Fighting Dirty

Sapta Shakti Command’s month-long exercise Vijay Prahar concludes

A FORCE Report

Jaipur-based Sapta Shakti Command ran a month-long exercise, Vijay Prahar, in the Mahajan Field Firing Ranges. With over 25,000 troops participating in the exercise, the programme included a plethora of modern war inventory including tanks, attack helicopters, drones, and fighter aircraft. Lieutenant General Army Commander of Sapta Shakti Command Cherish Mathson witnessed the concluding offensive of his forces achieving victory in the battlefield.

“I had laid out unambiguous scope for activities to be carried out and had also benchmarked standards to be achieved and I am fully satisfied with the effort put in and result achieved,” said the Army Commander while speaking to the press.




Lieutenant General Cherish Mathson further stressed on the importance of creating offensive campaigns on the principles of Operational Art in a deep Air-Land battle including real-time analysis of Surveillance, Intelligence, and Reconnaissance. Vijay Prahar began with the use of such space-based surveillance systems. The concept of ‘Air Cavalry’ in the exercise employed attack and weaponised helicopters. The exercise was designed to instill confidence in the participating formations and make the troops comfortable with ‘fighting dirty’ and continuing the offensive even after sustaining a Tactical Nuclear, Chemical, or Biological attack from the enemy. Using modern ‘Just in Time’ logistics, the deep thrusts of attack can be sustained effectively. This event clearly validated the jointmanship of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The Lieutenant General also complimented the troops who braved the scorching temperatures above 45 degrees and sand storms and achieved a very high degree of proficiency they had set out to achieve.

Employing the concept of ‘Air Cavalry’, the impact of the air attack is maximised with the inclusion of ground tanks. The strike formations of the Sapta Shakti Command rehearsed such offensive manoeuvres that involved attack helicopters working together with tanks on ground which would deliver and destroy enemy armour. Leaving the troops more confident of destroying enemy armour, these manoeuvres require a very high degree of precision and perfection.

As Vijay Prahar reached its culmination, the troops of the Sapta Shakti Command, practiced fighting dirty in a battlefield that faced the aftermath of a tactical nuclear warhead. Troops practised day in and day out in the scorching heat and blizzards to fine tune the drills and procedures to fight and destroy the enemy in a battle space dominated by nukes. Although the methods are very different from conventional war fighting, the participating troops were able to achieve a very high degree of coordination through repeated practices and rehearsals.

 

 

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