Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Biscuits said:

At <300km range, it would be unable to target even China’s high res close flying satellites which operate at 640-2200km above sea level.

Compared to the expertise behind systems like SC-19 that can target anything in low orbit where nearly all military satellites are, the difference is like day and night. And compared to the most updated ASAT weapons within PLA, the gap is even greater.

The decision to destroy a satellite that was at extremely low orbit, practically touching the atmosphere, is best explained as a move to increase domestic nationalism. Such a missile would not be useful in a real combat situation given that no satellites fly that close to earth. However, it could be a first step towards developing an usable ASAT weapon.

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You are absolutely right on that. This is nationalistic chest thumping. The subcontinent is famed for that. It has been assumed that any nation that can inject a satellite or send probes to celestial bodies outer space is by default capable of ASAT . This includes France, EU (as a group), Japan and maybe even Israel. Who knows, maybe Iran would be able to pull it off if they tried their level best. The indian defence supremo has mentioned of a capability of reaching 1000+ km with their ASAT weapons. It contributes little to the overall physical state of Indian defence and contributes much to its mental state.

The Indian Navy is scheduled to induct its second Scorpene-class submarine The INS Khanderi by early May.

As for the third Scorpene-class submarine, the INS Karanj, it appears to be in advanced stage of trials and could also be ready this year.

Indian Procurement Committee has finalised local production contract of 62 Airbus C-295 medium transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Coast Guard for $3.15 billion to replace ageing fleet of Avro 748 transporters, Indian Airforce will receive first aircraft in 2025.

Hyperwarp said:

India joined the ASAT club!

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And yet NO condemnation from the Pentagon or the USA government because of all the space debris this would have an effect on LEO?

U.S. military was immediately aware of India’s anti-satellite missile test

Speaking with reporters after the hearing, Thompson said these types of tests are “always concerning and pose a risk certainly to our satellites and all satellites.” Any time a test like this occurs, “it’s a concern,” said Thompson. “It’s not just a matter of whether it’s a risk to our satellites, but when they generate debris that might be there for a long time, it might have cascading effects.”

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Indian defence capabilities are absolutely pathetic when compared to the capabilities of smaller nations ( No, I'm not counting Israel - they are just a vassal client sustained by the help of far away nations due to religiocultural & geopolitical reasons). The only thing that the Indian defence establishment has going for it is the enthusiasm and chest thumping of their jingoist supporters. It is not a skill, race or talent issue. It is an issue of structural weakness, poor planning, pathetic lack of long term vision and low development. India doesn't even have an indigenous cruise missile ( their Nirbhey is a failure as of now). Their Tejas is a failure ( 65 to 70% foreign components- radar, engines etc). Their aircraft carrier is waiting for equipments to be imported from other nations( radars, CIWS, engines etc). India's defence posture is always a knee jerk reaction to China's. They want to be equal to China, but gets matched by Pakistan ( It is a wonder how Pakistan- a nation with hilariously worse credentials, seems to show India it's place). Can't produce a good rifle, jet, tank, trainer, ship, cruise missile etc indigenously yet the bombast would easily put the american "patriots" to shame.
The only way India can become a nation worthy of recognition relative to its own size and ambition is by realizing the fact that, for a democratic nation betting on free market capitalism, defence capabilities and military strength thereof are merely a byproduct of overall national strength contributed by economic power, industrial strength and human resource development. It is ironic that the Communist nation of China has realized this when it is clearly apparent that they don't need to as they aren't free market capitalist and could easily power through towards defence capability supremacy by using their collective state planned effort as the Soviets did. China however maintains a 1.8% GDP defence spending and i feel like they're been over-smart and too prudent. Certainly worthy of being called a great power. Definitely a superpower given 10 more years. India ? Oh, give me a break.

Xsizor said:

Indian defence capabilities are absolutely pathetic when compared to the capabilities of smaller nations ( No, I'm not counting Israel - they are just a vassal client sustained by the help of far away nations due to religiocultural & geopolitical reasons). The only thing that the Indian defence establishment has going for it is the enthusiasm and chest thumping of their jingoist supporters. It is not a skill, race or talent issue. It is an issue of structural weakness, poor planning, pathetic lack of long term vision and low development. India doesn't even have an indigenous cruise missile ( their Nirbhey is a failure as of now). Their Tejas is a failure ( 65 to 70% foreign components- radar, engines etc). Their aircraft carrier is waiting for equipments to be imported from other nations( radars, CIWS, engines etc). India's defence posture is always a knee jerk reaction to China's. They want to be equal to China, but gets matched by Pakistan ( It is a wonder how Pakistan- a nation with hilariously worse credentials, seems to show India it's place). Can't produce a good rifle, jet, tank, trainer, ship, cruise missile etc indigenously yet the bombast would easily put the american "patriots" to shame.
The only way India can become a nation worthy of recognition relative to its own size and ambition is by realizing the fact that, for a democratic nation betting on free market capitalism, defence capabilities and military strength thereof are merely a byproduct of overall national strength contributed by economic power, industrial strength and human resource development. It is ironic that the Communist nation of China has realized this when it is clearly apparent that they don't need to as they aren't free market capitalist and could easily power through towards defence capability supremacy by using their collective state planned effort as the Soviets did. China however maintains a 1.8% GDP defence spending and i feel like they're been over-smart and too prudent. Certainly worthy of being called a great power. Definitely a superpower given 10 more years. India ? Oh, give me a break.

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Excessive defense spending will be the death of a country like China. There is more than enough deterrence to stop military aggression from even the US. The only reason any funds are given to defense is because there are growing interests around the world and powerful groups who want to see China fall. Matching them conventionally and creating a military industry that matches their's is unfortunately a must do for China. The lessons of the previous centuries seem to have had the correct effect. But PRC leaders are smart enough not to overdo it. It all comes at the expense of actual useful progress. How many billion dollar arms developments eventually get retired without seeing a day of real combat? Almost all of them and a good thing that is too.

The Soviets spent themselves broke trying to match and outdo the US. That answers why China doesn't choose that path. Military power should grow from economic and industrial power and certainly shouldn't /cannot be the other way around these days. India seems to lack the organisation and unity that China has created for itself, despite much opposition and efforts to dismantle this. The real difference between the two is China's authoritarianism that has so far created some advantages for its quick catching up. Indian defense capabilities are enough to fight large powers using their nuclear deterrence alone. Where it fails is fighting terrorism. No conventional military can deal with those problems without some struggle. Israel is something of an exception in that regard but often the military solution is the worst non solution. We shouldn't judge Indian military capabilities based simply off skirmishes with Pakistan and against extremist groups around its western regions.

India started out their defense industry on the right track I think. After WW2 ended they hired a lot of former German weapons designers to design weapons systems for them. Kurt Tank is one example but there are more. These provided them with an infusion of modern know-how and reasonably advanced weapons platforms for the day. The problem, in my opinion, is that then the state basically starved these state owned enterprises of R&D capital. In any tech intensive sector, once you finish researching a product, you immediately start on the next, if not prior to that and do it concurrently. This meant their design expertise basically died on the vine and these industries were relegated to building or maintaining previously designed products which were now utterly obsolete.

India also has a problem with lack of established credentials I think. Indians typically assume they can do anything they put their minds into it, they'll basically say they can do something even if they probably can't. If this is a cultural lack of self-critique they have I don't know. From my experience with Indians they typically can go to either extreme. Either they think they can do everything even if they can't, or they assume they can't do anything. They need to develop a capacity for self-critique and self-improvement which is, I think, lacking in most of them. There are exceptions to this though. I think a private corporate defense enterprise like system might work better in India than the current state enterprise system.

Countries like China or Russia, despite internal corruption, typically have a much better and stricter system of ensuring accountability and sustained funding for state owned enterprises. This is why those countries can work better with that system I think. Even top state leaders there, like ministers, typically also have engineering backgrounds and can spot bullshit fairly quickly. When they do spot it, they don't cover it up to "meet" the deadline if this results on an unusable system, those responsible get punished for it or the system is redesigned or replaced altogether.

On China or Russia I don't think something like the INSAS rifle would have ever reached the mass production level it did let alone get produced in those numbers. If the local industry proved unable they would have sourced outside know-how earlier. At least the Russians would have. Just see what happened with the Mistral purchase for example.

An Indian Air Force MiG-27 fighter jet crashed this morning in southern Rajasthan's Sirohi. The pilot ejected safely..

timepass said:

An Indian Air Force MiG-27 fighter jet crashed this morning in southern Rajasthan's Sirohi. The pilot ejected safely..

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They earned that crash. They earn every crash. Indians are all talk and less do. They need to concentrate on their strengths and make up for their weaknesses. The MIg 27 is an outdated fighter solely kept due to the indian incapacity to produce their Tejus.