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DEFENCE: WAR GAMES
Readying For Nukes
For the first time after India and Pakistan became
overt nuclear powers, the army stages a nuclear war game to test preparedness.
Result: Deep concern
By Harinder Baweja
It
is the nightmarish scenario every army dreads but has to prepare for.
Combat troops from India's ace strike corps moved swiftly across the Rann
of Kutch in a major offensive to capture large swathes of Pakistan territory.
The heat was a killing 50 degrees Celsius. Suddenly, the sky was lit up
by a brilliant, blinding flash. Those coming up from the rear saw the
front row of over 2,000 men reduced to ashes in a fraction of a second.
That was four times the number killed during the entire two-month Kargil
war.
WHEN MECHANISED COLUMNS ARE
HIT
YIELD: 20 Kilotonne
TANKS DESTROYED: 20
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1
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Area: 500m
Casualties: 15 dead;
Destruction: 5 tanks |
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2
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Area: 1,000m
Casualties: 24 dead
Destruction: 8 tanks |
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3
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Area: 2,000m
Casualties: 21 injured
Damage: 7 tanks |
When soldiers could get near enough to look at
those injured, they found that in most cases their skin had burnt off
leaving raw flesh exposed. There was an overpowering stench of bodies
burning. From a distance, the corps commander watched the giant mushroom
cloud with consternation bordering on panic.
The general knew the unthinkable had happened.
An infantry brigade had been struck by a 20-kilotonne nuclear weapon dropped
by a Pakistani Air Force fighter jet. Contingency plans needed to be put
into action-the injured had to be moved to hospital and both they and
the equipment had to be decontaminated. But that was only one part of
the contingency plan. Reserves had to be rushed in, special forces para-dropped
as also combat vehicles, each weighing 1,200 tonnes. News of the nuclear
attack would soon reach Delhi. There the country's leaders and the armed
forces chiefs would meet to decide whether to order a counter nuclear
strike against Pakistani troops or not. Or devastate major Pakistani cities
with a nuclear bomb before its hostile neighbour did the same. But back
in the battle area, the corps commander knew exactly what was expected
of him largely because of the war game exercises where the army had simulated
what to do in such situations.
Fiction? Thankfully yes. But last week, for
the first time in its annual exercises in the Rajasthan desert, the Indian
armed forces incorporated a nuclear war game that replicated to the detail
an option Pakistan may exercise if it finds itself in danger of losing
a battle with India. Following the overt declaration of nuclear prowess
by India and Pakistan in 1998, the Indian Army decided that there was
an urgent need to conduct an exercise involving a war being fought by
the two against the backdrop of a possible nuclear strike. Soon after
he took over as chief of army staff in October last year, General S. Padmanabhan
had said, "If we have a capability, it is necessary that we should
be prepared. The army will be trained to prepare for a nuclear war with
an emphasis on weapons, tactics and war games even if it is unlikely to
take place."
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