The Indian Army has set up two high-altitude tank repair facilities in the eastern Ladakh region, in another step towards strengthening the military infrastructure as well as tank operations along the borders with China in Eastern Ladakh.
One of the new tank repair facilities has been set up in the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector while the other facility is in the new sector, which is merely 25 km from the border with China, Indian Army officials told India Today.
As India has amassed its military presence along the India-China border in the past four years, nearly 500 tanks have been deployed in the Ladakh region at present. Getting them back to the mainland for repair was a key challenge, which is expected to be addressed with the new repair centers.
The new facilities have helped the Indian Army to improve the effectiveness and serviceability of the armoured fighting vehicles, including the tanks, and infantry combat vehicles deployed in that area, the officials added.
Recently, Indian Army chief General Manoj Pande visited the Medium Maintenance (Reset) Facility for Armored Fighting Vehicles, which aims to enhance serviceability and mission reliability in the rugged region.
In another development, the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday noted that the current military buildup along the India-China border is ‘abnormal’. He stated that Beijing violated multiple agreements by pushing army personnel along the Line of Actual Control starting from 2020. In a counter move, India also deployed a large number of soldiers.
In the past four years, both countries deployed their forces “ahead of normal base positions, normal patrolling zones out there,” the minister said in Kolkata.
