As part of the ongoing India Bangladesh defence cooperation, a joint military exercise Sampriti-2019 is being conducted at Tangail, Bangladesh from 02 March to 15 March 2019. The eighth edition of Exercise Sampriti, commenced at the Bongobondhu Cantonment, Tangail Bangladesh with an impressive opening ceremony on 03 March 2019. The participating contingents marched in and stood side by side and gave a ceremonial salute to the national flags of both the countries to the strains of “Jana Gana Mana” and the “Amar Shonar Bangla”. The Bangladesh contingent was represented by 36 East Bengal Battalion, while Indian side was represented by 9th Battalion the Rajputana Rifles. Major General Mizanur Rahman Shamim, General Officer Commanding, 19 Infantry Division, Bangladesh Army welcomed the Indian contingent and in his inaugural remarks highlighted the common shared beliefs of democracy, freedom, equality and justice that are precious to both the nations.
The aim of the exercise is to increase mutual cooperation, bonhomie and camaraderie between the two armies through interoperability and joint tactical exercises. A company group from Bangladesh Army and an equal number from Indian Army are taking part in the two-week long exercise that will see them hone their tactical and technical skills in countering insurgency, counter terrorism and aid to civil authorities for disaster management in an UN peace keeping scenario involving a combined deployment at a battalion level.
In this eighth edition of the exercise which started way back in 2009 as a platoon level exercise and graduated to company level exercise in 2015 onwards, both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well developed tactical drills for neutralisation of likely threats that may be encountered during simulated UN peace keeping operations. The experts from both the sides will also hold discussions to share each other’s experiences in varied topics for mutual benefits.
Wing Commander Abhinandan who has become the National hero after he shot down Pakistan F16 advanced fighter jet with years old MiG21, crash landed inside Pakistan, survived a brutal attack by locals and now successfully came back to his country India. He has indeed turned the world military history upside down and became the on the legend in the country. As asked by many defence aspirants, here are some inspiring facts about Wing Commander Abhinandan which will motivate the coming generations.
IAF Wing Commander 
Indian army has published the merit list of candidates who have cleared SSC Tech 52 Men SSB interview and medical. The course will start in April 2019 at OTA Chennai, the selected candidates will get the joining instructions as per the order in the merit list. There are around 55 male candidates who have cleared the SSB interview. All the branches have more vacancies and the recommended candidates are very less. We congratulate all the successful candidates.
News coming in is that the Pakistani F16 pilot who ejected and landed in Pakistan after being shot down by India landed in a semi-conscious condition. He was found by the Pakistani locals who further beat him semi dead before realising that he was Pakistani. That pilot was initially reported to be Indian and hence the Pakistanis were reporting two Indian pilots in their custody. Upon realising that it’s their own pilot and not Indian they are doing whatever they can to hide this embarrassment.
