Nomadic Elephant 2026 concludes a fortnight of joint training between the Indian Army and the Mongolian Army, with the 18th edition of the exercise formally closed at a ceremony in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, on Saturday.

The exercise ran from 20 September to 3 October.

Its aim was to build interoperability between the two Armies, deepen mutual understanding and carry forward the long friendship between the two forces. The Indian Army and Mongolian contingents trained side by side through the period, compared operational experience and traded best practices, working towards operating as one force in a joint setting.

Nomadic Elephant 2026 concludes after three training phases

Integration came first, from 20 to 23 September, when each side learnt the other's operational procedures and training methods. The Conduct of Joint Exercise phase followed from 24 to 30 September, with joint training activities and combat drills filling the schedule.

Validation exercise on 1 and 2 October

The final phase was the Validation Exercise. Both contingents used it to test, through integrated joint training, what they had worked on earlier.

Heliborne operations, drones and cyber security on the training card

The training card was wide. Tactical drills, intelligence and surveillance activities and technology demonstrations ran alongside heliborne operations, casualty management and evacuation, marksmanship and specialised skills. Drone handling and cyber security were also on the schedule.

In the opening week at Pithoragarh, Indian instructors took Mongolian personnel through Indian small arms, covering safety drills, loading and unloading, aiming and live firing. The Indian contingent also demonstrated Room Intervention Drills, the close quarter procedure for clearing a building room by room, running entry, team movement, radio communication, fire discipline and casualty evacuation in sequence for the Mongolian observers.

Each contingent numbered 45 personnel, and the training was built around counter insurgency operations under a United Nations mandate.

Culture and sport at the Pithoragarh closing ceremony

Nomadic Elephant 2026 concludes with the Pithoragarh ceremony, where both contingents looked back on the fortnight's training and what they had learnt from each other. It also put the cultural and martial heritage of India and Mongolia on display.

Troops from both sides played a range of sports during their stay.

Earlier, the Mongolian side had staged a demonstration of Bökh, the traditional Mongolian wrestling, along with unarmed combat.

Mongolia hosted the 17th edition in Ulaanbaatar

Nomadic Elephant is held every year, alternately in India and Mongolia, and the Pithoragarh edition brought the exercise back to Indian soil after the 2025 round in the Mongolian capital. The Indian Army trained alongside Mongolian troops in June and July at the multinational Khaan Quest 2026 peacekeeping exercise in Ulaanbaatar, and another Army contingent is in Oskemen, Kazakhstan, for Exercise KAZIND-2026, which runs until 11 October.

The 17th edition ran in Ulaanbaatar from 31 May to 13 June 2025. India sent 45 personnel, drawn mainly from a battalion of the Arunachal Scouts, while the Mongolian side was represented by its 150 Special Forces unit. Cyber warfare was added to that edition, and Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh presided over its closing ceremony.

Umroi in Meghalaya hosted the 16th edition in July 2024.

A year before that, a 43-member Indian contingent from the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry flew to Ulaanbaatar aboard an Indian Air Force C-17 for the 15th edition, held from 17 to 31 July 2023 alongside soldiers of Mongolian Armed Forces Unit 084. The training then covered endurance, reflex firing, room intervention, small team tactics and rock craft. The Indian-hosted round before it had been staged at the Special Forces Training School, Bakloh, in October 2019.