13,000 Army troops carry out massive exercise

The Indian Army launched a massive summer exercise with troops over the complete month of May in the riverine terrain of Punjab, involving over 13,000 troops and several components of artillery guns, tanks and infantry combat vehicles as a part of its efforts to project its battle supremacy on the Western Front, said a spokesperson of Vajra Corps Headquarters, Jalandhar.

Under the aegis of Vajra Corps, all ranks of the Panther Division commenced collective training by honing up basic battle procedures and drills at tactical and operational levels. The troops built the momentum of training gradually with increased combat tempo involving rapid mobilisation and execution of battle plans in conjunction with the Air Force, said the spokesperson.

A large number of innovations and modifications carried out by units and formations to enhance combat power were validated in the field. During the exercise, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communication systems were put to test in a network- centric battlefield environment supported by required operational logistics.

“The exercise entered its culmination phase in May end and was witnessed by Western Army Commander Lt Gen KJ Singh. Beside interacting with soldiers and officers involved in the exercise, the Army Commander witnessed various battle maneuvers by infantry troops, mechanised infantry, tanks, artillery, special forces troops and surveillance detachments,” the spokesperson further added.

The focus of the exercise was to validate operational and transformational effectiveness of various formations of Panther Division and achieving joint and seamless coordination among all the forces in the Indian Army in a NBC Warfare scenario so as to deliver the enemy a lethal punch with full might at a lightning speed, he further added.

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