Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande on Thursday said the security situation along the northern borders (with China) was stable but remained unpredictable. Addressing a press conference ahead of Army Day (Jan 15), the Army Chief said: “We have resolved five of the seven friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.” The pending friction points are at Depsang and Demchok in eastern Ladakh, sources said. General Pande praised the troops on the ground for being able to maintain a “robust defensive posture” to prevent the adversary from changing the status quo along the LAC, the de facto boundary with China.

On China’s aggression, the Army Chief said there was a slight increase in the number of troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) facing the Eastern Command. “Their (Chinese) troops which came for training have remained,” the General said, adding that “we have adequate deployment and we have the reserves to meet any challenge.” The Army has decided to go in for transformation in five key domains. These include force re-structuring and optimisation; modernisation and technology infusion; manpower management like Agnipath; jointness with other forces; and refining own systems and processes.

General Pande said 2023 would be the year of transformation and the force had laid out a specific roadmap aiming for certain outcomes that could be achieved. “This process will continue beyond the current year.”

On modernisation, General Pande said: “As of now, 45 per cent of our equipment is vintage, 41 per cent is of current technology and some 12 to 15 per cent is state-of-the-art. “By 2030, we aim to have 45 per cent equipment in the state-of-the-art category and 35 per cent of current technology.”