Indian Posturing Towards the Chinese

According to the Times of India and the Times Now the cream of India's cruise missile crop the BrahMos is in the process of being deployed to Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir to posture against China.  This deployment is probably to Leh because of both the facilities already existing and their proximity to the disputed territory of Aksai Chin.

This is an obvious example of posturing due to a variety of facts.  First, the missiles themselves have too short of a range (~290 km) to hit the "strategic targets" mentioned by the Times of India and the Times Now.  Second, reports in the videos also mention armored units moving to that location as well.  As one can see in the image below (Click to enlarge) the terrain is not favorable to massed armor without the addition of a division of engineers.

Given the rows of mountain ranges facing the Indian tankers before even reaching the frontier, it would take but a few battalions of Chinese infantry with any of the HJ series anti-tank missiles to make 60 ton road blocks of India's T-90 and Arjun main battle tanks.  Furthermore, the resupply of the aforementioned tanks (especially POL) would be even harder, making any foray short in duration.  Likewise use of of the Karakorum Pass is out due to its narrowness (~45 m) and even passed through offers no access to better armor terrain.

The one problem with this take is that India would have virtual air superiority in the short-run due to the proximity of airbases at Leh (lower left on the map) and Srinagar (off the map to the west), there are no comparable Chinese airbases within hundreds of miles.  This would allow India to theoretically paralyze Chinese ground force mobility in the short-run. 

Though it should be noted that a city east of Hotan, China, has an interesting series of long wide roads that looks suspiciously like an airstrip.


View Larger Map

Regardless of the placement of military assets on both sides it would be foolish for the Indians to actually do anything.  While the Aksai Chin area is still claimed by India, there is nothing but pride for which to fight, and should India take the disputed territory, it would truly be a Pyrrhic victory and would only bolster Chinese support of Pakistan.  What is the most surprising about the open acknowledgment of these deployments is that the Pakistanis have not responded at all.  A survey of three Pakistani English-language sources reveals nothing on the matter at all, which is highly unusual for the Pakistani GHQ considering a deployment of troops to their relative border with super-sonic missiles just out of range of Islamabad.

Some sources initiating this post:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/BrahMos-to-be-deployed-in-Ladakh/videoshow/5112920.cms
http://www.timesnow.tv/BrahMos-to-be-deployed-in-Ladakh/articleshow/4329414.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Be-vigilant-against-China-says-PM/articleshow/5142931.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/China-projects-Kashmir-as-a-separate-country-/articleshow/5139315.cms