As part of a massive drive for infrastructure development, senior military officials said on Friday that almost all advanced stations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh will have one sizable helipad each for fast mobilisation of troops and military equipment.
According to them, the forward posts and Army units are all being connected to an optical fibre network and will each have its own satellite terminal to improve overall communication and monitoring.
Switch remotely piloted aircraft, which the Army has already deployed in huge numbers to forward stations to monitor Chinese activity around the LAC.
Brigadier TM Sinha, commander of a Mountain Brigade in eastern Arunachal Pradesh, told a group of visiting journalists, “We are now giving a significant push to the infrastructure development in the forward areas in the eastern sector.”
According to the officials, the Army has equipped its units in Arunachal Pradesh with a sizable number of US-made all-terrain vehicles, 7.62mm Israeli Negev Light Machine Guns, and several other deadly weaponry as part of the capability building project.
According to them, the helipads are being constructed at the advanced posts to make it easier for the Chinook 47 (F) helicopters, which were purchased from the US as part of a 2015 agreement, to land and take off.
The Chinook is a multi-purpose vertical-lift platform that can carry people, artillery, equipment, and fuel. The choppers are heavily employed to improve India’s military readiness in the eastern part of the country.
According to Brigadier Sinha, “the helipad construction would ease Chinook operation in forward regions and will ensure speedy transportation of equipment and soldiers.”
Following the conflict in eastern Ladakh that started in 2020, the government has been heavily promoting infrastructure development along the approximately 3,500 km long LAC.
In mountainous areas near the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh, the Army has stationed a sizable number of easily transportable M-777 ultra light howitzers.
The Army now has the ability to swiftly move the M-777 from one location to another according on operational requirements since it can be transported in Chinook helicopters.
Following a violent altercation in the Pangong lake regions on May 5, 2020, the Indian and Chinese forces engaged in a stalemate along the eastern Ladakh border. Both sides steadily increased their deployment by bringing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy equipment.
Following a fatal altercation in Galwan Valley, the tense situation worsened.
The two parties concluded the disengagement process in the Gogra region and on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake last year as a result of numerous military and diplomatic discussions.
Both sides declared on Thursday that disengagement has started at Patrolling Point 15 in the Gogra-Hotsprings region.
Currently, each side has between 50,000 and 60,000 soldiers deployed along the LAC in the sensitive area.
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