Form of words:
Roopa (Arunachal Pradesh): Realizing full well that “the mountains eat the men”, the Indian Army has intensified its focus on technology rather than increasing boots on the ground in the Eastern Command to deal with an aggressive China.
Advancing the technology by the Army has seen the deployment of a wide range of cameras, sensors, radars, motion detectors, satellite imagery, drones to track the movement of people – all backed by an indigenous Artificial Intelligence software. Liberation Army (PLA), not only along the LAC but also in enemy territory.
While the program to induct modern technology along the sensitive LAC in Arunachal Pradesh has been underway for the past few years, sources in the defense establishment said the ongoing India-China standoff in eastern Ladakh means there is a major setback.
The immediate advantage that India has received due to greater deployment of technology and their integration in addition to chain of command is that Indian troops are now fully aware of Chinese movement along the LAC and have better transparency in the battlefield. Huh.
“Technology has enabled us to get a complete overall picture and now our troops on the ground are aware of the movement of the PLA,” a source said.
“No matter how many soldiers you push into the mountains, they are never enough. It is true that mountains eat humans. Another source said, “The focus should be on using technology that gives us advance information of enemy activity and a complete picture of the scenario.”
Sources underlined that the Eastern Command has enough boots on the ground to look after the LAC and more was not needed.
A third source said, “However, what was needed was technology which is now giving more emphasis.”
As informed of Previously by ThePrint, the military has also made significant changes to its drone manufacturing as part of its technology integration.
The long-range surveillance drones in the Eastern Command have been brought under the Army Aviation Corps from Artillery as part of the integrated “Sensor to Fire” focus.
This change has been made across the Army in a phased manner since last year to ensure that all the flying assets of the Army remain as a single unit.
Read also: China’s hypersonic missile test isn’t surprising, it’s a secret. India is waiting for details
Integrated Surveillance Center set up by Army and IAF
ThePrint visited an Integrated Monitoring Center under 4 Corps to get information about the vigilance status in the critical area.
This surveillance center is manned by officers and men from both the Army and the Air Force.
At the centre, multiple screens on the wall, manned by trained soldiers, monitor various points along the LAC and even go deeper into enemy territory on a 24×7 basis.
The deployed technology helps in tracking the live movement of vehicles at Chinese bases close to the LAC.
“This helps us track Chinese movement along the LAC, but it also helps us understand the pattern followed at some of the PLA bunkers and outposts,” another source said.
Sources said simply monitoring how many vehicles arrive at a particular Chinese post and their time lag gives information about any increased activity and also how many PLA troops there are.
While the wide range of sensors give seamless input, the biggest advantage is the live satellite imagery that the center, which was installed earlier this year, is able to achieve.
Another breakthrough is a software called ‘Face Recognizer’, developed by Major Bhavya Sharma of Signal Corps.
The software, enabled by artificial intelligence, is able to identify every PLA soldier captured on camera thanks to a database of photographs and videos captured over a period of 5-6 years.
Sources said that earlier it used to take several weeks to identify PLA soldiers, but now if they are part of the database it takes less than a minute.
Read also: Indian Army launches Tibetan course for its officers amid LAC standoff
subscribe our channel youtube And Wire
Why is the news media in crisis and how can you fix it?
India needs independent, unbiased, non-hyphenated and questionable journalism even more as it is facing many crises.
But the news media itself is in trouble. There have been brutal layoffs and pay-cuts. The best of journalism are shrinking, yielding to raw prime-time spectacle.
ThePrint has the best young journalists, columnists and editors to work for it. Smart and thinking people like you will have to pay a price to maintain this quality of journalism. Whether you live in India or abroad, you can Here.