Article Posted on : - Jun 28, 2010

NEW DELHI (PTI): To prevent the kind of air space violations done by Chinese helicopters in Jammu and Kashmir last year, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is planning to deploy radars along its mountainous frontiers in northern and eastern parts of the country.

“To track and check enemy aircraft and helicopters flying near our borders, we are planning to deploy air defence surveillance radars in mountainous regions along the northern and eastern borders,” IAF officials told PTI here.

Two Chinese Mi-17 helicopters had entered the Indian air space last year in the Leh area of north Jammu and Kashmir along Damchok area and Trig Heights in Ladakh and air dropped cans containing frozen pork and brinjal.

At present, infrastructure in these regions is not adequate to keep a constant watch on kind of incursions carried out by the Chinese and that is why more radars would be procured and deployed in mountainous terrain, they said.

The radars, officials said, would operate at heights above 4,500 metres and would be capable of performing in extreme cold weather conditions experienced in high altitude regions.

These radars would be able to track targets including large, medium and small fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) automatically, they said.

IAF has plans to connect these radars with its Integrated Command and Control system, which will help it to direct its fighters and other aircraft if any case of intrusion is detected.

Prior to the Kargil war, Pakistani choppers had also reportedly flown over Indian air space to help their Army infiltrate and set up strong bases well within Indian territory without being detected.