NEW DELHI: The Indian Army’s most committed Northern Command carried out a simulation of intense multi-domain, multi-agency exercises using futuristic conflict scenarios.
According to a statement by the Army, the exercise challenged commanders, staff and troops with futuristic threats in cyber, space, electromagnetic and cognitive domains.
The four-day exercise (13-16 October) named as Vidyut Vidhhwans concluded under the aegis of Headquarters (HQ) Northern Command, with new lessons, improved reflexes and setting of new benchmarks in India’s preparedness for next-generation conflicts.
Among the tri-services, while there is a substantial deployment of the Army and Air Force, the Indian Navy also has its complements at select locations.
The Army added further that “Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), sister services, central government agencies and private sector players participated jointly, underscoring the importance of an integrated and whole of a nation approach to continuously evolving security landscape.
Participation by indigenous defence industry players set a new benchmark, achieving Jointness, Atmanirbarta (self-reliance) and Innovation.”
In addition to the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the CAPFs include the Border Guarding Forces: Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBPF), Shashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), mandated as the lead Internal Security Force. Troops of the Northeast-based Assam Rifles have also been deployed in the Jammu division for the CI/CT Task.
The Northern Command handles borders with both China and Pakistan, including sensitive areas such as Kargil, Siachen, and Eastern Ladakh, where tensions with China continue due to the ongoing standoff.
The spectrum of threats handled by Northern Command is not multi-domain, including the traditional border-related issues, long-standing counter terrorism/counter insurgency (CI/CT), but also the modern offence and defence spectrum, which includes the cyber, space and others, as mentioned earlier in the report.
As brought out earlier by the TNIE, with Pakistan, India shares a total of 3,323 km border which is divided into three parts: the International Border (IB) (approximately 2,400 km from Gujarat to the north banks of Chenab in Akhnoor in Jammu), the Line of Control (LoC), (740 km long and runs from parts of Jammu to parts of Leh) and the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) (110 km long dividing the Siachen region extending from NJ 9842 to Indira Col in the north.)
With China, the length of the border, as per the Ministry of Home is 3488km, which is not fully demarcated. There has been a dense deployment of troops in Eastern Ladakh since May 2020, which started with a standoff situation.
During the exercise, “Troops deployed in the forward areas were practised in situations like cyber intrusion, spectrum saturation, electronic jamming, spoofing and cognitive attacks.”, the Army said.
Lt Gen Pratik Sharma, Northern Army Commander, while interacting with the troops, said, “In modern warfare, the lines are blurring between domains, so we need to leverage niche technology and keep innovating. A whole of nation approach is required to protect our territorial integrity and critical assets and also unleash punitive action on adversaries if the situation so demands”.
Before taking charge as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Northern Command, General Pratik Sharma was at New Delhi based Army Headquarters as the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) followed by his elevation to the crucial post of Deputy Chief of Army Staff handling the strategy for the more than a million strong Indian Army, with the operations and intelligence directorates under him.
As per the Army, initiated by the thoughtful dialogue during Samvad held at Mathura on October 4, the exercise demonstrated that readiness for future warfare begins with open minds and seamless teamwork. The Northern Command now stands better equipped, united and prepared to defend against emergent threats with strategic foresight and multi-domain synergy, said the Army.
