For the primary time, Operation Sindoor — the army strike launched by India earlier this month in opposition to terror targets in Pakistan — employed the idea of “crimson teaming” as a part of its operational planning, The Indian Specific has learnt.
Pink teaming entails embedding a small group of specialists conversant in the adversary’s mindset, ways and response patterns into the planning course of. Their function is to critically problem the plan, simulate enemy reactions, and assist take a look at the robustness of the meant army technique.
In accordance with sources, that is the primary time the Indian army has examined this idea in an precise operation, marking a shift in India’s strategic doctrine, bringing in a extra dynamic and anticipatory method to such cross-border operations.
It’s learnt that the crimson workforce embedded within the broader planning course of comprised 5 senior officers drawn from completely different instructions and postings throughout the nation.
Though crimson teaming has lengthy been a formalised part of army operations overseas — significantly through the Chilly Conflict, when it was instrumental in anticipating Soviet methods — it has solely just lately been test-bedded throughout the Indian Military. The time period ‘crimson workforce’ originates from war-game workouts the place one group, designated because the crimson workforce, simulates enemy ways and launches hypothetical assaults in opposition to a defending pressure, often known as the blue workforce.
Within the Indian Military, the idea was named ‘Vidur Vakta’ — after the advisor to the Pandavas within the Mahabharata — and was underneath dialogue for a while earlier than being test-bedded throughout numerous Military instructions, sources mentioned. Trials have been held at a number of ranges to attract classes from completely different operational eventualities and refine the method accordingly.
Sources mentioned the idea was launched following the Military Commanders’ Convention in October 2024, after which a bunch of 15 officers underwent specialised coaching in crimson teaming. A roadmap has now been drawn as much as develop and formalise the ‘Vidur Vakta’ programme over the following two years, they mentioned. The goal is to construct in-house experience and ultimately cut back dependence on international trainers.
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In Might final yr, as first reported by The Indian Specific, the Military had begun exploring the feasibility of making a devoted unit to operate as an adversarial pressure — OPFOR (Opposing Drive) — to conduct practical wargaming and improve fight preparedness. A number of militaries, together with within the US, have lengthy employed such models to simulate enemy behaviour throughout coaching workouts.
The Military already has a REDFOR (crimson forces) unit inside its coaching command (ARTRAC) headquartered in Shimla, which is chargeable for vetting wargame plans and simulations — sometimes carried out on paper or utilizing sand fashions — and for laying down the parameters and phrases of reference inside which these workouts are to be deliberate and executed.
Nevertheless, officers defined that whereas REDFOR simulates adversary ways and is a software used for coaching, the crimson workforce research personal plans and their impression on the adversary, and the adversary’s gauged response at each step.
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