The Army and IAF jointly carried out a series of air-land exercise close to LAC in the Northeast.

The Army and IAF jointly carried out a series of air-land exercise near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Northeast in the second week of March amidst increasing tension along the LAC.

The exercise called “Vayu Prahar” revolved around the mobilisation of a “rapid reaction force”, which included special forces, from the hinterland to undertake air-land operations at an advance landing ground (ALG) in high-altitude terrain conditions along the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh.

There are currently seven operational ALG in Arunachal Pradesh, Pasighat, Along, Walong, Ziro, Mechuka, Vijayanagar, and Tuting, of which many are open for civillian operations as well.

“The Army-IAF exercise was for intra-theatre air mobility operations to validate joint plans to prosecute synergised operations, with the aim to orchestrate military activities across all domains to deliver converging effects,” an officer said.

The 96-hour exercise of Vayu Prahar enabled coordination and rehearsal amongst various agencies for quick mobilisation, transportation and deployment of forces within a theatre, the officer added.

The exercise comes after a military standoff between India and China since 2020, the latest of which took place on December 9, 2022 at  Yangtse of the Tawang district in Arunachal Pradesh.

Last month, the Indian Army completed another joint training exercise called the Trishakti Prahar close to the Siliguri Corridor also known as the Chicken Neck.

Source-TOI/ The Indian Express