The Ministry of Defence announced the commencement of Exercise Trishul, a large-scale tri-service endeavour aimed at strengthening integrated readiness across multiple domains.

The exercise, launched on 8 November 2025, brings together the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force under a unified operational framework to test interoperability, coordination, and technological integration.

Under the overarching design of Trishul, mission-focused validations are being carried out to enhance operational efficiency across domains such as cyber warfare, electronic warfare, drone and counter-drone operations, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), and air defence control.

The Defence Ministry emphasised that the effort underscores the forces’ readiness to dominate both physical and virtual battlespaces through seamless jointness in land, sea, and air operations.

The Southern Command of the Indian Army is leading major components of the exercise, focusing on full-spectrum integration and validation of joint operational doctrines. The Ministry described Trishul as an execution of the guiding principles of jointness, self-reliance, and innovation, translating policy direction into action and field-level capability.

Reflecting the armed forces’ strategic shift toward multi-domain warfare capability and Atmanirbharta, Exercise Trishul embodies the vision of future-ready forces capable of networked and synchronised joint operations. By interlinking ground forces with maritime and aerial assets, the exercise ensures a deeply integrated command and control environment.

In the Thar Desert, Southern Command formations are engaged in parallel sub-exercises, codenamed ‘MaruJwala’ and ‘Akhand Prahaar’. These exercises test the Army’s mobility, joint fire integration, and combined arms manoeuvres under realistic combat conditions. The scenarios replicate high-intensity operational environments requiring swift coordination and precise targeting across services.

The training modules in desert terrain will culminate in a large-scale live-force exercise designed to validate precision targeting and high-tempo joint manoeuvres. This phase will reaffirm the Army’s commitment to continuous transformation through rigorous training, realistic validation, and technology infusion.

In the Kutch sector, the tri-service framework extends further to include joint rehearsals with the Indian Coast Guard, the Border Security Force, and civil authorities.

This component of Trishul reflects India’s growing focus on military-civil fusion for integrated crisis response and coastal security. The coordinated operations emphasise rapid deployment, synchronized command response, and interoperability between defence and internal security agencies.

The final phase of Trishul will feature an extensive amphibious exercise along the Saurashtra coast. During this stage, Southern Command’s amphibious formations, in concert with naval landing units and air elements, will conduct coordinated beach landings.

This segment aims to validate India’s capacity for full-spectrum land-sea-air power projection, reinforcing its maritime operational capability in littoral and coastal zones.

According to the Defence Ministry, Exercise Trishul also serves as a practical testbed for the Indian Army’s Decade of Transformation initiative. It provides a platform to evaluate newly introduced technologies, upgraded systems, and emerging operational doctrines meant to enhance joint long-range precision, mobility, and situational awareness.

By integrating service-level initiatives into a unified tri-service framework, the Indian military seeks to sharpen its deterrence posture, ensure rapid response across theatres, and sustain credible combat readiness across the conflict spectrum.

The Ministry reiterated that the ongoing exercise underscores the armed forces' determination to remain agile, innovative, and capable of meeting evolving challenges with confidence and synergy.

Agencies