Article Posted on : - Sep 22, 2011

NEW DELHI (PTI): To develop joint strategies and synergise their efforts and training requirements, Indian Army and Air Force recently held a five day-long joint training review conference at Chandimandir-based Western Army Command.

The conference was organised to discuss and formulate operational philosophy among land and air forces and was attended by Army’s Western, South Western and IAF's Western Air Commands.

“The conference was held under the aegis of Western Army Command and was attended by a cross-section of high ranking officers and observers from the participating formations,” Defence Ministry officials said here.

Officials from Army HQ, its northern and southern commands, Army Training Command and Army War College which develops and refines the tactical, operational and strategic concepts also attended the conference.

Besides synergising operational philosophy amongst land and air forces for integrated air-land battle in various sectors, the conference also dwelled upon transformation of Indian Army into a lethal, agile and networked force, they said.

Recently, Western Command conducted two major training exercises involving Army and Air Force. The first exercise ‘Vijayee Bhava’ was held in Rajasthan in May, followed by ‘Pine Prahar’ held in Punjab, in June this year.

In accordance with Army’s 'Systems Approach to Training', a need was felt to follow up such events with a review of lessons learnt both at strategic and operational levels, and refine training concepts and methodology at the end of each training cycle, they said.

In the course of this review, the participants also discussed various contemporary issues, notably joint targeting plans and transformation synergy between different operational theatres.