Indian Military Aviation News and Discussion

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[url="http://www.afpc.org/publication_listings/viewBulletin/1087"]INDIA FORMS ARUNACHAL SCOUTS FOR BORDER[/url]

Just days ahead of a round of talks with China over their disputed border, India has announced a new military battalion will be named after the Indian state at the center of the Sino-Indian territory dispute. Since the Sino-Indian war of 1962, China has claimed 56,000 sq miles of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, what China calls “South Tibet.” Tensions between the two Asian powers over the disputed territory have been heightened in recent years and India has been bolstering its defenses along the along the border, where China holds a distinct advantage in military installations and basic infrastructure. According to the head of India’s air force, P.V. Naik, “Eight advance landing grounds are being upgraded and there are five to six major airfields where infrastructure will be improved to enable them to received more modern aircraft.”



The new military battalion, meanwhile, will be named the Arunachal Scouts, although it was raised from a garrison in Shillong, in the neighboring state of Assam. Some 5,000 troops strong, the Arunachal Scouts will be drawn from locals trained in specialized, high-altitude combat (Arunachal Pradesh straddles the Himalayas). Arunachal’s chief minister, Dorjee Khandu, insisted the new force would reflect the “martial strength” of the region, where India has formed several paramilitary groups out of local “martial” ethnic groups, such as the Assam Rifles, Gorkha Rifles, and Naga Regiment. (Financial Times November 11, 2010).....