@tsarkar
Helicopters can be stripped down to improve performance. Indian and Pakistani Mi-17s are regularly ferrying arty to that region.
http://indianairforce.nic.in/show_unit.php?ch=52
Quote:
The unit did a commendable job by airlifting 393 tons of load within just nine days.
The question is, How many choppers, and 393 tons from where, to where? My guess is, this has to be from Dzingrulma to the helipad opposite the Lolofond glacier. I could mark it on the map, but not doing so for obvious reasons.. The distance is about 15-20 miles and the elevation of the unloading point is 4500 meters. All the passes, through which choppers can infiltrate into the glacier from the Pakistani side, or from Shaksgam valley are 5500 to 5800 meters high. The only other pass in is the circuitous route via the Shyok valley, which is held by the IA. I am not saying it cant be done, but the number of sorties you will need will go up, perhaps even double.
The second thing is, can this be done repeatedly? and under enemy fire? If the IA is present in the Nubra, can the Paks threaten this occupation via an assault via the glacier? Even today, at the snout of the Glacier, we have 155 mm bofors. Will these guns not fire at the intruders? Will the IAF not interfere with the enemy supply choppers? my point is, anything that the Paks can get into the glacier via choppers, we can get a bigger and better version of that weapon at Dzingrulma and all along the Nubra valley. They dismantle and lift in a 4 ton 155mm/39 gun, we can roll up a 155/52 and pinaka.
Someone said, they cant do this today, but what if they can do this tomorrow. Well, tomorrow, India will have better weapons too.. and if we dont have that advantage, we will be in a tight spot in the plains of Punjab, leave alone Siachen.
sudeepj wrote: wrote:
Basically, anything that the Paks/Chinese can get into the Siachen, we can get more/better of, because we have a road, they dont.
Grossly incorrect assumption. Offensive in the highest mountains can be rapid, and both Indian and Pakistani armies are the world’s best mountain armies. On the other hand, intelligence, like monsoon/earthquake/tsunami forecasts, by its very nature, can never be fully accurate or timely. While planned offensive can be rapid, unplanned and unprepared deployment can be haphazard. Like the IA’s reinforcements during 1962 that arrived to find the front already collapsed. The benefit of surprise always lies with the attacker. The defender can never be eternally vigilant.
So why are these two armies sitting where they are and the front line has not moved? For all of our valorous subunit actions, what we have achieved there is to sometimes push them off some cliff, and sometimes get pushed off some cliff. IMO, because the passes across the Saltoro are not much of a supply line and no large scale offensive can be launched across the passes into the valley/glacier below. Leave alone launching an offensive across the passes, we havent been able to even move down to the next ridgeline, e.g. the chumik/gyong glacier area.
Agreed, that once someone is on a ridgeline, they are hard to dislodge, but coming down from that ridgeline into the valley, that too without any control of roads, or air, is another matter altogether. The ridgeline is for OPs, heavy machine guns and mortars i.e. limited range weapons. The valley is where the true battle will be fought, and the valley is where the prize is. Even mortars on the ridgeline are not safe anymore, with long range arty locating radars, all kinds of overhead surveillance and smart GPS/laser guided artillery.
regards
Sudeep
