The Indian Army is converting its Headquarters Uttar Bharat (HQ-UB) area into a full-fledged operational corps, a move which will shift its focus towards operations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) from its current responsibility of peace time duties, an Indian media agency has reported.
Based in Bareilly, the HQ-UB area is currently a static formation looking after peace time locations and training establishments of Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh, in addition to the LAC running along Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand also referred to as the Central Theater.
A Corps comprises elements of all arms and services with adequate reserves to carry out operations in its area of responsibilities. It is structured to hold three divisions, but can hold more or less as per existing operational requirements. Each division comprises 15,000 to 18,000 troops.
Earlier the UB area had only one brigade and few scout battalions under it to patrol key border areas. But considering frequent face offs with Chinses troops at certain disputed points along the LAC and an enhanced focus on dominating the border, the formation was gradually upgraded and its combat capabilities increased by putting three independent brigades and an infantry division based in Uttarakhand under it. The formation is currently referred to as Combatised UB Area.
While a Combatised Area HQ has fighting elements, a traditional corps has additional artillery brigades and other logistics components. The newly reconstituted corps will have all the troops and equipment from other arms and services such as artillery, engineers, and aviation among others, under its direct command to successfully conduct operations in Central Theater.
As per officials, the increased troop density in the area and additional emerging operational requirements have necessitated a change of focus towards operational tasks. The move was on the cards for almost a year. Changing the static formation to an operational corps, officials added, would change the focus of the organisation, which will now be carrying out various operational tasks even as sub-areas and training establishments continue to focus on peace time operational roles.
So far, these units did not come under the UB Area in its role as a peace time formation. “The mental mindset and the operational thought process will also undergo a change. Officials said that raising a new headquarter would also have required greater manpower and other assets and hence the decision was made to convert the existing area headquarter into a corps headquarter. The change is being done with the existing authorised manpower of the Army.
Officials said that raising this corps will help bolster development of border infrastructure and combat logistics facilities and the corps HQ will be the centralised response agency for all security threats in the region.
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