With sponsored terrorism from some neighboring countries and incursion threats from others, problems of illegal immigration and so many other internal conflicts and disasters – it is thanks to the Indian Army that India still maintains its status quo loud and proud. We can never thank our Army enough for what they do – and these 15 facts will earn your respect for them further.
This is where Pakistan and India have fought intermittently since April 1984. Both countries maintain a permanent military presence in the region at a height of over 6,000 m.
The Indian Army is a voluntary service and although a provision for military conscription exists in the Indian constitution, it has never been imposed.
The Indian Army’s High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) is one of the most elite military training centers in the world and is frequented by Special Ops teams from the US, UK and Russia. US Special Forces trained at HAWS before their deployment during the invasion of Afghanistan.
The Battle of Longewala was fought in December 1971 between India and Pakistan, in which just 120 Indian soldiers with one jeep mounted with a M40 recoilless rifle held the fort against 2000 Pakistani soldiers backed by 45 tanks and one mobile infantry brigade. Despite being so heavily outnumbered, the Indian soldiers held their ground throughout the night and with the help of the Air Force, were able to completely rout the aggressors.
It was carried out by the Indian Air Force to evacuate civilians affected by the floods in Uttarakhand in 2013. It was the biggest civilian rescue operations in the world carried out by any Air Force using helicopters. During the first phase of the operation from 17 June 2013, the IAF airlifted a total of about 20,000 people; flying a total of 2,140 sorties and dropping a total of 3,82,400 kg of relief material and equipment.
On 8 January 2009 the Indian Naval Academy, was inaugurated by then prime minister Manmohan Singh. Originally envisaged to cost Rs 166 crore in 1987, the final project cost in 2009 was Rs 721 crore.
The 61st Cavalry Regiment of the Indian Army is believed to the largest non-ceremonial horse-mounted cavalry unit remaining in the world.
The Bailey Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh Valley between Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
The war ended with the surrender of about 93,000 combatants and officials of the Pakistani Army. This is the largest number of POWs taken into custody since World War II. The war resulted in the creation of the independent nation of Bangladesh.
It has more than 1,325,000 active troops and more than 960,000 reserve troops – with more than 40,000 of them regularly reporting for duty.
AGNI’s first missile AGNI-I failed in its first two tests and was made fun of by other countries like USA, UK and Pakistan. It was successful in the third try and now the missile series ranks among the best in the world.
Prithvi will always hit within 50m of its target coordinates, thus making it devastating with even smaller payloads (explosives).
The missile which is currently under development will have a range of 10000 kms, which would give India the power to strike any part of the world barring South America and very limited regions of North America.
Still under development, BrahMos is being built in collaboration with Russia (Brahmaputra + Moscow, hence BrahMos) and is the fastest hypersonic missile in the world travelling at a speed of Mach-7. That is 7 times the speed of sound in air.
Seems like a myth, given the popular notion of enmity between both the nations. However, a common tongue and a shared history go a longer way than one would think.
Inspired from this Quora thread
Photo: © Reuters (Main Image)
Article Source : http://www.mensxp.com/special-features/today/24498-15-amazing-facts-about-the-indian-army-that-will-make-you-proud.html
