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warsPeriod: 13 April 1984 – PresentArchival Dossier

1984 Operation Meghdoot & the Siachen Glacier

Documentation of Operation Meghdoot (April 1984) on the Saltoro Ridge and Siachen Glacier — the highest battlefield in the world.

Strategic Overview

Launched on 13 April 1984, Operation Meghdoot secured the heights of the Saltoro Ridge west of the 76-kilometre Siachen Glacier in Ladakh at altitudes ranging between 16,000 and over 21,000 feet.

Operational & Human Dimension

  • High-Altitude Mastery: Troops operate in temperatures dropping below $-50^\circ\text{C}$, sustained by rotary-wing and fixed-wing lifelines of the Indian Air Force and Army Aviation Corps.
  • Bana Post (June 1987): Capture of the 21,153-foot Quaid post — renamed Bana Post in honour of Naib Subedar (later Honorary Captain) Bana Singh, awarded the Param Vir Chakra.
  • Medical, Logistics & Environmental Stewardship: Siachen has driven decades of Indian breakthroughs in high-altitude medicine, extreme-cold-weather gear, satellite communications, and glacier conservation.