Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

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Vips
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Vips »

Nipun anti-personnel mines: Army gets weapons boost for Pakistan, China borders.

Image

The Indian Army is set to receive indigenously designed and developed anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, which will help security personnel foil attempts made by adversaries on the borders with Pakistan and China.

“Indian Army's Corps of Engineers getting a new set of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines for acting as the first line of defence against enemy infantry and armoured columns or terrorist trying to infiltrate into own territory,” army officials familiar with the developments told news agency ANI.

“The Indian Army is going to induct 7 lakh indigenously developed 'Nipun' anti-personnel mines which carry a potent mix of RDX,” a security official familiar with the developments also told ANI.

The Corps of Engineers is showcasing the indigenous equipment in Pune, which were inducted into the army for carrying out anti-terror operations against the enemy as well as defending its own areas.

Nipun mines were developed by an Indian firm in partnership with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The Corps of Engineers are also carrying out trials of Vibhav and Vishal anti-tank mines, all of which are indigenously developed next-generation anti-tank mines.The officials said along with these mines, Prachand, Ulka and Parth are also some of the new mines which will be inducted into the army after trials are conducted successfully. They also said some of these mines are at an advanced stage of user trials.

These mines possess greater stopping power against enemy tanks due to their advanced design and sensors.

The army said it started the induction of high head water pumps in areas at high altitudes along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

“The Indian Army started inducting 200 high head water pumps which can help pump water and fuel to locations at higher altitudes in those areas. Two hundred of these pumps are being inducted into the Corps of Engineers under the emergency procurement powers,” the official added.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by wig »

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/natio ... ded-353134

All 6 units of Railway Engineers Regiments disbanded
extracts
The Railway Board has decided to disband all six units of the Railway Engineers Regiments (Territorial Army), in a letter undersigned by RK Sinha, Director Establishment, Railway Board, of the Indian Railways.

The board, as stated in the letter issued today, has concurred for extension of validity of existing FE (Functional Establishment) with 50 per cent reduction in strength of six units of the Railway Engineers Regiments (TA) up to March 31, 2022. “The modalities for disbandment may be such that the entire formalities for disbandment are finalised by March 31, 2022,” the letter states.

The Railway Engineers Regiments (TA) were raised as an auxiliary force in 1949 under the Territorial Army Act, 1948. The sphere of activities of Railway TA Units is confined to the railway activities, be it during peace time or during hostilities.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by mody »

Good to see indigenous mines being inducted. There was no news about the development of the same, over the years.
IA still maintains a huge inventory of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. A lot of the mines in the inventory are old and obsolete and a pain to maintain and store. New indigenous mines, manufactured by the private sector will allow a lot of the old mines to be scrapped and hopefully the new mines will be more reliable and will require lower maintenance.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/delhidefence/status ... 97314?s=20 ---> Indian Army launches in-house messaging solution- #ASIGMA (Army Secure IndiGeneous Messaging Application). Developed by Corps of Signals, it is a new generation, web based application on the Army’s internal network as a replacement of Army Wide Area Network (AWAN).

https://twitter.com/delhidefence/status ... 38113?s=20 ---> The application has been fielded on Army owned hardware and lends itself to lifetime support with future upgrades. The custom messaging application meets all future user requirements and boasts of an enhanced user experience.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Rakesh »

Developing nuclear-hardened facilities for armed forces in forward areas: Army's Engineer-in-Chief
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/d ... 2021-12-27
27 Dec 2021
"Tunnels for ammunition storage for Army and Air Force are being taken up in a major way," said Indian Army's Engineer-in-Chief Lieutenant General Harpal Singh.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Vicky »

More clarity on the new ACU style Disruptive Pattern camo. To be rolled out starting this month.

Pattern: Image

Source: https://theprint.in/defence/army-to-int ... rt/792476/
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Vips »

One would think using Dark colour/s in a uniform especially digital is counter intuitive and makes it visible and stand out.

If you see the digital pattern uniforms of other countries they are all light-shaded and seem designed to blend in.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by AdityaM »

similar to LTTE pattern
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Cyrano »

Thats one ugly pattern, but who cares as long as it serves the purpose.
Is it for universal adoption or for specific types of terrain?
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Vicky »

Cyrano wrote:Thats one ugly pattern, but who cares as long as it serves the purpose.
Is it for universal adoption or for specific types of terrain?
It is likely to primarily replace the general purpose primary camo type in use today the PC-DISRUPTIVE (PC-DPM). As far a terrain specific variants, unknown.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/SJha1618/status/148 ... 60556?s=20 ---> Now, that is an Indian Army picture I want to see. Indigenous Rudra attack helicopter flying over an indigenous Arjun MkI main battle tank, hopefully communicating with each other using SDRs. Happy Army Day @adgpi. P.S. It's a snap from this year's Army Day video.

Image
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Vips »

Explained: Different pattern, better material — what’s new in the Indian Army’s new combat uniform.

Since 1949, January 15 has been celebrated as Army Day every year, to mark the day General KM Cariappa, who later became Field Marshal, took over as the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from Gen F R Roy Bucher.

During the celebrations on Saturday, which also included a parade and an address by Army Chief Gen M M Naravane, the new combat uniform for the Indian Army was unveiled.

The new uniform will be made available in a phased manner to the nearly 12 lakh personnel of the Indian Army.

Why does an Army’s uniform matter?
Uniforms are one of the most distinctive identifying features for any military force. The uniform not only differentiates civilians from military personnel, and between personnel of different militaries, it also engenders togetherness, conformity, and discipline among the personnel.

The new uniform was unveiled with the soldiers of the elite parachute regiment marching on Army Day.

How is the new uniform different from the Army’s old uniform?
The main changes in the new uniform, compared to the old one that has been in use since 2008, are with regard to the camouflage pattern, design, and the use of a new material.

While the new unique camouflage pattern retains the combination of the same colours — olive green and earthen shades — the pattern is digital now. It has been designed keeping in mind the many kinds of operational conditions that the soldiers function in, from deserts to high-altitude areas, jungles and plains.

How is the fabric used in the new uniform different?
This is the other important change in the uniform. The fabric for the new material makes it lighter, sturdier, more breathable, and more suitable for the different terrains that soldiers are posted in.

The cotton-to-polyester ratio is 70:30, making it quicker to dry, more comfortable to wear in humid and hot conditions, and lightweight.

According to the Army, it is an ergonomically designed, operationally effective, new-generation camouflage combat uniform. The fabric is 15 per cent lighter, and has 23 per cent more strength against tearing, against the current uniform.

The ergonomic features allow for long-hour use and comfort, and micro features are inbuilt for the use of the wearer in field conditions.

What about the components and the style of the uniform?
The new uniform, unlike the old one, has a combat T-shirt underneath and a shirt over it. Also, unlike the older uniform, the shirt will not be tucked in.

The “jacket”, as the shirt is called, has angular top pockets, lower pockets with vertical openings, knife pleats at the back, a pocket on the left sleeve, a pen holder on the left forearm, and improved-quality buttons.

The trousers will be adjustable at the waist with elastic and buttons, and has a double layer at the groin.

For the caps, the girth will be adjustable, and the logo of the Army will be of better quality than earlier.

For the first time, a modified version of the uniform has been developed keeping in mind the specific requirements of lady officers and troops of the Army.

Who designed the uniform, and who chose it for the Army?
The design process, although finalised by Army Chief Gen Naravane, was initiated before Gen Naravane took over in January 2020. However, once a few designs were shortlisted, the choice was ultimately a collective decision of the Army Commanders.

Designed by a team of 12 people at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), which included seven professors, three students, and two alumni, the uniform was created through a consultative process with the Army, keeping in mind the “4Cs” — comfort, climate, camouflage, and confidentiality.

The fabric was selected out of five options curated specifically for the Army by NIFT, and the finalised pattern was one of the 17 options that were specially designed.

Domain-specific experts for fabric, camouflage patterns, and designs were engaged, and prototypes were prepared through a continuous consultative process.

Will the uniform be available in markets around the country?
While all militaries update their uniforms with time, one of the factors that led to this change was the easy availability of the Army’s current combat pattern cloth across the country. Soldiers could get the cloth and simply have the uniform stitched.

To control random proliferation, the new uniform will come in over a dozen pre-stitched standard sizes. The uniforms will be barcoded and QR coded to maintain their uniqueness, and will be available only through the ordnance chain or military canteens.

The Army will issue tenders for private and public companies to manufacture the uniforms, and the uniforms will be issued to personnel in a phased manner.

Are all uniforms of the Army changing?
No. It must be noted that only the combat uniform has been changed. The Army has several uniforms, including the olive greens, as it is called, for peace area postings, and ceremonial uniforms.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Prem Kumar »

Rakesh wrote: https://twitter.com/SJha1618/status/148 ... 60556?s=20 ---> Now, that is an Indian Army picture I want to see. Indigenous Rudra attack helicopter flying over an indigenous Arjun MkI main battle tank, hopefully communicating with each other using SDRs. Happy Army Day @adgpi. P.S. It's a snap from this year's Army Day video.
In addition to SDR comms, imagine shared battlespace-intel (visual imagery) via ODLs: the LCH sees what a MALE UAV sees, the Tank commander sees what the LCH sees etc. This can either be direct peer-to-peer sharing or via satellites. Imagine the level of situational awareness and the collective punch that can be delivered.

Don't know if our displays are designed with such capabilities in mind.
Last edited by Rakesh on 16 Jan 2022 23:41, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Please do not re-quote images when replying. Post Edited.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by rohitvats »

India and Anti-Tank Guided Missile Scenario:

- As per a 2010 news report, the Indian Army along has an inventory of more than 80,000 Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs).

- In this episode of The Perspective, we take a look at various types of ATGMs employed by the Indian Army, and the Indian Air Force. And the platforms which employ these missiles.

- The program evaluate the various indigenous ATGM programs and their key features.

- An analysis is done where 3rd Generation, Fire & Forget ATGMs being developed by DRDO are mapped against existing 2nd Generation, Semi-Automatic, Command to Line-of-Sight (SACLOS) ATGMs of the Indian Army and the IAF.

- The final analysis shows which DRDO anti-tank missile will replace which of the existing ATGMs of the Army and the IAF.

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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/livefist/status/148 ... 50145?s=20 ---> BREAKING: @Saab awarded Indian military contract for AT4 anti-tank systems. The 84mm man-portable, single-shot disposable weapon will be used by the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force.

https://twitter.com/Kilo_Spec/status/14 ... 52864?s=20 ---> Indian Army and Indian Air Force will get unknown numbers of Saab AT-4 MPATW. Effective Firing Range - 500 meters.

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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by AkshaySG »

Superannuation of a few of the highest ranking officers in IA happened today.

Lt Gen CP Mohanty, VCOAS

Lt Gen KJS Dhillon, Head of Defense Intelligence Agency

Lt Gen YK Joshi, GOC-in-C Northern Command.

were among the ones who superannuated.

My greatest regards to them for almost 4 decades of exemplary service to the nation and I hope that their next innings in life will see as much success as their previous one
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by ramana »

Wow even Lt Gen CP Mohanty!
They all served the nation at a critical time at the LAC.

Now they need to find a new VOCOAS and then make the CDS appointment. This explains the delay.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Rakesh »

Lt Gen Manoj Pande has taken over as VCOAS as of 01 Feb 2022. Reportedly in line to be the next Army Chief.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/singhshwetabh71/sta ... _sgm2DRQCA ---> BDL today has signed contract worth Rs 3,131.82 crore for manufacture and supply of Konkurs-M to the Indian Army.

https://twitter.com/RAFIndia_/status/14 ... dGixeMx5AQ ---> The 9M113 "Konkurs-M", with a range of more than 4000 metres can defeat modern hostile armored vehicles, ranging from main battle tanks to Infantry Combat Vehicles (ICVs). It has 800mm RHA Armor penetration capability. The IA is already operating unspecified number of the system.

Konkurs Fact Sheet ---> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9M113_Konkurs

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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Rakesh »

General Naravane speaks to Australian Army Chief
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 304435.cms
02 Feb 2022
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/DefenceDecode/statu ... 7578529794 ---> Combat Engineering training and operation preparedness validation, conducted by the Indian Army's Western Command.

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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Manish_P »

The photos starkly show exactly why the weight factor is so critical...
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Aditya_V »

But lesser weight means lesser protection also. Like the 7.62*39 vs 7.62 *51 nato bullet, what is your engagement range like, If treeless areas like LAC, Desert or Punjab border in Sugarcane fields where heavy tanks will tend sink more in mud and be more of a problem crossing Ichogil Canal?
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Cyrano »

On shanti, veer gati to our brave soldiers safeguarding borders in extreme conditions.

Avalanches, Indian Army’s big enemy: What it does to protect our soliders
Bodies of seven Indian Army soldiers were found two days after they went missing in Arunachal Pradesh's Kameng sector. The area had been witnessing heavy snowfall for the last few days

https://www.firstpost.com/india/avalanc ... 60281.html
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Manish_P »

Aditya_V wrote:But lesser weight means lesser protection also. Like the 7.62*39 vs 7.62 *51 nato bullet, what is your engagement range like, If treeless areas like LAC, Desert or Punjab border in Sugarcane fields where heavy tanks will tend sink more in mud and be more of a problem crossing Ichogil Canal?
True, of course. Hence it is a truism every armament system whether it is a fighter plane, a ship or a tank is a compromise optimized more for a particular role in a set of particular conditions.

What matters to a large, powerful country such as ours is that we have the necessary variations, in adequate numbers, modular (allowing add-on) components (for logistical and operational ease of maintenance) to the extent possible to be able handle our varied threats, both in terms of Opfor equipment, their tactics and the geographical challenges. Would be awesome if developed and manufactured and iteratively improved in Desh... (and older/dumbed down variants to be exported :) )

I was very new here on the forums when Shiv ji had set the cat among the pigeons by taking a contrary stand against other posters who were complaining about the 'zoo' of aircraft types in the IAF . I might be mistaken but somehow I don't think he was being catty or sarcastic...
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Manish_P »

Cyrano wrote:On shanti, veer gati to our brave soldiers safeguarding borders in extreme conditions.

Avalanches, Indian Army’s big enemy: What it does to protect our soliders
Bodies of seven Indian Army soldiers were found two days after they went missing in Arunachal Pradesh's Kameng sector. The area had been witnessing heavy snowfall for the last few days

https://www.firstpost.com/india/avalanc ... 60281.html
A sad day... and a grim reminder that geography and nature can be a formidable foe
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by jaysimha »

Om Shanti to the brave men who passed away..
-------
Ministry of Defence

Indian Army Implements Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) of Ammunition Stock
Posted On: 09 FEB 2022 8:19PM by PIB Delhi
Indian Army commenced implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging of its ammunition inventory today. The first consignment of RFID tagged ammunition, comprising three lots of 5.56mm ammunition was despatched from Ammunition Factory Khadki to Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) Pulgaon. The event was flagged off by the Director General Ordnance Services.
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1797008
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Cyrano »

Avalanche air bags cost between 500-1000 USD retail which is peanuts for life saving equipment. IA should make them + radio locator beacons part of standard personal kit in all avalanche prone areas. Even hors piste skiers are using them these days. Greatly improves chances of survival.

The French mountain corps Les Chasseurs Alpins use detailed avalanche charts, sensors and s/w to monitor dangerous slopes, even ski stations use them (though coverage is small). Avalanches are deliberately setoff by firing mortars into snowy slopes to avoid too much snow buildup making entire mountain flanks unstable.

May be IA does as well, I dont know for sure, but we can always learn from other experts and improve safety of our bravehearts.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Cyrano »

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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by k prasad »

Cyrano wrote:Avalanche air bags cost between 500-1000 USD retail which is peanuts for life saving equipment. IA should make them + radio locator beacons part of standard personal kit in all avalanche prone areas. Even hors piste skiers are using them these days. Greatly improves chances of survival.

The French mountain corps Les Chasseurs Alpins use detailed avalanche charts, sensors and s/w to monitor dangerous slopes, even ski stations use them (though coverage is small). Avalanches are deliberately setoff by firing mortars into snowy slopes to avoid too much snow buildup making entire mountain flanks unstable.

May be IA does as well, I dont know for sure, but we can always learn from other experts and improve safety of our bravehearts.
DRDO has an entire lab dedicated to studying snow and avalanche conditions, and I bet they've done far more work on this than even some establishments of alpine nations.

The issue isn't just about having beacons... it's about locating someone trapped by an avalanche incredibly quickly. It's far easier on ski slopes where the avalanches, etc occur close to well-trafficked areas and at low-enough altitudes to quickly deploy a rescue force via helicopter. And even then, it is still quite difficult, and is almost always a recovery rather than rescue operation.

In the high Himalayas, that becomes exponentially harder - the locations are quite remote, far from a base camp, at high altitudes, making helo-based rescue difficult to deploy, and often, occurs during weather conditions where one can barely see 10 ft ahead. Also, when you have steep slopes, a 10 ft radius can often mean an extremely large area with thousands of feet of elevation difference. And after all that, the person might be trapped under tens of feet of ice and snow. It's a mix between being drowned and being trapped in rubble, so your rescue time is usually on the order of minutes or hours, rather than days.

Much of the work that has safety payoffs involves predicting avalanches and mitigating risks. But there are limits to how safe we can make such deployments considering these are locations where even experienced mountaineers try and limit time spent, and usually pick the safest routes, whereas we are forced to deploy to protect and patrol a wide border. Which means there's often prioritization of militarily-optimal rather than safety-optimal deployment and patrolling locations.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by ks_sachin »

k prasad wrote:....
That sir is a very good post.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Prem Kumar »

Nice posts k prasad & Cyrano.

Did some Googling and came across this balanced article about avalanche airbags

https://utahavalanchecenter.org/blog/15943

Though its not a perfect solution (i.e. it doesn't guarantee survival), airbags + beacon do seem to improve survival chances significantly. Granted - our soldiers operate in far more lethal conditions than skiers. But I think its well worth investigating whether this need to be made part of the kit. Of course, weight & other issues come into play as well, which is where DRDO research comes into play
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Thakur_B »

There was a documentary on NDTV 10-12 yers back which showed usage of beacons. Beacons have been in use for quite a while.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Cyrano »

kprasad ji,
Patrolling in high altitude I imagine lasts for 6 hours, max 8 hours. Beyond that soldiers need to thaw, eat, drink, rest and recover, to be operational the next day. I suppose they reach start of patrol point by vehicle or if there is a camp, start from the camp itself. Typical walking speed at sea level is 5 km/hr. Accounting for very high altitude, weight of clothing, rifle, gear, rest of the kit, terrain ups and downs etc. it would perhaps drop by 50% to about 2.5 km/hr, even for very fit soldiers it may max out at 3km/hr because they will need few mins each hour for rest & water/snack/toilet break, time for observation, regrouping, etc.

In an 8 hour mountain foot patrol with ups and downs, one can perhaps cover 8x3 = 24km, lets say a max of 30km.

Assuming a roughly circular patrol loop of length 30km, If the loop is around the camp, then max distance from help would be the radius : 4.25 kms (but do such patrols make sense at the border?), else it would be the diameter of a circle of 9.5 kms with the camp on the circumference. If its a point A to point B patrol route, assuming a vehicle/camp at either end, the max distance from help would be 15 kms.

In case of an accident at the farthest distance from help and no heli support, help would also have to come by foot, which would take them easily 3 hours and upto even 6 hours, assuming an alert is sent and received immediately. Time of day is a huge factor in how fast rescue teams can reach, and of course weather.

By the way, if you take a large ski station like Les Arcs (45.575437017816206, 6.829358226279331) if you walk around in a large circle, will be 30 kms of distance with a few 1000s of meters of alternating climbs and descents. Very very tough in snowy conditions. Very, very few people in the world I suspect can do it in 1 day of 12 hours in decent weather.

What our soldiers do in harsh conditions is goes beyond an extreme sport + all the risks of running into the enemy !

These are of course back of the envelop calculations based on my trekking experience over the years (Alps, Pyrenees, a couple around Denver, mostly in summer/mid-season, only 3 in real winter, dist covered in a day 10-15kms, altitude in the 1000-2500m range). I wasn't in any "mission mode" !

Anyone with Army operational knowledge in such areas please share what the typical patrol distances and elevations are, and how they plan routes in high altitude.

3 hours motionless buried under snow is certain death from hypothermia. Injuries reduce survival chances very quickly with time and temperature. Hence every little thing that improves survival chances is worth testing and adopting. Beacon locators, regular position updates to base, rescue dogs, air bags, snow racquettes, right kit, training, first aid etc all add a few % points or few minutes of survival which can save lives.

JMT.
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by k prasad »

Cyrano wrote:kprasad ji
...
JMT.
Sirjee, for context, the distance from Everest Base Camp to the summit is 12.5 miles / 20 km, and that typically takes mountaineers overnights at 3-4 camps (the best of the best can of course do it in a day or two, weather and acclimation being good).

In general, in the high mountains, one encounters either glacial or glacial icefall settings, or steep high-altitude mixed snow-ice-rock terrain (requiring possible belay-aided climbing), or extremely deep, waist or chest-high snow fields. Under these conditions, and at altitudes over 5000 m, over 5-7 hrs, an experienced and fit mountaineer might cover anywhere from 500 m to 5 km. I don't think 2.5 kmph is going to be possible, unless the weather and terrain conditions are extremely favourable. This is fundamentally different from a fairly firm-terrain hike, even if it's at altitude (say Mt Elbert or even the Everest Base Camp elevation). You are absolutely right that what our Jawans do is beyond extreme!

I'd expect that patrolling distances here are probably limited to just a few kilometers at most. Jawans and officers I met serving on the frontiers, and others who served in the region (one of my neighbours growing up was a helo pilot who served in Siachen) talked about patrolling to the borders and back during winter - this was in the Uttarakhand sector -- and mentioned that it would take them a few days to get to the border, and they'd spend a few days to a week or two there patrolling up and down. This was when the border was about 20 km from the outpost, and they'd have mules to help carry loads. The creation of roads to the border - Mana Pass road being one example is a huge benefit in this regard.

With regards to distance from support, even if the distance is 15 km, that's usually not the whole story. Siachen base camp to the advanced deployment points (from Google maps), looks to be about 50 km along the valleys, and including switchbacks and trail length, I can totally expect that number to at least double. A helicopter could get to the rescue location quickly, but what next from there? Sending rescue resources from there on foot to the search location will itself take a few hours at least. And if it's night or bad weather, that will have to wait till daybreak, and/or weather clearing up. With the mountainous terrains and cliffs, that becomes extremely risky and difficult. Furthermore, in case of avalanches or other accidents (rockfall, falling seracs, etc), the trail and any fixed lines vanish, which means they need to then lay new fixed lines and break a new trail to the accident location. And all of this assumes they actually know the accident location. If not, localizing the search grid eats up valuable time.
Cyrano
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by Cyrano »

In general, in the high mountains, one encounters either glacial or glacial icefall settings, or steep high-altitude mixed snow-ice-rock terrain (requiring possible belay-aided climbing), or extremely deep, waist or chest-high snow fields. Under these conditions, and at altitudes over 5000 m, over 5-7 hrs, an experienced and fit mountaineer might cover anywhere from 500 m to 5 km. I don't think 2.5 kmph is going to be possible, unless the weather and terrain conditions are extremely favourable. This is fundamentally different from a fairly firm-terrain hike, even if it's at altitude (say Mt Elbert or even the Everest Base Camp elevation).
Agree with the point you seem to make that the radius of action shrinks as altitude increases. Siachen camp is at about 3600m altitude. Starting from there, I agree patrols will be very short, on established but still dangerous paths. Everest base camp is at 5364m. Whole different ball game (actually not a game!).
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by k prasad »

Bana Post is at 6200 m, sir. :-) whole different ball game indeed
nits
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by nits »

I literally had goose bumps reading the whole article - 'Babu, don't worry. The Army has come'
Babu R was trapped in a mountain gorge without food or water for two days till the Indian Army rescued him in a daring mission.
Archana Masih/Rediff.com recounts what transpired during Operation Palakkad, a daring military mission that stunned the nation.
All Photographs and Videos: Kind courtesy Madras Regimental Centre.
Must read; in fact it can be a chapter in primary school
rohitvats
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by rohitvats »

Pakistan Army Primer

- This is the first episode of a series which will explore the Pakistan Army in detail.
- In this episode of The Perspective, we see the geographical spread of Pakistan Army nine Corps HQs, and their underlying armored, mechanized, infantry, light infantry and artillery divisions.
- Pakistan Army is a large standing army with ~560,000 troops and equal number of manpower in reserve.
- It is organized into nine Corps and three Corps equivalent formations.
- The army has more than 2,000 main battle tanks, and considerable mechanized infantry and artillery assets.

Do have a look. Thanks.

ramana
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Re: Indian Army News & Discussion - 23 March 2021

Post by ramana »

Thanks Rohit. Will do so.
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