Chinooks fly sorties over Daulat Beg Oldi

NEWDELHI:THE Indian Air Force’s (IAF) rapid deployment Chinook helicopters have been flying night sorties over the 16,000-feet Daulet Beg Oldi outpost after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deployment and road-building activity has increased in the area across the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Daulat Beg Oldi, or DBO, is India’s last military outpost south of the Karakoram pass.

According to people familiar with the matter, the divisional commander-level meeting at the Teinweindien (TWD) post in Aksai Chin was to lower the temperatures in the DBO sector, with the Indian Army demanding that patrolling in the Depsang plains be allowed unhindered. The DBO dialogue is separate from the ongoing dialogue between military commanders in the Chushul-moldo area, with the specific task of disengagement and de-escalation of troops on the four friction points between the two countries in eastern Ladakh

The decision to fly Chinooks over the DBO advance landing ground during the night was taken to test the Indian Army’s capability of rapid insertion of special forces and infantry combat vehicles in case the situation deteriorates in the sub-sector north (SSN) area, the people cited above said.

“While Apache attack helicopters have been patrolling the

Chushul area, the Us-made Chinook flew over DBO to test its night-fighting capabilities… we have already deployed T-90 tanks and artillery guns in the area,” said a senior commander. The Chinook has a proven nightflying record in the Afghan mountainous terrain, and is used for rapid military retaliation by the special airborne forces. The twin-rotor platform has two heavy calibre machine guns deployed at the front and back to suppress ground fire.

While the Chinese have raised objections to the deployment of tanks and guns at DBO, the Indian Army has pointed to recent accretion of PLA troops in the area, along with air activity across SSN. Both sides are matching each other’s deployment in the area even as the PLA is indulging in the fast-paced construction of roads in the area for rapid deployment. While China raises objections to India building border infrastructure, the people said there is no slowing down of the same all along the LAC -- from Aksai Chin, to Kibuthoo in Arunachal Pradesh.

At the divisional-commanderlevel meeting on Saturday, India also raised the issue of unhindered patrolling of their respective claim lines by both sides in the area, including in the Depsang Bulge, south of DBO.

Experts said this was an indication of the Indian intent that it was not going to back down from patrolling rights at the Bulge or at any other place along the LAC.