JOINING FORCES

Unprecedented in scale and size, recent Indian military war exercises walk the talk on the theaterisation, jointness and integration effort 

- SANJIB Kr BARUAH

Surely ‘the times they are a-changing’. In the second week of March, an Indian Air Force Avro aircraft suddenly developed a snag mid-air and made an unplanned landing at the Bhopal civil airport. The problem turned out to be big—the engine had to be swapped out. Faced with a challenging situation, IAF and Indian Army engineers trooped in as if on cue, changed the engine and sent the aircraft up again. There could easily have been a round of applause.

More recently, on April 1, the IAF embarked on its biggest exercise— Gagan Shakti—when fighter planes and helicopters took off from different parts of the country to engage pseudo-targets at Pokhran. But, the Indian Army also moved ammunition and about 10,000 IAF personnel on 12 passenger trains in order to validate the IAF’s Operational Rail Mobilisation Plan. The passenger trains were named Sanyukta Express to denote the inter-service camaraderie.

In the first four months of 2024, four mega military exercises were organised. Gagan Shakti, which envisaged two-front war scenario and hence included logistics involving the western and northern fronts, preceded by the IAF’s Vayu Shakti (February 17), the Indian Navy’s Milan (February 19), the Indian Army’s Bharat Shakti (March 12). In all these, a key underlying theme was the unprecedented emphasis on jointness.

Such instances of synergy define the winds of change sweeping the Indian military landscape. The age-old practice of mainly operating in silos may soon be a thing of the past. The Centre’s vision of theaterisation, jointness and integration of the tri-forces is already underway under General Anil Chauhan, the chief of defence staff.