New Delhi (Sputnik) — Amid a massive deployment of troops along the Line of Control (LoC) — the de facto border — the Indian Army has deferred a critical war fighting exercise to test the Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) for some time.
The Integrated Battle Groups is an all-new war fighting concept including cross-border strikes mooted by the army under the western command last December in the Land Warfare Doctrine 2018.
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"The exercise was planned to be held in May this year, but due to the deployment along the Pakistan border, the wargames had to be postponed for some time. The exercise will be held soon after the precautionary deployment gets over", India's private news agency ANI quoted army sources as saying.
As per the doctrine, each IBG would be larger than the existing 3,000 personnel-strong brigades, but smaller than a 10,000-strong division. It would be headed by a two-star officer. The IBGs include infantry, armoured, artillery, air-defence, and support units, all of which would be backed by attack helicopters.
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The 1.3 million-strong Indian Army has deployed most of its strength and capabilities along the western border — mostly since the February clash with Pakistan, when the Indian Air Force conducted an air strike in the Balakot area inside Pakistan and in retaliation, Islamabad shot down an Indian fighter Jet on 27 February.
Earlier, the Pakistan Navy also cancelled all its overseas deployments since the Indian Navy increased its naval assets in the northern Arabian Sea soon after the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February.
