The 778-km long LoC has turned extremely violent, with artillery, heavy mortars and anti-tank guide missiles being regularly used by the two sides, after the NDA government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5.
The Army says it has recorded as many as 1,050 ceasefire violations (CFVs) in just the last three months, with October alone accounting for 351. Overall, the number of CFVs this year already stands at 2,670, which has broken all annual records since 2003. The number of CFVs was 971 in 2017 and 1,629 in 2018.
Amidst this heavy exchange of fire, with civilians often being caught in the middle, the Army has launched the “Sindhu Sudarshan” exercise in the Thar desert by the 21 Corps, one of its three principle “strike” formations geared towards rapid armoured thrusts across the border in the western sector.
“The exercise aims to validate the battle readiness, operational effectiveness and deep strike offensive capabilities of the `Sudarshan Chakra’ (21) Corps (which has its headquarters in Bhopal) in an integrated air-land battle scenario. There will be seamless integration between armoured, mechanized infantry, artillery, air defence, attack helicopters and special forces, along with the IAF assets,” said an officer.
It is a week-long exercise desert conditions in the Barmer sector. The “combined arms cohesion” will be tested with the integrated employment of mechanized forces, in the shape of main-battle tanks and infantry combat vehicles, with the newly inducted K-9 Vajra self-propelled artillery gun systems and indigenous armed Rudra advanced light helicopters, said the officer.
The Sindhu Sudarshan exercise comes soon after the 1.3-million strong Army tested its new integrated battle groups (IBGs) for mountain warfare in Arunachal Pradesh on the eastern front with China last month. The month-long “Him Vijay” exercise was geared towards converting the new 17 “Brahmastra” Corps, which has its headquarters at Panagarh in West Bengal, into “a lean and mean force” for “swift attacks” in a dynamic operational scenario, as was earlier reported by TOI.
The IBGs -- each of which have 5,000 soldiers and a mix of tanks, artillery, air defence units, signals and other elements -- meant for Pakistan were similarly “test-bedded” under the Chandimandir-based Western Command in April-May.
The Army is evolving different kinds of IBGs based on the nature of threat, the type of terrain and the operational task involved. “We do have the `Cold Start’ doctrine but we need the existing formations to shed weight and become more agile to execute tasks faster. The IBGs are being raised with that in mind,” said a senior officer.
(This story has not been edited by IndoPakDefscan staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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