Tri-service exercise ‘Bharat Shakti’ to demonstrate prowess of indigenously manufactured equipment

New Delhi: Mega exercise ‘Bharat Shakti’ to be held at Pokhran on March 12 is expected to be witnessed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with the top military brass and will showcase the “shock and awe” impact that the armed forces seek to achieve in an operational situation with manoeuvre and fighting capabilities.

‘Bharat Shakti’ will demonstrate the prowess of indigenously manufactured defence equipment of the three services, Additional Director General, Army Design Bureau, Major General C S Mann told reporters here.

The integrated tri-service firepower and manoeuvre exercise at Pokhran will be held for about 50 minutes, he said.

“Synergised joint operations will be decisive in the Indian context. Through live firepower and manoeuvre demonstration, it is endeavoured to showcase the tri-services operational capabilities to counter any threat leveraging indigenous capability and the ability to undertake conflicts in the face of global upheavals,” Major General Mann said.

Sources said Prime Minister Modi is expected to watch the integrated tri-service exercise to be held at Pokhran field firing ranges in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district.

LCA Tejas, ALH Mk-IV, LCH Prachand, mobile anti-drone system, BMP-II and its variants, NAMICA (Nag Missile Carrier), T90 tanks, Dhanush, K9 Vajra and Pinaka rockets are among the platforms that will be demonstrated.

The first-of-its-kind exercise on such a scale is “not tailored towards any direction (northern or western border) or any adversaries”, sources in the defence establishment said.

The exercise at Pokhran will also showcase systems and platforms integrated with the use of artificial intelligence.

“It will showcase live integrated multi-domain operations of the three services in offensive operations using indigenous equipment,” as also “high synergy, multi-service, multi-domain capability, thereby demonstrating inter-Service synergy”, he said.