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NATION APRIL 03, 2023 | The Indian Eye 8

India checks its preparedness

at LAC amid revelations about

China’s hybrid forces

The Strategic Support Force puts together China’s electronic war forces, network war forces,

which include but is not limited to cyber, and elements of its space forces

OUR BUREAU
Kolkata/New Delhi

ndian Army and the Air force
jointly conducted a Multi Do-
Imain Air-Land Exercise Vayu
Prahar along the Line of Actual
Control (LAC) in eastern command
recently, according to sources. The
exercise validated and refined pro-
cedures quintessential for synergized
joint operations. Army Formations,
Special Forces along with Indian Air
Force participated in the 96-hour ex-
ercise in the Eastern Theatre.
In the second week of March
2023, the Indian Army and the Air
force jointly conducted a Multi Do- Chief of Army Staff, General Manoj Pande, interacting with the troops during his visit to units and formations along
main Air-Land Exercise Vayu Prahar
in the Eastern Theatre to validate the LAC in Eastern Arunachal Pradesh (ANI)
joint plans to prosecute synergized
multiple domain operations, accord- cyber, electronic, space, and psycho- was established, he witnessed Chi- strategy institution. He added that
ing to the sources. Multi-Domain op- logical warfare. na’s combined cyber and information Jiang was later promoted to major
erations aim to orchestrate military The SSF, established on the last warfare. general and served as deputy direc-
activities across all domains to deliv- day of 2015 as part of an armed forc- While Wortzel believes the com- tor of the military academy’s Combat
er converging effects. es restructuring introduced early in puter attack was meant to keep some Theory and Regulations Research
The scope of the joint exercise Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s rule, has Chinese capabilities hidden from Department.
included rapid mobilization of an ear- no exact counterpart in any other public view, he claims this is not al- Observers increasingly see
marked Rapid Reaction Force from country, according to Dean Cheng, a ways the case. He said, “Sometimes “long-distance operations” as a
the hinterland to undertake air-landed senior adviser on China at the US In- they do want the outside world to suitable description of how Chinese
operations in a nominated Advance stitute of Peace and longtime observ- know what they’re doing,” adding, agents, including the SSF, are con-
Landing Ground, according to the er of China’s military. In a telephonic “Because they want to either deter ducting political warfare in distant
sources. The air landed force further interview given to VOA, Dean Cheng give a warning to the US and other lands, attempting to shape the politi-
executes contingency tasks as per a said, “The Strategic Support Force countries: Look, this is what we’re cal environment in each country and
realistic exercise scenario in challeng- brought together China’s electron- capable of, be careful.” society in their favor.
ing high-altitude terrain conditions. ic war forces, Chinese network war According to John Costello and The Chinese frequently refer to
The conduct of Exercise Vayu forces, which include but is not lim- Joe McReynolds in a study published political combat as “intense but smoke-
Prahar enabled coordination and re- ited to cyber, and elements of Chi- on SSF by the US military’s National less wars.” The lyrics of a song per-
hearsal amongst various agencies for na’s space forces. These have been in Defense University in 2018, SSF was formed with great fanfare on the 70th
quick mobilization, transportation different bins, if you will, within the launched as part of the PLA revamp anniversary of China’s Communist
and deployment of forces within a PLA.” as Chinese authorities sought to piv- takeover point to the force’s combined
theatre that can be executed across He added, “Interestingly, it also ot from land-based territorial de- goal in space and stealth theatres.
theatres. brings in Base 311, which is responsi- fense to extended power projection According to information lat-
Meanwhile, it has been reported ble for political warfare.” in emerging domains and beyond er released by the PLA recruitment
that the Chinese spy balloon that flew According to a report published their borders, according to VOA. center, state media played up a short
over the United States earlier this in VOA, Larry Wortzel, a China Wortzel told VOA that the au- recruitment film in January, high-
year bore the earmarks of an opera- expert, is a senior associate at the thor of “Long-Distance Operations,” lighting 5,000 “civil” positions that
tion carried out by China’s Strategic American Foreign Policy Council Jiang Yamin was a senior colonel as- needed to be filled with the SSF, in-
Support Force (SSF), a little-known and a regular contributor to the pub- signed as a researcher at the Acad- cluding engineering positions and
hybrid branch of the People’s Libera- lications of the United States Army emy of Military Sciences, the PLA’s posts in a special medical science
tion Army that combines elements of War College. Even before the SSF preeminent military studies and center within the SSF.

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