The Indian Cabinet Committee on Security on July 17 approved the creation of a Mountain Strike Corps, which will strengthen India's strategic military position along the Line of Actual Control, its effective border with China. The corps will consist of more than 40,000 troops and will be focused on the Indian northeast, where Arunachal Pradesh — most of which the Chinese claim as part of Tibet — is located. Furthermore, India plans to continue augmenting its forces along the length of the Line of Actual Control with a number of other smaller formations.
In addition to the strike corps, India also plans to raise two new armored brigades for the Line of Actual Control. The independent armored brigades will play a critical role in enabling India, for the first time, to maintain considerable offensive capabilities in the border region. One armored brigade is to be deployed with the Ladakh-based 14th Corps to cover the flat approaches from Tibet toward Chushul, while the other will enhance the strike corps' offensive punch in northeastern India, where it will be based in the Siliguri corridor in Bengal. Still, absent significant infrastructure that will allow for logistical support of the heavy brigades, the new forces will ultimately be more of a burden than an asset.
The creation of the Mountain Strike Corps will bring the number of strike corps in the Indian army order of battle to four. The three other strike corps already in service are oriented toward Pakistan. However, considering the increasingly favorable conventional balance of power with Pakistan, alleged Chinese provocations along the border and an ever more worrisome Chinese military buildup in the Tibet Autonomous Region, India is steadily shifting more of its focus toward the contentious border.
