India–UK: Counter-Terrorism Joint Exercises

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Policy Update
Asmeet Kaur

Background

India and the United Kingdom have extended security cooperation based on their common interest in countering terrorism and violent extremism. That political framework was formalised in the 2021 ROADMAP 2030 for a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” which commits both sides to action against the globally proscribed terrorists, regular working-level coordination, and better information sharing. The 2030 Framework has been reframed and extended under new initiatives (including Vision 2035) that keep collaborations for counter-terrorism at the top of the agenda. 

At the ground level, the CT cooperation is conveyed most visibly through Joint Exercises across these services: the Army’s Ajeya Warrior, Air Force’s Indradhanush, and bilateral naval drills such as KONKAN and ad-hoc PASSEX events. Although the naval pieces are distorted towards maritime security (anti-submarine warfare, visit-board-search-and-seizure, and anti-piracy), they often include CT-relevant interdiction and boarding scenarios.   The Army and Air Force exercises explicitly rehearse counter-insurgency/terrorism and base defence/force protection, which is the core of land and air CT mission sets. 

How the exercises function

  • The Bilateral CT framework operates through multiple channels. The most important India-UK Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter-Terrorism regularly meets to assess and strategise the upcoming threats. Ajeya Warrior typically runs as a two-week company-level field training exercise with urban and semi-urban scenarios like compound clearance, hostage-rescue planning, IED response, and combined cordon-and-search operations. Indradhanush concentrates on air-to-air or air-ground integration with CT touch through force protection, base defense, and defense drills or airfield assaults, plus fighter and transport integration to simulate rapid insertion/extraction.  At sea, KONKAN/PASSEX focuses on coordinated surface/air pictures, maritime interdiction, helicopter cross-decking, and VBSS skills that translate directly to counter-terrorism at sea (eg, hijackings, arms smuggling).

Exercises are framed within a rhythm of policy: annual/periodic Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism (JWG-CT) meetings, 2+2 Foreign and Defense Dialogues, and Roadmap reviews. These platforms set priorities (EG, financing of terrorism, online radicalisation, law-enforcement cooperation) that shape exercise injects and tabletop components.

Performance

  • Army: Ajeya Warrior (2024 & 2023)- In May 2024, Ajeya Warrior in Wiltshire (UK) ran as a “high-tempo” package squarely aimed at counter-terrorism and insurgency operations, including subterranean/complex-terrain training, exactly the environments urban CT units face. The 2023 iteration (also in the UK) continued the counter-insurgency/terrorism focus and alternation routine after a 2021 edition in India. These runs sustained a strong training cadence post-pandemic and broadened scenario realism.
  • Navy: KONKAN/PASSEX (2025)-  On 9-10 June 2025, the Indian Navy and Royal Navy conducted a high-intensity PASSEX in the North Arabian Sea, practising control of a helicopter, tactical operations, and coordinated anti-submarine warfare. While Anti-Submarine Warfare is not CT-related,  the maritime interdiction and coordinated air-surface picture are core for counter-piracy and counter-terrorism at sea, from preventing seaborne infiltration to stopping illicit flows. That PASSEX followed other UK–India maritime interactions and broader European counter-piracy coordination with India in 2025.
  • Air Force: Indradhanush – The last publicly documented full edition before this period (2020 at AFS Hindan) stressed base defense and force protection, a template that air forces have retained in subsequent cooperation, even when larger editions have been less frequent. This is significant because threats to air bases (drones, sabotage, fidayeen-style attacks) have grown more acute.
  • Politically, the CT Agenda was active: In October 2023, Officials highlighted the need to expand the anti-terror cooperation, including the concerns about Khalistani extremism operating from the UK.  In May 2024,  the 16th JWG-CT meeting in New Delhi reviewed ongoing cooperation and set priorities. In December 2024, both sides refreshed ROADMAP 2030 and restated CT and cyber as focus areas under the 2+2 framework.

IMPACT

  • Operational readiness: Repeated, scenario-rich drills have improved tactical compatibility from small-unit urban tactics to communications procedures and medical evacuation. Interoperability lowers friction in any real-world contingency (eg, protecting critical infrastructure during a high-threat event, or cooperating in UN Chapter VII-style stabilization). Ajeya Warrior’s 2024 focus on complex terrain and subterranean spaces directly upgrades the two armies’ shared CT skill sets.
  • Maritime security against terror-adjacent threats: India and the UK are increasingly likely to encounter maritime scenarios where terrorism, piracy, and smuggling blur together. PASSEX/KONKAN packages build habits for visit-board-search-seizure and integrated air-surface operations that are indispensable to terror-finance interdiction and counter-infiltration at sea.
  • Policy coherence. The JWG-CT and Roadmap processes give exercises strategic stickiness —lessons migrate into doctrine, and tabletop pieces feed back into the diplomatic track (financial sanctions, designations, information sharing, and law-enforcement cooperation). The UK’s emphasis at the UNSC CT Committee in New Delhi on starving terrorists of finance and emerging technologies mirrors exercises around drone threats, cyber hygiene, and information operations.
  • Signalling & trust. Regular, publicised CT drills signal political resolve to disrupt terror networks and reassure partners. Lammy’s 2025 remarks and the December 2024 ministerial readouts tie tactical cooperation to strategic messaging useful both for deterrence and alliance management.

Emerging issues

Transnational extremism and diaspora politics: Frictions around Khalistan-linked activities in the UK complicate CT optics and create a demand for sharper law enforcement and judicial cooperation (designations, proscription, evidence sharing, extradition). Exercises can rehearse responses to targeted attacks and critical infrastructure threats, but political-legal frameworks must keep pace.

Technology acceleration: Cheap drones, encrypted apps, deepfakes, and crypto flows compress the time between radicalization and action. CT exercises must now incorporate counter-UAS, open-source intelligence, and terror-finance analytics, echoing the UK’s UNSC messaging on choking finance and tech misuse.

Air base and urban soft-target vulnerability: India’s 2020 Indradhanush focus on base defense was prescient; future editions must deepen red-team testing against swarming drones, insider threats, and multi-vector assaults on airports/metros—especially relevant to mega-events and crowded urban spaces.

Maritime chokepoints and hybrid threats: The Arabian Sea and wider Indo-Pacific face hybrid risks—from piracy surges to terror-enabled smuggling. PASSEX-style events should evolve into CT-specific maritime interdiction packages (ship-boarding against armed non-state actors, hostage rescue at sea).

Way forward

1) Institutionalize a tri-service CT exercise: Beyond service-specific drills, launch a biennial tri-service India–UK CT exercise (a “Konkan Shakti – CT” variant) that chains a city-centric land scenario, a base-defence/airfield scenario, and a maritime interdiction/hostage scenario. This would replicate the multi-domain realities of modern terrorism and produce joint playbooks for crisis response. (Precedents in KONKAN-series integration can be adapted for CT-specific objectives.)

2) Build a standing CT TTP compendium and red-team cell: Use Ajeya Warrior/Indradhanush cycles to maintain a shared repository of tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) — counter-UAS, breaching, HUMINT/OSINT fusion, and digital forensics. Rotate a bilateral red-team that injects cyber-physical attacks, drone swarms, and disinformation into exercises, aligned with the UNSC CT Committee’s tech-risk priorities.

3) Link exercises to the JWG-CT calendar and Roadmap milestones: Treat each major drill as a deliverable that feeds outcomes into the JWG-CT and 2+2 —eg, tested SOPs for terror-finance information-sharing, updated joint advisories on radicalization indicators, and a post-exercise matrix to track implementation under the Roadmap/Vision frameworks.

4) Expand law-enforcement integration and judicial cooperation tracks: Add police-to-police and prosecutor-level seminars alongside field exercises to accelerate evidence standards, mutual legal assistance, and designation processes—especially pertinent for tackling cross-border extremist networks and financing. This directly addresses irritants around diaspora-linked extremism while preserving community trust.

5) Deep maritime CT specialization: Evolve PASSEX/KONKAN modules into maritime CT centers of excellence: advanced VBSS with live-fire ship-entry complexes, helicopter sniper overwatch for small-boat interdiction, counter-IED at sea, and grey-zone play (use of unmanned surface/underwater vehicles by non-state actors). The 2025 North Arabian Sea PASSEX is a good launchpad for a recurring, CT-tagged Arabian Sea Interdiction Series.

6) Invest in shared tech and training pipelines: Use the new defense-industrial roadmap to co-develop counter-drone suites, AI-aided ISR, and secure comms interoperable in exercises—and eventually in UN or coalition deployments. Encourage exchange postings of CT instructors and create an India–UK CT Fellowship to seed long-term practitioner networks.

Conclusion

In recent years, India and the United Kingdom have quietly but steadily expanded their counter-terrorism partnership. Ajeya Warrior has improved interoperability in urban CT. PASSEX/KONKAN has strengthened maritime interdiction and the policy backbone — JWG-CT, 2+2 dialogues, Roadmap 2030/Vision 2035 — has ensured that exercises serve genuine strategic objectives. The next step is to merge these strands into an inter-agency, tech-savvy CT enterprise that addresses terrorism as a hybrid threat in multiple domains – from metros and airbases to shipping lanes. If New Delhi and London follow through, their exercises won’t just train units- they will shape doctrine, drive technology choices, and strengthen collective security far beyond the parade ground.

References 

About the Author

Asmeet Kaur is a researcher at IMPRI and an undergraduate student at Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi University, with a keen interest in Public policy and administration.

Acknowledgement:

The author sincerely thanks the whole IMPRI team for their valuable support. 

Disclaimer: 

All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organization.

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