Exercise Indus Shield

Exercise Indus Shield
مشق انڈس شیلڈ
StatusActive
GenreMilitary exercise
VenuePAF Base Mushaf
Country Pakistan
Years active1
Established2023 (2023)
Most recentIndus Shield 2023
ParticipantsPakistan Air Force & allied air forces
Organised byPAF Airpower Centre of Excellence

Exercise Indus Shield is a large-scale international aerial warfare exercise held by the Airpower Centre of Excellence (ACE) in Sargodha, Pakistan. The aim of the exercise is to simulate various military tactics by enabling participating air powers to maximise their warfighting potential in air operations through synergistic employment of multi-domain capabilities in an integrated training environment.[1][2][3][4] It consists of a traditional "Blue force" vs. "Red force" scenario with participants engaging each other in simulated battles.[5]

Background

Exercise Indus Shield is organised by the PAF Airpower Centre of Excellence (ACE) at PAF Base Mushaf in Sargodha. It has hosted many other exercises including ACES Meet, Shaheen and Falcon Talon. ACE facilitates the participants of these exercises with simulating systems and by exposing them to battlefield environments in order to enhance decision making and strategic planning.[5][6]

2023

The first Exercise Indus Shield was held from 6-25 October 2023 in which 14 countries participated. These included Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Morocco, Uzbekistan, China and Hungary.[7] The Pakistani Air chief and Army chief along with the airforce chiefs of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Hungary also witnessed the execution of the wargames.[8]

Dissimilar air combat training, SEAD, BVR combat along with many other strategies were practiced during the exercise.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "PAF vision and exercise Indus Shield". The Frontier Post.
  2. ^ "14 NATION AIR EXERCISE, INDUS SHIELD-2023, IN FULL SWING AT AN OPERATIONAL AIR BASE OF PAF" (PDF) (Press release). DGPR Pakistan Air Force. 15 October 2023.
  3. ^ "14-nation air exercise Indus Shield-2023 in full swing". The Nation. 16 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Indus Shield 2023: Pakistan Air Force Leads Mega Aerial Warfare Exercise with 14 Nations". World Echo News. 15 October 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Maqsood, Syed; Jawad, Tahir (21 May 2024). "Indus Shield Forging The Future". Second To None. No. Winter 2023-2024. pp. 79–85.
  6. ^ "PAF's 14 Nation Multinational Air Exercise Indus Shield 2023 Kicks Off at ACE". PAF Falcons. 8 October 2023.
  7. ^ "PAF Multinational Exercise "Indus Shield-2023" commences". Radio Pakistan. 9 October 2023.
  8. ^ "COAS visits PAF airbase to witness 'Indus Shield 2023' exercise". Express Tribune. 19 October 2023.