New Delhi: With ‘strategic autonomy’ as its main mantra, the science and art of Indian diplomacy and its finesse is in full flow and glow. Clearly, the Indian military is achieving the unthinkable.
For about a week, beginning Thursday, while Indian Army soldiers would be practicing military war games with their counterparts hailing from a host of countries including hosts Russia and China in eastern Russia, about a hundred IAF personnel and assets would be matching air force capabilities with the US, Australia and others in Australia's Northern Territory. All in the name of joint operability!
Admittedly, not too many countries would be able to pull it off like the increasingly powerful South Asian giant even as the US-led west is leading the Ukraine war effort against Russia that has forged proximate relations with a powerful China.
Vostok 2022: With Russia, China
Russian state-owned agencies on Monday quoted the Russian Defence Ministry as having declared that India would be a participating nation in the Russia-hosted ‘Vostok 2022’ (East 2022) military exercise that begins on Thursday from September 1-7.
“The Vostok 2022 strategic command and staff exercise envisages various scenarios of operations by combined arms and coalition forces (troops) to ensure military security of the Russian Federation and its allies within the area of responsibility of the Eastern Military District,” the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.
The exercise will see a combined participation by more than 50,000 troops, over 5,000 items of armaments and military hardware, including 140 aircraft, 60 combat ships, gunboats and support vessels.
Besides host Russia and China, the participants will include operational groups of military command centres, military contingents and observers from member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and other partner states, including Azerbaijan, Algeria, Armenia, Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Laos, Nicaragua, Syria and Tajikistan, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
At the same time, India will be avoiding the sea component of ‘Vostok 2022’ in order to avoid hurting Japanese sensibilities as this part of the exercise will be in the neighbouring waters of Japan. One of the stated aims of ‘Vostok 2022’ is “to repel acts of aggression in the eastern direction and in the Far Eastern maritime zone, raise compatibility and interoperability of the coalition forces in jointly coping with the objectives of maintaining peace, protecting interests and ensuring military security in the Eastern region.”
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During the Vostok 2022 strategic drills, units and formations operating at the training grounds in the Eastern Military District will be mastering field, naval and aerial skills in both defensive operations in particular directions and offensive measures, a Russian defence official said on Monday.
Russia holds four major exercises every four years, one exercise a year corresponding to its military districts on a rotation basis—‘Vostok’ (East), ‘Zapad’ (West), ‘Tsentre’ (Centre) and ‘Kazkaz’ (South).
Pitch Black: With the US-led Bloc in Australia
On the other hand, till September 8, the IAF’s four Russian-origin Su-30 MKI fighters and two US-origin C-17 transport aircraft and about 100 air warriors are undertaking a major strategic military exercise with the air forces of 16 other nations in the three-week-long ‘Pitch Black’ exercise.
Hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in Australia's Northern Territory, the other participating nations, besides India, that will be fielding more than 100 aircraft and 2,500 personnel are the US, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Korea, the UAE, Singapore, Thailand, and the UK—clearly a demonstration of Western might, capability and jointness.
Interestingly, on Sunday (August 28), as part of exercise ‘Vajra Prahar 2022’, the special forces of the Indian Army and the US completed a 21-day-long exercise at Bakloh in Himachal Pradesh, just about 100 km away from the troubled India-China border, clearly irking China. The joint training provided an opportunity for the Special Forces from both nations to train in air borne operations, special operations and counter terrorism operations.
Already, the Ukraine conflict that began on February 24 has underlined India’s strategic importance as it has become embroiled in a tug-of-war between the US-led block of NATO countries and others and the emerging Russia-China axis, with both sides keen to enlist India’s support.
A growing military power with the world’s second largest population and a vast market, the IMF has projected that India may become the world’s fastest growing major economy in 2022 with a growth rate of higher than 8 percent even as the specter of an economic slowdown continues to haunt the major global economies. According to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), India’s economy grew at its fastest in 22 years when it registered 8.7 per cent GDP growth in 2021-22.
