The Indo-China conflict is being prepared with infrastructure and missiles
The confrontation, at times even violent, between India and China has not ceased, despite their common membership in the Brics and the bilateral talks. Indeed, the parties are strengthening themselves in view of a new round of confrontation which, as has happened several times in the past, could also convert into a military clash of some level.
Everything we will talk about is happening despite the words of pacification and de-escalation that the parties have exchanged, China first. But the facts are going in another direction
China is building a set of dual-use infrastructure on the border which, in Indian eyes, sounds more like the preparation of further offensives along the LAC, the current border line between the sides, rather than the preparation of a defense . It is a network of fortified villages with anti-aircraft and anti-tank shelters, high-altitude airfields and highways prepared to facilitate the rapid repositioning of troops at high altitude.
What you see above is the plan to build new expressways, plans to build more airports and two new railway lines that will connect Tibet to Xinjiang and Yunnan. According to its latest budget, China is planning 191 key projects this year in Tibet, with an investment of more than 143 billion yuan, $21 billion, in infrastructure.
At high altitudes, at Himalayan levels, one cannot think of fighting a large-scale war without this type of infrastructure. At the same time, their construction is not particularly justified by commercial reasons, given that the population in this area is truly scarce.
In an article for the 2022 People's Liberation Army Conference – a US initiative that studies and analyzes the Chinese military – experts Brian Hart, Bonny Lin and Matthew Funaiole elaborated on the PLA's growing capabilities in its Western Theater Command (WTC), which oversees Tibet and Xinjiang. They point out that there are over 50 airports and heliports in Tibet and Xinjiang, of which 36 have been built and upgraded since 2017, with new ones closer to the Indian border. The under-construction Ngari Burang Airport and Shigatse Tingri Airport are located 60 km from the Indian border. The authors wrote that previously, more than 500 km separated Chinese airports from Indian strategic facilities. Now, for example, Bareilly Air Force Station is only 200 km from Ngari Burang. All ready for a possible offensive.
The Indian generals, contrary to what happened in the sixties, are well aware of the danger and are also strengthening their armaments and their positions.
The Government of India has approved the acquisition of a Pralay ballistic missile regiment for the Indian Army. The conventionally armed missile will be deployed along the country's borders with Pakistan and China, Asian News International reported, citing sources.
Pralay strategic missile
Capable of hitting targets 150-500 kilometers away, Pralay is the longest-range surface-to-surface missile in the Indian Army's inventory.
The solid-fuel missile flies on a “quasi-ballistic trajectory,” making it difficult to intercept, according to a statement from India's Ministry of Defense.
Its guidance includes a “state-of-the-art navigation system and integrated avionics.” The missile project was sanctioned in 2015 with the Defense Research Development Organization missile conducting its first two tests on consecutive days in December 2021.
It will be further developed with a possible range extension, a source quoted by Asian News International said.
The Pralay will replace the Prithvi and is likely to form a key part of India's planned missile force along with the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile.
The Indian armed forces are accelerating their effort to modernize their armed forces by detaching themselves from Russian supplies and moving closer to those of the US, also to purchase more sophisticated weapons systems that the Chinese do not know about.
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The article The Indo-China conflict is being prepared with infrastructure and missiles comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-conflitto-indo-cinese-si-prepara-con-infrastrutture-e-missili/ on Mon, 18 Sep 2023 16:54:17 +0000.