Indian Army to hold major exercise in Rajasthan desert

Jodhpur, Oct 7 (PTI) Aiming to validate its war-fighting doctrines and absorb new technologies, the Indian Army will hold a major exercise codenamed 'Sudarashan Shakti' involving its elite 21 Strike Corps in the Rajasthan desert by year-end.Over 20,000 troops and over 200 battle tanks are expected to take part in the massive exercise to be held in the Pokharan firing ranges in Rajasthan.Troops of the Southern Command have started arriving in the desert for their annual training exercises which will culminate in Exercise Sudarshan Shakti in November-December to validate the operational preparedness of the Army in a tri-service environment, Army spokesperson Colonel S D Goswami said here.The 'Sudarshan Shakti' will be based on the integrated theatre-battle concept under Southern Army Commander Lt Gen AK Singh with 21 Corps in the lead, supported by all other relevant elements of Southern Army, he said.The exercise will commence with a service of small team actions, subsequently moving up in the command chain, culminating in large scale manoeuvres under General Officer Commanding 21 Corps, he said.Goswami said the exercise will help the Southern Command to validate its war-fighting concepts while working towards 'capability-based approach' relying on a series of transformational initiatives, concepts, organisational structures and absorption of new age technologies.The new age technologies include technologies in fields of precision munitions, advance surveillance system, space and network-centricity, he said.The spokesperson said the unique feature of the exercise would be the jointsmanship between the Southern Army and its counterparts in the Air Force and the Navy.Frontline aircraft like Su-30MKI along with transport aircraft will also take part in the exercise.