Indian Navy concludes grueling two-month long war games

Indian Navy, which concluded a grueling two-month long War Game on February 28, saw the participation of various operational ships, submarines and aircraft along with men and equipment of the Army.

Aircrafts from several squadrons of the Indian Air Force and also several ships and aircrafts from the Coast Guard were seen participating in this extended war games.

The War Games were conducted on both the Seaboards of India, which extended from the Northern Arabian Sea off the coast of Gujarat to the Southern Indian Ocean off the Sunda Straits near Indonesia.

The War Game on the Eastern seaboard was codenamed ENCORE (Eastern Naval Command Operational Readiness Exercise), while on the Western seaboard was codenamed Exercise Paschim Lehar.

The War Games were the first of a kind, which indicated towards Navy's perception of a two front war.

In a two-year cycle, promulgated by Naval Headquarters, the Indian Navy has literally 'cut the flab' in the various exercises undertaken at sea. Greater focus has been accorded to conflict readiness across the spectrum as well as realistic scenarios likely to be faced at sea.

The Navy has stuck to 'Mission-based Deployment' concept which has been put into action since July 2017 in order to counter multi pronged threats. Mission-ready ships are now being deployed in forward critical areas of the IOR (Indian Ocean Region) with the inherent capability to respond to emerging threats and benign situations.

In preparation for conflict, the Navy revamped it's Operational Exercise plans to make them more contemporary and realistic. The questions, 'How does this affect the Nation's security?' and 'How does it keep the common citizen safe?', has been applied across all existing exercises and War games. The focus has been on realistic scenarios likely to manifest in the future including terrorist attacks from sea on critical infrastructure and populated areas, Defence of the Offshore oil resources of the country and protection of the large seaborne trade of India.

The War Games saw the Operational Commanders of the Navy and other services being put through crisis situations from benign Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief to full-fledged conflict situations. The War Games will now be followed by extensive debriefings to identify key takeaways and formulate measures to further strengthen contingency plans.