Article Posted on : - May 02, 2018

A representational photo.

JAIPUR (PTI): Over 20,000 troops of the strike formations of the Army's South Western Command are engaged in the "Vijay Prahar" exercise to fine-tune the Army's jointmanship with the Indian Air Force (IAF) near Suratgarh in Rajasthan.

The exercise is being held in the wake of the IAF testing its might in the "Gagan Shakti" exercise in the western sector of Rajasthan, which shares an over-1,000-kms border with Pakistan.

During the exercise, the formations are practising and operationalising certain concepts of operating in the network-centric environment, integrated employment of modern-day sensors with the weapon platforms, employment of attack helicopters in the air cavalry role and a bold offensive of application of the Special Forces.

The exercise that began a couple of weeks ago will conclude on May 9 and Army chief General Bipin Rawat and other senior officers are likely to witness the final phase.

"Strike formations of the command are going through the exercise in the Mahajan area, near Suratgarh in Rajasthan, in which over 20,000 troops are participating with fighting equipment for a couple of weeks," Brigadier Anil Gautam, Brigadier General Staff (Information Warfare), South Western Command said.

"The aim of the exercise is to fine-tune the jointmanship with the Air Force. The IAF carried out the Gagan Shakti exercise and demonstrated its capabilities and strength. In the immediate wake of Gagan Shakti, this exercise is being held for testing and refining our jointmanship and maximising the impact of the joint operations," he added.

The brigadier said some of the areas in focus during the exercise were real-time information, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, deployment and using satellite-based surveillance capabilities, drones, electronic warfare capabilities and radars.

The other aspects in focus were the fighting capabilities through armed helicopters and fighting and operating in a nuclear environment, he added.