War Machines: India’s Options?

The security environment in India’s neighbourhood is getting graver by the day even as increasingly shriller voices for “self-determination” abound internally. Countering both the challenges with emotional speeches or chest thumping TV debates vide media operations to raise nationalistic passions would remain mere psychological operations unless intent is backed by adequate economic support & technological rigour under a broad strategic security doctrine. Alas, the Indian state appears guided more by ham-handed tactical pursuits rather than a strategic doctrine.

As per the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India was the largest importer of defence equipment during the period 2013-17, accounting for about 12% of the world’s defence imports followed by Saudi Arabia, Egypt & UAE in that order. Clearly, Middle East & the Indian sub- continent remain lucrative arms markets & hence great powers would actively refresh fault lines to grow defence trade exponentially. Denial of cutting edge tech transfers is a strategic attempt to gain captives; not surprisingly, “Make in India” has attracted only 1.17 crores of Defence FDI during the period 2013-17.

India designed & produced the Jet fighter Marut domestically – under  the famed German engineer Kurt Tank – who also designed the piston powered WW II era classic Focke Wulf Fw 190. Instead of pursuing domestic innovation with foreign help or reverse engineering India shifted to imports from the 1970’s under pressure from interested lobbies; China did otherwise. The Soviet Union provided Mig 21 designs to China, in 1962, as part of a rapprochement post the Sino-Soviet split in 1956 owing to doctrinal differences; China used the designs to produce their own indigenous J 7. Likewise post the bloody Tiananmen square crackdown on student protests, in 1989, & the denial of Western defence markets to China, Russia provided the Su 27’s which were reverse engineered to produce J 11s & later the naval version  J 15; now they appear to have stolen the stealth features of the F 22 from the US & incorporated those  into the J 20.  China has reduced its defence imports progressively even as it built domestic capacity & today is the world’s third largest arms exporter after the US & Russia with  Pak, Bangladesh & Myanmar being her largest clients indicative of their increasing encirclement & strangulation of India. The recent Indian defence policy document that proposes a target of 1.7 lakh crores of defence production with Rs 35000 crores of exports by 2025 is a well-intentioned though ambitious statement.

India has been constrained by a slow defence procurement process accentuated by corruption charges leading to the cancellation of contracts blunting the capability matrix of the armed forces. Post Bofors bought in 1980’s, no artillery was procured till very recently when a deal has been signed both with L&T & the US for howitzers; likewise no procurement of fighter aircraft post Su 30MKI deal in the 1996 till Rafale recently; the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas – an indigenous production is suffering from Range- 300KMs - & weight could be an issue for deploying the aircraft on aircraft carriers. Prudent to deploy short range Tejas on the western sector & the Long range Su 30MKI & Rafale against China supported by missile firepower across both the sectors.

Stalin once said “Quantity has a quality all its own”; India - suffering from a depleted strength of 31 squadrons against a requirement of 42 to tackle a two front war - should increase production of the Tejas by subletting additional lines to the private sector. Likewise, instead of stopping the production of the Su 30MKI, arrange for sharing technology with the private sector to build capacity. Increased nos. of 3rd/4^th gen fighters thus would be better than pleading for the 5^th Gen sheath designs or products from Russia or the US;pertinent to note that Russia offered S400 Missile systems to China before offering it to India.

However, a note of caution: just as the arms lobby & the National Rifle Association have become factors in the US elections, so too would the Indian Pvt. arms lobby unless  checks & balances are not incorporated. 

Following are some technologies that India should work on urgently

(1)Stealth Weapons: The US 5^th Gen Fighter aircraft - the F 35 - has stealth properties which works on the principle of bending light to escape detection vide “adaptive camouflage” of both the visual & thermal footprint; the Chinese have copied the designs.  While the Indians might evince interest in the F35 under the aegis of the Quad, the US is unlikely to allow for transfer of neither the technology nor the aircraft considering the strategic implications; clearly there is work to be done by the DRDO.

Perhaps, India should leapfrog to UVs (unmanned vehicles) – Unmanned aerial vehicles, undersea drones etc. – like China. Near space - which begins at about 20km above sea level - has been regarded as a “death zone” for drones. However, the Chinese tested two experimental unmanned aerial vehicles sent vide a high-pressure balloon & deployed it at different altitudes barely leaving any traces on radar due to their small size – the drones are small enough to fit in a shoebox and weigh about the same as a soccer ball.

Likewise, Stealth armour, if developed for special -forces, would serve as an “invisible cloak” that would be useful in conducting surgical strikes on enemy/terrorist training bases or hi value targets & hence should be pursued rigorously.

(2)Electromagnetic Products: India is seeking electromagnetic catapults from the US to launch fighter aircrafts from aboard its aircraft carriers. Vertical lift off & catapult launchers would offset the need for having ski board launchers on such carriers.

Both the US & China have made great strides in Electromagnetic guns - that use magnetic fields to thrust a projectile with a proven range of about 100 nautical miles instead of chemical propellants which are otherwise inflammable - & are ceaselessly working on bettering the range.

(3)Space Weapons: Arming the space orbitors with nuclear weapons or electromagnetic pulse weapons & launched to de-capacitate the command, control, computers, communication, Intelligence, Surveillance & reconnaissance capabilities would win wars without any single shot being fired. Unlike the ICBM’s that can be brought down by a missile shield or vide the Russian S 400 a space based attack has less reaction time & surface to air to satellite weaponry development is still in its infancy. High energy space based lasers should be the next phase.

(4)Cyber warfare: Apparently in 2016, 22000 pages of India’s Scorpene submarine designs were leaked from the French manufacturer cum designer – DCNS. Govt. websites including those of the PMO, Ministry of External Affairs, DRDO, and Indo Tibetan Border Police were defaced or hacked. A wikileaks report speaks of the “Equation Group.”- a clandestine CIA & NSA operation that penetrated Indian Military, Telecom & research institutes.

The Facebook saga & the Russian sabotage of US elections vide propaganda unleashed after consumer profiling is indicative of the increased sophistry of cyber-attacks. Blackout vide an externally induced  power grid failure, attack on stock exchanges & banks to unleash economic terror & crippling transportation networks are not unlikely scenarios any longer.  

India should be wary of weapons that obviates kinetic warfare altogether, by pre-emptively disabling an opponent’s ability to conduct military operations. Perhaps, the Chinese supply of telecom equipment, power plants etc. with bugs falls into such a strategy. Hence the need for the National technical Research Organization under R&AW, National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection centre – to protect Telecom, Defence, space, Banking, Transport & energy assets working alongside the tri-service Defence Cyber agency reporting to the National Security advisor.

Conclusion

There are no permanent friends or enemies in geopolitics & India's rise shall not go uncontested. Hence the need for India to develop indigenous capacity; armed forces should work closely with DRDO, Indian ordnance factories & the Indian private sector to develop & deploy products, avoiding the lust of the “foreign” tag. Jai Hind!!