India: PM Modi set to attend ‘Bharat Shakti’ war game in Pokhran exhibiting indigenous capabilities

India: PM Modi set to attend ‘Bharat Shakti’ war game in Pokhran exhibiting indigenous capabilities

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to attend the war game ‘Bharat Shakti’ in Rajasthan’s Pokhran on March 12 which is likely to coincide with the Election Commission of India’s announcement of the Lok Sabha election schedule.

The top brass of the tri-services, including Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan, are also scheduled to attend the warfare event.

The exercises in the war game will comprise an exhibition, and display of the weapons platforms and systems that have been designed in an indigenous manner.

The event, which is due to take place in Pokhran, is set around PM Modi’s concept of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and will push India-centric tactics-led revolution in military affairs which is distinctive to the Indian geography and threats related to security when it comes to Bharat, as per a report by the Hindustan Times.

The ‘Bharat Shakti’ war game is aimed at testing the effectiveness of Indian-made platforms and network-centric systems and also to display the country’s progress in the defence manufacturing sector.

Apart from this, the exercise will also examine the integrity and resilience of indigenous communication systems and networks to ensure that they cannot be hacked especially during hostile conditions.

The exercise will also exhibit the alliance among the three defence services which often tend to operate within their silos.

The weapons set to be put on display are Tejas fighter aircraft, K-9 artillery guns, indigenous drones, Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers and short-range missiles.

Prior to this, PM Modi attended the Indian Air Forces’ Vayushakti-2024 at Pokhran Range near Jaisalmer last month, where a range of the country’s enviable air assets, including Rafale fighters, LCH Prachand Chinook and Apache demonstrated their capabilities for the first time.

The theme of the Vayushakti was, ‘Lightning Strike from the Sky’, as 120 aircraft displayed the lAF’s offensive capabilities by day as well as by night.

Fighters of the Indian Air Force that took part in the exercise included the Rafale, Su-30 MKI, MiG-29, Mirage-2000, Tejas and Hawk. The fighters from the IAF fleet bombarded and destroyed simulated enemy targets on the ground and in the air with fatal precision.

(With inputs from agencies)