Prepared to fight a full-fledged war in winters in Ladakh: Army

Jammu, September 16

The Indian Army on Wednesday said that they are “well prepared for the prolonged standoff in eastern Ladakh” where PLA troops have created an explosive situation, The Tribune reported.

A spokesman of the Northern Command said: “Altitudes in Ladakh range from High to Super High Altitude and there is a lot of snowfall, after the month of November up to 40 feet of snow is experienced. Coupled with this, temperature dipping down to minus 30-40 degrees is a usual phenomenon. Wind chill factor makes matters further worse for the troops. The roads also get closed due to the snow. But despite all this, most encouraging part for India is that the Indian soldiers have a huge experience of winter warfare and are psychologically tuned to operate at short notice. While this fact is known to the world, the operational logistics capabilities are hardly known.”

Rebutting China’s state media, particularly Global Times, that the Indian Army would not be able to withstand the harsh conditions in Ladakh heights, the spokesman said that it can be best attributed to the “ignorance” of Chinese media.

“The Indian Army is fully prepared and more than capable of fighting a full-fledged war even in winters in Eastern Ladakh.”

The spokesperson said that logistic capability relates to mobility, habitat and billeting, quality services from health, special rations, repair and recovery, heating systems, high-quality weapons, ammunition and quality clothing. While much of this capability existed earlier and troops could simply plug and play, a lot has also been boosted since May this year when China showed first signs of aggression.

The Indian Army has experience in Siachen where conditions are much more demanding than the frontiers with China. Traditionally there were two routes for moving into Ladakh, that is through Zojila and Rohtang Passes.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)