On July 3, Prime Minister Modi visited the Indian Army base at Nimu near Leh in Ladakh. He was accompanied by the CDS and the COAS. Like his June 19 statement, Modi once again refrained from naming China, but in a veiled manner warned it against territorial expansion, adding that the Indian Army was capable of giving a fitting reply to anyone who coveted Indian territory.
Meanwhile, faced with the prospect of a conflict with China, the government gave the armed forces discretionary power to buy equipment worth Rs 300 crore as emergency purchase bypassing the DPP and bureaucratic bottlenecks. On the wish-list are light tanks, unmanned aerial vehicle (including the armed variant) and anti-tank guided missiles among others.