Mapping The PLAGF's Field Deployments In Eastern Ladakh

Updated GoogleEarth imagery has nolw revealed the scales of field deployment of the PLAGF Ground Forces’ two warfighting formations now deployed in eastern Ladakh—the South Xinjiang Military District’s Kashgar-based 6 Highland Mechanised Infantry Division and the  Aksu-based 4 Highland Motorised Infantry Division.

The highest concentration of forces has been in the area east of Chushul astride the Spanggur Gap, i.e. the area between the south bank of Panggong Tso Lake and the Spanggur Tso Lake. However, such a concentration over such a small area also becomes highly vulnerable to fire-assaults and effect-based operations by offensive firepower. Consequently, such a deployment by the PLAGF defies all military logic and therefore was unlikely to be pushed into combat of any kind.

Coming next is the concentration of forces in the Depsang Plains east of Burtse and the DBO ALG. And following that comes the Gogra-Hot Springs area, and then Demchok.

Meanwhile, the updated GoogleEarth imagery of Ngari-Gunsa Airport shows the on-going construction of up to 16 storm-shelters for housing MRCAs.

Also uploaded is the image of a bridge constructed by the BRO in the middle of last year for facilitating the entrance of India’s ground forces into the Galwan River-Valley.

Depsang Plains Dispositions As Of March 2021

Maritime ISR Outposts Taking Shape

As per an agreement inked between Mauritius and India on March 11, 2015, the latter had committed to funding the construction of an airport capable of accommodating twin-engined jetliners as well as LRMR/ASW platforms like the Indian Navy’s P-8I. As of now, construction of the runway is nearing completion, along with an apron capable of housing two P-8Is (on periodic deployments) at a time.

A similar agreement had been inked on June 26, 2018 between Seychelles and India under which a similar facility was to be built at the former’s Assumption Island. However, construction has yet to begin.

Such far-flung facilities are required to keep tabs over the underwater trenches where hostile SSBNs will likely be deployed for launching SLBMs against Indian targets in the western, central and southern hinterlands.

In February 2018 India secured access to the Port of Duqm in Oman for military use and logistical support by/for the Indian Navy. This was one of the key takeaways of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Oman, where he met the then Sultan of Oman, the late Sayyid Qaboos bin Said Al Said. An annexure to the Memorandum of Understanding on Military Cooperation was then signed between the two countries.

Following this, the services of Duqm Port and its dry-dock have been available for maintenance of Indian Navy warships. In September 2017, the Indian Navy sent a Class 209/Type-1500 SSK to this port along with the Project 15 DDG INS Mumbai, plus two P-8Is to the nearby Duqm Airport.

The MoU on Military Cooperation was signed in 2005 and renewed in 2016. This has provided the general framework to strengthen bilateral military cooperation ties. On the other hand, the MoU on cooperation in maritime security between Coast Guards of the two countries, signed in May 2016, has provided a firm foundation for deepening institutional interactions.

Also, the ongoing UAE-financed airport construction activities at Yemen’s Perim Island in the Bab El Mandeb Strait, and at Socotra Island to the east, have the potential of turning these navigational choke-points into strategic SIGINT stations that can be assessed by the Indian Navy.

Another potential chain of ISR outposts can be created in the Comoros group of islands.

But the most critical cooperation of a trilateral nature (involving the US, India and Oman) has been in the arena of undersea warfare.

This involves the setting up of a US-funded and owned SOSUS network of seabed-based hydrophone arrays that begins from Diego Garcia and stretches northward via Seychelles all the way up to Oman’s Masirah island, and from there to coastal Porbandar in Gujarat, terminating at an onshore forward operating base (FOB)—INS Sardar Patel—which was commissioned on May 9, 2015 in Porbandar.

Supplementing this FOB is another upgraded FOB at Mandvi, plus a storage-cum-launch complex for BrahMos-1 supersonic multi-role cruise missiles at the Indian Air Force’s Naliya AFS.

From Arjun Mk.1 to Mk.1A to Mk.2: An Evolving MBT Family

The 124 Arjun Mk.1s were delivered to the Indian Army between 2004 and 2012 at a rate of 15 MBTs per annum and each MBT had 63% imported content.

They will be upgraded in phases that will include the incorporation of 14 major upgrades (that are on the Mk.1A variant), plus the installation of multi-aperture and multi-spectral real-time panoramic imaging systems designed to increase 360-degree situational awareness. Arjun Mk.1 weighs 62 tonnes when equipped with a track-width mine plough (TWMP) and has a power-to-weight ratio of 22.4hp/tonne, while the Mk.1A, with 59% imported content, weighs 68 tonnes when fitted with TWMPs, and has a power-to-weight ratio of 20.5hp/tonne.

The Arjun Mk.1A MBT, under development since 2010, features 71 improvements (14 of them being major upgrades) over the Mk.1 variant. User-trials commenced in 2012. The 118 Arjun Mk.1As to be ordered before the end of 2021 will be valued at Rs.8,400 crore, with first deliveries (of five MBTs) taking place within 30 months after contract signature. In addition, orders for support-vehicles like Arjun BLTs and Arjun ARRVs will also be ordered.

Since the prevalence of a nuclear overhang prevents either India or Pakistan from engaging in offensive mechanised manoeuvre warfare inside each other’s territory all along the International Boundary (IB), manoeuvre warfare conducted by both Arjun Mk.1 and Mk.1A MBTs during the next round of military hostilities will be confined to those areas that straddle the Working Boundary (WB) in Jammu, and the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir.

To this end, the Integrated Battle Groups (IBG) employing such MBTs will also contain Sarvatra multi-span bridging systems (when operating within the riverine terrain of both the Chicken’s Neck area and the Chhamb-Jaurian-Akhnoor sector of operations) and Rudra WSI helicopter-gunships that will be tasked with the provision of immediate air-support.

The Arjun’s Mk.2 variant will be ordered as its seven pre-production units have already commenced developmental mobility-cum-firepower trials. The Mk.2s will each be built with High Nitrogen Steel (HNS), which will reduce their weight from 67.5 tonnes to 62 tonnes.

The earlier imported COAPS panoramic sight (below) on the Mk.1A variant has now been replaced with an indigenously developed panoramic device (above).

In addition, the powerpack will include a 1,500hp Cummins diesel engine. Consequently, the Mk.2’s power-to-weight ratio will increase from the existing 18hp/tonne to a healthy 25hp/tonne, thereby providing excellent mobility parameters over all kinds of terrain at all altitudes. The cannon will be a smoothbore 120mm one, fed by an autoloader. Hence, up to 250 Arjun Mk2s will be ordered in future. The 464 T-90S MBTs to be licence-built at HVF Avadi too will have an uprated 1,300hp diesel engine from Russia, which too will increase the power-to-weight ratio of the T-90S to 25hp/tonne.

The 37-tonne T-72Ms (Ob’yekt 172M-E4) are each powered by a V46-6 780hp diesel engine that offer a power-to-weight ratio of 20hp/tonne. The 41.5-tonne T-72CIA has a power-to-weight ratio of 18hp/tonne. T-72U’s power-to-weight ratio will go up to 21.7hp/tonne when equipped with the turbocharged 1,000hp V46-6 engine.

The 46-tonne T-90S (Ob’yekt 188S) are each powered by a 1,000hp V-92S2 diesel engine that deliver a power-to-weight ratio of 21.5hp/tonne. A85-3AX-diesel engine capable of producing up to 1,500hp (although it is presently down-rated at 1,350hp) is likely to be ordered from Russia’s Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, located about 350km south of Nizhny Tagil. This in turn will result in the T-90S’ power-to-weight ratio being hiked to 24 hp/tonne.

The Pakistan Army’s 47-tonne Al Khalid MBT is powered by a 1,200hp 6TD-2 diesel engine that delivers a power-to-weight ratio is 25hp/tonne. The 46-tonne Ob’yekt 478BE T-80UD MBTs, each powered by a 1,000hp 6TD-1 diesel engine, has a power-to-weight ratio is 21.7hp/tonne. The 42.7-tonne Al Zarrar, powered by a 730hp diesel engine, has a power-to-weight ratio is 17.1hp/tonne. The 41.5-tonne Type 85IIAP comes powered by a 730hp diesel engine that offers a power-to-weight ratio is 17.8hp/tonne. The 36.7-tonne Type 69IIAP, powered by a 580hp diesel engine, has a power-to-weight ratio is 15.8hp/tonne.

The PLA Army’s 42.8-tonne Type 96A MBTs are each powered by a 800hp engine that deliver a power-to-weight ratio of 18.7hp/tonne, while the 52-tonne Type 96Bs are each powered by a 1,100hp engine that deliver a power-to-weight ratio of 25hp/tonne.