PM Modi to attend Pokhran wargame showcasing indigenous capabilities
On the eve of the notification of the 2024 General Elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the war game ‘Bharat Shakti’ in Pokhran in Rajasthan on March 12 with the exercise only involving indigenously developed weapons platforms and systems. The war game will be attended by the top brass of the tri-services including Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan.
As a showcase for his ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ concept, Prime Minister Modi is expected to exhort the military leadership to develop tactics-led revolution in military affairs that is India-centric and specific to the Indian geography and security threats to Bharat.
It is understood that for ‘Bharat Shakti’, the war game will test the efficacy of Indian-made platforms and network-centric systems. While the Indian Army is 100 per cent indigenized, work is on to achieve indigenization in the technology-centric Indian Air Force and Indian Navy in the areas of submarine construction and aircraft engine manufacturing.
The exercise will also test the resilience and integrity of indigenous communication systems and networks to ensure that the enemy cannot hack into them during hostile conditions. This apart, the entire focus of the ‘Bharat Shakti’ exercise will be synergy among the three services which often tend to operate within their own silos. On display will be Tejas fighter aircraft, K-9 artillery guns, indigenous drones, Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers and short-range missiles.
Since PM Modi’s clarion call for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, the three services have been focused on developing technologies like secure mobile telephony developed by the Indian Army. Even though the secure mobile is based on a private Indian operator and imported phone devices, all the calls are totally encrypted and have been tested for resilience by the three services. The phone has been tested against hacking and is currently being used by the top brass of the three services as a pilot project. All the indigenous network-centric systems will be used at the war game with PM Modi interacting with the top brass to further enhance the lethality of Indian armed forces.