President Paul Kagame on Thursday, August 17, presided over the final field exercise of the Rwanda Defence Force's Combined Arms Field Training Exercise code-named "Exercise Hard Punch 04/2023”, at the RDF Combat Training Centre, Gabiro.

Clad in military fatigues, Kagame, who is the Commander-In-Chief of Rwanda Defence Force,was flanked by the top brass of the RDF leadership as well as senior government officials.

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Following the final field demonstration, the Head of State interacted with men and women, and officers of the RDF, including retired officers.

The "Hard Punch” exercise is normally conducted by the RDF's 1st and 3rd divisions and is characterised by a final operational demonstration on how different military capabilities are integrated and synchronised, in a military operation at the level of an Infantry Division.

Previous exercises had taken place December 2018 and November 2016.

The Commander-In-Chief usually uses the opportunity to talk to the men and women in uniform about patriotism, heroism and professionalism.

This was the fourth edition of the annual Field Training Exercise conducted at CTC Gabiro. The exercise is aimed at perfecting drills that are necessary for efficient employment, harbouring, occupation of positions, movement of Division troops and equipment, and cooperation of all arms in any military operational situation, according to RDF.

The exercise seeks to test how far RDF has gone in building an increasingly capable and professional force, able to achieve its mandated mission, with the primary objective being to test and assess the synchronised delivery of joint fires using various capabilities in a single operation.

Thursday's military drills also sought to demonstrate the joint planning, synchronisation, and coordinated employment of air power, special forces, and offensive support group capabilities in supporting an infantry division to achieve a combat mission.