Click to play videoBarmer: The Indian army is often described as an unwieldy peasant army, ponderous and heavy footed. However, the India army is also looking at transforming into a more flexible and lethal force.
"We are looking at an army which is more lethal, an army which is more agile, an army which is technically superior and can work in a totally network-centric environment with all the services," said Army Chief Gen V K Singh.
The move is largely driven by the need to cope with asymmetric and hybrid wars, and the enormous advances in communications and surveillance technologies in firepower, all of which have underscored the need for smaller, more flexible groups of fighting men.
At Exercise Sudarshan Shakti in Rajasthan, the focus therefore was on small combat groups combining tanks and mechanised infantry, acting in concert with helicopter gunships and invisible unmanned aerial vehicles while rocket artillery hit enemy targets 120 km away.
All the action was controlled by a joint team of the air force and army, who also downloaded imagery in real time from an Indian satellite passing overhead.
"We are a large army and cannot make wholesale changes without test bedding. In this exercise we have put through most of the test beds to see which direction we need to take. At the end, a report will go to the chief who will give the final okay for implementing transformation in the Indian Army," said Lt Gen A K Singh, GOC, Southern Command.
The transformation, however, may not mean a leaner Indian army.
Army Headquarters is raising new mountain formations to counter China. Men are also needed to fight insurgencies and infiltration along often porous borders. So while some things will change, a lot else is slated to remain the same.
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