China’s cuttingedge rockets to be deployed on India border: Report

is building rockets for its artillery units that will be propelled by “electromagnetic catapult” technology and can be used at high altitude locations in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), state media has reported, indicating the projectiles could be deployed against India.

Describing the innovation as “unprecedented”, the report said the catapult-propelled rockets can hit targets beyond 200 km and will be more powerful and effective than conventional artillery guns.

The report didn’t specifically mention India, though it quoted the military scientist developing the technology as saying such rockets could potentially have been used during a military incident on a plateau in southwest China’s border region.

That didn’t leave too much room for doubt about where such rockets could be deployed.

China and India were locked in a 73-day standoff on the Doklam (Donglang in Chinese) plateau near the Sikkim border last year.

The standoff was resolved through diplomatic negotiations, partly because the Indian Army was said to be at an advantage in the area.

The “electromagnetic catapult rocket artillery technology” being developed at a People’s Liberation Army research centre in Beijing could negate that advantage, experts said.

The “research has made an important technological breakthrough and the development plan is becoming a reality”, the Global Times tabloid quoted a report by Beijing-based Science and Technology as saying.

The same technology will be used on warships and aircraft carriers.

BEIJING:China