A330 MRTT

C-130J Super Hercules

After six years, the Army has finally obtained approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security to begin setting up a brand new mountain strike corps in the northeast as a principal formation against the Chinese. The corps is likely to be headquartered in West Bengal's Panagarh, and involve an expenditure of Rs 62,000 crore spread over the next 7-8 years.

Sources indicate the formation will need a recruitment of 45,000 more soldiers, across two infantry divisions, an artillery division and, interestingly, two independent armoured brigades. The strike corps will also have at its command air assets of the IAF, including a fleet of mid-air refuellers, the A330s, that will be stationed in the city of the corps headquarters, Panagarh, as well as the follow-on fleet of C-130J Super Hercules transports.

The Army is also expected to induct assault helicopters in specialised newly-raised aviation brigades under the corps. The Army had been pusing for the formation for years, though it had been stuck between the Defence Ministry and Finance Ministry in view of the enormous cost involved in setting up an all-new strike corps. The new formation will be the principal offensive formation for the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and fills a longstanding demand for a conventional force in the northeast that isn't committed largely to counter-insurgency and assymetric warfare, but specifically for mountain warfare.