NEW DELHI: Continuing with its re-balancing of forces and firepower to the northern borders with China, the 12-lakh strong
Army
now plans to "
combatise
" additional
formations
under its Lucknow-based
Central Command
.
The Uttar Bharat (UB) Area based in Bareilly, which is largely a static formation geared for administrative, training and other peace-time purposes, for instance, will be converted into a full-fledged corps, with additional infantry, artillery, aviation, air defence and engineer brigades under it.
"The final approval is yet to come but Army wants UB Area to transform into an operational corps tasked with guarding the middle sector of the 3,488-km long line of actual control (LAC). An Area HQ is neither staffed nor geared for war like a Corps HQ," a source said.
This new corps, likely to be called the 18 Corps, will cover the stretch between the Leh-based 14 Corps in Ladakh and the Sukna-based 33 Corps in West Bengal.
The Army has been deploying additional formations for the LAC in all three sectors - western (Ladakh), middle (Uttarakhand, Himachal) and eastern (Sikkim, Arunachal) - ever since military confrontation with China erupted in May 2020.
The Mathura-based 1 Strike Corps, which has around 70,000 soldiers and heavy weaponry, for instance, was earlier "rebalanced" to LAC from its previous role on the western front with Pakistan, as was reported by TOI.
Consequently, apart from "pivot" corps, there are now two "strike" corps for the LAC: the 1 Corps for the northern sector, including Ladakh, and the Panagarh-based 17 Corps for the eastern one, including the Chumbi Valley opposite Sikkim.
As part of the re-balancing, the UB Area got one division and three independent brigades under it over the last couple of years to get "combatized" in order to tackle the threat from China. "The UB Area will be further upgraded once the formal sanction for converting it into a corps comes," the source said.
China has so far rebuffed India's push for troop disengagement from the two remaining major face-offs at Depsang Plains and the Charding Ninglung Nallah (CNN) track junction at Demchok in Ladakh, let alone accept any return to status quo ante, despite 20 rounds of corps commander-level talks.
English (US) ·