The Indian Army is focusing on round-the-clock surveillance capability and has been installing more cameras and sensors and using satellite imagery on the northern frontiers with China, sources in the defence ministry have said.

“The Indian Army has been installing additional surveillance cameras and sensors on a war footing at the sensitive zones prone to Chinese transgressions along the 3,488km border and also using satellite imagery to deal with any Chinese misadventure,” a ministry official told The Telegraph.

The work on setting up a better surveillance system across the northern frontier, he said, has been going on for some time but it has now gained momentum in the wake of the ongoing military standoff in Ladakh between the two armies.

“The Indian Army has recently procured more advanced Israeli-made Heron drones, which have been carrying out round-the-clock surveillance with real-time images. These drones are capable of operating for nearly 30 hours at a stretch at altitudes up to 30,000ft. Besides, the cameras have been relaying live feed in a 20km range at an altitude of over 14,000ft,” the official said.

The sources said the objective behind bolstering surveillance capability was also to ensure overall operational preparedness of the army along the undemarcated China frontier, a major part of which is disputed.

The army has already deployed additional cameras and has been using satellite imagery to monitor the “aggressive” Chinese troops deployment along the Line of Actual Control in the eastern sector in the wake of the latest transgression by the People’s Liberation Army in Arunachal Pradesh.

Last month, Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Manoj Pande had said the army was trying to maximise technology for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance along the LAC in the eastern sector.

In the first week of October, Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a “face-off” for a few hours at the Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh after nearly 200 Chinese soldiers crossed into the Indian side.

Of the 3,488km-long undemarcated LAC, 1,346km falls in the eastern sector.

Sources in the security establishment said the Chinese army had also deployed “advanced” cameras and surveillance equipment along the LAC to keep an eye on Indian patrols.

“Their surveillance system is more advanced and robust than us,” a security official said.

The PLA is also said to have erected concrete watchtowers with CCTV cameras inside the “occupied zone” in eastern Ladakh to monitor Indian troops deployment. As a tit-for-tat measure, the Indian Army has put up wooden poles with cameras to keep a watch on the movements of the adversary.