‘More than enough’ troops deployed along LAC: Officials | India News – Times of India
“The forward-deployed air and ground forces, backed by reserves in the rear, are well-poised to tackle any contingency along the 3,488-km LAC, be it eastern Ladakh or Arunachal Pradesh. Force-sustenance measures are well in place,” a source told TOI on Sunday. “Also, there are now two China-specific mountain strike corps (1 Corps and 17 Corps) that undertake summer deployments along the LAC,” he said.
While there is the ongoing diplomatic-military push through talks for China to agree to troop disengagement at Depsang and Demchok in eastern Ladakh, followed by de-escalation and de-induction, nothing is being left to chance due to the “adversary’s duplicitous behaviour in the past”, he added.
The Army has deployed a whole host of artillery weapons along the LAC, which range from the old 155mm Bofors and new M-777 ultralight howitzers and ‘winterised’ K-9 Vajra self-propelled tracked guns to Pinaka and Smerch multi-launch rocket systems for long-range high-volume firepower.
Similarly, apart from combat air patrols by Sukhoi-30MKI, Rafale and MiG-29 fighters, the IAF has majorly strengthened its air defence network with various radars and surface-to-air guided weapons with ranges extending up to almost 100-km in forward locations in eastern Ladakh, another source said.
In addition to ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) missions flown by fighters, the IAF is also operating a large number of drones to monitor enemy activities across the LAC.
The latest addition is the induction of four advanced satellite communication-enabled Israeli Heron Mark-II drones at a forward air base in the northern sector. These all-weather medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drones, which can stay airborne for over 35 hours at a stretch, will also be equipped with missiles and ‘smart’ bombs.
After initially being caught off-guard by the People’s Liberation Army’s multiple intrusions into eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020, which were followed by the violent Galwan clashes on June 15, the defence establishment swung into action to address the challenge in the forbidding high-altitude terrain.
The IAF, for instance, airlifted over 68,000 soldiers, 90 tanks, 330 BMP infantry combat vehicles, scores of artillery guns and other weapon systems with C-17 Globemaster-III, 130J Super Hercules and other aircraft to Ladakh. “The strategic airlift load amounted to around 9,000 tonnes within a very short time-span,” the source said.
The defence establishment has also worked hard to somewhat reduce the huge border infrastructure differential with China. The runway at the high-altitude Nyoma advance landing ground, which is less than 50-km from the LAC in eastern Ladakh, for instance, is now being extended and strengthened to ensure it can handle fighter jets like Sukhoi-30MKIs and MiG-29s.