The Northern Command of the Indian Army has recently purchased 49 miniature unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol its border region with China and Pakistan.

The Indian Army will deploy the drones to carry out reconnaissance mission over its disputed border areas after 50 soldiers from China’s People’s Liberation Army were found setting up camp in the remote region of eastern Ladakh, which is also claimed by India, on the night of April 15.

The PLA soldiers were located 10 kilometres inside the Line of Actual Control, a de facto border that runs across the Himalayas between China and India. An official border between the two countries was never drawn following a border conflict in 1962.

The drones are the true “game changers” in India’s territorial dispute with China, the paper said, adding that a 72,000-strong Mountain Strike Corp has been established in the region to prevent a potential Chinese attack under the permission of the Indian cabinet committee on security. In a demonstration of India’s strength, the military-run Indian Defense News also reported that a C-130J cargo plane of the Indian Air Force had landed at Daulat Beg Oldi – the world’s highest airstrip – in the Ladakh region.

The Israel Homeland Security stated that India’s 49 drones based in the Leh-Ladakh sector will be unarmed and used mainly for surveillance purposes to keep an eye on Chinese activities and check terrorist infiltration from across Pakistan’s Kashmir province bordering India.