Massive Army exercise in Punjab, Rajasthan

[Contrarian]

Massive Army exercise in Punjab, Rajasthan

NEW DELHI: In the largest combat exercise in recent times, the Army has launched massive armoured, artillery and infantry manoeuvres in Rajasthan and Punjab to practise for swift, short and intense blitzkrieg wars of the future.

The wargames, codenamed Sanghe Shakti, are particularly significant since they are being conducted by 2 Corps, which is the most crucial of the Army's three "strike" formations, said sources.

The 2 Corps, headquartered in Ambala, virtually contains almost 50% of the country's strike capabilities. Over 40,000 soldiers from 1 Armoured Division, 14 Rapid Division and 22 Infantry Division, as well as artillery, air defence and engineer brigades, under the 2 Corps are participating in the exercise, said sources.

Army chief General J J Singh, incidentally, is very keen on maintaining the "operational readiness" of the 1.2-million strong Army, dubbing it his "foremost thrust area".

Interestingly, in the event of a war on the western front, one of the main tasks of 2 Corps commanded by Lt-Gen K D S Shekhawat is a rapid armoured thrust through the desert to cut Pakistan into two.

In keeping with this, 2 Corps was amassed in Rajasthan along the Indo-Pak border during Operation Parakram after war seemed imminent in the wake of the December 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament.

Sanghe Shakti, the first such "strike" corps-level exercise since the new war doctrine was finalised in end-2004, will "validate" new war-fighting concepts.

The doctrine underlines the importance for India to be ready for "short duration" battles of "high tempo and intensity" at "short notice", under an overall NBC (nuclear-chemical-biological) overhang.

At present, the exercise is in the 'training phase' in Rajasthan, practising various combat drills. Mobilisation in 'concentration areas' near Punjab will follow before the final culmination phase with full-scale assaults and other operational tasks around May 19-20," said sources.

The T-90S main-battle tanks, a wide array of artillery guns and infantry battalions are being backed by "force-multipliers" like real-time satellite and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) imagery during the exercise to make the battlefield "more transparent" for soldiers and their commanders.

The formations will also practice "survivability" in an NBC environment since, as the doctrine notes, a number of nuclear weapon states are in India's neighbourhood.

There is even the threat of "hostile, radical or fundamentalist elements" gaining access to WMDs (weapons of mass destruction), it says.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ajasthan/articleshow/msid-1513356,curpg-3.cms

 

[Contrarian]

Army's wargames to test reflexes against nuke, bio attacks


NEW DELHI: In one of the largest wargames of recent times, the Army is gearing up to launch a strike corps exercise in the deserts of Rajasthan later this month to test its "pro-active war strategy" and network-centric operations.

The huge exercise will see the Mathura-based 1 Corps unleash its armoured, artillery and infantry elements in full flow to practice operational concepts of being prepared for "short duration" battles of "high intensity" at "short notice", under an overall NBC (nuclear-chemical-biological) overhang.

The "training phase" of the exercise, codenamed Ashwamedh , is already underway and will be followed by mobilisation in "concentration areas" before the final culmination phase near Bikaner around April 24-May 1, say sources.

Incidentally, this will be the first time that 1 Corps, one of three "strike formations" of the 1.13-million strong Army (the others being the 2 Corps at Ambala and the 21 Corps at Bhopal), will be exercising after it was shifted to the new South-Western Command (SWAC), headquartered at Jaipur.

SWAC, the Army’s sixth regional command, came into existence in 2005 as part of the overall plan to restructure formations based along the Indo-Pak border to strengthen strike capabilities for multiple thrusts across the border.

The command is supposed to be the Army's test-bed for "high-tech weaponry and capabilities" and as such, the exercise will revolve around network-centric operations, with commanders in the simulated battle-field having access to "real-time" satellite and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) imagery through data-links.

Interestingly, Army chief General J J Singh, who is keen to maintain the "operational readiness" of his force, was commanding the 1 Corps during 'Operation Parakram', the 10-month forward troop mobilisation after the December 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament.

One of the most important lessons learnt during 'Operation Parakram' was that slow mobilisation - with strike formations taking almost a month to assemble at the "launch pads" along the border - will not do any longer.

"The idea is to mobilise and strike hard and fast. This will ensure surprise in enemy ranks. It will also give the international community less time to intervene," said a senior Army officer.

"This is where the concept of relatively smaller integrated battle groups for swift strikes across the border fits in. The strikes, of course, will have to be calibrated to ensure nuclear weapons do not come into play in any war scenario," he added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/..._against_nuke_attacks/articleshow/1862708.cms