Indian Army's mountain warfare experience and strategies make its troops the 'most skilled in the area'. From the northern borders in Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, the eastern-most part of the country, a large number of Indian soldiers are deployed in the mountains and have mastered the art of fighting in the snowy landscape as well as the harsh barren vastness of Ladakh, the region where they are currently in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation with the soldiers of China's Peoples Liberation Army.


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"At present, the world’s largest and experienced country with plateau and mountain troops is neither the US, Russia, nor any European powerhouse, but India," read an article by Huang Guozhi, a senior editor of Modern Weaponry magazine and a Chinese expert.


Huang stated that since the 1970s, the Indian military has established and expanded in size and has personnel trained for fighting in the mountains on a large-scale. India also plans to create a mountain strike force of more than 50,000 troops. 


The Indian Army is the best practitioner of mountain warfare with maximum experience because its officers and personnel spend a major part of their service in the mountains. 


The Indian Army is the largest mountain fighting force across the world with more than 2,00,000 troops in 12 divisions.


India also maintains a large number of military and paramilitary troops along the various plateaus, mountain passes, and valleys that provide the most obvious potential points of trans-Himalayan ingress.


One of the prime examples of the Indian Army's mountain warfare prowess is the Siachen Glacier, the highest battlefield in the world, which is at an altitude of more than 5,000 metres above the sea-level and where the temperature dips as low as minus 60 degrees.


The Indian Army is protecting the nation at a region that separates Pakistan from China and has been successfully holding its grounds amid the constant threat of avalanches and high-speed winds.


There are around 6,000 to 7,000 personnel guarding the region with the highest post being stationed at a height of 6,749 metres above sea-level in Siachen.


Troops are also equipped with a large number of weapons adapted to the highland and mountain operating environment.


The Indian Army also has a High Altitude Mountain Warfare School (HAWS) near Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir that is highly regarded around the world for its elite and specialised training.

HAWS is routinely visited by Special Operation Teams from the US, UK and Russia.


The HAWS produces some of the world's finest soldiers who are considered among the very best in high altitude and mountain warfare.


HAWS-trained soldiers are supremely confident with immense stamina. The soldiers are also taught to integrate with the environment so that they can guard the Himalayan frontiers effectively.


The Indian Army has also set up a Kargil Battle School in the Dras sector of Kargil district in Jammu and Kashmir, which trains soldiers in mountain warfare.


The Indian Army has defeated Pakistan for decades on the elevated ground of Kashmir and proved its mettle.