Article Posted on : - Apr 30, 2014

NEW DELHI (PTI): More than 20,000 troops, over 200 tanks and armoured personnel carrier are taking part in wargames being held close to the border with Pakistan.

The Mathura-based 1 Strike Corps and its elements are taking part in the exercise codenamed 'Sarvada Vijay' (always victorious) and are practising the war-fighting concepts of the force, Army officials said here.

The 1 Strike Corps is an important formation of the Army and would be tasked to carry out strikes deep inside enemy territory in case of a war.

Every year, the formations of the Strike Corps practice new war-fighting concepts in the desert terrain, they said.

Such wargames also allow the Army to assess its ability to mobilise troops for warfare swiftly as it had realised during the Operation Parakram in 2002 that the formations had moved slower than what was expected of them.

India has four Strike Corps of which three are deployed along the border with Pakistan and one has been raised in Panagarh to cater for the China border.

The newly-raised 17 Strike Corps has its formations spread across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) from Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh in the Northeast.