Belgaum exercise: Indian soldiers excel in firing of Chinese weapons

Belgaum (Karnataka), Dec 11 (ANI): Indian and Chinese Army soldiers familiarised each other with their weapons as apart of the ongoing joint military exercise in the mountainous terrains of Belgaum, Karnataka.

After familiarization on each other weapons, the soldiers excelled in using the weapons during exercise Hand in Hand.

Sino-Indian soldiers were introduced to Improvised Explosive Devices, Night Firing, Room intervention and neutralization of impromptu targets on Wednesday.

Expert commandos of the Indian Army also imparted confidence and survival training. Besides these, the Indian Air Force carried out slithering training operations by MI-8 helicopters dropping commandos at the exercise area for rapid action.

After the firing session, Lieutenant Colonel Alex Monn of India who was in-charge of the firing of weapons of both contingents said that there isn't much of a difference between the firing standards of the two countries. Chinese weapons are lighter in their make, he added.

"We familiarised with each other's weapons and we handled both the weapons and once we were confident with each other's weapons, we went for firing. We found that their weapons were slightly lighter than ours but as far as the firing standards are concerned, there is no difference. We found that firing standards of we both are very good," said Lt. Colonel Alex Monn.

Troops from both the countries are also undergoing Yoga sessions to cool their nerves everyday after long sessions of counter- terror operations at various locations without break.

The exercises between the world's largest and third largest army will run from December 6 to 14. Chinese troops from the 1st Company of the Infantry Battalion of the Chengdu Military Area Command and Indian Army troops from 8 Maratha Light Infantry Battalion are participating in the joint military exercise.

Meanwhile, a high-level Chinese defence delegation led by Lt. General Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of General Staff, People's Liberation Army, called on Defence Minister A. K. Antony on Wednesday.

The two leaders expressed satisfaction on the ongoing Joint Training Exercise in Belgaum between their armies.

Lt. General Ma Xiaotian will travel to Belgaum to witness the closing ceremony of the India-China exercise. By Praful Kumar Singh (ANI)