panagarh is way too away from tar.how come they go on offensive if they are placed too away
Will give short answers from my POV to keep post shorter:
1. More than one obv. deterannce to naxal belt, controls illegal bengalis, scares NE, conterweight to Burma and SE. Also GHQ which is also further away and needs to be in safe area.
NEW DELHI: The Cabinet committee on security (CCS) could soon grant approval to the Army's proposal to raise a mountain strike corps along the China border.
The strike corps is expected to cost Rs 62,000 crore spread over the entire 12th Plan (2012-17).
The Army has proposed a mountain strike corps, two independent infantry brigades and two independent armoured brigades to plug its operational gaps along the entire line of actual control (LAC) with China, as well as to acquire offensive capabilities.
Even as India plays catch up, China has built aggressive military and infrastructure capabilities. It has at least five fully-operational airbases, an extensive rail network and over 58,000-km of roads along the Indian border. This would allow China to move over 30 divisions (each with over 15,000 soldiers) to the LAC, outnumbering Indian forces by at least 3:1 there.
Govt set to clear 40,000-strong force along China border - The Times of India
This is exactly why, Sardar Ji is in Japan. We are China's only front would they be so careless as to deploy 25-50% of their army along our front if they had other pins pricking them? Fact is, they have plains while we have to build roads up mountains. Very bad situation need to get MDA with Japan.
You are right about the acclamatisation factor. Currently, it takes from 2 weeks to as much as 4 to acclamatise the troops to the higher altitude. But DRDO has been saying that they are researching ways of bringing this down to 5 days.
The IA wouldn't place tanks there if the terrain was unfit fot armored thrusts.
Indian tanks move in Sikkim after Chinese activities : Headlines Today Top Stories, News - India Today
T-72 tanks moved to remote Sikkim area after China tests Indian defences
The concept of COBRA ops is very different to that of regular armies fighting assault/defence operations. These are high intensity operarions and consist of brigade or larger number of troops. Without sustained support or supplies, these formations will be decimated, regardless of how skilled they are. Mixing this with anti Naxal ops will not be prudent, given the size and capability of the enemy.
PLA is in unfamiliar territory, climate, and far from home fighting an aggressor's war they may not believe in. Problem is their industrial base is large enough to negate almost any homefield advantage we have, especially since large part of India is plain with un-armed population. Best policy atm, is to foster alliances, develop, and avoid conflict. Pushing early when it's 500km of road vs 50k is suicide.
Why cannot the army improve infra in NE in the first place for the better
Building roads under feet of snow, up mountains, and area which cannot be closed down as India has single link to seven sister states due to East Pakistan.
Strike Corps for Strategic riposte or Strike Corps for Strategic Defense or for preemptive strikes are terms not unheard of. What have Indian strike Corps done so far except that ??
How deep is deep for mountains? How hard is hard for mountains? Chinese achieved their aims in Arunachal by defeat of two brigades worth and in in Aksai chin by defeat of only one brigade?
The same applies to the Chinese. They can muster the forces over 30 days and India can also muster up the strike Corps anywhere in Arunachal in 30 days. Logistics and infrastructure for that has to be ensured.
The PLA will take 30 days to assemble troops to launch some viable force. Before that it can pin pricks at few places for which troops in defense would suffice. It is to cater for medium level conflict situations that NE requires extra reserves as lateral move of defensive formations are not possible so far.
Strike Corps for mountains is meant to restore an adverse situation rather than capture Tibet.
The himalayas are not just mountains, they're snowy roadless ones. No vehicles, and soliders have very hard time up there. It's hell to fight in, China will send divisions as they are mustered and straight down railroads, they can also stop civilian traffic on trans. infra to speed up process something that's harder in a democracy. One big thing is: PLA doesn't train in or use body armor. Not sure about IA but can be either or, can save your life but the weight can you in situation where you need saving.
I agree troop induction is not the biggest problem. Especially since the mountain divisions are devoid of armoured assets/BLT etc, and include only signals, artillery elements and other lighter assets, air deployment will not be a big headache.
The bigger problem will be logistics, especially when the shooting starts.
Even the 145 M777 guns firing 6 rounds a minute for 8 hours daily will require 144 tons of Artillery rounds a day. Thats 30 sorties a day by Mi-17 just for the guns for the strike corps. For a short intense war, we can conduct operations via air supply only. That I agree. But any prolonged one, as in case of a stalemate will have us in a very uneviable position.
Though op Checkerboard did show us our airlift capability, any field commander is far more comfortable when he has a road/naval supply line to his troops.
You cannot fight a war with only air supply routes. Skirmishes yes, but it is not the best situation. Without overland routes or industrial centres that can supply by sea, we are in a very un-enviable position. Aircraft use more fuel than the vehicle they are trying to supply.
I hope you know that the US army is 2nd or 3rd biggest polluter just never measured. An abrams can use 100's of l like that.
And just think for a moment.....China will face 9 mountain divisions spread over a 4000km front, while the Indians will face 3 divisons in three (4/5?) thrusts along narrow fronts. Who has the advantage now?
This is similar to the CSD, building up a localised superiority in firepower and troops and launching hard thrusts while the other elements move to the borders . No reason why the Chinese cant.
If you think this is impossible, the CSD envisaged by the IA is even more suicidal. 8 IBGs (no bigger than a division each ) against 25-30 odd Pakistani divisons
Amd btw, the Chinese will be inducting as much as a division a day. They wont be waiting until day 30 for the whole army to mobilise. They will be reinforcing faster than the IA can btw.
And they also don't have a western front to defend. It's India that needs to bleed CH-Pak by thousand cuts, not ness. by terrorism many other methods.