NEW DELHI: India’s air force will begin its biggest-ever combat exercise onSunday as it weighs up potential threats from nuclear rivalsPakistan andChina.The biennial two-week exercise, known as Exercise Gagan Shakti (“gagan” isHindi for skies and “shakti” is power), will include jointoperations withthe country’s army and navy.“The entire machinery of the Indian Air Force will be activated to validateits plans and assess its war-waging capability,” the air force announced ina statement.The exercise will involve “real-time deployment and employment of air powerassets in a simulated, short and intense battle scenario.”Day and night exercises will be carried out in two phases — the first inthe west of the country, along India’s border with Pakistan. The secondphase in the north will include high- altitude landings, said to be aimedat Chinese defenses on the Tibet border.“With two nuclear-armed neighbors that are allied with each other and arepotential military adversaries for India, it’s logical that New Delhi needsto test its military capabilities in a two-front conflict scenario,” saidSharad Joshi, assistant professor at the Middlebury Institute ofInternational Studies in California.“In a war with either China or Pakistan, India would have to be on guardagainst the other party in an alliance,” he said.China recently sold Pakistan a highly sophisticated, large-scale opticaltracking and measurement system, making it the first country in the Indiansubcontinent to acquire a missile capable of carrying multiple nuclearwarheads and one that can overwhelm a missile defense system.The Chinese team spent about three months in Pakistan to assemble thesystem and train Pakistani officers.News of the sale came on the heels of India testing its Agni-Vinter-continental ballistic missile, which is capable of striking targetsin almost all of China.Experts said that the “leak” of the tracking equipment’s sale was China’smessage to India that it could counter the Agni-V.India’s air force will move 15,000 personnel, including 300 officers, fromits bases as part of the exercise, according to media reports. More than1,100 aircraft will take part, including locally made Tejas LCA fighterjets.The air force has been operating for several years at levels below thoserequired for a two-front scenario, making the exercise all the moresignificant, Joshi said.To tackle the shortfall, the air force will practice “surge operations” inwhich it carries out more sorties with the same number of aircraft byimproving maintenance.