BATTLELINES DRAWN
Ahmedabad, December 8: Target one Madhavpur beach. Then Keshod airfield, and finally securing Porbandar town. A major joint services exercise — the first on Gujarat coast — in which the Army, Navy and Air Force displayed their operational preparedness was conducted on the scenic beach of Madhavpur, 60 km from Porbandar, on Wednesday morning.
Operation Defence of Gujarat Exercise (DGX) ’04 aimed to secure Madhavpur beach first and than take over nearby Keshod airfield and secure Porbandar town.
The importance of the operation can be guaged from the fact that three senior officers — Lieutenant-General B S Thakur, Andaman and Nicobar; Vice-Admiral Madanjit Singh, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command; and Air Marshal S K Jain, AOC-IN-C, SWAC — were present.
It all began with an amphibious assault landing by troops from INS Gharial in Infantry Combat Vehicles and assault boats. The INS Gharial had crept to a few hundred metres from the coast before it launched a wave of attacks. With an extra-fast attack craft circling to provide a security cordon around the attack boats, the first wave of troops — from Maratha Light Infantry — hit the beach in the face of ‘‘enemy firing’’ —dummy gunfire and rockets.
By the time they secured the ‘‘beach head’’ — a secure landing place — the second wave of attack came.
The BMPs, which translate from Russian as Infantry Assault Vehicles, resemble tanks which have buoyancy and can be launched by landing ships very near to the coast. They can travel in water before hitting land and moving in further.
By the time the third wave landed on the beach, the area was taken over by troops armed with assault rifles, bazookas and rocket launchers supported by BMPs.
In the second phase of the operation, two AN-32s dropped commandoes, including eight marine commandoes — a tricky operation for the huge AN-32s streaming overhead. A landing zone officer stationed in a ship just a km off the coast monitored wind speed and direction, and guided the para drop.
The AN-32s circled for several minutes before identifying the right spot and altitude, which is impossible in a real war scenario where the drop has to be made in one go.
A ‘‘duck’’ — a container with two inflatable boats and equipment weighing 1,000 kg — was dropped. The marines jumped out from a height of 1,200 feet and, after securing boats and equipments, made their way to land.
Meanwhile, another AN-32 which climbed to 12,000 feet dropped nine other commandoes. After free-falling for several seconds, the commandoes made a perfect landing at an identified spot on the beach.
In the third operation, eight commandoes performed static live jumps from a very low altitude over bajra fields along the coastal highway. The commandoes included Captain Ramakrishnan, who lost a leg in an explosion in Kargil. He made the jump wearing a Jaipur foot.
The operation involved the participation of naval ships like INS Gharial, INS Matanga and INS Sharab, which had sailed from the Joint Command Centre at Andaman and Nicobar, besides Army units like Maratha Light Infantry.
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