Indian Army To Mobilize 20,000 Troops For The Next Military Exercise

The elite 21st strike corp of the Indian Army will hold its military exercise along the Indo-Pak border this winter. It will involve 20,000 troops and 200 tanks in this war game. Beside the military the Indian Air Force will also form the part of this exercise. This is done to increase and fine tune the interoperability of the two services.

“The 21 Strike Corps under the Southern Command will hold its routine exercise in the western deserts in Pokharan in November-December time-frame," army officials told reporters here

Though it is being shown as routine operations by Indian Army but it must be seen in the context of the latest summer exercises. First it was huge exercise called Vijayee bhawa then it was Pine Prahar by the Jalandhar based 11 Vajra corp of the Indian Army.

Therefore it can be deduced that Indian Army is working toward perfecting some kind of strategy.The most famous one is the cold start-doctrine to which will give India the option of striking deep inside Pakistan within a week or less. The second aspect of these exercises are the armies desire to become network centric force where every unit and field commanders are not only in contact with each other but can share data and information. Indian Armed forces are now relying heavily on UAV and AWACS to organize in a better way. Last exercise saw DRDO testing its capabilities in data-link , satellite imagery and down-links etc

This particular exercise will be held most probably in the month of November-December 2011.During the exercise, the Army troops will also practice joint operations, with the Indian Air Force fighters and transport aircraft also taking part in the wargames to showcase their fire power. “The exercise will involve precision munition and advance surveillance systems to achieve a greater degree of network centric capability,” they said.

Vajra Corps Of Indian Army Launches Pine Prahar Military Exercise

Army's Vajra Corps, better known as "Defenders of Punjab", today began a 4-day exercise called Pine Prahar somewhere in the western sector.

The exercise envisages swift mobilisation of units and formations, and offensive manoeuvres.

In an interaction with journalists, Lt Gen Munish Sibal, General Officer Commanding of Vajra Corps, dwelt on various facets of the exercise.

He said Vajra Corps was fully ready to safeguard the border of the state at any given time.

Over 12,000 troops are taking part in the exercise.

The month long exercise includes ambitious integration of all force multipliers including the air force, battlefield transparency and enhanced mobility demonstrators in sync with the requirements of the future battlefield.

The culmination of the collective training is scheduled in the form of Ex' PINE PRAHAR' at the end of the month, during which a battle group with an all arms composition will practice offensive man- oeuvres across different obstacle systems. The exercise aims at validating the mission accomplishment capabilities of the battle group, incorporating enhanced integration of combat troops with tailor made organizations for C4 ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Recce), jointmanship and network centric operations.

Indian Army And French Army To Conduct Joint Military Exercise

The Indian and French Armies are set to begin a Army to Army Exercise series christened Exercise Shakti. “The air force and navies of the two countries have conducted joint exercises, while army units were scheduled to hold drills soon”, said the visiting French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet. The excercise is expected to be held in September or October this year in North India.

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Russian Submarine To Join NATO Exercise For The First Time

A Russian submarine will take part in the world's biggest submarine rescue exercise with its former Cold War foe, NATO, next week, the military alliance said May 27.

The Russian submarine, the first to participate in any NATO exercise, will drop to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea along with Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish submarines and will await listless for a rescue mission off the coast of Cartagena, Spain.

About 2,000 military and non-military personnel as well as ships and aircraft from more than 20 nations will take part in the exercise, dubbed Bold Monarch 11, that will run from May 30 to June 10.

Held every three years, it "is the world's largest submarine rescue exercise," said a statement from NATO's SHAPE allied military headquarters based in Mons, Belgium.

"The exercise is designed to maximize international cooperation in submarine rescue operations - something that has always been very important to NATO and all the submarine-operating nations," it said.

The inclusion of a Russian submarine in the exercise comes amid a warming of ties between Moscow and the 28-nation alliance, nearly three years after Russia's war with Georgia had sparked tensions between the two sides.

The U.S., Russia, Italy and Sweden are contributing submarine rescue vehicles and sophisticated gear to clear debris. France, Norway and Britain will use a jointly owned rescue system.

Aircraft will deploy from Italy, Britain and the U.S. to help locate the submarines and drop parachutists to provide emergency assistance.

The vast exercise will culminate with a 48-hour coordinated rescue and evacuation of 150 survivors, including casualties, from a submarine acting in distress.

Indian Army Practises Blitzkrieg To Strike Hard At Enemy

In keeping with the "transformation" underway in the 1.13-million strong Army to make it leaner and meaner, the force is conducting a major exercise to practice blitzkrieg-style operations to hit the enemy hard at short-notice.

The exercise " Vijayee Bhava" (Be Victorious), being held in the Thar desert, basically revolves around the armour-intensive 2 Corps, considered to be the most crucial of the Army's three principal "strike" formations tasked with virtually cutting Pakistan into two during a full-fledged war.

"The manoeuvres are being conducted in north Rajasthan (in the Suratgarh region) to test the operational and transformational effectiveness of the Ambala-based Kharga Corps (2 Corps) as also validate new concepts which have emerged during the transformational studies undertaken by the Army," said an officer on Monday.

The Army, as reported earlier, has undertaken as many as 13 transformational studies, which range from consolidating strike capabilities to flattening different HQs, with the overall aim being to make the force "an agile, lethal, versatile and networked force" ready for the operational challenges of the 21st Century.

The most significant endeavour is to bring the three "strike" corps -- 1 Corps (Mathura), 2 Corps (Ambala) and 21 Corps (Bhopal), which are under separate regional commands -- under one umbrella strategic command.

"Working towards a capability-based approach, the Army has embarked on several transformational initiatives spanning concepts, organizational structures and absorption of new age technology, particularly in PGMs (precision-guided munitions), advanced surveillance systems, space and network-centricity," he said.

"These are being fielded and trial-evaluated by nominated test-bed formations and units participating in the exercise," added the officer.

This comes even as Army and IAF have stepped up coordination in the western theatre to build "an integrated and organic" air-land war-fighting machinery. In tune with this, a large number of IAF aircraft, including MiG-29s, MiG-21 'Bisons', Jaguars and Mi-25 attack helicopters, are also taking part in the "Vijayee Bhava" exercise.

Details Of Indian Navy's Exercise Sagar Kavach

	The Indian Navy has concluded a two-day exercise "Sagar Kavach" off the coast of Goa and Maharashtra yesterday. The exercise was meant to better the coordination between Coast Guard, Customs, port and marine police. Both Navy and Coast Guard pitched in their ships, personnel and air assets. Around 2,000 fishermen, accompanied by 7,000 Navy, Coast Guard and policemen, participated in this two-day marine operation in the high seas to protect the state's coastline, particularly major installations such as BARC, Tarapore Atomic Energy Centre and defence bases. An informal survey shows only 28 interceptors of the sanctioned 58 patrol boats were made available for defending the city. Only 18 interceptors were  delivered to patrol a 700-km stretch starting from Dahanu (bordering Gujarat) to Sawantwadi (bordering Goa). Ideally, 28 high-speed boats should have been allocated for patrolling.
	Since there were inadequate numbers of interceptors, the Thane Rural Police were left with no option but to hire fishermen with their old vessels. The fishermen formed a part of the Sagar Rakshak. A formation of commandos from the Navy, Coast Guard and members from Sagar Rakshak also took part in the high seas operations. Six Coast Guard stations, equipped with the high-speed patrol boats, were also put to test during the operations. The operations included mock drill to protect important installations along the coast. It also covered minor and major ports along the state's coastline from Dahanu in the north to Sawantwadi in the south. Naval helicopters also took part in the reconnaissance operations trying to track the enemy in mock attack drills. "The entire coastline became the hub of activities," a police source said.
	Some of the newly-acquired bulletproof boats zipped along the coast at around 50 nautical miles. The Union government is spending around Rs 250 crore on coastal security. A large number of possible landing sites were tested during the 48-hour exercise. Policemen posing as suspicious enemies were weeded out and threats neutralized . The entire force was divided into two groups namely Red and Blue. While one of the groups was assigned the job of defending the coast, the other, posing as enemies, attacked. Plans of maneuvering the vessels were a closely-guarded secret, at least till the exercises got over. Mock raids were carried out on Coastal check posts to see whether the jawans were vigilant enough to foil an attack. "These exercises take place every few months. The exercise are held in the two neighboring states to check the loopholes and plug them and simulate coordination between them," the Defence PRO said. This exercise was conducted under the command of Western Naval Commander Vice-Admiral DK Joshi. This also happens to be the first exercise conducted after Vice Adm Joshi took over the command on April 30, 2011. The outgoing Western Command Chief, Vice Adm Bhasin said that Terror, Piracy and Pollution had emerged as main challenge in past three years. Indian navy has been given the over all charge to protect the coastlines on the country. The step was initiated after 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

2 Strike Corps To Conduct Military Exercise On The Western border

The Ambala based 2 Strike corps will engage in a fortnight long excercise starting from May 8th. The Excercise will be conducted on the Rajasthan border and 10,000 troops are sceduled to participate. It includes elements from the artillery and armour. Elements from the Meerut based 22 Div, Patiala based 1 Armoured and “Rapids,” the Dehradun based 14 Division will be a part of the wargames.

The aim of the excercise is to transform the strike corps into a more agile, more lethal and networked force capable of meeting all future challenges. The excercise is also going to test the synergy between the Army’s southern and Western command. In 2005, a new South-Western Army Command was created at Jaipur, between the Western and Southern Commands, for a greater offensive punch along the entire western front with Pakistan.

The excercise is a part of excercises conducted by the Mathura based 1 Corps, Ambala based 2 Corps and Bhopal based 21 Corps. Each year, one of the three Corps get permission to practice their wargames. Last year, the Bhopal based 21 corps conducted an excercise based on Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Warfare conditions.

Muscle Flexing On The Border

Diplomatic bonhomie aside both Pakistan and India are flexing their muscle and sharpening their swords. The 1.13-million strong Indian Army is honing its war-fighting machinery with a major combat exercise, codenamed "Vijayee Bhava'' (Be Victorious), in the Thar desert to practice "high tempo'' operations to cut across the border.

Squeamish for long with India's "pro-active conventional war strategy'', or what is colloquially dubbed the "cold start'' doctrine, Pakistan in turn test-fired a new nuclear-capable ballistic missile Hatf-IX on Tuesday.

Given that Hatf-IX has a strike range of only 60 km, it is clearly intended for brandishing as a "battlefield nuclear weapon'' to deter Indian armoured forces from launching rapid thrusts into its territory.

"Pakistan already has the long and medium range Shaheen and Ghauri series of missiles, acquired with help of China and North Korea, to act as the delivery mechanism for strategic nuclear weapons,'' said a senior Indian official.

"So, with this new missile, Islamabad seems to be looking at tactical nuclear deterrence against advancing enemy formations. But it is being foolhardy if it thinks nuclear weapons are war-fighting weapons,'' he added.

India, of course, has its own nuclear and missile plans. It may be steadfast about adhering to a "no first-use'' of nuclear weapons but has made it amply clear that a nuclear retaliation to a first strike will be "massive and designed to inflict unacceptable damage''.

The "Vijayee Bhava'' exercise, of course, is more conventional in nature, even though the combat manoeuvres may be simulated under "a NBC (nuclear, chemical, biological) overhang''.

The exercise, which will enter its peak phase in early-May, is being primarily conducted by the armoured corps-intensive 2 Corps, considered to be the most crucial of Army's three principal "strike'' formations tasked with virtually cutting Pakistan into two during a full-fledged war, said sources.

Incidentally, the 2 Corps based in Ambala is aptly called the `Kharga Corps', taking its name and formation sign from the deadly scythe wielded by Goddess Kali to vanquish enemies.

"In 2009, the 2 Corps had conducted the `Hind Shakti' exercise to fine-tune the pro-active strategy, which is all about mobilizing fast and hitting hard at several border points to catch the enemy unawares and gain momentum,'' said a source.

"The `Vijayee Bhava' exercise, which will also include elements from other Western Army Command (WAC) formations like the Jalandhar-based 11 Corps, will further validate operational concepts,'' he added.

With hundreds of tanks, artillery guns and over 30,000 soldiers, the exercise 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''.

As reported by TOI earlier, after 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.

It was under this overall plan that 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 Southern Army Commands, with the latter having the Bhopal-based 21 `Strike' Corps, at Udhampur and Pune respectively, will of course also play a crucial part in the event of a war but it will be SWAC and WAC which will assume the pivotal roles.

Moreover, both 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.