Major military drill along Pakistan border under way

New Delhi, November 23

A major military exercise involving some 30,000 troops is underway along the Pakistan border to validate the “theatre command concept”. It entails airdropping a sizeable number of troops, vehicles, artillery guns and BMPs to mimic “dropping troops behind enemy lines”.

The airdrop is part of exercise “Dakshin Shakti” that itself is being conducted across the deserts of Rajasthan, the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat and various creeks that dot the India-Pakistan coast in Arabian Sea.

Such an exercise if conducted often this year will be the largest airdrop in terms of men and war-waging equipment. While troops parachute down, the equipment is parachuted down, but the fall is cushioned with specially designed pads called “skids” in Army parlance. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will witness its culmination on November 26. — TNS

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