Itanagar: India has strengthened its day and night surveillance at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Arunachal Pradesh sector by using a fleet of remotely piloted aircraft and other assets. This is a part of a broad strategy to strengthen overall military preparedness to deal with any Chinese misadventure.
After the clashes at Galwan Valley last year, India has fortified its overall deployment along the nearly 3,400-km-long LAC besides speeding up infrastructure development to gain a tactical advantage.
A sizeable fleet of Israeli-made Heron medium-altitude long-endurance drones is carrying out round-the-clock surveillance over the LAC in the mountainous terrain and sending crucial data and images to command and control centres.
Apart from drones, the aviation wing of Indian Army has also been deploying the Weapon System Integrated (WSI) variant of the Advanced Light Helicopter Rudra in the region, adding more teeth to its tactical missions in the region.
In an expansion of its aviation wing in the region, the Army has come out with an independent aviation brigade in the region this year to bolster its overall operational preparedness in the sensitive region.
Though the Heron drones were first deployed in the region around four-five years back, now the integration of surveillance has been significantly enhanced under the ‘sensor to shooter’ concept to employ military forces at short notice for any possible operational objectives.
The Army has been provided an added advantage to carry out various missions in the high-altitude areas with the deployment of the WSI version of the ALH helicopters.
“Overall, our day and night surveillance capability has seen massive upgrades since last year and we are in a much better position to deal with any eventualities in the region,” said one of the sources.
The Indian Army is also procuring a fleet of Heron TP drones on lease from Israel that are capable of operating for nearly 45 hours at an altitude of up to 35,000 feet.
The Heron TP drones are equipped with automatic taxi-takeoff and landing (ATOL) and satellite communication (SATCOM) systems for an extended range.
Sources also revealed that more roads, bridges and railway infrastructure are being built in the Arunachal sector keeping in mind the strategic requirement in the wake of evolving security dynamics in the region.
To enhance infrastructure in the region, the government is also working on connecting Tawang with a railway network.
The people cited above also said that infrastructure at almost all airfields along the LAC including the Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) was enhanced as per operational requirements.
