Pakistan’s Nuclear tipped Hatf-IX sends India’s ‘Cold Start’ exercises scrambling for cover
Posted on 20 April 2011.
Islamabad is keeping its powder dry, its lances ready and its arrows sharpened. There is no time for complacency. IN most cases than not, Bharati combat exercises are matched with Pakistani combat exercises on the other side of the border. It wouldn’t be surprising if Islamabad announced an exercise within the next few days. Pakistan is talking to Bharat, but keeping its options open. It test fired a tactical Nuclear missile called Hatf-IX to let Bharat know that any attempt to implement “Cold Start” would invite a rapid and instantaneous response right on the battlefield. Pakistan has successfully miniaturized its tactical nukes and mounted them on short range missiles like the Hatf-IX. These missiles would thwart any misadventures by Bharat and halt any aggression in its tracks. The tactical nukes will create hell on earth on any Bharati “Rapid Deployment” force that attempts to cross the sacred borders of Pakistan and make mincemeat of incoming agressors.
The Hatf-IX test timed to distract the chaos of the 1.13-million combat exercise, codenamed “Vijayee Bhava” (Be Victorious), in the Thar desert. Hartf-IX is only part of the arsenal that would diffuse the “high tempo” operations that are practicing death across the border.
Delhi has long threatened Pakistan with “pro-active conventional war strategy”, (“cold start” doctrine). For years Pakistan has perfected the response of this sort of mis-adventure. The lethal nuclear tipped Hatf-IX has a strike range of only 60 km–clearly brandished as a “battlefield nuclear weapon” to deter Indian armored forces from attempting to cross into Pakistan territory. The Hatf-IX is an addition to the long range nuclear Shaheens and medium range Nuclear Ghauris.
The “Vijayee Bhava” conventional exercise is “much a do about nothing” even though the combat manoeuvres may be simulated under “a NBC (nuclear, chemical, biological) overhang. The combat exercise, which will enter its peak phase in early-May. It is being primarily conducted by the armoured corps-intensive 2 Corps, considered to be the most crucial of Army’s three principal “strike” formations. Bharat has long dreamed of using this force to cut Pakistan into two during a full-fledged war. Hatf-IX, Ghauri and Shaheen pour water on those designs.
2002: Operation Parakram in 2002 took almost a month to reach D-Day readiness, India has reorganized Army formations all along the western front to enable a more swift and powerful offensive punch. The exercise was a colossal failure. Before the units could mobilize, Pakistani combat exercizes had already mobilized and were ready for combat on the Pakistani border–sending a clear signal that “Cold Start” was a frigid failure.
2005: The South-Western Command (SWAC) was created at Jaipur in 2005 as the Army’s sixth operational command. With the Mathura-based 1 `Strike’ Corps and Bhatinda-based 10 `Pivot’ Corps under it, SWAC is responsible for offensive operations on the western front in conjunction with the Western Army Command (Chandimandir), which controls the 2 `Strike’ Corps.
The Northern and Bhopal based Southern Army Commands 21 `Strike’ Corps, at Udhampur and Pune respectively, are to play a role in the event of a war but it will be SWAC and WAC which will assume the pivotal roles. The western and southwestern commands of IAF have also stepped up coordination with the different Army commands in the western theatre to synergize efforts to build “an integrated and organic” air-land war-fighting machinery.
2009: Bharat tried again in 2009. The Indian 2 Corps conducted the now infamous`Hind Shakti’ exercise to try to test the pro-active (Cold Start) strategy. Cold Start is all about mobilizing fast and hitting hard at several border points to catch the enemy unawares and gain momentum”.
2011: In 2011 Delhi is trying again. The current `Vijayee Bhava’ exercise includes elements from the Western Army Command (WAC) formations like the Jalandhar-based 11 Corps. The VB will use hundreds of tanks, artillery guns and over 30,000 soldiers. The VB exercise is geared for “network-centric operations” will see the extensive use of satellite imagery, helicopter-borne surveillance systems, spy drones and a wide array of land-based radars to “achieve battlefield transparency”.
