INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: The IAF on Monday kicked off a major combat training exercise along the China-Pakistan fronts in the northern and western
sectors, activating fighters to surface-to-air guided weapons, even as Army units also conducted high-altitude drills in eastern Ladakh and
the Arunachal-Sikkim sector.The 'Trishul' exercise of Western Air Command (WAC), the front-line IAF command responsible for a huge area
stretching from Ladakh to Rajasthan, comes at a time when India is all set to host the G20 summit this weekend, while the military
"All combat assets, ranging from fighters like Rafales, Jaguars, MiG-29s and Sukhoi-30MKIs and transport aircraft like C-130Js and C-17s to
surface-to-air guided weapons like S-400s, MR-SAMS and Akash have been deployed for the annual exercise," said a source.There will be a 's
light operational pause' in the high-intensity air exercise during the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10
The IAF has already deployed a wide array of aircraft, radars and SAGWs, to make the airspace over the Delhi-National Capital Region as
impregnable as possible for the conclave.Concurrently, units from the Army's two China-specific mountain strike corps (1 Corps and 17
Corps), each having around 70,000 soldiers and heavy weaponry for high-altitude warfare, are training in their 'designated operational
"Units from 1 Corps and 17 Corps undertake deployments and conduct exercises along the entire 3,488-km Line of Actual Control every summer,"
a source said.While 1 Corps (headquarters at Mathura) is now geared towards the northern sector of the LAC, instead of its earlier role on
the western front with Pakistan, 17 Corps (Panagarh) concentrates on a strike role in the eastern sector, including the Chumbi Valley
opposite Sikkim.There are as yet no signs of de-escalation in the confrontation in eastern Ladakh, with China not even agreeing to troop
disengagement at the strategically-located Depsang Bulge and at Charding Ninglung Nallah track junction near Demchok
The face-off has seen both sides deploy over 50,000 soldiers each, along with heavy weaponry like tanks, artillery guns and SAGWs, since May
