Indian Army deploys tanks & infantry vehicles in Ladakh
Engaged in a conflict with China for almost five months, the Indian Army’s armoured regiments are ready to take on the Chinese Army at altitudes of over 14,500 feet in the area which is the world’s highest battlefield for tanks and infantry combat vehicles along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh.
Along with the enemy across the border, the Indian Army is also working on war footing to fight the extremely harsh winters by building new shelters and prefabricated structures for the soldiers.
A visit near the LAC in the Chumar-Demchok area in Eastern Ladakh shows that for countering the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s deployment of armoured columns, the Indian Army is battle-ready to face the Chinese Army with its T-90 and T-72 tanks along with the BMP-2 Infantry Combat Vehicles which can operate at temperatures up to minus 40 degree Celsius.
The Eastern Ladakh area witnesses the harshest winters where temperatures normally dip to minus 35 degrees in the night during winters coupled with high-speed freezing winds.”
The Fire and Fury Corps is the only formation of the Indian Army and also in the world to have actually deployed mechanised forces in such harsh terrain. The maintenance of the tanks, infantry combat vehicles and heavy guns is a challenge in this terrain. To ensure crew and equipment readiness, adequate arrangements are in place for both man and machine,” Major General Arvind Kapoor told near a tank exercising area.
The capability of Indian tank regiments, like the crossing of rivers and overcoming other obstacles, was on full display in the region where the Indus River flows all along the Eastern Ladakh sector.
“Mechanised infantry is the advanced part of the Indian Army. It has experience of working under any weather condition and any terrain. Due to features like high mobility ammunition and missile storage, it has the capability to fight for a longer duration. The gunner of mechanised infantry is a trained soldier who is capable of firing different kinds of armaments,” said a tank soldier deployed at an altitude of 14,700 feet.The Indian armoured regiments have the capability to reach the LAC within minutes if they are required there and did so recently, when the Chinese activated their tanks after the August 29-30 incidents when India occupied several heights near the southern bank of Pangong lake.
