In a bid to equip itself for any war-like situation, India has bought high altitude warfare kits from the US. This move comes in the backdrop of stand-off between India and China at the LAC. The Indian Army made the purchase of winter gears for warfare under the Logistics Exchange Memorandum Agreement signed between the militaries of the two countries in August 2016. A report from Bloomberg established this information. The report cited officials aware of the purchase who wished to keep their identities secret.
India and China – the two Asian superpower neighbours – has been locked in their worst standoff in four decades along the Himalayan border in Ladakh. The standoff has on several occasions turned ugly and claimed the lives of at least 20 Indian soldiers and around 40 Chinese soldiers. Both countries have moved thousands of troops and artillery to the Ladakh border at an altitude of 15,000 feet, where the temperature drops to as low as minus -30 Celsius in winters.
The talks to resolve the standoff has failed on several occasions as China failed to honour the complete disengagement from Ladakh forward posts. Both countries pledged to resolve the issue through bilateral and diplomatic channels in September when Foreign Minister S Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow.
While the talks are still a “work in progress”, India’s decision to buy winter gears shows that the country is preparing for the long haul of multiple rounds of talks on the military and diplomatic levels before both sides reach a consensus on complete disengagement of troops.