NEW DELHI, May 8: India is deploying battle tanks and combat troops for the second major war games in a month along Pakistan's borders, the military said on Tuesday.
The four-day exercise beginning Friday will be carried out by the million-plus army's largest strike corps on the arid plains of Jullandhar in the northern state of Punjab, the defence ministry said.
The event is seen by analysts as one of the most hawkish military moves since 2001, when Delhi deployed thousands of troops close to Pakistan after an attack by militants on the Indian parliament left 14 people dead.
Codenamed Shatrunash or Death to the Enemy, the latest exercises will involve more than 15,000 troops backed by around 150 Russian-built T-90 tanks, artillery and helicopter gunships, commanders said.
The defence ministry said Shatrunash will also test newly-acquired electronic warfare systems.
“The technological developments in recent times have opened a large number of avenues for creating computer-enabled support systems which reduces the decision-making time of the commanders,” it said.
“Shatrunash is therefore designed to cater for integration of modern real-time surveillance devices.”—Agencies
