As China simply would not deescalate the tension along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Indian Army is focusing on increasing its capability and is revamping its Aviation Corps and is working on setting up three integrated Aviation Brigades, two of which are along the LAC.
Last month a new Aviation Brigade had come up under the Eastern Command, and now two more have been set up under the Northern and the Western Command as part of the new Order of Battle (ORBAT).
“These new Aviation Brigades are part of the rebalancing that the Army has been doing. This ensures that there is a more coordinated and localised control of the aviation assets,” a source explained.
In another change, all drones operations that were under the control of the artillery have now been moved to the Aviation Corps and will be in charge of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as part of the revamp.
Also, these Aviation Brigades will now be part of integrated surveillance and operations centers that continue to monitor sensitive areas round the clock and now satellites will be part of the program to send direct feed because a more coordinated round-the-clock surveillance capability rather than just boots on the ground is the need of the hour.
“Aviation is an integral part of the warfighting process. Better surveillance capability, advance knowledge of enemy movement and faster mobilisation is key to fighting a war,” a second source said.
The Indian Army has also built multiple forward helicopter bases along the LAC which enables our forces to move more freely and enhances surveillance, troops insertion, and movement of logistics along with procuring new-age portable helipads that are user-friendly, ruggedized with scope for modularity.
“Drone warfare is the future. The Army has just ordered for swarm drones, both for logistics and attack. The Army has also ordered kamikaze drones while also buying four new satellite link-enabled long range surveillance drones from Israel. In the future, you will see a large variety of drones being procured by the Army and hence it was important that the Aviation Corps takes care of them rather than the artillery because drone warfare has changed,” the second source said.
“What has happened during the current crisis with China is that the Army is ensuring that all its helicopter squadrons are fully equipped with the sanctioned numbers. So more helicopters have been sent to the critical areas and these include the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) and its armed version, the Rudra,” a third source said.
“Our training has focused on heliborne insertion of troops at high altitudes which enables quick transfer of soldiers from one valley to another. We are doing it at our own level as well as with the IAF,” a fourth source said.
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