India Holds War Games near Pakistan Border

[EagleEyes]

India Holds War Games near Pakistan Border
By MANPREET ROMANA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, POKHRAN, India


India’s military Nov. 18 staged a grand finale to major military maneuvers, showcasing newly acquired T-90 battle tanks and warplanes close to the border with Pakistan in the Thar desert.

The Indian military said New Delhi gave advance notice of the 14-day exercises, code named “Operation Desert Strike,” to neighboring Pakistan in line with a pact between the nuclear-armed rivals, who are engaged in a slow-moving peace process to end their decades-old feud over Kashmir.

“Such exercises show our capability and ability,” said Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee. He said, however, the war games were not designed to intimidate India’s neighbors.

“India does not have any territorial designs … all our capabilities are just aimed at protecting our interests,” Mukherjee said as supersonic jets dived in mock attacks.

Officials said the exercise was the biggest since the 1987 Operation Brass Tacks in the desert state of Rajasthan, which sent tensions between India and Pakistan skyrocketing. The two countries have fought three wars, two over the Himalayan state of Kashmir.

Forty-two observers and diplomats from 30 countries, including Bangladesh, Britain, China, France and the United States, were at the war games in Pokhran.

“We welcome such observers,” the defense minister said.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. J.J. Singh said Beijing had invited New Delhi and Moscow to send observers to recent Chinese exercises. Ties between India and China, which fought a border war four decades ago, have warmed in recent years.

“Our men also went to China and so we invited them as we are just showing our capabilities and we hope there will be better cooperation in the future,” Singh, head of India’s 1.4-million strong Army, told reporters in Pokhran.

The latest exercises were staged in the vicinity of India’s nuclear testing site, where New Delhi stunned the world by carrying out nuclear tests in May 1998 that sparked tit-for-tat blasts by Pakistan days later.

The Nov. 18 finale came a day after the Indian Air Force wound up joint 12-day exercises with the U.S. Air Force in West Bengal state.

The Indian Air Force, the world’s fourth largest, said that in the Thar exercise it deployed its French-made Mirage-2000s, Russian MiG-27s and MiG-21s and British-designed Jaguar warplanes along with attack helicopters and drones.

“Forty percent of the participation in the exercises is by the Air Force,” said Indian Air Force spokesman Squadron Leader Mahesh Upasini.

The Army said some 20,000 troops, combat vehicles and artillery were also taking part in Operation Desert Strike, aimed at highlighting India’s military capability in a high-tech environment.

“The exercise is of great significance as joint operations have acquired strategic importance,” said a commander quoted by the Press Trust of India news agency, which did not disclose his name.

The Army said the two Gulf Wars were key examples of successful military campaigns in which action was initiated by air power and sustained by ground operations.

India deployed some of the 310 T-90 tanks it bought from Russia, its Cold War ally and biggest military supplier, for 105 million rupees ($2.44 million) each as part of a February 2001 deal.

“These machines are being put to extreme tests in extreme conditions of the Thar,” an armored corps commander said.

Russia supplies 70 percent of India’s military hardware.

Source: http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=1309997&C=asiapac