China now has a number of radars along the border to watch movements in Indian territory. It is a reason for concern for India.
Colonel Vinayak Bhat (retd)
China’s rapid and strategic deployment of radars in recent years should be a matter of serious and urgent concern for India. A large number of radars provide the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with very good surveillance capabilities. Traditionally, they were deployed along the huge coastline of China, but are now popping up on the Indo-Tibet border, giving Beijing eyes deep into India.
These radars cover a large part of Ladakh, including the Pangong lake where a recent border scuffle took place, and even the militarised Siachen glacier.
The mission of these radars will be to monitor Indian surface and aerial activities. Here is an expose on these radar locations in occupied-Ladakh, called Aksai Chin, and their strategic importance.
Radar Site 1 : Depsang Area
The Depsang area came into the limelight during 2013 Daulat Beg Oldie incident when the PLA pitched tents and constructed watchtowers much higher than required. At that time, China had also constructed a huge radar on a hillock north of their post called Tianwendian.
The radome of 11m has been strategically constructed at a height of 5530m. A radome may contain a radar with a possible range of 120-200kms. Many thought that this radar was to monitor the aerial activities at the newly activated Daulat Beg Oldie advanced landing ground (ALG).
But the direct line-of-sight coverage of this radar when plotted on the Google Earth clearly indicates that it can observe without any obstacles up to and beyond the Siachen glacier.
Radar Site 2 : Sirjap Area
China has very recently deployed a surface search radar in the Sirjap area much ahead of their PLA Army naval station called Rimuthang. This is along the Pangong lake, where a scuffle between the troops of the two armies took place and was documented in a video released by ThePrint.
This PLA Army’s naval station had more than ten speedboats patrolling the Pangong Tso frequently trespassing into Indian areas. These army men are frequently named as “Kunlun Sailors”. This new station has a pier that is 75m long with a small breakwater that is 20m in length.
It has two types of boats, whose pictures have appeared on CCTV and on the Chinese internet repeatedly. These types of boats have been observed patrolling the Mekong River in Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. They have also been seen patrolling China’s North-Eastern borders with Russia on the Black and Ussuri rivers.
After the deployment of Chinese speedboats in Pangong Tso, India has also deployed a number of speedboats to patrol the lake.
The radome at Sirjap is located at a height of 4250m and can monitor only upto 25kms on Pangong Tso. It possibly can also look at areas slightly north of Chushul town. Given the mountains are so high and rugged, the radar can hardly provide any surveillance beyond 25 kms in the lake area. The plotting of radar coverage suggests that the radar is probably aimed at monitoring surface movements only along the Pangong Tso.
Radar Site 3 : Demchok Area
The Demchok area has been a bone of contention between India and China since the 1950s. It is a strategically located village that grants India access to Ngari and Man Sarovar and beyond, and provides China easy access to Dungti & other areas.
Recently China constructed many residential buildings probably to settle members of the Han ethnic group in this remote region, along with bridges and other infrastructure facilities.
The PLA established a large battalion-level post at Demchok along with a watchtower and a radar. The radome of 4.5m at a height of 4340m is located on top of a square structure, almost 5-10m high.
This radar was seen as having being built to monitor aerial activities at the recently activated Fukche Advanced Landing Ground.
But Google Earth shows us that the radar can observe all Indian movements much beyond Dungti, if not upto Chushul. The radar will cover anywhere between 90 to 125kms in this zone. Any movement, even if it occurs in the night, can be monitored. There is no hiding anything from the Dragon’s eyes.
What India should do
It is evident that any aerial or surface activity at these three locations will be monitored by Chinese radars, providing them with a lot of information on our vehicular and aerial movements. This suggests all our rations, clothing and equipment or arms and ammunition are being monitored.
India must officially take note of these three radar sites of China and object to their presence. The concerns should be raised at Border Personnel Meetings, during talks with China and at appropriate levels through the MEA.
The Indian Armed Forces must undertake measures to ensure our air traffic and ground movements are masked, and block or supress the frequencies before hostilities begin so that China can’t use them at all.
These three sites should also be nominated as Priority 1 targets for our artillery and air force. India should also take a cue and deploy radars in these sectors to gain real time information of Chinese PLA activities.
Col Vinayak Bhat (retd) is a Military Intelligence veteran of the Indian Army with vast experience of satellite imagery analysis. He has worked as Chinese interpreter and is a specialist on PLA and Pakistan’s Armed Forces. He tweets @rajfortyseven