ISLAMABAD: The People’s Liberation Army has quietly deployed advanced ground-based surveillance robots along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, catching the Indian military establishment completely off guard and triggering fresh alarm in New Delhi’s security circles.
Military sources confirmed that at least twelve wheeled and tracked unmanned systems equipped with high-resolution cameras, thermal imaging, and real-time data transmission capabilities were observed operating in the Depsang Plains and near the Tulung La pass during the last week of November. The robots, believed to belong to the Sharp Claw and Mule-200 series, were seen conducting round-the-clock patrols in areas where Chinese troops had previously withdrawn under the 2024 disengagement agreements.
Indian forward posts reportedly detected the machines only when they approached within two hundred metres of observation points, exposing a critical gap in existing counter-drone and electronic warfare coverage against ground-based autonomous threats. Army engineers have described the development as a “technological ambush” that renders traditional fencing and human patrols increasingly obsolete in high-altitude warfare.
The deployment marks the first known combat-zone use of armed-capable robotic platforms by China along the disputed Himalayan frontier. Defence analysts warn that these systems can be rapidly upgraded with light weapons or explosive payloads, effectively creating a new layer of unmanned firepower that India currently lacks the specialised equipment to neutralise.
Beijing has made no official statement, but state-affiliated social media accounts posted videos showing the robots navigating snow-covered ridges while carrying the PLA flag, describing them as “loyal sentinels of the motherland”. The timing coincides with heightened diplomatic friction after India’s recent test of the Agni-V missile with MIRV capability.
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Sources indicate the government may now fast-track Project Sanjay, an indigenous armed ground robot programme that has languished for years due to budgetary constraints.
The introduction of robotic patrols threatens to escalate the already tense border standoff into a new domain of autonomous warfare, where human presence becomes secondary to machine dominance on the world’s highest battlefield.
Source: www.janes.com/defence-news/asia-pacific/china-deploys-ground-robots-lacog”>https://www.janes.com/defence-news/asia-pacific/china-deploys-ground-robots-lacogimageimage-name