Brahmaputra tunnel by 2028 will aid in bringing all China under India's nuke range

Amid raging border dispute with China, India is aiming to dig up and operate a four-lane 15-km-long tunnel under the powerful Brahmaputra river in Assam by 2028. The planned tunnel will bring China under India's nuclear range, writes senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah.

New Delhi:An ambitious project to dig up and operate a four-lane 15-km-long tunnel under the powerful Brahmaputra river in Assam by 2028 will be a game-changer in effectively bringing almost the entire China under the range of India’s strategic missiles including Shanghai, China’s biggest city and global commercial hub.

While India has positioned an entire array of potent conventional and nuclear-capable missile systems in the southern bank of the Brahmaputra river in India’s Northeast for the China factor, moving them to the northern state of Arunachal Pradesh will enable bringing almost the entire China within the range of Indian missiles.

Moreover, deployment of such missile systems in the high mountains and difficult terrain of Arunachal Pradesh will enable better camouflage and protection. But for that, it is critical to ensure easy mobility and cover in the movement of missile systems. That is where the Brahmaputra river tunnel can be of critical importance from the strategic point of view.

The planned tunnel will connect Numaligarh in the river’s south bank with Gohpur in the north, from where Arunachal is close by. Besides, the missile systems movement, the tunnel will be a force-multiplier in the transporting of men and war equipment including heavy artillery for deployment towards the Line of Actual Control (LAC) or the de facto border with China without being exposed to the adversary.

According to open-source information, India has military bases in Assam that maintains the nuclear-capable Agni 2, Agni 3 and Brahmos missile systems in Assam.

The medium-range ballistic missile Agni 2 has an operational range of up to 3,500 km, while the intermediate range Agni 3 has a range of up to 5,000 km. On the other hand, the Brahmos is a cruise missile with a 300 km range. All have the capability to be launched from a variety of mobile platforms including from road and rail.

China has positioned at least 104 nuclear-capable missiles that can reach up to the farthest corners of India. The two main nuclear-capable missiles deployed by the PLA’S Strategic Rocket Force (PLASRF) against India include the Dong-Feng 21 and the Dong-Feng 31.

While the DF 21 has a range of about 2,000 km, the DF 31 has two variants—DF 31 has a range of 7,000 km while the DF 31A has a range of up to 11,000 km.

The India-centric missile base locations for the DF 21 are in Korla, Xinjiang (Base 56) in the Uyghur Autonomous Region, and in Jianshui (Base 53) under Yunnan Province. On the other hand, both DF 21 and DF 31 are positioned in Liuqingkou (Base 56) in the Qinghai Province.

While the Indian government has recently also given its in-principle approval for the tunnel project, the global tendering of Request For Proposal (RFP) for the tunnel was completed on October 15, 2019 with the completion deadline being 2028. Last year, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) also made a power-point presentation to a parliamentary panel on the tunnel project.

Heavily mountainous, Arunachal Pradesh, which shares a 1,126-km-long border with the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), is the biggest state in India’s Northeast region. China claims territorial suzerainty over the state and calls it ‘Southern Tibet’.

Already the Brahmaputra river, known for its huge size and furious flooding, has six bridges connecting south Assam with north Assam. But these bridges would be among the first to be targeted in case of a war scenario with China.