Vijay Prahar: Indian Army fine-tunes its fighting capability in nuclear weapon environment

Jaipur: Indian Army is fine-tuning its combat readiness in the face of a nuclear weapon environment during the ongoing Exercise Vijay Prahar. Over 20,000 troops from Army's South Western Command on Monday practiced fighting under a nuclear environment in the Mahajan Field Firing Ranges close to Suratgarh in Rajasthan.

According to Army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Manish Ojha, the troops took into account all contingencies including a battlefield under nuclear attack while practicing their war drills in the scorching heat of Rajasthan. The aim of Vijay Prahar is to ensure the troops can annihilate the enemy in the shortest possible time even in a battle where nukes have been used.

Lt Col Ojha pointed out that given the scenario, the Army was prepared to go to war and win in a nuclear-contaminated battlefield. The war games started on May 1 and will continue until May 9 when the top Army leadership will be present to witness the action.

The officers and soldiers from the South Western Command are carrying out Exercise Vijay Prahar along with the Indian Air Force.

Brigadier Anil Gautam, Brigadier General Staff (Information Warfare), South Western Command, had on May 1 said that the exercise was about a situation based on a swift offensive action. "The aim of the exercise is to fine-tune jointmanship with the Indian Air Force," Brigadier Gautam said. The wargame will help the troops in bolstering their penetrative manoeuvres across obstacle-ridden terrain under a nuclear umbrella.

The latest weapons platforms and state of the art force multipliers are being used by the soldiers to prepare for any eventuality. The exercise is aimed to orchestrate wide spectrum of threats which are planned to be tackled through high tempo joint air and land operation involving hundreds of aircraft, thousands of tanks and artillery pieces supported by real-time intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and real-time logistic support.

During the exercise, the formations of South Western Command will practice and operationalise new and innovative 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 bold offensive of application of the Special Forces.

"In the immediate wake of Gagan Shakti, this exercise was being held for testing and refining jointmanship and maximising the impact of the joint operations," the Brigadier added.

With inputs from PTI