The Indian Army has begun an exercise, a first-of-its-kind to test its new war strategy against China, at 14,000 feet in Arunachal Pradesh -- 100 km from the forward areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The war games to test the capabilities of the newly conceived Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) will be carried out in phases in the upper reaches of Arunachal Pradesh near Tawang over the next three weeks.

The initial induction for the exercise has already been done and it is underway in short phases and the final phase will be concluded by October 25. With the limitation of the area where the exercise is being held, it can only be carried out in phases. The biggest challenge is to carry out these military drills in a limited area since we cannot be going very close to the LAC, a source said.

Sources added that the initial plan was to conduct the exercise in lower reaches of Arunachal Pradesh but the army wanted to test capabilities of new assault formations in areas where the battle may be fought. These places are above 15,000 ft where the forward battalions and posts exist to defend any aggression from China.

Arunachal Pradesh borders the Tibet Autonomous Region under Chinese control.

Sources said China had raised some concerns about the exercise but they were addressed through diplomatic channels.

Keeping in mind the visit of Chinese Premier Xi Jinping to India later this month and other sensitivities, it was decided that the exercise will be conducted more than 100 km from the LAC.

The army had earlier carried out a similar exercise in the Western Command to test its strength against Pakistan but a similar war game in the high altitude regions against China has not been done yet.

What are IBGs

The integrated battle groups (IBGs) are new formations that the Indian Army is in the process of setting up to enhance its combat capabilities by being swift and more potent while launching assaults on the enemy.

IBGs will comprise brigades and will be armed with capabilities specific to terrain and threats.

The IBGs will do away with the army functioning in separate wings and will bring together all fighting capabilities like infantry, artillery, air defence under one command at the Corp level formations of the Army.

The combat strengths will be different as per the terrain and requirements, sources say. In the mountains, it will be artillery that will need to be synergised with infantry battalions, for deserts, armoured corp units armed with tanks will be synergised with other wings. The first IBG will be set up under the 9 Corp in Yol, Himachal Pradesh under the Western Command.

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