India and Australia open AUSTRAHIND army drill built around island and coastal operations

India and Australia began the fifth edition of their bilateral army exercise, AUSTRAHIND, on Monday 19 October 2026 at the Foreign Training Node in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala, according to India's Ministry of Defence. The drill is scheduled to run until 1 November.

Each army is sending roughly 120 personnel, putting about 240 soldiers in the field for two weeks. The Indian contingent is built around troops from the Garhwal Rifles, supported by personnel from other arms and services, while the Australian side comes from the Australian Army's 13 Brigade, the ministry said.

This year's edition has been framed around joint sub-conventional operations in island and coastal terrain, conducted as if under a Chapter VII mandate of the United Nations. The ministry described the aim as improving interoperability, jointness and day-to-day coordination between the two armies, and building a shared understanding of the tactics, techniques and procedures needed when operating along coastlines and on islands.

Over the coming fortnight, troops from both sides are due to carry out joint planning, tactical drills and combat-oriented training under realistic conditions, with aerial and maritime elements folded into the scenarios. Planned serials include coordinated operations in coastal and island settings, surveillance and reconnaissance, the protection of vital installations, and responses to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief emergencies, alongside exchanges of professional experience between the two forces.

For the first time, New Zealand has sent an observer delegation to the exercise, the ministry said. The move adds a third country to what had been a two-nation army event between New Delhi and Canberra since the series began.

The previous round was hosted by Australia at Irwin Barracks in Perth from 13 to 26 October 2025, so the 2026 edition brings the series back to Indian soil after a year. The switch in setting also changes the terrain on offer, with the Kerala training node giving both contingents a coastline to work along rather than the Western Australian base used last time.

India's defence ministry said AUSTRAHIND 2026 is meant to deepen military-to-military cooperation, interoperability and mutual trust between the two countries. It also presented the drill as reinforcing a shared commitment by India and Australia to peace, stability and security across the Indo-Pacific, the wider region in which both armies expect to operate together.

The scenario rests on Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the part that covers enforcement action against threats to international peace, so troops are rehearsing as members of a mandated multinational force rather than as national units acting alone. The ministry statement, as carried by IANS and Akashvani, did not list the specific aircraft or vessels that will provide the aerial and maritime elements of the training, and concentrated instead on the two infantry-led contingents and the new observer role for New Zealand.