Armed 'Dhruv' Helicopters Being Deployed in India's North East Border With China

The Indian Army is preparing to deploy a squadron of Dhruv advanced light helicopters equipped with weapons in the northeast border that it shares with China.

There are four weapon stations on the helicopter with a turret gun in its nose area. Weaponised Dhruv helicopters are equipped with air-to-air missiles, 70 mm rockets and 20 mm turret guns. 

 The army has plan to deploy the helicopters to Assam’s Likabali town. This will be the army’s first armed helicopter unit in the region, Hindustan Times reported Saturday.

India has strengthened its Eastern border with increasing of a new mountain strike corps and also stationing Sukhoi-30 fighter planes there.

The armed force is also engaged in the reactivation of advanced landing grounds, deploying supersonic cruise missiles and proposed basing of special operations aircraft.

Army officials told the publication on the condition of anonymity said that the Dhruv Mk-IV squadron with 10 locally made helicopters was likely to be functional in two to three months, as part of plan to scale up the force’s offensive capabilities in the eastern sector.

Newer variants are being equipped with anti-tank guided missiles, infrared jammers and obstacle avoidance systems. The army’s aviation wing has an armed chopper squadron near Jodhpur and another unit is coming up in one of the northern states.

The army is speeding up a new mountain strike corps. Aimed at countering China in the northeast, the new corps is likely to be fully operational by 2025.

The corps will be equipped with M777s ultra lightweight howitzers ordered from the United States in November 2016 under a $750-million contract. The contract is for 145 M777s.

Last August, India cleared the deployment of a special version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles in the north-east.