On 3rd April, the Indian Army began its major training exercise, aimed at validating and enhancing operational effectiveness of its premier corps, the KHARGA Corps. Codenamed Exercise HIND SHAKTI, it commenced yesterday in Punjab. The Exercise is being conducted as a two- sided exercise to practice the elite KHARGA Corps in their operational task. Army aims to validate its doctrine of proactive strategy through the Exercise.

Various formations of KHARGA Corps are being exercised both as BLUE LAND forces and with some representative depiction as RED LAND forces, the exercise is based on Blue land launching an offensive deep within enemy territory. The Exercise commenced in the afternoon with massed mechanised manoeuvres undertaken as part of offensive operations in the plains of Punjab. A large No of tanks, BMPs, artillery guns and specialist vehicles continued these manoeuvres by day and night under near war like conditions. A parachute drop by airborne troops and other heliborne operations were also undertaken to supplement the offensive by the mechanised forces.

As part of the Army’s modernization programme, a wide variety of State of the Art equipment has been inducted into the KHARGA Corps and has been fielded in the exercise. The KHARGA Corps, exploiting the new age technology available to it including commercially available off-the-shelf technology in the field of IT, has developed a concept of Networked Operations which exploit real time surveillance means like Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAVs), satellite imagery, ground –based surveillance resources and mission reports from Air Force / Attack Helicopters. This allows for rapid decision making at the Corps Headquarters and and its lower Headquarters.