Thaindian News

New Delhi, Nov 23 (IANS) India is setting up a war gaming centre for its air force to enable the aerospace power train for warfare anywhere in the world by simulating scenarios at the strategic and operational levels.

The Delhi-based War Gaming Centre (WGC), as the Indian Air Force (IAF) would call it, will be up and functioning in about three years from now and will be more advanced than the Gwalior-based Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE), a top IAF officer told IANS here.

The WGC will be modelled on the Indian Army’s Delhi-based WARDEC or War Gaming Development Centre, but would go much beyond the latter’s role to develop warfare doctrines for strategic reach, he said.

“The system will be able to generate scenario and simulation at strategic and operational levels in collaboration with other agencies, both military and civil, at the national level,” the officer said.

“The facility will have the capability to play the war game in coordination with or independently from varied locations across the country,” he said.

“The centre will paint scenarios anywhere in the world,” he added.

Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne had, in his first press conference as IAF chief Oct 3, pointed out that his force’s area of responsibility is beyond the Indian Ocean region and wherever India’s strategic interests lie.

Apart from taking into account the current fleet of aircraft, helicopters and infrastructure of the IAF, the centre will also cater to future inductions of aircraft and systems.

The WGC will be capable of playing out scenarios of being a neutral power, apart from planning for high number of contingencies and missions, and address issues like application of air power.

“Most importantly, the centre will provide and incorporate out-of-area contingencies, and include army and naval forces deployment in the overall simulation models, to help in planning and execution of joint operations,” the officer said.

The WGC will carry out strategic and operational doctrinal selection, integrate aerospace elements in the planning, and allow for execution of the war game in “real and turbo” time.

With a seamless integration of existing tactical war gaming tools and packages in the IAF, the centre, once established, will undertake creation of a bank of scenarios and objectives, including secondary ones, of various types for use in all planned exercises of the IAF.

(N.C. Bipindra can be contacted at nc.bipindra@ians.in)