President dedicates maiden Ladakh visit to armed forces

President Ram Nath Kovind presents the President’s Colours to all five Ladakh Scouts battalions and Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre at Leh on Monday. PTI

Jammu, August 21

President Ram Nath Kovind today dedicated his maiden visit to Ladakh, the first outside Delhi since assuming office, to the armed forces of the country.He also presented Colours to all five Ladakh Scouts battalions and the Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre. The President said, “In capacity as the Supreme Commander of the armed forces, I dedicate the visit to the armed forces of the country.”(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)He said it had been 54 years since the Ladakh Scouts became part of the Army. “This period has been replete with tales of heroism, honour and glory. The genesis of the regiment was in the invasion by Pakistani raiders in 1947-48 and the resolve with which Ladakhis defended their motherland. This continues to remain a matter of pride for the entire country,” he said.The President said in little over half a century, the regiment has earned 605 honours and awards for conspicuous gallantry and distinguished service. “This speaks for the exceptional valour and spirit of the regiment personnel and is a model for all soldiers and officers of the armed forces,” he added.He said at the colour-presentation ceremony that he would like to pay homage to the martyrs of the Ladakh Scouts Regiment. “Their blood and sacrifice has secured our sovereignty, brought glory to our nation and protected our people from harm,” he said.Among the dignitaries present were Governor NN Vohra, CM Mehbooba Mufti, Deputy CM Nirmal Kumar Singh, other ministers and Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat.The President also released a documentary on Col Sonam Wangchuk, a recipient of Maha Vir Chakra.Later, he laid the foundation stone of the Buddha Park for World Peace at Leh’s Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre. — TNS

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Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 20

In the past decade or so, India has “militarily tailored” its defences along the Himalayas and China could be surprised if an armed clash breaks out.A repeat of the 1962 debacle, when Peoples Liberation Army of China, with a few exceptions, literally overran the Indian military defence, is just not possible in 2017, is an assessment in India.In early 2004, India stepped up efforts to secure areas along the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) — the de facto boundary. Every possible route of ingress is continuously “war gamed” by the Army. “War-gaming” is an art of predicting future outcomes of military postures of rivals, fine-tuned by regular military exercises with the IAF, study of satellite imagery and available inputs.Since 2004, around 60,000 troops have been added along the LAC. This includes three new Army divisions and three additional brigades. Part of these form the newly raised Mountain Strike Corps. As of now, India has some 14 divisions (13,000-14,000 troops in each) — facing China that has 15-16 divisions facing India.Over the past five years, a few regiments of tanks have been added to the mechanised forces at specific places in eastern Ladakh and northern Sikkim. In Arunachal Pradesh, India has added troops. It has converted six British-era mud-paved runways into fully paved landing grounds for the IAF. One of these can be a forward base for the Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets. Leh has an airfield with abilities to launch 24×7 strikes. Kargil and Thoise in Ladakh have functional airfields.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)A complement of Sukhois at Hashimara (at the base of Bhutan) has been tasked to take on offensive in Chumbi Valley — the Doklam plateau stand-off is in the same valley. Tezpur in Assam has Sukhoi tasked to take an offensive role, so is Bareilly in Western UP. A squadron (18 planes) of MiG 29 jets has been added to Adampur (Punjab) to swing over Himachal Pradesh into Tibet.Modern US-procured planes C-130-J add to the fleet of Russian AN 32. Within hours, fully equipped troops can be dropped in Arunachal Pradesh and eastern Ladakh.The Indian stance along the LAC is not akin to Jawaharlal Nehru’s 1960-1961 “forward policy”, but it mandates holding on to own claim lines. The “forward policy”, as explained by Neville Maxwell in his book “India’s China war”, entailed taking up permanent positions along the high ridgelines of eastern Ladakh.There are 12 spots of major disputes along the LAC besides several minor ones. The sanctity of these spots is maintained by getting real-time satellite updates on Chinese movement; countering their LAC patrols with own patrols; and maintaining a level of firepower. The Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) have been tasked with conducting joint patrols along the LAC at designated points, identified by the high-power China Study Group.

What it is About

It is an art of predicting future outcomes of military postures of rivals, fine-tuned by regular military exercises with the IAF, study of satellite imagery and available inputs.Indian preparation

• Since 2004, around 60,000 troops have been added along the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control
• India has around 14 divisions (13,000-14,000 troops in each) facing China that has 15-16 divisions facing India
• Over the past five years, a few regiments of tanks have been added to the mechanised forces at specific places in eastern Ladakh and northern Sikkim
• In Arunachal Pradesh, India has added troops and converted six British-era mud-paved runways into fully paved landing grounds for the IAF

AC jackets for Indian Special Forces soonPanaji: Trials for introducing air-conditioned jackets for the Special Forces soldiers are on, former Defence Minister and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has said. “In a Special Forces operation, there is extensive exercise. Body heats up, he (soldier) is very uncomfortable. At that time if he has an AC jacket, he is more comfortable. Trial is on,”said Parrikar, who served as the Defence Minister between 2014 and 2017. IANS

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, August 4

The country’s first private sector missile sub-systems manufacturing facility was inaugurated near Hyderabad.A joint venture between the $2.5 billion Kalyani Group and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd, the facility at the Hardware Park on the city’s outskirts will manufacture advanced weapon systems in the short term for Indian armed forces and later for the global defence market.The joint venture will invest in designing, developing and manufacturing of weapon systems, including Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) systems and remote weapon systems.The unit is set to roll out tandem war head, portable anti-tank missile systems and also Spike missiles, which have a range of 2 km to 10 km depending on the mode of transportation.It also has a night-vision capacity, making the weapon deadly accurate even at night time. The production is expected to begin in a few weeks, Kalyani Group chairman Baba N Kalyani said. In tune with the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Centre and the policy to encourage private sector participation in defence production, the 51:49 joint venture will develop a wide range of advanced capabilities. These include command control and guidance, electro-optics, remote weapon systems, precision-guided munitions and system engineering for system integration.  “We have invested Rs 60-70 crore in the plant. Once the orders start flowing, we will invest more,” he said.

STAYING POWER: US soldiers stand guard near the site of a US bombing in Nangarhar province, in eastern Afghanistan. Photos: Reuters

Mudassir Ali Shah

President Donald Trump, breaking with his derision for the 16-year-old conflict, has finally rolled out his long-awaited policy towards Afghanistan. The presidential decision to boost troop levels is an extension of the botched approach of his predecessors. All options that were on the table during the protracted review of America’s new strategy for South Asia were bewildering. The number of extra troops for Afghanistan and benchmarks for victory are yet to be determined. The US president has virtually left the devil lying in the detail. In his prime-time address to troops at Fort Myer, Trump embraced deeper US involvement in a military campaign he once slammed as futile. Though touted as a conditions-based regional move towards a political solution, the new plan indicates little innovation. The presidential announcement is a success of sorts for his hawkish Defence Secretary James Mattis and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, who have repeatedly warned that a swift withdrawal would create a vacuum that the militant Islamic State group and Al-Qaida would fill instantly. The way forward in Afghanistan remains blurred.As expected, the US would mount pressure on Pakistan to shut down militant safe havens on its soil and take concrete action against the Afghan Taliban. At the same time, the US will woo India — Pakistan’s arch-rival — into helping Nato battle extremists in Afghanistan. His promise to pursue integration of all instruments of US might, diplomatic, economic and military, does not sound convincing. At the moment, the US neither has a full-time ambassador in Kabul nor a special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Many key diplomatic slots in the State Department are yet to be filled.Importantly, Trump has come to realise that the Afghan Taliban — who control over 40 per cent of Afghanistan — are a force to be reckoned with. Some elements of the insurgent movement may also be included in a future government. But US troops will be fighting against them, nonetheless. On the campaign trail, Trump scorned the Afghan war as an archetype of how the Bush and Obama administrations squandered billions of dollars in return for insignificant strategic gains. But he has reversed his position that American men and women in uniform should come home from that country. During the prolonged internal debate at the White House, his national security team bent over backward to come up with suggestions acceptable to a cynical commander-in-chief. Frenzied efforts by his advisers came to fruition last week when they coaxed the President into approving the deployment of more troops. By adding more troops to the 8,400-strong US force already stationed in Afghanistan, he has toed the line of warmongering Republican legislators and military commanders, who have been pleading for expanding the campaign against militants. However, there are no guarantees that the additional American forces would be able turn the tide, an objective that could not be realised by more than 130,000 international soldiers. The plan comes at a time when the tempo of fighting has risen steeply across Afghanistan. In the first half of 2017, civilians have died daily. The Afghan army has also been targeted in mass attacks, leaving several soldiers dead. The so-called way forward remains blurred. It remains to be seen how Trump’s team wrestles with a whole slew of complex questions — notably the cost of the new surge in treasure and blood, propping up the kleptocracy in Kabul and bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table.Consequences of cutting bait altogether presumably forced the US leader to take a U-turn. He must appreciate the fact that Washington’s fuzzy approach to winding down the conflict and riding roughshod over suggestions from regional powers will continue to hamper progress in Afghanistan. From America’s perspective, the mission must ensure foolproof homeland security. However, Trump’s road map is unlikely to yield the intended results in terms of vanquishing the Taliban or blocking the return of Al-Qaida to Afghanistan. A longer and deeper commitment of US forces is unlikely to hasten an outright military victory for America — a goal that 16 years of war have failed to achieve. As his government is still polarised and faced with popular discontent, President Ashraf Ghani has been kicking the can down the road on the key issues of institutional reforms and eradicating endemic corruption. Ubiquitous insecurity continues to be a huge impediment to the implementation of important policy decisions. As long as Kabul gropes for political and economic stability, frustrated youth will continue to swell the ranks of insurgent outfits. In the absence of a corresponding effort by Afghan rulers to set their house in order, the going will be as tough for Trump as it was for his predecessors — all playing whack-a-mole.By arrangement with the Dawn

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 20

With the Centre deciding to hand over security arrangements at all airports to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), a joint committee has been constituted with senior officials drawn from the ministries of Home, Finance and Civil Aviation to work out a detailed plan, including financial implications attached to it and also ways to fund it.Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the committee might suggest increasing the passenger service fee (PSF), which is levied on air travellers. For long, the issue has been lingering as to who should bear the cost of providing security at airports, with the Ministry of Civil Aviation arguing that it should be borne out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the reason that providing security is the sovereign duty of the state. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)The idea of increasing PSF was first mooted at a recent meeting of Ministers of State for Home, Finance and Civil Aviation Kiren Rijiju, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Jayant Sinha, respectively, and for the purpose they constituted a “committee of senior officials”, sources said. Already the MHA owes a cumulative Rs 800 crore to the Civil Aviation Ministry for providing security at 59 of the total 98 existing small and big airports in the country.“Now, in-principle, it has been decided to hand over all current and future functional airports to CISF,” said the official, adding that the committee would help the Civil Aviation Ministry in finding out how much revenue it could generate from the PSF, car parking facilities and through rentals at the airports. Currently, around Rs 150 is levied as PSF on each traveller.The committee will also work out modalities for creating a unified security architecture for the aviation sector and consolidation of security at airports under the CISF cover. Of the 98 functional airports, 59 are under CISF cover. Among them, 26 airports, including those in New Delhi and Mumbai, are considered to be hyper-sensitive.Of these hyper-sensitive airports, six, like in Srinagar and Imphal, are being guarded by the CRPF, the state police or other paramilitary forces. Under the sensitive category, there are 56 airports of which only 37 had CISF cover.

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 17

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) today okayed the purchase of six attack helicopters, the first such machines for the Indian Army’s Aviation Corps.These will be a follow-on to the existing order of 22 ‘AH-64-E  Apache’ helicopters from US-based giant Boeing. These 22 helicopters, okayed by the MoD in September 2015, have been allocated to the IAF.  The IAF also operates the Russian built Mi35/Mi25 attack copters. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the highest decision-making body of the MoD, okayed the Rs 4,168-crore project. The Apache is armed with the deadly Hellfire Longbow missiles, Hellfire-II missiles, Stinger missiles and fire-control radars.Apart from the Apache, the Army is also looking at the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) being built by MoD- owned public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics  Limited (HAL). The LCH is currently under development and undergoing weapons integration. The Aviation Corps has expressed its intention to acquire 114 helicopters, though no contract has been signed so far.In 2014, the MoD had in principle allowed attack helicopters for the Army. Till now, the Army only has ‘non-armed’ helicopters. The MoD has accepted the need to have 39 armed helicopters which will fly overhead when ground-based troops move in for attack. Such copters carry missiles.The DAC, headed by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley,  assessed  a request by the Army, which wanted  the MoD to exercise the ‘option clause’ that allows  the purchase of 11 more copters as a follow-up to the 22 already on order. The Defence Finance wing has its reservations on having all 11, and the MoD today okayed six copters. A high-level body called the Services Capital AcquisitionCategorisation Higher Committee (SCAPCHC), with representatives of the IAF and the Army, had decided that 11 copters should be taken as the capability was needed.The US helicopter had won the bid in an open competition, beating the Russian built Mi-28-H. For a number of years, the Army and the IAF  have been sparring over who should operate this future fleet of Apache copters.The acquisition council also cleared the purchase of two sets of engines from Ukraine for two Grigorovich class ships being built in Russia for India. These will cost Rs 490 crore. Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates were the first casualty in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict over Crimea after Ukraine refused to supply the Zorya-Mashproyekt gas-turbine propulsion plant for the last three ships.Following the 2014 Crimea conflict, Ukraine refused to deliver the remaining three engines to Russia.

Lt-Gen K J Singh (retd)While leaving India, the British left behind two Armies with Command HQs at Rawalpindi, Pune and Lucknow. The first challenge came in the form of large-scale riots and arson as a prelude to the impending Partition. As an emergency response, a Punjab Boundary Force and a Military Evacuation Organisation were created.  The Boundary Force became operational on August 1, 1947, under Maj Gen TW Reeves based at Lahore. It had 15 Indian and 10 Pak units with legendary officers like Brig KS Thimayya (later rose to be the Chief) from India and Brig Ayub Khan of Pakistan, who later made himself President. The failure of this Border Force is attributed to many factors, including idiosyncrasies of Reeves, and resulted in its disbandment on September 1 and the raising of the Delhi and East Punjab Command under Lt Gen Dudley Russel on 15th September. While the Force proved inadequate, yet it did save many lives, including that of my father (14 year old then) at Adhwal village in Chakwal district, where Sikh Light Infantry evacuated them in the face of marauding rioters in the nick of time. Both nations took over of their respective areas across the new boundary, which was unmarked on ground. The new HQ could not find suitable accommodation and was given a barrack-type hutment at the site where Sena Bhavan stands today in Delhi. Governor-General Mountbatten was more considerate and gave the old Viceregal train for mobile HQ. An initial thought was that like the Boundary Force, the Command would be a temporary requirement. The idea of train-based mobile HQ indeed was unique and a novelty. Mobile HQ took charge of the situation to organise an orderly movement of refugees, saving lives and property. It was greatly aided due to the alignment of the railway line along Grand Trunk Road. Refugee trains were provided with special railway wagons called ‘flats’ mounted with machine-gun emplacements and armoured car and infantry escorts. Similar escorts were provided to road convoys, my mother, an infant, travelled in one such convoy and lost her father due to mob violence as convoys despite protection got attacked on the way. Kabayali raids resulted in Kashmir being added to the Command’s charter and re-designation as the Western Command on 20th Jan 1948 with Lt Gen KM Cariappa (later Field Marshal) as Army Commander. The legacy of mobile HQ has been enshrined in the Western Command museum in the vintage train, restored under expert supervision of the late Lt-Gen SK Sinha, who was a staff officer in this unique HQ.

Tribune News service

Chandigarh, August 13

After initial hiccups, the Finance Department has finally sanctioned Rs 20 crore for Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s pet project, the Guardians of Governance scheme (GoG).Due to financial constraints, Rs 20 crore was allocated in the Budget against the projected requirement of Rs 100 crore.“With the financial sanction in hand, a fresh advertisement to invite the applications will be released in coming days. Against the initial plan to launch the scheme on August 15, the scheme has been delayed for want of financial sanction. It is now expected to be launched by the end of this month,” said a senior government official.The government plans to initially hire nearly 5,000 ex-servicemen as village-level guardians to oversee the implementation of government programmes and to keep a watch on officials working at the grassroots. In the first phase, the scheme would be launched in eight districts.The scheme would be formally launched with announcement on the honorarium to be given. As per the scheme, ex-servicemen will be enrolled from each of the nearly 12,730 villages of Punjab. “Around 3,000 applications have already been received,” he said.After receiving applications online, district-level boards of serving and retired defence officers will screen these. Those selected will have to undergo a two-week training at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Public Administration, Chandigarh.The hired ex-servicemen, who will have a smart phone having android software and internet facility, will keep a vigil on the implementation of various development and welfare schemes and report through mobile app daily at village, tehsil, district and state levels.