterjet propulsion and weapons fit, and where it sits in the 16-craft programme.
- PRAHAAR — National Counter-Terrorism PolicyAdded the 9th National Security Strategies Conference (24–25 Aug 2026) — the Home Minister's call to take PRAHAAR from document to daily practice down to DySP level, about 274 fugitives brought back since 2019, the four-pronged border-security approach with state nodal officers — and the 22 Aug Siliguri corridor security review as a new border-security section.
- Defence Budget & Aatmanirbharta DriveAdded the late-August 2026 self-reliance moves: the Raksha Mantri cleared transfer of DRDO technology for all conventional missile systems to Indian industry (25 Aug), three indigenous vessels reached the Navy and Coast Guard (ASW craft Mangrol, diving support vessel Nipun, patrol vessel ICGS Ajit), a Rs 472 crore T-72/T-90 overhaul plant broke ground at Jabalpur, GRSE and Yantra India began Rs 3,500 crore of expansion in Bengal, and CSIR-NAL unveiled three small gas-turbine engines for drones.
- Jammu & Kashmir After Article 370Takes the PoJK story abroad. Reported on 14 August 2026: Kashmiri diaspora groups marched in Brussels from the European Parliament towards the United Nations, and demonstrations were reported in Bologna and outside Pakistani diplomatic premises in the United Kingdom, after the Awami Action Committee called for a worldwide turnout. The protests inside PoJK have now run for more than two months. A committee leader puts the dead at around 100 - higher than India's official figure of more than 90 from the 11 August MEA briefing, which still leads this card; neither count is verified.
- Red Fort Bombing and the AQIS AttributionNames the group a UN Security Council expert panel now blames for the Red Fort suicide car bombing of November 2025, in which 11 people died: Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent. The same panel had reported a Jaish-e-Mohammed link in February 2026, so the attribution has moved. Note what kind of statement this is - a panel's finding reported to the Council, not an official Indian attribution.
- India's Left-Wing Extremism EndgameRevised the affected-district count to zero — the earlier figure of two no longer stands — and added the government's full ledger: 663 fortified police stations, 15,189 km of roads, 9,497 mobile towers, 3,927 surrenders and 37 districts still under Legacy and Thrust watch.