By Rajat Pandit NEW DELHI: 20 Jun 2020
India has moved its fighter jets to forward airbases facing China, even as additional warships have now been deployed in the extended Bay of Bengal region, in a clear signal to Beijing that New Delhi is prepared for escalation in the ongoing troop confrontation on the unresolved border.
The fresh build-up includes the new Apache attack helicopters, which are “tank killers” with their Hellfire air-to-ground missiles and rockets, and Chinook heavy-lift choppers, capable of transporting howitzers and troops to forward high-altitude areas, being deployed in Ladakh.
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“China has crossed our red-lines by brutally killing 20 of our soldiers in a premeditated attack (in Galwan Valley of eastern Ladakh on June 15). We are fully prepared for any spiraling of the escalation matrix. All necessary steps have been taken,” said a top military officer.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is clearly in no mood for disengagement, also continues to build-up its forces all along the 3,488-km long LAC. This is especially true at the ongoing troop confrontation sites in Galwan Valley region, Pangong Tso (Tso means lake), and Gogra-Hot Springs area as well other areas like Depsang and Chushul in eastern Ladakh.
In a decisive shift from its earlier policy, India is now determined to impose costs on China for its salami-slicing or cartographic aggression tactics to gran territory, as was first reported by TOI. ( TOI )
