India has provoked a sharp reaction from China over its plans to deploy an advanced version of the BrahMos missile for mountain warfare in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Central government plans to induct the supersonic cruise missile in the northeast region of Arunachal Pradesh along the conflicted border.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently warned that the move could attract countermeasures from China and bring “a negative influence” to “stability” of border areas.
The PLA Daily suggested deploying the 290-km range supersonic missile could threaten some of this infrastructure.
“The supersonic BrahMos cruise missile has excellent dive attack capabilities, and fits in the Sino-Indian border where it’s mostly mountain topography," the commentary said, adding that the “low observable” nature and “penetration capabilities” of the 2.5 Mach-speed missile posed a threat to China's border areas.
The commentary, written by an expert from the PLA Navy's Engineering University, also presented a detailed assessment of the nature of the threat posed by the deployment of an advanced version of BrahMos with “steep div”" capabilities suited to mountain warfare.
The deployment of the missile “could increase suddenness and effectiveness of attacks” and land “crushing blows on time-sensitive targets like missile launchers and solid targets like command centres”, it said.
“Deploying BrahMos missiles is bound to increase competitiveness and confrontation in Sino-Indian relations and bring a negative influence to stability of the region,” the commentary concluded.
India's move to deploy BrahMos cruise missiles in Arunachal is seen more as a deterrent against China from stopping its oft-repeated border incursions.
In recent months, India has also been strengthening its infrastructure in Arunachal where the Indian Air Force has been granted ₹ 1,000 crore to revamp the Advanced Landing Grounds.
Most recently, the India Air Force (IAF) created history when a Sukhoi (Su-30MKI) frontline fighter had its first ever landing at the (ALG) at Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh - around 100 km from the Chinese border. Two more ALGs along the border at Tawang and Tuting also are being revamped.
