More than 40,000 Indian troops have been massed near the border with Pakistan since March for one of the ArmyÂ’s biggest land exercises. Code named Smash Pakistan Sanghe Shakti, the combat exercise in the desert state of Rajasthan and Punjab involves the air defense, artillery and infantry, led by the ArmyÂ’s 2 Corps, the most important of its three strike formations stationed in northern India.
The scenario for Smash Pakistan Sanghe Shakti, said an Army official, is that war has broken out between India and Pakistan, and 2 Corps has been tasked with invading and dividing its rival neighbor. The exercise ends May 19, the Army official said. The exercise also is designed to prepare the Army to fight in a nuclear-biological-chemical warfare environment.
The equipment India has gathered for the exercise includes T-90S main battle tanks, an array of artillery guns and unmanned aerial vehicles. The land exercise is the biggest since the adoption of the new military doctrine in 2004, advocating swift, lethal battles in the future. |