India ramps up defence along China border

India has started ramping up military defences in the Ladakh sector of Jammu and Kashmir that faces China, especially after Beijing has ringed the area with at least six airfields, fighter aircraft, all terrain vehicles and special forces that are backed by top-class metalled roads right up to the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

 

New Delhi will be moving an armoured brigade — some 150 T-72 tanks — to Ladakh and also have Smerch multi-barrel rocket launch units placed at key locations. These are capable of hitting targets 70-80 kms away.

 

An armoured regiment — 46 tanks — had moved in last year to join the Kiari-based 70 Brigade and is now located at a forward sector, 20 km inside the LAC, where India suffered a setback in the 1962 conflict with China. This is separate from the upcoming Armoured Brigade that will be directly controlled by the Leh-based 14 Corps. Its three Regiments, comprising 46 tanks each, will be co-located with existing infantry and artillery regiments of the Indian Army. Meaning an armoured component will be available from the northern most tip, that is the base of the Karokaram pass at Daulat Baig Oldie, to the south eastern extreme of Demchok and Chumar, sources said. Adding up the numbers would mean that over the next 18 months India would have stationed 200 of the T-72 tanks in Ladakh and all night-sight equipped.

 

Ladakh being a plateau is ideal tank country. The only effort is in bringing the tanks through the narrow and high Himlayan passes on the Srinagar-Leh route or the Manali-Leh route.

 

The existing numbers of tanks are just not enough in case of an attack, especially after the Indian side was alerted of threat by way of a specialised exercise by the Chinese to have rapid movement across Tibet and Xinjiang, both abutting Ladakh. The Lanzhou Military Area Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China carried out rapid movement exercises in 2012. The first tank regiment moved to Ladakh in 2013.

 

New Delhi’s fears got an official stamp in March 2013 when the State Council of China published a white paper titled “The Diversified Employment of China’s Armed Forces” that talked about these rapid movements. It claimed the PLA extensively practised the move to concentrate troops. “Trans-military area command movements have been carried out. In 2012, the Chengdu MAC and Lanzhou MAC carried out the exercise.” Lanzhou and Chengdu — are dedicated to India. The Lanzhou MAC is tasked for J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, while the Chengdu MAC is for Chinese frontiers facing Nepal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. China in total has seven MACs.

 

China has ringed J&K with new airfields. The Ngari Gunsa airbase in Tibet has come up just 200 km east of Demchok in India. North of J&K, airbases at Kashgar, Yarkand, Hotan and Qeimo (Cherchen) in Xinjiang can be used to launch an attack.

More tanks and artillery

• New Delhi will be moving an armoured brigade, nearly 150 T-72 tanks, to Ladakh and also have Smerch multi-barrel rocket launch units placed at key locations
• An armoured regiment, 46 tanks, had moved in last year to join the Kiari-based 70 Brigade and is now located at a forward sector, 20 km inside the Line of Actual Control
• Three Regiments, comprising 46 tanks each, of Armoured Brigade will be co-located with existing infantry and artillery regiments of the Indian Army

News Politics PLA's Type 99 tank can be equipped with laser weapons: Russian media

The Type 99 main battle tank of the People's Liberation Army can be equipped with advanced weapon systems such as high-speed armour piercing shell and laser sensor damage weapons, according to the Independent Military Review, a Russian military magazine.

The Type 99's 125mm smoothbore tank guns are similar to those used by the Russian-built T-72M main battle tank, but the Chinese tank encompasses more technology from Israel, the report said. Based on the M711 shell, a 125mm armor piercing, fin stabilized, discarding sabot-tracer imported from Israel, China has developed its own armour piercing shell which can travel even faster in speed.

The Israeli M711 shell can travel 1,700 meters per second with 600mm of armor penetration, while China's new high-speed armour piercing shell is capable of traveling 1,780mm per second, increasing its armor penetration to 850mm. The country's new armour piercing shell makes the 25mm smoothbore tank gun of Type 99 main battle tank 30% more powerful than the German Rheinmetall 120mm tank gun designed for the M1A1 main battle tank of the United States.

Meanwhile, China's latest laser sensor damage weapon can be considered a significant threat to potential adversaries, according to the Independent Military Review. It can be used to destroy the optical instrument of an enemy tank and it is also capable of blinding the crew of enemy tank as well. Type 99 is currently the only main battle tank in the world that can be equipped with such a weapon system, the report added.

Russian Rocket Launchers Pierce Tank Armor

Potential buyers watched Russian weapons in action during the Second International Forum/Exhibition "Engineering Technologies – 2012" in Zhukovsky outside Moscow. Watch this RIA Novosti video of rocket launchers piercing tank armor and destroying a bunker.

India Tests Upgraded Arjun Tank

India has started testing a deeply modernized version of its domestically-developed Arjun main battle tank, The Times of India newspaper reported.

The trials of the Arjun Mark II main battle tank (MBT) began at the Pokhran field firing range in northwestern India on June 22 and will continue until the end of July.

The testing focuses on 19 major modifications to improve the features that came under heavy criticism in its earlier version, the Arjun Mark I MBT, The Times of India cited on Monday India's Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) spokesperson Ravi Gupta as saying.

The major upgrades include missile-firing capability against long-range targets, panoramic sight with night vision, additional ammunition types, explosive reactive armor, advanced air-defense gun to engage helicopters, an advanced land navigation system and improved running gear.

The new version, if approved, will supplement 124 Arjun Mark I MBTs already in service. The Indian Defense Ministry has ordered a total of 124 modernized Arjun MBTs to be built at the DRDO's heavy vehicles factory in Avadi, near Chennay.

According to the Indian military experts, the 66-ton Arjun “moves like a 'Ferrari' in the desert” even compared with a lighter 40-ton Russian T-90S MBT, which is also in service with the Indian army.