Focus on synergy as Navy to join drills in mountainous terrain
The Armed Forces will on November 10 begin a major training exercise in the high mountains of the country’s sensitive northeastern region opposite China. The nine-day drill, code-named ‘Poorvi Prahar’, will involve elements from the Army, Navy and Air Force, and is aimed at generating synergy and validating joint operations in rugged high-altitude terrain.
The Navy’s involvement in the exercise focuses attention on two aspects in the Indian military — the increasing combat role of the Navy in a theatre away from its traditional maritime domain and the recently introduced practice of cross-posting junior and middle-level officers among the three services.
While tri-services drills have taken place in the past in places such as Vishakhapatnam on the eastern seaboard and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, it is perhaps for the first time that the Defence Ministry has publicly announced a tri-service exercise in land-locked mountains. Earlier, exercises in Ladakh and the northeast involved the Army and the Air Force.
The Navy, unlike the other two services, is a multi-dimensional force, trained and equipped for operating under, on and above the surface through the use of submarines, ships and aircraft along with a highly proficient special force called the Marine Commando Force (Marcos).
Though the Marcos have been deployed in Kashmir, particularly around Wular Lake, on anti-terrorist operations for years, its multi-dimensional capability came to the fore during the prolonged stand-off with China along the LAC from of 2020 onwards. Marcos were deployed at the Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh, one of the sites of heavy Chinese incursions and face-offs, while its Boeing P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft, based at Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu, and unmanned aerial vehicles flew reconnaissance and survey missions along the LAC to detect Chinese movements. It is expected that the Navy’s surveillance aircraft, Marcos and communication experts would be part of ‘Poorvi Prahar’.
