Strategic significance of Exercise Trishul Prabhat Khabar 10 Nov 2025
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Strategic significance of Exercise Trishul Prabhat Khabar 10 Nov 2025
Exercise Trishul, which is ongoing, is a tri-service offensive oriented exercise currently underway in Gujarat and Rajasthan including Sir Creek, where Pakistan is displaying undue interest. It also extends into the Arabian Sea. The participation involves a collection of naval vessels, strike aircraft, special forces, newly raised Integrated Battle Groups and mechanized forces, all operating in cohesion. The exercise will culminate with amphibious landing off the Saurashtra Coast displaying high degree of land, sea and air operations.
A defence spokesperson, briefing media on the exercise mentioned that it integrates, ‘electronic warfare, cyber, drone and counter-drone operations, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance as well as Air Defence Control and Reporting. The exercises reaffirms Tri-Service preparedness to dominate both virtual and physical domains through seamless Land, Sea, and Air integration for coordinated joint fires.’ Approximately 40,000 soldiers are involved in Exercise Trishul, amongst the largest to be held in recent years.
A NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) indicating live firing in the region of the exercise as also in the Arabian Sea has been given. With Operation Sindoor on pause, the exercise sends a strong message of joint operational capability and nature of response in the future. The exercise will include a combination of minor exercises conducted by different formations in a synchronized battlefield, all with the ultimate aim of dominating the battle space.
India’s Northern Command had earlier conducted Exercise Astra Shakti in Ladakh recently. This was aimed at validating precision artillery firepower, use of swarm drones and counter-unmanned aerial surveillance systems alongside commando operations and synergy with the ITBP. It was testing the formations response to any misadventures by Pakistan and China in Ladakh, a sensitive region.
Unlike earlier exercises which were a combination of defence and offense, Trishul involves high intensity and coordinated offensive operations spread across multiple domains. The depth of operations appear to be restricted to remain within a nuclear environment, while own counter drone and air defence measures would degrade Pakistan’s counterstrikes. The exercise could be a precursor to theatre commands and would display integration, jointness, synergy in operations and Atmanirbharta.
The air force has also issued a NOTAM for India’s North East as it conducts a stand-alone exercise to test its readiness and rapid response capabilities. This, around the same time, is a means to check their ability to re-deploy forces from one sector to another within an operational timeframe.
The Indian army has been carrying out a series of restructuring over the past decade. These include creation of integrated battle groups, Rudra brigades, Bhairav battalions as also Ashni drone platoons. These will also be validated in these live-fire exercises. The navy was silent during Sindoor 1.0. It is the lead service in Trishul, implying that it would be a major participant in any future response launched by India. India continues to hold a strategic edge in the Indian Ocean.
Panic in Pakistan on the conduct of Exercise Trishul was visible as their government too issued a NOTAM in retaliation, placed its formations on alert while the terrorist group, LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba), was forced to cancel its rally in Lahore. Pakistan has, in recent times, been displaying overdue interest in the Sir Creek region, believing it has vast oil and gas reserves.
The location of the exercise was sending a firm message that any attempt to alter the border will be responded to with more than adequate force. The exercise has also tied down a number of Pak formations at a time when it faces pressure from Afghanistan on its Eastern borders. Pakistan would have understood that India now possesses the capability to launch strike operations from a cold scenario in a minimum timeframe, as also keeping them well below the nuclear threshold.
Pakistan’s DG ISPR (Inter-Services Public Relations) mentioned that India may conduct a ‘false flag’ operation off the coast during the exercise and exploit that to target Pakistan. It is aware that the scale of the exercise is a matter of concern. Their repeated NOTAMs and navigational warnings displays their panic. They would be observing the exercise closely aware that Operation Sindoor 2.0 would follow a near-similar pattern as Exercise Trishul. In such a scenario, Sindoor 1.0 would seem like a trailer.
For China, Exercises Astra Shakti and Trishul, display the capacity of Indian armed forces to integrate space, cyber, electronic warfare and kinetic actions in a single campaign. The world would also be observing the exercise which projects India’s growing military capabilities.
Defensive capabilities are essential, but ultimately if a nation has to deter its adversaries, it can only do so from projecting its offensive power. Employing military power across multiple domains conveys India is not longer seeking to defend itself but is willing to carry the battle into adversarial territory.
The successful conduct of the exercise would imply that the forces have achieved the requisite level of jointness and integration in operations and logistics. With most equipment employed being Indian manufactured, the capabilities of India’s own defence industries as also in-house technology is also displayed.
About the Author
Maj Gen Harsha Kakkar
Retired Major General Indian Army