China to deploy 3 more unmanned radars in Tibet along India border

BEIJING: In a move that will have strategic ramifications for India, China will soon deploy three more unmanned radars in Tibet in addition to the one already installed there to strengthen air surveillance in the Himalayan region along the Indian border.

China's first unmanned radar station has stood for eight years on top of Ganbala Mountain. This year another three unmanned radars are going to be installed in order to form a radar network with the previous ones, state-run People's Daily reported.

China completed construction of Ganbala radar station in 1965 which is the highest manned radar station in the world at a height of 5,374 metres above sea level.

However, the percentage of oxygen in the air on Ganbala Mountain, located not far from Sikkim and Bhutan borders, is only 48 per cent of that at sea level. That is why the mountain is viewed as a "life forbidding zone".

For over 50 years, this radar station has been used to secure surveillance and provide civilian air navigation services in Tibet, the report said.