From fundamentally "a non-aggressive and defensive policy" to former Army chief General Krishnaswamy Sunderji's doctrine of "holding corps" designed to check a Pakistani advance to the latest war game of striking the enemy within its own territory , Indian Army has come a long way.

For the past over a month, the Indian Army has been testing its new doctrine of launching a retaliatory strike, destroying enemy positions before international community could intercede, but taking precaution not to provoke a nuclear strike. Even as the "non-aggressive" as well as "holding corps" doctrines were in place, Pakistan's adventurism in Kargil leading to a war, 2001 Parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai attacks couldn't be prevented.

On Friday, an entire brigade went airborne in the heavy-lift aircraft C-17 Globemaster-III, C 130 J Hercules, IL 76 and Antonov 32 and some 3,000 soldiers were air- dropped deep inside the enemy's territory with lethal weapons, albeit in simulated conditions. The giant aircraft breached the serene and seamless wilderness of the golden sand dunes in Thar deserts of Bikaner close to the International Border (IB) with Pakistan. In the past, the Indian Army has never tested offensive strategy of this scale to fight a war inside enemy territory -- either in real or simulated conditions.

The men and equipment tied with parachutes dropped from a slew of transport aircraft forming a trail stretching over a kilometre in the sky. As the troops captured their objective and linked up with the waiting mechanised forces, it made way for tanks to move in.

Major General PC Thimmaya, involved deeply with the planning of this exercise, said it was somewhat closer to what the allied forced did against Germany in the World War II. "The integrated air-land battle exercise is executed with a high degree of synergy. Para dropping an entire brigade is not a regular military activity. It reaffirms the Indian Army's strike capabilities with impunity," he told dna.

The over one-month-long mega exercise of the Indian Army's Mathura-based Strike Corps 1, one of the three principal strike formations involved mobilisation and participation of 30,000 troops from the armoured, infantry, artillery and aviation units in close coordination with the Indian Air Force (IAF). The exercise concluded on Saturday.

The exercise, code named 'Shatrujeet' validated the synergy between Army and Air Force in executing air-land battle. As the mighty T-90 and T-72 tanks belonging to the Blue land (codename for Indian territory) and Red Land (codename for the enemy territory) engaged in close combat, they got support from the IAF's MiG 27s hovering over them. The Army also claimed that the exercise validated an effective response mechanism in case of a nuclear, biological, chemical (NBC) warfare environment. Shatrujeet brings to the fore India's pro active war strategy also known as the Cold Start doctrine adopted in the wake of Operation Parakram in 2001 post the Parliament attack.

During Parakram, by the time Indian forces were mobilised over a period of a month, Pakistan got an opportunity to build its defence and also mobilise international community. "This exercise validates that we can mobilise our resources within days. I am extremely proud of what our men have achieved during the exercise," said Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag who visited the exercise area.