Army's South Western Command conducts integrated fire and manoeuvre exercise

Indian Army's South Western Command conducted an integrated fire and manoeuvre exercise at the Mahajan Field Firing Range in the Thar desert from October 28-30.

The three-day "Sentinel Strike" exercise involved coordinated ground manoeuvres by mechanised forces and live firing by aerial and ground platforms, including long-range indigenous systems, attack helicopters, artillery guns, Ajeya (T-72) tanks and BMPs, a defence spokesperson said.

Operations were carried out in a simulated intense drone-threat environment with counter-drone and C-UAS measures.


The drills tested intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) architectures, state-of-the-art surveillance systems and mechanisms for sharing a common operational intelligence picture among combat arms, he said in a release.

Army Commander Lieutenant General Manjinder Singh witnessed the exercise along with senior officers and lauded the high standard of training and the seamless coordination among combat and combat-support arms.

He also praised the use of indigenous platforms under the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiative and emphasised the need to continually evolve tactics and enhance operational preparedness, the statement said.

The exercise aimed to validate multi-domain integration and improve battlefield transparency through enhanced surveillance and joint operational measures, the spokesperson added.