Forces launch combat drill off Gujarat-India-The Times of India
Forces launch combat drill off Gujarat
6 Feb 2009, 0318 hrs IST, Rajat Pandit , TNN
NEW DELHI: The armed forces are now aggressively sharpening their combat skills to take the battle right till enemy shores. Soon after the huge tri-Service amphibious warfare exercise codenamed `Triveni', the forces have launched yet another major combat drill dubbed `Tropex' on the west coast.
Army, Navy and IAF are working closely together to finetune their new joint amphibious warfare doctrine in the Tropex wargames, in a major thrust towards practising blitzkrieg assaults on enemy territory from the sea.
The armed forces, in fact, are rapidly moving towards brandishing a potent `marine expeditionary force', on the lines of US, which can undertake `operational manoeuvres from the sea', said sources.
The endeavour's seriousness can be gauged from the fact that the Tropex off the Gujarat coast comes close after the Triveni exercise was held around the Lakshadweep Islands in December-January.
As was first reported by TOI, India had gone ahead with Triveni, with warships from the eastern fleet joining the western fleet in the Arabian Sea, as a show of force despite heightened tensions with Pakistan after 26/11.
Pakistan, of course, remains apprehensive of its Karachi coast being attacked after the bombing and blockade of the city by India during the 1971 war.
As for Tropex, the `final beach assault' is planned at Madhavpur in Gujarat on February 9, when the 16,900-tonne amphibious transport warship INS Jalashwa and other warships will `disgorge a brigade group' of around 3,000 soldiers on the `enemy' beach in `one single wave', said sources.
In full battle gear with their armoured personnel carriers, the soldiers will use the four landing craft on board INS Jalashwa as well as helicopters, while IAF's maritime strike Jaguars will provide `air cover' during the manoeuvres.
Navy's strategic `sealift capability' has got a big boost with the induction of the second-hand INS Jalashwa, known as USS Trenton earlier, and its six UH-3H Sea King troop-carrying helicopters for a total of $88 million from US in 2007.
The second largest Indian warship after 28,000-tonne aircraft carrier INS Viraat, INS Jalashwa can transport four landing craft, six helicopters and a battalion of 900-1,000 fully-armed soldiers or a squadron of tanks over long distances.
After INS Jalashwa's induction, the armed forces have swung into frenzied activity to boost their amphibious warfare capability in `a synergistic manner', with a flurry of exercises to `test and validate' the new `joint doctrine for amphibious operations'.
The Army, on its part, has three specifically-earmarked `amphibious brigades', with almost 10,000 soldiers, one based in South India, another in West India and the third in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
"Inherently mobile and flexible, amphibious operations are probably the most complex of all military manoeuvres. They require all types of warships, aircraft, weapons, landing and special forces acting in a well-oiled concerted manner to establish beachheads,'' said a senior officer.