Amidst the ongoing standoff between the Indian and Chinese forces, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Indian Army has given a lot of push to its capability development in the region. Post Galwan Valley 2020 incident the Indian Army has been focusing on building road networks, enhancing patrolling capabilities in the water bodies, installation of bridging systems and more.

According to sources in the defence establishment in the last two years habitat for the accommodation of 22,000 troops has been created and these modern and compact relocatable habitats can be shifted in 2-7 days.

Idea behind the relocatable habitats

Post Galwan Valley violent faceoff in June 2020 the requirement for such habitat was felt. These shelters are located at high altitudes of 15,000, 16000 and 18,000 feet, said the source quoted above.

Adding that the Indian army has also built around 450 technical storages. These are specially meant to house the armoured vehicles and gun systems. This is to ensure that the efficiency of these vehicles and the weaponry systems do not get impacted due to extreme temperature and terrain.

3D printing used for creating bunkers

In view of the changing scenario along the border areas, the Indian Army is now adopting 3D printing technology for permanent defence structures in eastern Ladakh.

Why 3D defence structures?

Due to harsh weather conditions it is difficult for conventional construction, and also shortage of labour and it is time consuming. Therefore this method has been adopted as it is safe and time saving as well as withstand any attack from a range of 100m by tanks.

The idea behind this is to help in improving the country’s defence preparedness in the extant working season, and in also the completion of ongoing projects.

SHILA Grih

To beat the tough weather conditions in the Ladakh region the Indian Army has so far set up 20 Solar Heated Insulated Ladakhi shelters (SHILA). According to the source in the defence establishment in one unit Shila Grih around 3-4 soldiers can stay. When the temperature outside is minus 20 degrees the Grih has 20 degrees temperature inside.

Sarvatra and PMS

For the first time ever in the High Altitude Areas, the Indian Army has successfully conducted trials for constructing assault bridges including the Sarvatra and PMS. This has been developed by Deference Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and has been made by BEML. The Sarvatra Bridge is wholly indigenous, high mobility vehicle based, and is a multi-span mobile bridging system.

Patrolling capabilities in water bodies

To match the patrolling capability of the adversary, new landing crafts have been inducted in the Pangong Tso Lake. This has given a huge momentum to the patrolling capability and this will help in the induction of materials and men. It has the capacity to carry 35 troops or just one jeep and 12 troops.

Also Read: ‘Today’s era must not be of war’: G-20 communiqué adopted, echoes PM Modi’s message to Russian President Putin

 Mines and Mine Warfare Equipment

The Army has recently conducted a trial and is in the Acceptance of Necessity Stage which will help enhance its capability to create obstacle systems.

This will include Trawl Assembly, Mine Scattering System and Minefield Breaching System, Mechanical Minefield Marking Equipment, Mechanical Mine Layers (Self Propelled), and Self-Propelled Mine Burier.

Roads

Creating alternate connectivity to Western Ladakh and the Zanskar Valley directly from the Manali axis. To be completed by 2026 this is a 298-km NHDL specification road with 65 percent progress.

For providing all weather connectivity there is going to be a 4.1 km twin tube Shinkun La tunnel. This is expected to be approved by the Ministry of Defence soon.

Also, in an effort to upgrade the bridges on Darbuk-Shayok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DS-DBO) road to Class 70 specifications around 35 bridges have been planned. These will be permanent and extra-wide bailey bridges.

From Imagination to Reality: How 3D Printing Changes Everything!

3D printing has moved from a niche technical and academic endeavour to a consumer one. 3D-printed components are now being developed as part of critical machinery. The first private Indian rocket, Vikram-S from Skyroot Aerospace, uses many 3D-printed components. Today, a hobbyist can procure an entry-level 3D printer for as low as USD 150.


To understand the concept behind 3D printing, let us build on what we are familiar with. A 2D print on a sheet of paper uses a nozzle to precisely spray ink at a particular location on the sheet. Now, if this is a 2D image, can we imagine a 3D image to be a stack of 2D images? A 3D printer does exactly this. A 3D file is sent to the printer, which converts this file into layers of 2D images. The 3D printing technologies are various, yet they adhere to this fundamental working: the print starts from the bottom, printing a layer, and then continues to print another layer over it.

3D printing uses various compounds that depict special behaviour. These compounds have the ability to harden upon curing with specific additives. So, a 3D printer spurts out these compounds and cures them as per the current 2D slice it prints. This hardens to take shape as per the 3D print.

Broadly, there are three types of 3D printing technologies: sintering, melting and stereo lithography. Sintering creates high-resolution prints by using metal or thermoplastic powders. These can be moulded into the desired shape upon applying heat. Melting, however, turns up the heat and uses lass, electric arcs or electron beams to melt together materials. Stereo lithography uses compounds that cure upon specific light being incident. Photopolymerisation is used in a selective manner to cure and solidify a cross-section of a 3D print object.

The above technologies are combined with specific printing processes. Some use a spool of filament, and the 3D printing nozzle heats the material while it is extruded onto the tray. Others use a vat of material with the light curing a layer at a time.

3D printing is a vast field. The cost of 3D printing can escalate depending on specific use cases. For larger prints, 3D printers can take several days. Despite the costs and efforts, it enables companies to create bespoke and complex geometries that otherwise cost exponentially more.