With an eye on China, the Indian Air Force will conduct an air combat drill in the northeast

The Indian Air Force will conduct Exercise “Pralay” involving all of its significant air bases in the northeast, including the recently relocated drone squadrons, in the midst of the ongoing conflict with China. The large-scale air drill scheduled for the coming days coincides with the deployment and activation of the Indian Air Force’s S-400 air defence squadron in the region, which is capable of intercepting any enemy aircraft or missile from up to 400 kilometres away.

According to officials, the drill would involve the activation of numerous Air Force combat assets, including the fighter jets Sukhoi Su-30 and Rafale, as well as transport and other aircraft.

The IAF had also conducted a two-day exercise in the northeast last month, soon after the physical clashes between Indian and Chinese soldiers at Yangtse in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9. “The forthcoming exercise will be bigger in scale and will include a variety of platforms, including C-130J ‘Super Hercules’ aircraft, Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, and Apache attack helicopters, among others,” the source said.

For the third consecutive winter, China has forward deployed over 50,000 troops and heavy weaponry along the border in eastern Ladakh, and has so far refused to discuss troop disengagement at the strategically located Depsang Plains and Demchok areas.

Concurrently, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has increased force levels along the 1,346-kilometer stretch of the LAC in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Even during the winter, the PLA has kept two additional ‘combined arms brigades’ — each with around 4,500 soldiers armed with tanks, artillery, and other weapons — forward deployed across the eastern sector.

The IAF has also had to scramble Sukhoi fighters as precautionary air defence measures on detecting Chinese aircraft coming close to the LAC in the eastern sector in recent months, as was earlier reported by TOI.

The heightened Chinese air activity all along the 3,488km-long LAC is taking place after China has upgraded all its major airbases facing India like Hotan, Kashgar, Gargunsa and Shigatse with extended runways, hardened shelters and fuel storage facilities for additional fighters, bombers, drones and reconnaissance aircraft over the last two years.

The Indian armed forces have taken a series of measures to reduce any threat to the Siliguri Corridor or the “Chicken’s Neck”, which is a narrow strip of land that connects the northeast with the rest of India, as well as other vulnerable areas.

“Several plans are afoot, with full operational preparedness being maintained. We have enough forces and reserves for any contingency,” a senior officer said. This includes the basing of a squadron of the omni-role Rafale fighter jets at the Hasimara air base in West Bengal, which is close to the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction.