Work on the new war doctrine -- toreflect the reconfiguration of threat perceptions and security challenges -- isalready underway under the aegis of Shimla-based Army Training Command, headedby Lt-General A S Lamba, said sources.
It comes in the backdrop ofthe 1.13-million strong Army having practised -- through several wargames overthe last five years -- its `pro-active' war strategy to mobilise fast and strikehard to pulverise the enemy.
This `cold start strategy', under a NBC(nuclear-chemical-biological) overhang, emerged from the `harsh lessons' learntduring Operation Parakram, where it took Army's strike formations almost a monthto mobilise at the `border launch pads' after the December 2001 terrorist attackon Parliament.
This gave ample opportunity to Pakistan to shore upits defences as well as adequate time to the international community, primarilythe US, to intervene. The lack of clear directives from the then NDA governmentonly made matters worse.
"A major leap in our approach to conduct ofoperations (since then) has been the successful firming-up of the cold startstrategy (to be able to go to war promptly)," said Army chief General DeepakKapoor, at a closed-door seminar on Tuesday.
The plan now is tolaunch self-contained and highly-mobile `battle groups', with Russian-originT-90S tanks and upgraded T-72 M1 tanks at their core, adequately backed by aircover and artillery fire assaults, for rapid thrusts into enemy territory within96 hours.
Gen Kapoor identified five thrust areas that will drive thenew doctrine. One, even as the armed forces prepare for their primary task ofconventional wars, they must also factor in the eventuality of `a two-front war'breaking out.
In tune with this, after acquiring a greater offensivepunch along the entire western front with Pakistan by the creation of a newSouth-Western Army Command in 2005, India is now taking steps -- albeitbelatedly -- to strategically counter the stark military asymmetry with China inthe eastern sector. There is now "a proportionate focus towards the western andnorth-eastern fronts", said Gen Kapoor.
Two, the Army needs to`optimise' its capability to effectively counter `both military and non-militaryfacets' of asymmetric and sub-conventional threats like WMD terrorism, cyberwarfare, electronic warfare and information warfare.
Three, the armedforces have to substantially enhance their strategic reach and out-of-areacapabilities to protect India's geo-political interests stretching from PersianGulf to Malacca Strait.
"This would enable us to protect our islandterritories; as also give assistance to the littoral states in the Indian OceanRegion," said Gen Kapoor.
Four, interdependence and operationalsynergy among Army, Navy and IAF must become the essence of strategic planningand execution in future wars. "For this, joint operations, strategic andspace-based capability, ballistic missile defence and amphibious, air-borne andair-land operations must be addressed comprehensively," he said.
Andfive, India must strive to achieve a technological edge over its adversaries."Harnessing and exploitation of technology also includes integration of networkcentricity, decision-support systems, information warfare and electronic warfareinto our operational plans," he added.
Apart from analysing theevolving military strategy and doctrines of China and Pakistan, the Army is alsostudying the lessons learnt from the US-launched Operation Enduring Freedom inAfghanistan in 2001 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and their relevance toIndia.
