In a major display of inter-service collaboration and high-altitude endurance training, the Indian Army PARA (Special Forces) and Indian Navy Marine Commandos (MARCOS) recently conducted an unprecedented joint scuba and combat diving exercise in Sikkim.
The exercise, which took place at an incredible elevation of 17,000 feet between August 30 and September 5, 2025, was designed to improve the operational preparedness of India’s most elite special operations forces in one of the most hostile fighting zones on earth.
Participants endured a week of intense sub-zero temperatures, low oxygen levels, and icy waters while they performed a strenuous series of tactical diving and underwater fighting exercises.
The exercises comprised closed circuit pure oxygen diving, which allows for stealth entrance without leaving detectable bubbles, and open circuit air diving, which is essential for traditional undersea missions.
In order to replicate real-world infiltration missions where visibility and environmental circumstances are severely limited, soldiers also conducted night combat diving operations and dives up to 17 meters in nearly cold glacial waters.
Combat divers were forced to the extremes of their physical and mental fortitude by the difficult combination of frigid mountain waters and high-altitude rarefied environment.
The harsh terrain and dangerous situations, according to a senior defense official, not only put endurance and aquatic skills to the test but also improved service interoperability, tactical accuracy, and flexibility.
The exercise set a new standard by demonstrating how India’s special forces are getting ready to move fluidly between habitats as different as the ocean depths and the Himalayan glaciers. Training in such harsh conditions is rarely carried out at such altitudes anywhere in the world.
The exercise placed a great focus on teamwork in addition to individual skills, combining the mountain warfare and unconventional combat proficiency of PARA (SF) with the specialized diving and operations expertise of MARCOS.
The importance of integrated special operations in India’s changing security architecture was also emphasized during the week-long training.
The ability of PARA (SF) and MARCOS to collaborate guarantees that India maintains a decisive edge in a variety of conflict theaters, even in the face of multi-domain problems such as potential cross-border situations in mountainous areas and marine security threats.
The exercise’s enhanced skill sets equip operators for a variety of operations, ranging from high-risk rescue and rapid-response interventions in extremely difficult circumstances to clandestine reconnaissance and sabotage.
In his reflection on the event, the Team Commander emphasized that these kinds of exercises are the foundation of combat readiness since they develop mental toughness, endurance, and the ability of elite soldiers to respond effectively in the most challenging tactical situations.
Each mission simulation, dive, and adversity experience, he said, increased the crews’ operational confidence and reaffirmed their capacity to “operate effectively in any environment, no matter how harsh or demanding.”
India’s quest for advanced special operations capabilities has advanced both symbolically and practically with the high-altitude combat diving drill in Sikkim.
In addition to reiterating the Army and Navy’s special forces’ coordination, it also showed how India is placing an increasing amount of emphasis on multi-terrain readiness, making sure that its elite commandos are always prepared for any mission, whether they are in the deep seas, dense jungles, deserts, or the high Himalayas.
Beyond its use on the battlefield, the exercise has also established a model for upcoming training modules in which resource sharing and cross-domain adaptation will continue to be essential for safeguarding India’s national interests in a security environment that is becoming more complicated.
