Tri-service mountain drill focuses on Navy’s growing role on northern frontier

On November 10, the Indian Armed Forces will commence a major training exercise in the high mountains of the country’s sensitive north-eastern region opposite China. The nine-day drill, code-named exercise ‘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 amongst the three services.

While tri-services drills have taken place in the past in places such as Visakhapatnam on the eastern seaboard and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, home to India’s sole Tri-service Command, 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 with 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 contentious Line of Actual Control (LAC) from the spring of 2020 onwards. Marcos were deployed at Pangong Tso Lake in eastern 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.

At the same time, to send across a strong message to the adversary, the Navy positioned its sea-going combatants in the South China Sea, another geopolitical hotspot, and the Straits of Malacca in southeast Asia, a critical choke point for the sea lanes of communication to and from China.

The P-8s were also reported to have been deployed along the western borders in the aftermath of the 2019 Pulwama terror attack for intelligence gathering. They use the synthetic aperture radar, inverse synthetic aperture radar, electro-optic instruments and infrared to map surface areas as well as employ their onboard electronic warfare suites to scan the electromagnetic domain.

In May 2023, the Defence Ministry went ahead with the move to cross-post officers to different services to give them better, hands-on understanding of their sister services’ ethos, role, nuances and operating procedures – a step towards the establishment of the much talked about integrated theatre commands. This initially involves about 150 officers at the level of Major and Lieutenant Colonel or equivalent.

In October 2024, Lieutenant Commander Pranoy Roy, a helicopter pilot posted to the Air Force squadron base in Leh, became the first naval aviator to be certified for operations in the Siachen Glacier – a huge variance from flying in the hot tropics at sea level to the snow-bound highest battlefield.

Similarly, Army or Air Force pilots could be flying off warships, naval gunnery officers posted to artillery units, engineering officers be sent to each other’s technical establishments or posted to operationally active areas.

Earlier this year, the Navy also participated in the exercise, 'Bharat Shakti', a tri-service fire power demonstration at Pokhran in Rajasthan. It included the successful test firing of the long-range Agni ballistic missile, naval anti-ship and air to surface missiles as well as a host of ground and airborne systems in the Army’s and Air Force’s inventory.

The exercise, 'Kavach', conducted in January 2021 in south-eastern Bay of Bengal under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command is another example of a recent tri-service exercise. The drill involved synergised application of maritime surveillance assets, coordinated air and maritime strikes, air defence and beach landing operations in a multi domain, high intensity offensive and defensive environment.

It is expected that the Navy’s surveillance aircraft, drones, Marcos, communication experts as well as observers would be part of the exercise, 'Poorvi Prahar'. Deployment of seaborne platforms in coordination with manoeuvres in the mountains as part of a wider strategic scenario is also possible.

According to available information, the exercise will entail setting up of joint control structures that will provide a more refined common operating picture and optimise devices that rely on AI-driven analytics and satellite communications.

A wide range of platforms from all three military branches, including advanced fighter jets, reconnaissance aircraft, military transport helicopters, howitzers, tactical as well as long range surveillance equipment and air defence systems would be involved.

Several major exercises such as ‘Parvat Prahaar’, ‘Him Vijay’ and ‘Changthang Prahar’ have been conducted in recent years to fine tune deployment and conduct of operations in high altitude areas along the LAC in the eastern as well as the western theatres. These drills have involved elements of the Army’s 1, 3, 4, 14, 17 and 33 Corps as well as the Air Force, which regularly deploys detachments of Su-30, MiG-29 and Rafale fighters from various squadrons at forward bases in Ladakh and the north-east for training and familiarisation.