Indian Military

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New Delhi — The Indian Air Force (IAF) has deployed a second squadron of SU-30 MKI combat fighter in the North-East region of India to further enhance its capabilities viz-a-viz China. The frontline combat fighter planes will be used for offensive and defensive purposes, according to the IAF, with the SU-30 MKI stationed in Chabua air Base, Assam. This will be the seventh SU-30 MKI squadron of the IAF to be deployed.

In order to commemorate the formal induction of the SU-30MKI for the protection of the north-east region, the combat jet carried out a fly-past. It may be noted that the first squadron SU-30 was deployed in 2009 in the Tezpur area of Assam. According to sources, repeated trespassing from the Chinese side across the Sino-Indian border has led to the deployment of the SU-30 squadron in the region.

NEW DELHI: Indian intelligence agencies now have credible evidence of their own that several hundred of the Chinese working in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are People's Liberation Army engineers. They are in the process of verifying if these Chinese military engineers are engaged in some sort of military construction like bunkers.
The startling confirmation that hundreds of Chinese military engineers are in PoK has come against the stout official denial by China that its military was not present on the Pakistan side of Kashmir. In the past, US intelligence has told India about Chinese military presence in PoK.
The Chinese are involved in hydel projects, realignment of Karakoram highway etc in PoK. Presence of Chinese military engineers in civilian construction activities undertaken by China in foreign countries is "unusual", a source said. "They couldn't be there just for civilian work," he pointed out.
Sources said the inputs about Chinese military presence in PoK was part of an assessment presented by the Indian Army top brass to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, defence minister A K Antony and other senior officials a few weeks ago.

NEW DELHI: With Chinese troops continuing with their aggressive "transgressions'' across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Army wants the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to be placed under its "operational control'' for better border management.
Defence ministry sources said the Army contends India's border management posture will acquire the much-needed "cohesion, coordination and synergy'' required to counter the People's Liberation Army's "offensive'' posture if ITBP is placed under its jurisdiction.
The Army feels such a step will prove operationally productive as well as ensure optimal utilisation of resources especially in eastern Ladakh where ITBP, one of the seven central police forces under the home ministry, is responsible for border management of 826 km of the LAC.
The Army is also present in depth along that stretch but it can exercise operational control over ITBP only during the outbreak of hostilities.

NEW DELHI: The Red Dragon is spreading its wings and sharpening its claws at a rapid clip. From deadly long-range nuclear missiles and an expanding blue-water Navy to potent space and cyber warfare abilities, China will have a "modern" military capable of prolonged high-intensity combat operations by the end of this decade.
Pentagon's latest assessment of the expanding military might of China, released on Thursday, paints a scary picture of the frenetic pace at which the 2.25-million People's Liberation Army (PLA) is being modernized, in the backdrop of uncertainty over its long-term intentions.
Though the US report holds that thwarting any American intervention in Taiwan remains PLA's "main strategic direction", New Delhi can ill-afford to ignore China's increasing trans-border military capabilities, its assiduous strategic encircling of India and hardening posture in the border talks.
The report itself notes PLA has replaced its older liquid-fuelled, nuclear-capable CSS-2 intermediate range ballistic missiles with the "more advanced" solid-fuelled CSS-5 medium-range ballistic missile systems along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to "strengthen its deterrent posture" against India.

NEW DELHI: China is "aggressively" shoring up its military capabilities along the borders with India, defence minister A K Antony said on Tuesday.
"I agree with you on that China is aggressively building its capabilities in its areas. In the past, India was negligent in strengthening its capabilities in the eastern sector, "he told reporters when asked about China strengthening its military set-up along the Line of Actual Control.
Instead of "grumbling" over the issue, India has started modernising it own capabilities by taking steps such as raising new Army divisions and Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) for aircraft operations, he said on the sidelines of the Coast Guard Commanders' Conference here.
Asked about recent incursions taking place from the Chinese side, the minister said this was due to differences in perception of boundary which was not properly demarcated.
He went on to add that the overall situation along the border was "peaceful".

NEW DELHI: Having jolted the government over the critical operational gaps in its military capabilities, the Army is now pushing hard for fast-track policies and acquisitions to "enhance its combat ratio versus China" as well as "upgrade its combat edge" against Pakistan.
The defence ministry, too, is responding with alacrity for a change. Defence minister AK Antony has called another review meeting with Army chief General VK Singh and his top brass later this month, after holding two such meetings on February 28 and April 2.
It was between the earlier two meetings that the Army chief's confidential letter to the PM, about the "hollowness'' in military preparedness, found its way into the public domain much to the government's consternation.
For starters, the cases for one more regiment of the 300-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, two "troops'' of Israeli medium-altitude, long endurance Heron UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), and several types of ammunition ranging from Konkurs anti-tank guided missiles to Invar missiles for T-90S main-battle tanks, will be finalized in this fiscal's first quarter, top sources said.

[Stratpost]

The Air-Officer-Commanding-in-Chief of the India’s Western Air Command, Air Marshal NAK Browne said on Friday that the airstrip at Nyoma in Jammu and Kashmir has been proposed to be upgraded to a full-fledged airbase. Almost exactly a year back, the Advanced Landing Ground at Nyoma had been made operational for fixed-wing aircraft with an Indian Air force (IAF) AN-32 landing there, around 23 kilometers from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and Chinese-held territory.

The air marshal, who was also on that first flight into Nyoma, said that they would like ‘each and every platform of the IAF’ to ‘operate fully’ from Nyoma, further clarifying that ‘fighter aircraft are very much part of that capability’. He also noted that the IAF’s frontline fighter aircraft, the Sukhoi-30 MKI was designed to operate from those those altitudes.

[TOI] NEW DELHI: China continues to intrude into Indian territory in the real as well as virtual worlds with sheer impunity. Along with mounting cyber-attacks, China persists in needling India all along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC). At least three incursions by motorised armed patrols of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the strategically-located Trig Heights and Pangong Tso lake were recorded during last week, said sources on Monday.