Time To Keep 24/7 Tabs On Uninvited Guests As Well As On China's Latest DF-16 IRBM & DF-21C MRBM Deployments

Both the Indian Army and Indian Air Force are rushing their respective stocks of manportable air-defence radars to forward locations along the Sino-Indian LAC to keep track of the PLA’s routine airspace transgressions—something that should have been done as far back as 2008. While the IAF’s DRDO-developed and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL)-built S-band Aslesha three-dimensional micro-radars are being deployed at Nyoma, Chushul and Fukche, the Army-specific Bharani manportable radars are being deployed at Demchok and Pangong Tso in Ladakh, as well as at two locations in Uttarakhand. The Aslesha, which weighs 250kg, uses low-probability-of-intercept frequencies to look out for terrain-hugging tactical UAVs and helicopters over mountainous terrain out to 50km. The IAF has to date ordered 21 of them, and first deliveries took place in January 2008. On the other hand, the Bharani is a two-dimensional L-band gapfiller system now in series-production for the Army. It has a range of 40km and can track up to 100 airborne targets. To date, 16 Bharanis—meant to be used in conjunction with VSHORADS/MANPADS—have been ordered, with deliveries beginning this March. Also under delivery are 29 THALES Nederland-developed motorised Reporter tactical control radars for the Army’s upgraded ZU-23 air-defence guns, some of which will.also be deployed at Nyoma, Chushul and Fukche.

Meanwhile, latest photos from China (below) more or less confirm that the People’s Liberation Army’s 2^nd Artillery Corps has begun deploying two of its latest India-specific ballistic missiles—DF-21C MRBM and DF-16 IRBM—to hardened missile storage sites at Delingha and Da Qaidam, in Central China, and possibly also at Xiadulla, 98km from the Karakoram mountain pass between Ladakh and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.