New Delhi, May 4 (IANS) The Indian Army has launched a massive summer war game in the plains of Punjab to test its operational readiness, a defence ministry official said Friday.
Organised under the army’s Chandimandir-based Western Command, the participating formations include the Yol Cantonment-based 9 Corps and the Jalandhar-based 11 Corps.
During the month-long exercise, more than 20,000 troopers, 200 tanks and infantry combat vehicles will test their skills to repel enemy attack and to carry out a short, effective offensive to weaken the adversary.
The exercise is being held close to the borders with Pakistan. It will validate the army’s battle concepts, apart from absorbing new military technologies acquired by it in recent years, a defence ministry spokesperson based in Jalandhar, Punjab, said.
‘This exercise is part of the army’s systematic approach to training, which aims at transforming it into a modern, lean, agile and a well-equipped force, capable of accomplishing assigned tasks,’ the spokesperson told IANS over phone.
Apart from the troops and the mechanised vehicles, the army will also get assistance in the form of unmanned aerial vehicles, attack helicopters and combat planes of the Indian Air Force during the exercise.
The army troops will also test their ability to work with advanced communication technologies.
‘Such technologies will help the army achieve battlefield transparency, providing real time information input that will help in decision making during warfare,’ the spokesperson said.
