Airborne Exercise Conducted In Eastern Ladakh
Indian and Chinese militaries have been engaged in a border standoff in eastern Ladakh since May 2020
On Monday, airborne troops of the Army’s 50 Independent Parachute Brigade known as the Shatrujeet brigade were inserted to a drop zone at an altitude of more than 14,000 feet as part of the exercise.
The Indian Army’s Shatrujeet brigade is conducting an airborne exercise along the northern borders in eastern Ladakh to validate its rapid response capabilities, sources said on Monday. This is a major airborne exercise being conducted since the border standoff in eastern Ladakh when a violent clash in the Galwan area led to both the sides rushing in additional thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.
On Monday, these pre-acclimatised airborne troops along with specialist vehicles and missile detachments were airdropped By C130 and An32 aircrafts from five different mounting bases to validate inter-theatre move, precision stand-off drops, rapid grouping and the capture of designated objectives with speed and surprise. The drop was particularly challenging due to the low temperatures of up to minus 20 degrees Celsius and rarefied atmosphere in the super high altitude terrain, they mentioned.
The exercise also involved combat free fall jumps and integrated battle drills by airborne forces, mechanised columns and attack helicopters, to validate rapid response capabilities and seamless integration, they noted. The exercise was still in progress.
All this is fine and shows the necessity of having a well acclimatized airborne troops for high altitude warfare. With requirement of such forces to rapidly deploy or switch theatres from Ladhak to Arunachal, it is imperative that India once again revives the 51 independent Parachute Brigade in addition to 50 Independent Parachute Brigade based in the plains. This erstwhile 51 parachute brigade in the days of old used to be permanently stationed in an high altitude area.
So after raising this brigade HQ, two airborne units and one Parachute artillery regiment serving outside 50 parachute brigade may be placed under it along with one Ladhak Scout battalion / Arunachal Scout battalion. Other minor airborne Arms / Services units will be required to be raised accordingly. Once the brigade is fully ready then a third parachute airborne battalion may also be raised.
No need to procrastinate …..GREEN ON GO.
