The 500 km range Brahmos cruise missile, the 800 km range Nirbhay cruise missiles along with the Akash surface-to-air missile (SAM) capable of attacking air threats from 40 km away are at the core of the deterrence of Indian fighting weapons for People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Missile Deployment in Xinjiang and Tibet regions.
While the PLA’s Western Theater Command has deployed combat weapons of up to 2,000 km in range and long-range SAMs to Tibet and Xinjiang after the Ladakh standoff began, people familiar with the matter told the Hindustan Times that the supersonic Brahmos, subsonic Nirbhay as well as Akash have been deployed to counter them by India at worst. The Chinese deployment is not limited to the occupied Aksai Chin, but is located deep from Kashgar, Hotan, Lhasa and Nyingchi along the 3,488 km Royal Line of Control (LAC).
India’s main stay in the fighting weapons is the Brahmos air-to-air and air-to-ground cruise missile with its 300 kilogram warhead that can take over runways in Tibet and Xinjiang, or a warship in the Indian Ocean.
The Brahmos missile has been deployed in sufficient numbers in the Ladakh sector with the option of launching the combat weapon of a Su-30 MKI fighter. Additionally, Brahmos can be used to create choke points in the Indian Ocean using the Car Nicobar Air Base in the island territories of India. IAF Car Nicobar Air Base is the forward landing ground for SU-30 MKIs that can use air-to-air refuelers to guard against any PLA warship threats coming from the Straits of Malacca to the Sunda Straits in Indonesia. said a senior government official.
While a limited number of Nirbhay subsonic missiles have been produced and deployed, the separation weapons system has a range that can reach up to 1,000 km, and has the capability of both skimming the sea and loitering. This means that the missile is capable of flying between 100 meters and four kilometers from the ground and picking up the target before striking it. The Nirbhay missile only has a surface-to-surface version.
The third engagement weapon used by the Indian Army is the Akash SAM, which has also been deployed in sufficient numbers to counter any intrusion by PLA aircraft in LAC in the Ladakh sector. The activity of PLA Air Force fighters in occupied Aksai Chin continues, albeit at a reduced level. However, there are concerns about PLA air activity in the Daulet Beg Oldi sector, near the Karakoram pass.
The Akash missile with its three-dimensional Rajendra, an electronically scanned passive array radar that has the ability to track 64 targets at a time and simultaneously strike 12 of them. The missile has the ability to strike all air targets, including fighter jets, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.
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