With boundary issues yet to be completely resolved on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, the novel warfare mode of setting up Integrated Battle Groups (IBG) for the mountainous border terrain across Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim may get the green signal this year or be done away with completely.
Answering a question posed by THE WEEK during the Army Chief’s customary annual press conference ahead of the Army Day on January 15, Indian Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi said: “It (IBG) has financial implications, as well as implications in terms of equipment and human resources. It has taken a long time, but it is in the final stages. We are hopeful as the presentations have already been made to the ministry of defence even as I speak to you.”
“It is the first Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) as far as the restructuring is concerned. If it goes through, others will also follow suit. It is difficult to give timelines because wherever the bureaucracy gets involved, it will take time. But we are hopeful that by 2025, either we will create the IBG or we will cancel the project completely.”
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IBGs had figured at the top-of-the-rack changes in the Northern Theatre Command and are understood to have incorporated lessons learnt from an unprecedented and novel military exercise called ‘Himvijay’ that took place in October 2019.
Simply put, IBGs are slightly bigger brigade formations that deploy a mix of infantry, artillery, tanks, air defence, attack helicopters and logistics units.
The change is taking place even as the Indian Army is “reorienting” and “rebalancing” its forces and weaning them away from counter-insurgency roles in the Northeast to enhancing military preparedness levels in Arunachal Pradesh.
The shift will mean discarding the old tactic of leading the war front with Strike Corps with lean, mean, agile and self-contained IBG military units that will defend or foray into enemy territory in surgical style as opposed to the forward movement of the Strike Corps juggernaut.
For that, the IBGs will be equipped with a broad array of equipment, including aircraft, artillery, and specialists in place of the traditional forward march of the infantry with the accompanying paraphernalia that takes time to organise and mobilise; not to speak of the subsequent transportation—something ideal for the unforgiving terrain in Arunachal Pradesh.
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Ruling down the thinning down of troops on the India-China border during the winter deployment, General Dwivedi said ‘summer deployment’ of troops will depend on how and in which direction the ongoing negotiations take place.
India and China are together reported to have deployed more than 1,60,000 troops on both sides of the border after the two militaries clashed in a series of brawls beginning in April 2020.
On the terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, the COAS said the situation is firmly under control with the ceasefire holding on the Line of Control since February 2021 although the terror infrastructure across remains intact.
The COAS said, “The violence level is being orchestrated by the epicentre of terrorism that is Pakistan... If the support is not forthcoming the way India is looking at it, this kind of terrorist infiltration will continue to be there.”
He also pointed out that 60 per cent of the terrorists eliminated in 2024 were of Pakistani origin. “As of today, around 80 per cent or more of the remaining terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir are of Pakistan origin.” He added that in the past year, only four local recruitments had taken place.
