A military expert who is affiliated to the leading maker of equipment for the People’s Liberation Army says that India has the world’s largest and most experienced troops trained for high-altitude battles. He says that mountaineering is an ‘essential skill’ for each Indian soldier deployed in the mountains.
Huang Guozhi, senior editor of Modern Weaponry magazine says, “At present, the world’s largest and experienced country with plateau and mountain troops is neither US, Russia, nor any European powerhouse, but India.”
The magazine, which is considered a comprehensive military and defense journal, is affiliated to state-owned China North Industries Group Corporation Limited (NORINCO), which calls itself as ‘the main platform responsible for developing mechanised, digitised and intellectual equipment for PLA.’
It is one of the biggest defense contractors in the world and is closely affiliated to President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative. This comes on the line of an ongoing stand-off between Indian and Chinese border troops along LAC in Ladakh.
Huang’s article published in thepaper.cn is a very rare critique of an Indian Army wing in China which usually brandishes its own capabilities in a nationalistic tone. He said, “With more than 200000 troops in 12 divisions, the Indian Mountain force is the largest mountain fighting force in the world. In terms of equipment, the Indian military, through procurement from abroad and domestic research and development, has equipped a large number of main battle weapons adapted to the combat environment of the plateau and mountains.”
