After Eastern Ladakh Massive Indian military build-up at Chinese border in Arunachal Pradesh. India is making a huge military build-up all along the 4,057 kilometer Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in Arunachal Pradesh, the most northerly state along the LAC. This fresh military deployment is unique from the aspect that Indian defence strategists have forwards ‘Lethal Most Fighter Jets’ ‘Sukhoi-30MKI’ as well as the deadliest version of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile to Arunachal Pradesh.
Indian Air Force has forwarded IAF’s the most ‘Lethal Most Fighter Jets’ Sukhoi-30MKI to Pasighat Advanced Landing Ground, a strategic asset and one of the operating bases under the Eastern Air Command capable of operating all types of aircraft and helicopters.
Pasighat is the headquarters of East Sinag district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Situated at 155 meters, Pasighat is Arunachal’s oldest town. It is located at the distance of 100 km from Chinese border.
The Indian Air Force’s most lethal aircraft, Sukhoi-30MKI’s first landing at Pasighat in the West Siang district of India’s northeastern state Arunachal Pradesh, marks the inauguration of an Advanced Landing Ground (AGL) just 100 kilometers away from the Chinese border.
Kiren Rijiju, India’s Minister of State for Home Affairs, who belongs to Arunachal Pradesh, officially inaugurated the refurbished airfield. The advance landing ground at Pasighat has remained unused since the Sino-Indian war of 1962.
Group Captain Mohonto Panging (retired) was present on the inaugural ceremony. Panging is from Arunachal Pradesh and belongs to the original lot of Sukhoi pilots who underwent training in Moscow and later went to Russia to bring first batch of 12 Sukhoi fighter jets to India in 1997.
Arunachal Pradesh has 1,680 km of international border, of which 1080 km is with China. India will upgrade two more Advanced Landing Ground in Arunachal Pradesh. Sources from the Ministry of Defense told Sputnik, “Work on Tuting is near its completion. More than 75% upgrade work has been done and expected to become operational by end of this year.”
Meanwhile, another ALG project at Tawang, which was taken up in 2014, is underway and is expected to be ready by the first quarter of next year. In May this year, India’s Ministry of Defense informed the Standing Committee of Parliament that 24% physical progress had been completed. Earlier in March and May this year, upgraded ALGs were inaugurated in Mechuka, Ziro, Along and Wallong in India’s northeast.
Another crucial part of threatening part of Indian military build-up at LAC in Arunachal Pradesh is the deployment of the 864 Regiment of the Indian Army’s 41st Artillery Division equipped with the deadliest version of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile.
The regiment will operate from four and six BrahMos batteries and three to four Mobile Autonomous Launchers (MALs). The regiment will command up to 100 BrahMos Block III cruise missiles, each armed with a 290 kg warhead. It is the fourth missile regiment to be equipped with BrahMos.
The fire-and-forget BrahMos Block III, the newest iteration of this feared weapon, possesses unique trajectory maneuver and steep-dive capabilities that allow it to hit targets hidden on the reverse slopes of mountains. It can steep dive up to 75 degrees.
It has nine times more kinetic energy than sub-sonic missiles and is the preferred precision-strike weapon of the Indian armed forces. It is extremely accurate, having a circular error probability (CEP) of only one meter, and its combined hi-lo trajectory makes it a difficult target for Chinese air defense systems.
The land-attack version of BrahMos has been operational in the Indian Army since 2007.
BrahMos can engage ground targets from as low as 10 meters with minimal collateral damage. It is capable of being launched from multiple platforms like submarines, ships, aircraft and land-based MALs.
The Block III version was successfully test-fired in December 2010 from Integrated Test Range at Chandipur off the Orissa coast. Block III had advanced guidance and upgraded software, incorporating high maneuvers at multiple points and a steep dive from high altitude.
In a bid to gauge military’s operational preparedness and capability, Indian defence strategists have tested their forces carried out a surgical strike in Myanmar in total violations of international laws and norms of sovereignty and UN conventions
According to reports Indian paratroopers carried out surgical strike against suspected NSCN-K militants inside Myanmar.
However, some local media reports quoting NSCN-K sources said the operation was carried out inside Myanmar border. While the Army confirmed the operation, it rejected reports that the forces had crossed over and the incident happened in the Indian side of the border.
“Our troops had laid an ambush along a known infiltration route. There were no casualties on our side,” an army source was quoted by Indian newspaper. The Army has also refused to confirm the number of casualties. If indeed the operation was inside Myanmar, this will be the second such strike in recent times.
In June last year, Indian special forces had conducted a surgical strike across the Myanmar border which inflicted “significant casualties” on NSCN (K) and Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL). It was in retaliation to a militant attack that killed 18 army soldiers, which was the worst attack on security forces in two decades.
Even then the army had denied launching any such operation. The NSCN (K) is an armed insurgency group which aims at unifying all the Naga-inhabited areas in the North East of India and Myanmar to form a sovereign state.
Sensing the grave threat to territorial sovereignty and lives of innocent people, China has decried against Indian military build-up close to Chinese border in a bid to draw the international attentions towards Indian heinous designs harmful to regional peace.
Therefore, Chinese Army’s official mouthpiece warns India against deploying cruise missiles in Arunachal. India’s move to deploy BrahMos cruise missiles in Arunachal as a deterrent against China has provoked a sharp response from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
The PLA’s official mouthpiece has warned India that doing so could attract countermeasures from China and bring “a negative influence” to “stability” of border areas.
“India deploying supersonic missiles on the border has exceeded its own needs for self-defense and poses a serious threat to China’s Tibet and Yunnan provinces,” said the commentary, published this weekend in the PLA’s influential official newspaper.
The Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, had cleared this fourth BrahMos regiment at a cost of over Rs 4,300 crore. The regiment consists of around 100 missiles, five mobile autonomous launchers on 12×12 heavy-duty trucks, and a mobile command post.
The PLA Daily claimed that India’s views of “counterbalance and confrontation” were behind the move, noting other steps to bolster the border such as deploying Sukhoi Su-30MKIs and drones in border areas as “deterrence to China to create a military advantage in the boundary”.
India, however, is still playing catch-up after China set up massive infrastructure in Tibet and Xinjiang, including airports, roads, and a rail network that is set to reach the border.
Melange Report