Indian arms wrestle
Published: 29 July, 2009, 10:20
Edited: 01 October, 2009, 12:00
TAGS: Arms, Military, Asia, Big deal
For half a century, India's weapons of choice have been Russian. Now, with its defense budget having been boosted by $40 billion, the US, Israel and others are trying to elbow into the lucrative market.
What began during the Cold War has now become a military trade worth $25 billion. Russia is India’s biggest defense supplier – mainly because of the weaponry's advantages.
”They’re hardy. Indian equipment needs to be utilized in temperatures ranging from minus 50 up in the Himalayas, to plus 50 in the deserts of Rajasthan. Secondly, it is competitive in price, it's cheap. And thirdly, over the last 30-40 years the military has got used to using Russian equipment, so operators and users are familiar with it,” says Rahul Bedi, correspondent with Jane’s “Defence Weekly”.
The relationship is now moving into joint development of weapons, such as the Brahmos cruise missile, costing $300 million. India provides the guidance system, and Russia the propulsion system. It’s the world’s only supersonic cruise missile, which, according to the designers, makes it almost invincible.
“The missile flies at a speed of Mach 2.8 – that is 2.8 times the speed of sound – whereas all the missiles in developed countries fly at less than the speed of sound. So our edge comes from its velocity, which contributes in terms of higher kill energy,” says Dr. A Sivathanu Pillai, CEO and MD of Brahmos Aerospace.
Russia faces a new game when it comes to arming India. It has to now compete with the United States, Europe and Israel.
India is expected to spend $40 billion over the next 3 years, so the competition is intense. But with the Indian military using mostly Russian hardware in its arsenal, there’s a comfort level that few other countries can match. It’s one defense relationship that won’t end anytime soon.
29.07.2009, 10:02
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The 1965 Indo-Pak war witnessed the largest Tank warfare since the WW2. This war was fought mostly by land forces. Pak was clearly better equipped with American made armor. The then famous Patton Tank was Pak’s MBT in addition to Shermans, Chaffees and a plethora of other equipment Pak had rapidly amassed from where ever possible for its planned attack on Inida. The Bulk of India’s fleet were the older ShermanM4 and India was totally unprepared with inferior equipment. Pak had an overwhelming technological advantage over the Indian Tanks and over all superior equipment at that time. Pak also had a larger Tank fleet than India in 1965. Despite the qualitative and numerical superiority of Pakistani armour, Pakistan was outfought on the battlefield by India. Ultimately it boils down to the solider and his patriotism/determination behind the army’s equipment that decides the fate of war. India, today is in a position to purchase the most morden equipment the world can provide by slapping cash across the table. In view of the 1965 seanario; the heavy casualty and sacrifice on the Indian side to win the war – India must go for the full import of the Leopard 2A6EX, Challenger II 2Es (supposed to provide the utmost crew safety – not yet battle tested) and the ISRAELI MERKAVA -4 battle tested and proven for best performance and crew safety on record to date.
India should not be worried about the unpleasant news of the recent US approval to sell F 16s to Pak. Islamabad has been begging US for years for the clearance of it’s purchase of F16s. Pakis are locked with the manufacturer Lockheed Martin to purchase the F16s it had originally ordered in the 80s. The US allowed the supply of 40 F16s to Pak during the 1980s but stopped deliveries in 1990 over discovery of Pak’s covert nuclear weapons program. In 1998 Pak openly conducted it’s nuclear test. Followed by the US military intervention in Afghanistan after the 911 WTC attack, Pentagon gave two older model F16s to pacify Pak and to get it’s support in Afghanistan. F16s first came into service in 1976. It is a very old dogfighter. In fact the US Air Force does not buy any more F16s from Lockheed Martin. The out dated F 16s of the USAF are to be replaced by F 35 Lightning II. So let the Americans sell the lemons to Pakistan. USA has already sold F35 Lightning IIs to Australia, Italy, UK, Israel and Turkey. Why not India insist for the F35s from the US. India should buy dogfighters with stealth and BVR (beyond visual range) capability which Pak’s F16s lack. There is a huge opposition from the House International Relations Committee members here in the US against arms sale to Pak after the US has become the relentless target of Islamic extremists. This opposition has only grown stronger in the recent years. India has never attempted to annex it’s neighbors soil. India is not an aggressor and does not have the record of starting a war. The US must consider India’s virtues and strengthen India effectively to deter it’s neighbors from starting wars which will ultimately help Americas war on terror.
AL-KHALID’s design is based on the Chinese Type 90/2 Tank armed with a 125 smooth bore gun – now manufactured in Pakistan with Chinese assistance. ARJUN’s design is based on the German Leopard -2. To start with the Arjun has a huge advantage over superior design compared to the Chinese T-9l. Armor: They both have similar protection against several types of rounds while the Al-Khalid’s armor is modular Composite, Arjun has Heavy modular Composite armor providing better crew safety. The Arjun is heavier than the Al-khalid while they both are equal speed. Al-Khalid’s main gun is a smooth bore. Arjun – Rifled Gun. A rifled gun is a rarity and is found in the British Challenger (which is in the fore front of the contention of the worlds best MBT. Some of it’s specs are still classified). The Arjun is semi-submersible while the Al-khalid is not which is a huge advantage for the Arjun. It is true that the Arjuns are not fully developed to it’s optimized performance levels, still remaining on the drawing board and are snagged by defects. It is also true that India does not have enough of them. This day and age armor piercing technology is rapidly developing leaps and bounds, so the Tank’s armor alone cannot provide sufficient crew protection in the future. The M1 Abrams suffered huge casualty from a much inferior Iraqi army. Several M1s top side and rear armor suffered penetration while a few others suffered total fire destruction. Left and right side non-ballistic skirts were repeatedly penetrated by anti-armor RPG fire according to reports. The efficiency of the Indian Tank and crew protection can be only achieved by Technological advancement over the enemy in all fronts and by fully importing them from the most advanced nations in the business.