New Delhi : At the banks of the eastern part of the Pangong Lake in Tibet, roughly 110 km from one of the friction points of the 2020 border clashes, construction activity has been in full swing. But the most intriguing feature of this facility, experts say, is a set of covered missile launch positions, believed to be equipped with retractable roofs for Transporter Erector Launcher (TEL) vehicles that can carry, elevate, and fire missiles.
Independent satellite imagery sourced by India Today’s Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Team from US-based space intelligence company Vantor confirms sliding roofs over the suspected missile launch bays, each large enough to accommodate two vehicles. Vantor satellite imagery from 29 September shows open roofs of at least one such launch positions at Gar Country, possibly revealing launchers underneath.
This configuration reduces opportunities to detect the presence or exact positions of TELs within the complex and shields them from possible strikes, they added. While such protected launch positions are a new development along the India–Tibet frontier, similar facilities have previously been reported at Chinese military outposts on the disputed islands of the South China Sea.
The early stage of construction of the second facility near Pangong Lake was first identified in late July by geospatial researcher Damien Symon, though the nature of the covered missile launch positions was not known at the time. Another feature as pointed out by the ASA analysts is presence of wired data connection infrastructure which is believed to have been placed to connect different elements of the HQ-9 air defence system with its command-and-control center.
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