LEH: The uniquely placed Ladakh, facing twin active fronts with China and Pakistan, is working to beef up its Army Aviation assets towards not just offensive and defence roles but also for deployments in assisting with the civil support to handle the inclement weather conditions of the region.However the tasks remain the same, since May 2020, the Chinese standoff in eastern Ladakh, the intensity has increased, tells Brigadier Gurdeep Singh. “Our tasks have increased manifold, the flying hours have increased, in future we may see more helicopters inducted here.” Tells the top aviator of the Fire and Fury Corps looking after the complete operations.Since May 2020, as first reported by TNIE, there has been tensions due to the major deployment of men and equipment from both India and China. The Army aviators operate all the year round in a very dynamic condition, fulfilling multiple roles and tasks, as the brigade maintains the places of Kargil and Leh along with Siachen-world’s highest battlefield.”The army has different types of helicopters, the reconnaissance and observation helicopters, like Cheetal. RC’s are for surveillance, LH are for various tasks like induction of troops, deinduction of troops, induction of store air maintenance, and also for casualty evaluation,” Singh added. And, this place throws challenges and requires special preparations too points Colonel Randeep Pathania Pathania the man commanding one of the Units at Leh. “We start our flying from approximately 12,000 feet and fly upto 18,000 feet. We have terrain which is very varied. We have icy heights of glaciers, we have heights but dry deserts of Eastern Ladakh, we have hilly terrain or high mountains of Western Ladakh which is Drass and Kargil. Each sector we have fragmented here is unique and definitely a very challenging and difficult terrain.”, tells Pathania.”This area is challenging with temperatures plummeting minus 50 degree celsius, with gusts of winds and narrow valleys. This involves a lot of training by the pilots. We need to understand the machine and all aspects related to the machine so that we can undertake flying here. The tasks here are very essential.”, Pathania said.
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