War game season in neighbourhood

The Telegraph ^ | 4/05/2010 | The Telegraph

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The armies of India and Pakistan are mobilising for separate large-scale war games on either side of the international border this month to experiment with concepts they will employ in the event of a war with each other.

Each side has informed the other — as is normally done in peace time — that it is conducting military exercises near the international boundary and that the movement of troops, tanks, guns and fighter aircraft is not a sign of aggressive intent.

Pakistan Air Force combat aircraft landed on and took off from a motorway on Saturday in an exercise named High Mark that will climax in a joint drill with the Pakistan Army in the desert region.

Elements of the Indian Army’s 1 (strike) Corps, one of the largest and most powerful field formations headquartered in Mathura, have now started mobilising for exercise Yoddha Shakti for a month-long war game in Rajasthan that begins on April 15.

A source in the Indian Army said the force would validate new equipment, especially night-vision devices, and electronic monitors “in an environment of network-centric operations”.

Former Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor said in a news conference in February that one of his main concerns was the “night blindness” of the army.

The exercise will involve armoured and mechanised infantry regiments — tanks and personnel carriers — unmanned spy planes and aircraft of the Indian Air Force.

Exercise Yoddha Shakti is part of a series to test the “cold start” doctrine that the Indian Army adopted for a conventional war with Pakistan after the stand-off in 2002 that saw full-scale deployment for a year. The stand-off did not escalate into a war.

“Cold start” implies that the army will launch an assault from bases immediately after the political signal is given,.