Amid tensions with China, Army Army plans to buy integrated surveillance and tracking systems for guarding borders

The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an over three-year confrontation in certain friction points along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.

New Delhi: With troop deployment along the disputed Sino-Indian border becoming a permanent feature, the Indian Army plans to acquire over 100 “integrated surveillance and targeting systems” for border-guarding troops so that they can keep an eye on vehicle movements from across the border and strike if necessary.

While the army needs around 600 such systems, in the first stage a request for information has been issued to buy 118 of them with 60 per cent indigenous content. The Army will also buy more fast patrol boats for operations in rivers and water bodies like Pangong lake in Ladakh.

Each surveillance-cum-tracking system consists of a drone, operator control unit that can be integrated in a tank or infantry combat vehicles, loitering munitions and five other components. The requirement is to use them in high altitude areas where temperature can go down to minus 10-20 degrees Celsius.

The force on Tuesday issued a request for information, according to which the unmanned aerial vehicle should be able to operate at a distance not less than 20 km away while the loitering munitions should be at a distance of 15 km.

The loitering time for such munitions should be 15 min and if not fired, they must return home safely. The drone, on the other hand, should have a minimum endurance of 90 min.

Approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in September, the integrated surveillance and targeting system (ISAT-S) was one of the nine capital capital acquisition items for the armed forces, approved by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at a cost of Rs 45,000 crore.

The Indian Army also rolled out a process to procure six fast patrol boats and eight landing craft assault (LCA) as part of efforts to enhance its combat capabilities, officials said on Tuesday. The fast patrol boats are being procured primarily for surveillance in large water bodies, including the Pangong lake in eastern Ladakh.

The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in a 3.5 year old confrontation at multiple flashpoints along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh though disengagement had happened in a few friction zones following diplomatic and military talks.

The RFI for fast patrol boats says the vessels should be "rugged and versatile so as to facilitate seamless execution of small team insertion, surveillance, reconnaissance and patrolling" and that they should be capable of operating across a varying matrix of terrain and conditions.

The indigenously-developed boats should have a maximum speed of 29 knots (at sea state level 2) with eight people on board. The initial tender for LCAs said they are planned to be deployed for search and rescue operations in creek areas and river basins.

It said the length of the LCAs should be between 13-14 metres and maximum speed not less than 20 knots. The LCAs are generally used for ferrying troops and can function without a jetty.

Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry on Tuesday signed a Rs 310 crore agreement with Mazagon Dock Ltd for the construction of the first dedicated training ship for the Indian Coast Guards.