India and the United States have concluded the fifth edition of Exercise Tiger Triumph, their bilateral tri-service humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise, with a closing ceremony in Visakhapatnam on Thursday 5 November.

The six-day exercise ran from 31 October to 5 November in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, home to the Indian Navy's Eastern Naval Command. It was conducted as a tabletop exercise aimed at enhancing coordination, joint planning and interoperability between the armed forces of India and the US during large-scale disaster-response operations, according to the Ministry of Defence.

The exercise comprised a staff exercise and a tabletop exercise, with integrated operational planning, subject-matter expert exchanges on cyber and medical capabilities, and coordination drills for combined amphibious humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions. India's National Disaster Response Force took part for the first time.

Senior officers at the closing ceremony

The closing ceremony was attended by Rear Admiral Vishal Bishnoi, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy, and Rear Admiral Joaquin Martinez de Pinillos, Vice Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, alongside senior officers from both countries.

Tiger Triumph was first held in 2019 and has become an important part of India-US defence cooperation. Visakhapatnam has hosted all five editions of the exercise. The drill is a tri-service initiative involving the army, navy and air force of both countries, and is aimed at sharpening joint readiness for large-scale amphibious disaster-relief operations across the Indo-Pacific.