After Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, yesterday (July 24) had said, the military option to push back the Chinese transgressors is still on the table, Indian forces have been equipped with shoulder-fired air defence missiles in Ladakh heights, reported by Times of India.
China is not willing to deescalate and Chinese helicopters are now flying very close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh.
“Indian troops armed with the Russian-origin Igla air defence system have been deployed on the crucial heights along the border to take care of any enemy aircraft trying to violate the Indian air space there,” sources told ANI.
The Russian-origin Igla air defence systems are capable of shooting down enemy fighter jets or helicopters. This is a preventive measure that has never been previously exercised by the Indian military which shows hostilities have still not ceased.
India has deployed radars and surface to air missile systems to keep track of the enemy air movement after Indian forces had observed that a number of Chinese choppers had tried to come inside Indian territory.
India has also deployed its frontline fighters, the Su-30MKI is keeping a close eye on the Hotan, Gar Gunsa, Kashghar, Hopping, Dkonka Dzong, Linzhi and Pangat airbases of the PLAAF in the Xinjiang and Tibet region that has seen a lot of activity in the last week or so.