China, along with with 94 other military observers from as many countries will witness a joint war game to be conducted by the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the deserts of Rajasthan next week. According to the official spokesman of the Indian army, ?Exercise Brazen Chariots, which is to be conducted at the Pokhran firing range March 19 will be witnessed by China, but Pakistan will not be there.?
A few foreign military observers have been attending Indian armed forces exercises including the biggest ever ?Operation Brass Tacks? in the 80s, this is for the first time that they would be present in such large numbers. Countries including China, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, US, UK, France and Germany will witness a day long desert wargames. The Chinese Army would be sending a large delegation for the wargames. The Chinese army witnessed a smaller exercise in the same area last year. Also, at the war games, it will be for the first time that countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman and others would be sending strong delegations to witness Indian armed forces? exercises.
Major General VK Narula, additional director general public information at Army Headquarters said, the aim of the excercise was ?to provide an opportunity to observers from foreign countries to witness Indian Military assets.? ?Brazen Chariots has been conceptualised for exercising combat groups consisting of tanks, infantry combat vehicles and infantry in high mobility vehicles, ably supported by air power,? said Narula. Adding, ?this will be complemented by weapon platforms of supporting arms to fine tune essential tactical applications on the battlefield.?
The exercise will be conducted by an Indian Army desert formation that together with the IAF will put to test wide range of their latest weapon systems like the state-of-the-art missile firing T-90 tanks, all-weather air defence missile systems and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), as also other electronic sensors and surveillance equipment. While the Indian Army and the IAF regularly conduct separate and joint war games, this is the first time in four years they will be exercising on such a large scale.