India may now be focusing more on the eastern front with China, but it has not forgotten the western one. New bases of its most potent fighter as well as advanced sensor units have come up along the border with Pakistan, even as IAF and Army build composite land-air war-fighting machinery for all contingencies in the western theatre.
Squadrons of Sukhoi-30MKI air dominance fighters, now permanently based in Jodhpur (Rajasthan) and Halwara (Punjab), are fully-operational and integrated with the order of battle on the western front, say sources.
Similarly, the first two nodes of IACCS (integrated air command and control system) are operational in the western sector to make airspace more impregnable to hostile threats. The nodes integrate older sensors like THD-1955 long-range surveillance radars with newer ones like ATCR-22, Rohini and medium-power radars as well as Aerostats and Phalcon AWACS (airborne warning and control systems) to plug gaps in the countrys air defence cover.
Defence minister A K Antony on Tuesday also held a top-level review of the security scenario and military infrastructure build-up along the western and eastern fronts with national security advisor Shivshankar Menon, defence secretary Shashikant Sharma and the three Service chiefs Admiral Nirmal Verma, Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne and General Bikram Singh. Antony is also slated to visit Jammu and Kashmir this weekend to review the operational situation along the Line of Control (LoC).
India till recently had based its Sukhois IAF so far has inducted around 160 of the 272 fighters contracted from Russia in deals worth Rs 55,717 crore only in Pune and Bareilly, which were followed by Tezpur and Chabua in Assam to cater for the threat from China.
The need to base them in Jodhpur and Halwara was felt to take on the Pakistan challenge, especially since older MiG-21s and MiG-23BNs were being progressively phased out. With Pakistan acquiring American F-16s and Chinese JF-17 `Thunder jets, the induction of Sukhois (which have a cruising speed range of 3,200-km) there will act as a strong deterrent against any misadventure, said a source.
The Army, too, is strengthening its capabilities on the western front by optimising offensive and defensive formations with minimum accretions since the raising of the new mountain strike corps and other formations for the north-east are geared towards countering China.
Towards this, operational synergy and coordination between IAFs Western Air Command, which controls air operations over 400,000 sq km stretching from Ladakh till Bikaner, and three Army commands Northern (Udhampur), Western (Chandimandir) and South-Western (Jaipur) has also been stepped up.
This ensures optimal utilization of resources, real-time sharing of information and fine-tuning of operational plans. Western Air Command chief Air Marshal Arup Raha and Western Army Command chief Lt-Gen Sanjeev Chachra, for instance, discussed operational jointness in detail earlier this month, added an official.
India bolsters western front with fighters, radars and IAF-Army operational synergy | idrw.org
