New Delhi: Over three years after the Galwan clash that saw the Indian Air Force (IAF) ferrying in over 68,000 additional troops along with nearly 90 tanks and over 300 infantry combat vehicles into the icy heights of Ladakh, the IAF remains in “operational ready format” in the area, ThePrint has learnt.
The “operational ready format” refers to fighter aircraft being deployed in Ladakh and elsewhere close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China that is fully loaded and can be airborne in a matter of five-seven minutes in case of an operational need. Fully loaded here means that the aircraft is fueled and live munitions are on board.
Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that at times even five-seven minutes can be very long and, hence, the IAF was maintaining Combat Air Patrol (CAP) close to the LAC and continues to maintain an offensive posture as a deterrence to let the other side know that any action will be challenged.
Violent face-off with the Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley on the night of 15 June, 2020, had left 20 Indian soldiers dead and several injured. There were also unspecified casualties on the Chinese side.
Giving an overview of the Indian military response to the Galwan incident, sources said, while men and equipment were pumped in fast, the credit goes to the IAF’s transport fleet.
From transport aircraft to helicopters
From the Russian-origin AN 32s and IL76s to the American C-17s and the C-130Js aircraft, the entire fleet was deployed to help the Indian military build-up in response to Chinese action in 2020.
Along with this, transport helicopters, like the Russian Mi17s and the American Chinooks, were also deployed, which allowed the last-mile connectivity to extremely forward posts.
With connectivity remaining an issue, sources said that IAF was roped in to help in the immediate push of men and equipment.
Giving statistics, sources said the strategic airlift included multiple divisions of the Indian Army, in excess of 68,000 troops, 330 BMPs and 90 tanks. It had airlifted about 9,000 tonnes of men and equipment into Ladakh.
Sources added that more equipment and men were eventually brought in by road since the immediate need was taken care of.
“The men and equipment were first brought to Leh, from where it was further airlifted to Advanced Landing Grounds (ALG) using specialised planes and helicopters,” they added.
As reported by ThePrint, there are three ALGs in Ladakh and the one in Nyoma is now being upgraded with a 2.7 kilometre-long cemented runway that will enable fighter aircraft operations besides larger transport aircraft.
Task cut out for the IAF
According to the sources, the IAF had its task cut out. The first and foremost was to strengthen the deterrent military posture of India by fast induction of platforms, troops and weaponry. The second was to maintain credible forces and sustain the deployed forces, besides monitoring enemy build-up.
Asked how the IAF maintained its credible deterrence capability, sources explained it was achieved through a mix of fighter aircraft deployment and specialised radars and air defence weaponry.
The IAF deployed in an offensive and defensive manner to counter China’s strategy of “anti-access area denial (A2AD)”, which seeks to inhibit the enemy’s freedom of movement in the battlefield through a wide range of surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites and long-range radars, apart from a large number of soldiers, artillery, rocket forces and armoured elements.
For IAF’s ground staff and specialists, Ladakh marked the first time they were deployed in extreme high-altitude areas along the LAC, close to the site of friction, the sources said.
Small and heavy radars along with air defence missiles with a range of over 100km were flown in and deployed at multiple locations along the LAC to target enemy movement.
The IAF also went in for faster operationalising of the Rafale fighter jets soon after they came in July 2020. It went in for the emergency procurement of the French HAMMER air-to-ground precision-guided weapon system as well to deploy the Rafale faster.
The fighters that were pushed for offensive and defence postures were the Rafale, Su30 MKI and the upgraded MiG 29 UPGs.
Besides this, the Jaguars were also deployed for surveillance along with Su 30 MKI, which comes with specialised equipment that can record click pictures of enemy positions of nearly 70-80 kilometres in depth.
Besides all this, the IAF also deployed its drones for both visual surveillance of enemy intelligence as well as electronic surveillance.
The IAF has also deployed the satellite-linked Heron Mk II that was bought from the Israelis under emergency procurement last year along the LAC. Sources said these drones with excellent surveillance and electronic intelligence gathering capabilities of over 30 hours have proved valuable.
“The Heron II can also be weaponised if need be and work on this is already on,” they added.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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