Flying to Sustain

Smruti D

As the standoff between Indian and Chinese troops continues and high-level talks between the two countries have still not brought out any concrete solutions, Indian military has started to prepare for Ladakh winter.

Super Hercules landing at Daulat Beg Oldie

Ladakh is known as a cold desert with a difficult terrain and hostile weather. The movement of troops is hampered because of lack of infrastructure due to weather conditions. Even if infrastructure is built, it has low shelf life because of the weather. The IAF has been playing a tremendously important role in Ladakh for decades. Apart from deploying aircraft at frontline bases to be combat-ready, the IAF has been a lifeline for the Indian Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) deployed at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The prominence of their role increases manifold now as they are tasked with serving more numbers of troops because of the Indo-China standoff.

Air maintenance happens in two parts. Air Vice Marshal (retd) Manmohan AVM Bahadur says, “Air maintenance starts from Chandigarh. Fixed wing aircraft take the logistics material to Leh and Thoise air force stations and subsequently from there the helicopters take them to the forward posts. That is the overall procedure that happens in air maintenance in the north. Similarly, air maintenance is carried out in Northeast also, in certain places although its much reduced now due to growing road connectivity. The bulk is carried out by the transport aircraft, some of which is airdropped at the glacier and some items like letters, mail, fresh food articles are carried by the helicopter to border areas.”

Air maintenance is carried out by the IAF in the northern sector in parts including Siachen glacier and Sub-Sector North in Ladakh near Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO). DBO is located just 10 km from the LAC.

“Any army or ITBP post in remote areas, especially in mountains and high altitudes, are air maintained because there is no access to reach there by road for people,