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The Indian Navy-US Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Exercise 2026 is scheduled at Southern Naval Command, Kochi, from 10 to 14 August 2026.
The five-day bilateral exercise aims to enhance interoperability between the specialist diving and EOD teams of the two navies.
It comprises Subject Matter Expert Exchanges, cross-training, equipment demonstrations and scenario-based practical exercises.
The two navies have conducted joint Salvage and EOD exercises since 2005, and this is the eighth edition.
Explosive Ordnance Disposal is the detection, identification, rendering safe and disposal of unexploded munitions. At sea it is a specialist discipline combining diving with bomb disposal, because the threats sit underwater: sea mines laid to close a harbour or shipping channel, unexploded ordnance on the seabed from earlier conflicts, and improvised devices attached to hulls or port infrastructure. Naval EOD teams therefore train as divers first and disposal specialists second, and their work is what allows a blocked port or channel to be reopened. Because mine-clearance and salvage operations in a crisis are usually multinational, procedures and equipment must be mutually understood — which is precisely what an interoperability exercise of this kind is for.
Simple Analogy: It is bomb disposal done underwater, in poor visibility, on an object that may be decades old — and the exercise exists so two teams from different navies can do it side by side without having to explain themselves first.
The Indian Navy's training command, host of this exercise
Operational command covering the western seaboard
Operational command covering the eastern seaboard
The best-known naval exercise involving India and the United States, which began as a bilateral engagement and now also includes Japan and Australia.
The India-US tri-service humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise, a separate strand of the same defence relationship.
The format in which the two countries' foreign and defence ministers meet, providing the political framework within which such service-level exercises sit.
GS Paper 2 > India-US bilateral relations; GS Paper 3 > Security and defence cooperation
General Awareness > Defence exercises
Current Affairs > Bilateral military exercises and naval commands
General Awareness > Defence current affairs
The detection, identification, rendering safe and disposal of unexploded munitions; at sea it combines diving with bomb disposal.
A structured exchange in which specialists from two forces share techniques and procedures, a standard component of bilateral exercises.
The ability of forces from different countries to operate together effectively using compatible procedures, equipment and communications.