The Indian Army is focussing on augmenting its firepower and further fortifying its defences along the Line of Actual Control across the eastern frontier with China amid the latest transgression bid by the People’s Liberation Army in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh.

Defence ministry sources said the army had deployed recently procured more advanced Israeli-made Heron drones which were carrying out round-the-clock surveillance with real-time images. Heron drones are capable of operating for several hours at an altitude of up to 30,000ft.

Besides, the cameras have been relaying live feed in a 20km range at an altitude of over 14,000ft. “We are going to procure more Heron drones to be deployed along the sensitive areas which have witnessed incursion in the past,” a defence ministry official said.

“The objective is to ensure round-the-clock surveillance capability. Additional surveillance cameras and sensors are being installed on a war footing at the sensitive zones prone to Chinese transgression in the eastern sector. Besides, satellite imagery across the LAC in the eastern sector is being used to monitor the movements of the adversary,” the official added.

Indian and Chinese troops clashed along the Line of Actual Control in Yangtze in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on Friday — the first combat since the violent confrontation of June 15, 2020, in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, where 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troopers were killed.

Of the 15-20 Indian soldiers injured in the Tawang face-off, six to seven have suffered fractures in their hands and legs and are being treated at a Guwahati hospital, sources said.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday told Parliament that Chinese soldiers had tried to “transgress” the LAC and “unilaterally change the status quo” in Yangtze in the Tawang sector on Friday but were foiled by the Indian Army.