Indian Army to get 'mixed martial arts' training: Report

The 12-lakh force will be given AMAR training along with fundamental skills like firing, physical endurance, and battle craft

Listing new initiatives, General Manoj Pande on Thursday said that the Indian Army has launched a standardised mixed martial arts (MMA) programme for its soldiers.

The Indian Army has launched a ‘unique and standardised’ unarmed combat drill called the Army Martial Arts Routine (AMAR). It focuses on “offensive assault training” and is also “effective against sharp-edged and improvised weapons”.

“The army has introduced Army Martial Arts Routine or AMAR for which all our personnel will undergo training. This will help them not just physically, but also mentally,” Army chief General Manoj Pande said Thursday, reported The Print.

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The 12-lakh force will be given this AMAR training along with fundamental skills like firing, physical endurance, and battle craft. All the best bits of Indian martial arts will be a part of AMAR.

“Soldiers need to be prepared across all basic skills of war-fighting, which can often throw up surprises and challenges. These include non-kinetic means like hand-to-hand combat situations in conventional, non-conventional, and military operations other than war,” an officer told TOI.

The first batch of AMAR instructors – 99 of them – have undergone five weeks of training at the Army Institute of Physical Training in Pune. “There will be an initial pool of 700 such instructors, who in turn will teach at the officers’ training academies and different regimental centers for jawans,” a senior officer told TOI.

Boxing and wrestling were already a part of the Indian Army training. Various regiments have their own versions of martial arts.