*New Delhi: *With a two-front war in mind (Pakistan and China), the IndianNavy undertook a gruelling military exercise along with the Army, Air Forceand the Coast Guard, replicating realistic conflict situations in a wargame.
The exercise spanned from the northern Arabian sea off the Gujarat coast tothe southern Indian Ocean off Sunda Straits near Indonesia.
The two-month-long exercise has been concluded and the Navy will nowundertake “extensive debriefings” to identify key takeaways of the exerciseand formulate measures to further strengthen contingency plans, the DefenceMinistry said on Monday.
The exercise saw participation of all the operational ships, submarines andaircraft of the Indian Navy along with men and equipment of the IndianArmy, all types of aircraft of the Indian Air Force and ships and aircraftof the Coast Guard.
The war game on the eastern seaboard was codenamed Encore (Eastern NavalCommand Operational Readiness Exercise) while on the western seaboard itwas codenamed as Exercise Paschim Lehar.
The idea behind conducting the exercises simultaneously on both seaboardswas the Navy’s threat perceptions of a two-front war.
“The focus has been on realistic scenarios likely to manifest in the futureincluding terrorist attacks from sea on critical infrastructure andpopulated areas, defence of the country’s offshore oil resources andsecurity of its huge trade through sea routes,” an official said.
“With the realisation that future conflicts and contingencies are likely torequire a joint tri-service response, the Navy sought participation of theother services with critical capabilities and specialised equipment toensure an integrated response to situations,” the official added.
The war game saw the operation commanders of the Navy and other servicesbeing put through crisis situations from benign humanitarian assistance anddisaster relief to full-fledged conflict situations.
The Navy has been working on the mission-based deployment concept sinceJuly last year. It has revamped operational exercise plans to make themmore contemporary and realistic.
“Greater focus has been accorded to conflict readiness across the spectrumas well as realistic scenarios likely to be faced at sea,” the officialsaid.
Also, mission-ready ships are now forward deployed in critical areas of theIndian Ocean region with “inherent capability to respond to emergingthreats and benign situations”. Agencies