India-US Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2026 Begins at Auli and Mahajan

The correct answer is 600 personnel. The release on the opening ceremony states plainly that the contingents addressed by the two commanders were made up of that number of troops from each army, so the Indian side and the American side are equally represented. This equal strength is a point paper setters like, because it is a single clean figure that can be checked in one line of the release. Option A is wrong; that number is not attached to this drill anywhere in the release. Option B is wrong for the same reason and is a common round-figure distractor. Option D is wrong as well, since nothing in the release supports a strength of that size for either contingent. An aspirant should remember the figure together with the edition number, the 22nd, and the two venues, Auli in Uttarakhand and the Mahajan Field Firing Range in Rajasthan.

The correct answer is the Auli Foreign Training Node in Uttarakhand, where the opening ceremony of this edition was conducted. Option B names the other leg of the same exercise and is the trap in this question: the drill is indeed being conducted simultaneously at the Mahajan Field Firing Range in Rajasthan, but the ceremony itself was held at Auli, not there. Option C is wrong because no station of that name figures in the release on this edition. Option D is wrong for the same reason. The safest way to remember the pair is by terrain: Auli sits in the hills and suits the mountainous and semi-mountainous training the exercise is built around, while the Rajasthan range suits the demonstration of contemporary weapon systems and the flying of drones and autonomous systems.

The correct answer is joint capability for employing Integrated Battle Groups in mountainous and semi-mountainous terrain, with emphasis on infantry-dominated operations. That is the aim the release sets out, and it explains why one leg of the drill is held in the hills at Auli. Option A is wrong because this is an army-to-army field exercise, not a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief drill. Option C is wrong because anti-piracy patrolling is naval work and has nothing to do with the two armies training here. Option D is wrong because no air-defence or missile-interception role is described for this edition. Along with the aim, remember the supporting objectives named in the release: stronger interoperability, an exchange of best operational practices, and sharper joint planning and execution by the two armies.