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Army chief witnesses final stages of 'Shoorveer' exercise

May 03, 2012 10:32 IST

The army carried out battle drills in synergy with the air force to fine tune war fighting concepts as Army Chief General V K Singh on Thursday witnessed the final stages of war exercise 'Shoorveer' in the desert area in Hanumangarh, Rajasthan.

Singh and other senior army and air force officers witnessed the mechanised predominant battle manoeuvres in which T-90 tanks, infantry combat vehicles, long range artillery gun, air defence weapon system, electronic warfare system and surveillance equipment carried out battle drills.

Fighter aircraft of the air force, including Sukhoi-30 and Jaguars along with attack helicopters MI-25, MI-17, Unmanned Air Vehicles also participated in the exercise, which was based on the integrated theatre battle concept.

The army chief also witnessed major innovations carried out by formations of Sapta Shakti Command (South Western Command) to enhance combat potential and appreciated the efforts and dedication of the formation.

During the exercise which began on March 1, the army and the Indian Air Force tested new battle fighting concepts and doctrines with real time pictures of the battle zone provided to a centralised command and control centre from fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles and attack helicopters, waging war in network centric environment and massed tank drills backed by long range artillery guns.

More than 300 combat vehicles including main battle tank T-90, T-72, long range 150mm artillery guns, multi barrel rockets and about 60000 troops have taken part in this massive exercise in the desert state.

Integrated air-land war-fighting machinery and the synergy between Army and IAF was the major highlight of the exercise, said Defence Spokesperson S D Goswami.

IAF aircraft -- Sukhoi-30, MIG-29, MiG-21 'Bisons', Cheetah, Chetak, MI-25 attack helicopters, transport aircraft such as IL 76 and AN-32 also took part in the exercise.

Lieutenant General Gyan Bhushan, general officer commanding-in-chief (army commander), south western command, Lieutenant General Ashok Singh, general officer commanding, 1 Corps, were among those present in the exercise area.