The Indian Army is reorienting itself to increasingly pull out of counterinsurgency (CI) roles in the Northeast so that it can put its entire focus on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China—as part of which there is now an emphasis on building and strengthening infrastructure across eastern Arunachal Pradesh districts, top Army officers said on Wednesday.
Efforts are underway to ramp up infrastructure in these border districts with the construction of habitat and helipads at forward locations, strengthening operational logistics such as building better ammunition storage facilities, constructing roads and mule and foot tracks, and other security infrastructure to aid faster mobilisation of troops to the borders and for enhanced patrolling of the LAC by them.
‘COMBAT READINESS OF HIGH ORDER’
Major General MS Bains, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Army’s 2 Mountain Division headquartered at Dinjan, in Assam said the focus of the Army in the region has fully shifted to the northern borders (LAC) and the Assam Rifles has largely taken over CI duties.“Road development, construction of habitat, and aviation facilities are underway. We are in the process of linking various valleys. We have clear timelines for capability development based on clear perspective plans for the future,” he told a group of journalists. “Our overall combat readiness in the region is of a very high order, primarily because of road connectivity and synergy with other forces, including the Indian Air Force and the paramilitary forces.”
Officers said all the three major valleys under the division—the Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit—are well connected at present.
A second Army officer said wherever roads are under construction, aviation facilities have been created for better connectivity, which also helps the civilian population.
The infrastructure development in the area also includes the construction of 135 4G mobile towers by telecom companies including in border areas of Walong and Kibithu.
The 2 Mountain Division takes care of five districts of eastern Arunachal Pradesh—Upper Dibang, Lower Dibang, Lohit, Namsai, and Anjaw. The state has 26 districts.
Under the latest restructuring plans, the 2 Mountain Division is no longer involved in counterinsurgency duties. Overall, around two divisional strength of Army troops in the Northeast have been moved out of CI roles.
However, the 73 Mountain Brigade, based at Laipuli near Tinsukia, remains one of the brigades in this region which is tasked with CI duties in four districts of Assam.
WHY TAWANG HAS BEEN A PRIORITY
The north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh comes under two different corps of the Army. While the 4 Corps takes care of the sensitive Tawang sector and the Kameng area, the 3 Corps takes care of the rest of Arunachal Pradesh, also referred to as RALP.From strengthening infrastructure, pushing in the latest military equipment and technology, and ensuring significant troop strength to develop offensive capabilities, India has traditionally prioritised Tawang—fueled by China’s long-standing interest in the region for political and cultural reasons—over the rest of Arunachal Pradesh.
What also hindered much of border infrastructure development in RALP, particularly in establishing the last-mile connectivity to the LAC at several places in the eastern districts of the state are the difficult terrains marked by high valleys and adverse weather conditions due to which freshly developed roads often get damaged.
While there has been an infrastructure push in the region in the past few years, with multiple strategic bridges becoming operational lately, the last-mile connectivity to the LAC here has not been achieved in most places.
Among the areas under the 2 Mountain Division, Fishtail 1 and 2, and Dichu along the LAC are considered sensitive locations, even as officers denied that there have been any major face-offs with Chinese troops in these areas lately. The Subansiri and the forested Asaphila areas have seen Chinese transgressions in the past.
With the Army getting reoriented to move out of CI roles to focus on its conventional role at the LAC, RALP is now getting an infrastructure push to support the troops in this transition, a move that will also benefit the overall civil population, a third Army officer said.
Army officers said due to the treacherous terrains and lack of infrastructure so far, the troops patrol the LAC once or twice a month. It takes a long-range patrol a week or longer to reach the LAC.
This is in contrast with China, which has worked on ramping up its road network and other military infrastructure such as helipads along the LAC. China is estimated to have built 1,20,000 km of road network in Tibet alone since 1959, one of the officers said.
They added that the LAC along these eastern districts has been largely peaceful. There is a hotline and in the absence of any provocation, there have lately been only ceremonial border personnel meetings between Indian and Chinese local military commanders in this area.
After Tawang, Infra Buildup Gathers Pace in Eastern Arunachal as Army Puts Full Focus on LAC - News18
As the Army increasingly pulls out of counterinsurgency roles in the Northeast, and puts its focus entirely on the LAC, infrastructure is being built and strengthened across easternmost parts of Arunachal Pradesh in line with the plans
Indian Army gets battle gear in east, helipads for Chinooks
Infantry battalions guarding the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in Arunachal Pradesh are racing to equip themselves with a string of new weapons and systems to sharpen their combat edge, with the capability upgrade encompassing light machine guns, assault rifles, rocket launchers, unmanned aerial vehicles, all-terrain vehicles and high-tech surveillance gear, officials familiar with the army’s modernisation said on Friday.
Helipads, capable of operating multi-mission Chinook helicopters, are also coming up in remote pockets for faster deployment of soldiers and weaponry as part of an overarching infrastructure push, even as new satellite terminals along the border will provide high-capacity communications capability to plan operations, said one of the officials above.
“Infantry battalions form the cutting edge of combat, and they are being stocked up with new military gear for operational efficiency. The capability upgrade is happening at a remarkable pace,” said Brigadier Thakur Mayank Sinha, the commander of a mountain brigade deployed in eastern Arunachal Pradesh.
The new inductions include Israeli-origin Negev light machine guns, Sig Sauer assault rifles from the US, Swedish Carl Gustav Mk-III rocket launchers, indigenous Swift unmanned aerial vehicles, all terrain vehicles from the US and digital spotting scopes for better recognition and identification of targets.
The focus is on capability development, building infrastructure and training to execute the assigned operational role, said Sinha.
Construction of helipads for operating Chinooks that can carry the army’s newest US-origin howitzers to forward bases is in full swing, he added.
The M777 ultra-light howitzer has emerged as the centrepiece of the army’s weapon deployment along LAC in Arunachal Pradesh to counter the Chinese military build-up, with the gun’s tactical mobility giving the army multiple options for a firepower boost in remote areas, the officials said.
The army’s sharpened focus on the eastern sector comes at a time when India and China are locked in border row in the Ladakh sector. The Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Thursday announced that their frontline troops have kicked off disengagement from Patrol Point-15 (Gogra-Hot Springs area) in eastern Ladakh, with the breakthrough coming after the 16th round of military talks held in July.
This is the fourth round of disengagement between the two armies.
Despite disengagement from Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra (PP-17A) and now PP-15, the two armies still have around 60,000 troops each and advanced weaponry deployed in the Ladakh theatre.
The Indian army, which has focused on counter-insurgency operations in the North-east for decades, has carried out a reorientation of its forces in the eastern sector to counter challenges along the border with China.
Army gets battle gear in east, helipads for Chinooks
The new inductions include Israeli-origin Negev light machine guns, Sig Sauer assault rifles from the US, Swedish Carl Gustav Mk-III rocket launchers, and indigenous Swift unmanned aerial vehicles, among others.
