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India Excludes Pakistan From 65-Nation Military Show Guest List
By Bibhudatta Pradhan
March 14 (Bloomberg) -- India, South Asia's largest military power, will conduct army and air force combat exercises next week before a global audience that will exclude its neighbor Pakistan.
Representatives of as many as 65 countries including China, Sri Lanka, the U.K., the U.S., France and Germany will witness the exercise in the desert region of Rajasthan that borders Pakistan, said Vijay Narula, a defense ministry spokesman. ``There is no such cooperation with'' Pakistan, he said.
Pakistan, which fought three wars with India, has been kept out of the war games even as the nuclear-armed neighbors have been rebuilding ties since April 2003, a year after coming close to a fourth conflict. The maneuvers will be held on March 19 at Pokharan, the site of India's nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998.
``As part of military confidence-building measures, it will provide opportunities to observers from foreign countries to witness military assets and the capabilities of the Indian armed forces,'' A.K. Das, army spokesman, said in New Delhi yesterday.
In the exercise, dubbed Brazen Chariots, the army will test its missile-firing T-90 tank, an all-weather, air-defense missile system, unmanned aerial vehicles, electronic sensors and surveillance equipment, Das said.
The air force will lend support with fighter aircraft such as the Sukhoi 30, the MiG-27, the MiG-21 and attack helicopters, said P.K. Vohra, an Indian Air Force spokesman.
Increasing Spending
India is increasing defense spending as neighboring China, with which it has fought a war, develops its own fighter planes and Pakistan buys military aircraft from the U.S. India plans to buy planes, helicopters and guns to strengthen its armed forces against possible threats from neighbors.
India, with a $906-billion economy that has averaged 8.7 percent growth since 2003 and is home to 1.1 billion people, is seeking to establish its position as an emerging power in economic, military and global affairs.
``The exercise has been set to project the maneuver warfare doctrine, which has since been promulgated in the Indian armed forces and is seen as a breakaway from the traditional attritionist approach of the army,'' the defense ministry said in a release last week.
By Bibhudatta Pradhan
March 14 (Bloomberg) -- India, South Asia's largest military power, will conduct army and air force combat exercises next week before a global audience that will exclude its neighbor Pakistan.
Representatives of as many as 65 countries including China, Sri Lanka, the U.K., the U.S., France and Germany will witness the exercise in the desert region of Rajasthan that borders Pakistan, said Vijay Narula, a defense ministry spokesman. ``There is no such cooperation with'' Pakistan, he said.
Pakistan, which fought three wars with India, has been kept out of the war games even as the nuclear-armed neighbors have been rebuilding ties since April 2003, a year after coming close to a fourth conflict. The maneuvers will be held on March 19 at Pokharan, the site of India's nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998.
``As part of military confidence-building measures, it will provide opportunities to observers from foreign countries to witness military assets and the capabilities of the Indian armed forces,'' A.K. Das, army spokesman, said in New Delhi yesterday.
In the exercise, dubbed Brazen Chariots, the army will test its missile-firing T-90 tank, an all-weather, air-defense missile system, unmanned aerial vehicles, electronic sensors and surveillance equipment, Das said.
The air force will lend support with fighter aircraft such as the Sukhoi 30, the MiG-27, the MiG-21 and attack helicopters, said P.K. Vohra, an Indian Air Force spokesman.
Increasing Spending
India is increasing defense spending as neighboring China, with which it has fought a war, develops its own fighter planes and Pakistan buys military aircraft from the U.S. India plans to buy planes, helicopters and guns to strengthen its armed forces against possible threats from neighbors.
India, with a $906-billion economy that has averaged 8.7 percent growth since 2003 and is home to 1.1 billion people, is seeking to establish its position as an emerging power in economic, military and global affairs.
``The exercise has been set to project the maneuver warfare doctrine, which has since been promulgated in the Indian armed forces and is seen as a breakaway from the traditional attritionist approach of the army,'' the defense ministry said in a release last week.