Army Plans New Corps For Operations Along LAC In Central Sector

The move has come amid Army plans to counter China’s threat along the LAC in the sector.

The reports said Army has decided to convert a Bareilly-headquartered administrative formation into a corps headquarters with war fighting functions.

The Uttar Bharat (UB) Area is expected to be turned into a corps headquarters responsible for guarding the central sector, which is currently considered to be the least disputed stretch of the contested border between India and China, HT reported.

The only dispute in this sector is at Barahoti in Uttarakhand. The new formation, 18 Corps, is reportedly to be based at Dehradun.

A combatised area HQ has fighting elements, while a traditional corps has additional artillery brigades, engineering brigades and other logistics components.

“The newly reconstituted corps will have all the troops and equipment from other arms and services such as artillery, engineers and aviation, among others, under its direct command to successfully conduct operations in the central theatre,” IE reported.

Army is focusing in the central sector at a time when India and China have been engaged in a standoff along LAC in Ladakh for almost four years.

The reports also said UB Area, which comes under the Lucknow-based Central Command, has been “progressively combatised” during the last seven to eight years to enhance the army’s operational readiness.

The 3,488-km LAC is divided into three sectors, including western (Ladakh) and eastern (Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh), with the former emerging as the one that is most prone to face-offs between the Indian and Chinese armies followed by the latter.

While eastern Ladakh has been the focus of the current border tensions with China, the Indian Army is in a high state of readiness all along LAC. Face-offs have been reported in the east after the Ladakh border row erupted.

Indian and Chinese senior military commanders concluded the 20th round of talks to ease tensions in eastern Ladakh on October 9-10, 2023. They agreed to continue the military dialogue and maintain peace, but there was no immediate breakthrough.

Despite four rounds of disengagement from Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra (PP-17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15), the Indian and Chinese armies still have tens of thousands of troops each and advanced weaponry deployed in the Ladakh theatre.

In January, army chief General Manoh Pande said the situation along LAC in the Ladakh sector was “stable, yet sensitive.”