Chinese Army Choppers Spotted in Indian Airspace, IAF Begins Probe

The Chinese choppers could have carried out aerial photography of Indian ground troops.

File photo of a Chinese Army Chopper. Image used for representational purpose. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Two helicopters of the People's Liberation Army of China hovered over Chamoli district in Uttarakhand on Saturday, triggering concern in India's security establishment. This is PLA's fourth alleged incursion into the Indian airspace since March this year.

Official sources said the choppers, which returned to the Chinese side after about five minutes, could have carried out aerial photography of Indian ground troops during what was possibly a reconnaissance mission.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is probing the incident, a source revealed.

The choppers were identified as the Zhiba series of attack helicopters.

On previous occasions, Chinese helicopters had entered 4.5 kilometres into Indian territory, an area that China claims as its own and recognises as Wu-Je.

State and army officials have been reviewing the security along the 350-kilometre border with Tibet after China’s incursions into these areas, generally referred as the middle sector.

Barahoti is one of three border posts in the sector, comprising Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where ITBP jawans are not allowed to carry weapons and are in civilian clothes under a unilateral decision taken by the Central government in June 2000.

In 1958, India and China listed Barahoti, an 80-sq-km sloping pasture, as a disputed area where neither side would send their troops. In the 1962 India-China war, the PLA did not enter the 545-km middle sector, focusing on the Western (Ladakh) and Eastern (Arunachal Pradesh) sectors.

However, after the 1962 war, ITBP jawans patrolled the area with weapons in a non-combative manner, under which the barrel of the gun is positioned downward.

During prolonged negotiations on resolving border disputes, the Indian side had unilaterally decided in June 2000 that ITBP troops would not be carrying arms to three posts – Barahoti, Kauril and Shipki in Himachal Pradesh.

Security officials felt that ahead of its transgression in the Barahoti area, the PLA could have conducted a reconnaissance mission using high class aircraft with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which provides broad-area imaging at high resolutions.

The officials said the PLA's 'TupolovTu 153M' aircraft had carried out two or three reconnaissance missions last year in the middle sector.

The aircraft flies at an altitude of above 40,000 feet and can go up to 60,000 feet to avoid detection by radars and can take photographs and cyber and communication signatures from that height.

SAR enables the taking of high-resolution pictures even in inclement weather or in the dark.