The 17th edition of India-Mongolia joint military exercise Nomadic Elephant will commence May 31 in Ulaanbaatar, officials said.

The operation will continue till June 13.

In a statement posted on X, the Indian Army wrote: "The 17th edition of the Joint Military Exercise #NomadicElephant 2025 between #IndianArmy & Mongolian Army will be held from 31 May to 13 June 2025 at #Ulaanbaatar, #Mongolia."

Aim Of The Exercise

As per the Indian Army's released statement, the exercise aims to improve interoperability between both the Armies in conducting non-conventional operations in semi-urban/ mountainous terrain under the UN mandate.

"The exercise will foster enhanced military cooperation, strengthen joint operational capabilities and build camaraderie between the #IndianArmy and the Mongolian Army," the X post said.

India-Mangolia Relationship

  The defence cooperation received a massive boost during the visit of Defence Minister of India Rajnath Singh to Mongolia from Sept 5-7, 2022.

"Unusual display of warmth and hospitality by the Mongolian President and Supreme Commander of MAF, U Khurelsukh, Speaker of the Parliament and his counterpart Defence Minister Gen. Saikhanbayar contributed to reinforcing importance of India as a close strategic partner of Mongolia," read the Indian Embasssy in Mongolia's website.

The announcement by RM of gifting of 2 ALS Indian made Ambulances and 200 special winter clothing special and defence training courses under ITEC Programme to Mongolian Armed Forces (being offered for the last 2 decades now averaging about 18-20 slots a year) was well received by Mongolian MoD.

Immediately following Singh's visit, in Oct 2022, Gen. Saikhanbayar, Defence Minister of Mongolia visited India along with a 3-member high-level delegation to attend DefExpo-2022 in Gandhinagar and also had a bilateral meeting with Indian Defence Minister and paid a courtesy call on the Vice President.

Impressed by our defence capabilities, Mongolian Defence Minister expressed a keen desire to establish a Small Arms Ammunition factory in Mongolia, procuring light armoured vehicles for MAF & sourcing material for MAF uniforms and detailed Prof Ulziit Luvsanjav to coordinate with DDP
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Previously, N. Enkhbold, the then Minister of Defence visited India in March 2018 and held bilateral talks with RRM, RM, NSA and COAS.

There is also an India-Mongolia Joint Working Group (JWG) for Defence cooperation that meets annually.