The Chinese armed forces have modernized. India must follow
Under the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) reforms since 2015, China has focused on combat readiness with the conditions of the “information age” in mind. It does this by integrating its services, weapons and systems into a joint, network-centric combat force. The PLA Western Theater Command (WTC) played a proactive role in securing China’s southern and southwest borders, preparing for conventional and unconventional combat, and acclimating its personnel to the terrains rugged and difficult altitudes of Xinjiang and Tibet. India is one of the key operational directions in which the WTC is mandated to act. India needs to assess the WTC’s operational structure, training mandates, and warfighting priorities, particularly the theater’s “multi-domain integrated joint operations” (MDIJO) efforts.
The WTC focused on three key factors. These include conducting combat training and readiness exercises, familiarizing oneself with the rugged terrain of the WTC bordering India; and strengthen air superiority and transport capabilities.
The WTC invests significantly in combat training and simulation. The accounts of these exercises present both its successes and its failures. In August 2018, an anti-aircraft artillery unit of the Xinjiang Military District conducted a live-fire exercise in the Tian Shan Mountains to refine the troops’ integrated combat capabilities. This was a test of the interaction between command and control (C2) and ground-based air defense units. The damage assessment stage revealed that many anti-aircraft positions were in flames, indicating a failure of the surprise attack test. An assessment like this could give India’s security apparatus clues about the WTC’s weaknesses and where it should focus.
Given the difficult terrain and complex environments, aerial dominance is central to the theater’s capabilities – and its greatest challenge. Facing India, an ORBAT (order of battle) assessment formulated by the Belfer Center indicates that as of 2020, the land forces deployed on both sides are similar in number (more than 2,05,000 soldiers), while Indian fighter jets outnumber others. Chinese — a balance of 250 to 157.
In terms of ground-based air defense, four air defense brigades are each attached to the Xinjiang and Tibet military districts as well as the 76th and 77th Army Groups of the WTC. At the same time, the WTC air forces have their long-range surface-to-air missile installations. The WTC allows PLA ground and air forces to combine air defense systems. In light of this, India is investing in its own Very Short Range Air Defense Systems (VSHORADS) and Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) to expand the Army’s Air Defense (AAD) capabilities.
Over the years, anti-aircraft artillery units as well as surface-to-air missile units have become the backbone of the WTC’s air defense capabilities. As of May 2021, the Xinjiang Military Region has carried out six rounds of arms acquisitions. At the time, India and China were still recovering from the deadly Galwan Valley clashes in June 2020. The fifth and sixth rounds of acquisitions focused solely on air superiority, through the induction of the spear -multiple self-propelled rockets PHL-11 caliber 122 mm. system and the HQ-17A field air defense missile system.
The challenge of transportation is also at the heart of training in these areas. Considering the “last mile delivery requirements” of high-altitude areas, especially in the WTC, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being adopted to transport food and essential commodities to active personnel. This is in addition to the arrival of the Xi’an Y-20 “Kunpeng” heavy transport aircraft, which can transport winter clothes to border troops stationed along the LAC within seven hours.
Evidence of the use of drones comes from a November 2020 exercise by the logistics departments of the PLA Army and the Tibet Military Ministry, during which a drone delivery unit was needed to transfer hot food, water, medicines and other urgent aid to personnel located at a location. base in the mountains, assuming that the manned mobile ground transport unit was “blocked by enemy fire”. According to the report, the success of the drone delivery unit was determined by how decisively drone operators demonstrated overall judgment on terrain, wind speed, temperature and other factors. to ensure the safe landing of the unit at the predetermined destination. The report promises that the PLA Army’s logistics department is preparing to expand drone delivery of arms and ammunition supplies to last-mile active sites.
At a time when the information age is enabling a revolution in military affairs (RMA), the PLA is adapting to new modes and methods of warfare. Their integration is essential to the PLA’s goal of becoming a “world-class force” by 2049. In the coming years, it is likely that the WTC will redouble its efforts in this area, creating a force joint capable of successfully conducting combat operations. . India must therefore continue to observe the developments in the WTC and direct its efforts to counter them.
With the reappointment of Rajnath Singh as Indian Defense Minister, one of the priorities of his military modernization program would be the creation of Integrated Theater Commands (ITC) within the Indian armed forces. Although there is no planned timeline for this yet, Singh argued that in some countries, theatricalization has taken more than two decades to materialize. This is true in the case of China if we consider the MR model as a rung in the evolving ladder of theatricalization within the PLA. Now, as India’s chief dramatist, Chief of Defense Staff General Anil Chauhan has positioned reform as India’s response to the PLA’s joint efforts . Since ITCs aim to promote a common culture and not a services-specific culture, Chauhan expressed the belief that the reform would propel India into a new era of combat readiness. However, given that the Chinese PLA is many steps ahead of the Indian armed forces in this regard, a concrete delivery schedule and a larger non-renewable modernization fund will be essential.
The author is a research analyst at Takshashila Institution.
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