As China Activates Its Air Defence System With More Jet Swarms, India Will Deploy S-400s

The Times of India reported on Monday that the second squadron of the S-400 Triumph Indian Air Force (IAF) air defence system will enter service on the northern border within the next two to three months, citing unnamed sources.

In December, India received its first squadron of S-400 air missile defence systems as part of a $5.43 billion deal with Russia. In April of this year, Russia also delivered a simulator and other training equipment to the IAF S-400 Air Defense Missile Squadron.

Two regiments of the S-400 system will be stationed on India’s northern borders, while the other two will be used to protect the country’s strategic assets in cities yet to be determined.

The 16th round of Corps Commander level talks, held on July 17, came to a halt with both sides agreeing to maintain the status quo in the disputed areas of the Ladakh sector. Both sides accused each other of encroaching on each other’s land in violation of the border treaties signed in 1993 and 2005.

The Chinese Army recently made public a video of a large military exercise in the Tibet region bordering Ladakh. Over the last two years, Delhi and Beijing have deployed over 50,000 troops and cutting-edge weapons in the western sector of the LAC.

Beijing also intends to construct a new highway near the Line of Actual Control, which currently connects Tibet and Xinjiang.

Since June 2020, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and the Indian Army have been at odds over the construction of infrastructure in the Ladakh region. Twenty Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed in a bloody clash, the first deaths at the border since 1975.