Brahmos, Rafale & more: How India is fortifying Chicken’s Neck area amid Chinese threat

India has deployed its Rafale fighter jets and Brahmos missiles in forward areas in North Bengal. The Chinese and Indian forces have been in a border standoff since May 2020. Both the weapons systems are deployed to strengthen and prepare the armed forces to counter Chinese threats.

India has deployed a lot of advanced equipment to counter the Chinese threat like the Brahmos missile, Rafale fighter jets, S400 air defence systems and the MR SAM air defence systems. India and China were engaged in a border standoff, between India, China and Bhutan, where China attempted to construct the road. The road construction would have allowed the Chinese to Jampheri ridge, from where the Siliguri corridor would be threatened.

Weapon system deployed by India to counter China

Dassault Rafale

It is a 4.5 generation aircraft which is manufactured by Dassault aviation. It is a french multi role fighter aircraft. The Indian air force has ordered a total of 36 of these aircrafts. Indian air force has inducted a squadron of 18 fighter jets at Hasimara air base in West Bengal.

Brahmos missile system

It is a supersonic land attack cruise missile, which was jointly manufactured by India and Russia. The name is derived from Brahmaputra river of India and the Moskava river of Russia. The missile has a maximum speed of 2.9 mach and can destroy enemy targets at a range of more than 290 kilometres.

MR SAM air defence system

MR SAM (Medium Range Surface to Air missile) is an air defence system that India’s DRDO jointly developed with Israel. It can detect aerial targets from ranges above 70 km. Army’s 33 corps inducted it in early February.

S400 missile defence system

India and Russia signed a deal worth over Rs 35,000 crore. The system has a range of upto 400 km. The deliveries of the systems are expected to be by the end of 2023-24. It has already participated in many exercises and the Indian system is superior to the Chinese system. These systems are already deployed near the China border. 

For ballistic targets, its range is 200km. It has a speed of 4800 m/s and and RCS of 0.4 sq meters, for a target with an RCS of 4 sq meters, the range is 390 km for targeting strategic bomber sized types its range is 400 km. It can perform the functions of command post for the battalions of the S400 defence system.