Armed and ready

Lakshman Gurung, in his nineties, is an old hero. Old soldiers don’t die, as the adage says, but Gurung refuses to fade away either. He is part of a forgotten legacy of the British empire, when around 2.5 million Indians fought in the bloody theatres of Africa, Europe and Asia. After Independence, a tripartite agreement between India, Britian and Nepal gave Gurkhas like Gurung the choice to join either the British Army or the newborn Indian Army. Only two regiments joined the British. Gurung and his regiment did not. Once an Indian soldier, always in the Indian Army. It is this spirit of India’s finest that has been angered by the beheading incident in Mendhar on the LoC. On the border posts, officers and men swear revenge. On January 14, addressing a press conference at the majestic Manekshaw Centre in Delhi Cantonment, Indian Army chief General Bikram Singh thundered: “My directions are clear, I expect my commanders to be aggressive and offensive on Line of Control (LoC).” The UPA government, blindly pursuing a peace initiative with Pakistan, forced the generals to tone down their rhetoric. From Gurung, who won the Victorial Cross, to Bikram Singh, who carries the wounds of conflict like trophies, the memories of brutal wars the Indian Army fought from Mespotamia to Kashmir are part of the gestalt of every officer and enlisted man. India has the world’s second largest standing army, an awesome phalanx of over a million active soldiers. In 1939, the army numbered 194,373, including 34,515 non-combatants. By 1945, the Indian Army had become the largest volunteer force in history when it joined the Allied War effort against the Axis powers. Field-Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, the then Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army admitted gallantly that the British “couldn’t  have come through both wars if they hadn’t had the Indian Army.”

What is it that makes it one of the greatest war machines of the 21st century? The last war, fought on the slippery, cold and desolate mountain slopes of Kargil cost 527 Indian lives, but proved the redoubtable resolve and power of the Indian infantry, supported by a highly innovative artillery and a disciplined air force. It also proved the army’s respect for democratic values, in spite of being surrounded by two hostile nations which have armies that do not believe in democracy.

The Indian Army is a rapidly evolving force. During Operation Rudra Akrosh, held in May 2012 which was aimed at testing the army’s battle readiness, newly acquired technology, the Western Army Command conducted war games on the western border. It was a massive integrated high-tech battle exercise involving 20,000 troops, weapon systems and Indian Air Force planes. Rudra Akrosh was not about putting the Pakistani army on guard indicating what they would face, but also giving Indian troops an idea of their offensive and defensive power using infantry, ordinary and  mechanised, tanks, artillery, heliborne troops, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) helicopters and surveillance technology.

The air force has played an integral role in all the four major wars India has fought. Initially, Indian military planners did not factor in its role: one of the main reasons India lost the 1962 war with China. In 1965, when Pakistan launched Operation Gibraltar, the IAF launched strikes deep into enemy territory despite being vulnerable to attack.

The Indian armed forces have, however, been constantly hobbled by domestic political interests: on the Eastern sector in 1965, the IAF’s Folland Gnats were prevented from retaliating against Pakistan air attacks by the government. The war was a turning point in India’s air aggression doctrine: when the guns fell silent, India had lost 75 planes while Pakistan lost a mere 20 Sabres. The IAF came into its own in the 1971 war against Pakistan, forcing an aggressive enemy to fly defensive sorties. In the first week of the war, the IAF flew more than 2,000 sorties into Pakistan, and supported Indian Navy operations. The battle of Longewala was its finest hour, turning the desert into a funeral ground for Pakistani tanks and men. The IAF’s response to Pakistani  adventurism has been as aggressive; Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne warned Pakistan this month that if ceasefire violations continue, India may have to look at “other options”. The IAF covered itself with glory in Kargil, carrying out strikes against entrenched positions, especially on the now-legendary Tiger Hill.

The leading edge

On October 27, 1947 the first Indian soldier—from the First Sikh Infantry Battalion—stepped into Badgam in the Kashmir Valley to confront Pakistani irregulars. It was the first time the Indian Army saw action after 1947. The day is celebrated as ‘Infantry Day’ in memory of the infantry action that repulsed the Pakistani attack, though weak political will was to lose India a significant part of Kashmir later. From then on, through four major wars, there have been battlefields that are milestones in the history of post-Independence armed conflict in the subcontinent. Battles like the Battle of Chawinda, Burki, Namchaku, Tololing and more have become ballads for the valourous slain. The infantry is the only continuous force to be deployed in the Siachen area which it won from Pakistan in a pitched battle in subzero conditions in 1984. Indian infantrymen top the roll of honour as well: they have won 17 Param Vir Chakras of the 20 awarded, and no less than 30 Ashok Chakras.

A 2005 paper by Dharmendra Singh takes note of the changing strategic mindset of the Indian army which was a colonial relic of the British.  The British preferred subservience over loyalty, quarantining Indian soldiers when on duty overseas. It has taken decades to change the old warhorse maxim of ‘Damn Your Writing, Mind Your Fighting’ to a modern, thinking soldier. Retired Brigadier Amarjeet Singh, writing in The Indian Defense Journal states that “the soldier who has learnt to think has an intrinsic advantage in upsetting conditions of war over the soldiers who have merely learnt to perform correctly”.

The Indian Army has 356 infantry battalions, comprising nearly four lakh soldiers in regiments created along regional and community identities. Most of these regiments owe their existence to the British Army traditions that led to the creation of units with Madras, Sikh, Rajput and such others. They make up 18 Divisions with 356 battalions under 26 regiments. About 1.5 lakh infantry soldiers are deployed in Kashmir, and another one lakh troops are deployed in the North -east, both in counter-insurgency operations and to defend the borders from external aggression. A total of three lakh infantrymen guard our borders with both Pakistan and China. Over 7,000 infantrymen are deployed overseas as part of UN Peacekeeping forces in five missions in Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, East Timor and Ivory Coast. The Indian infantrymen is not as technologically equipped as a US solider, and this makes his performance even more impressive. The modernisation of the Indian Army, especially of its ground troops, is an ongoing process.

Both India and China have changed the strategy of their cross -border incursions, forcing India to adapt accordingly. Clausewitz’s maxim that ‘don’t think what the enemy will do, think what he can do’ drives modern warfare as well. “We are shifting the focus from a ‘Threat Based’ to a ‘Capability Based’ force structure. Additional Infantry and new raisings are part of this ‘Capability Based’ force structure,” said then Director General Infantry Lt. Gen. Vinod Bhatia in an interview last year.

The Big Guns

 In 1792, when the Britishers were fighting Mysore’s Tipu Sultan, they encountered the first iron-cased rocket artillery that struck terror among their troops. Lt Col Knox and his advancing infantrymen were targeted by Tipu’s forces near Srirangapatnam and inflicted major damage.

The British had learnt their lessons in artillery. The Indian Army’s present day artillery regiments owe their existence to the British, who raised them in 1935. After Independence, Indian artillery regiments have participated in all the four wars against Pakistan and China. After the 1962 war with China, the Indian artillery forces only grew and got better. In 1971, when India fought a two-front war against Pakistan, the artillery came of age.

 The most recent conflict in which the artillery had a commendable role was the 1999 Kargil battle. Despite the disadvantages of icy Himalayan terrain, they put the 155mm Bofors guns to best use by using the difficult terrain to their advantage to hide from enemy counter fire. According to Major General Jagjit Singh, who has documented artillery’s contribution during the 1999 conflict in his book Artillery—The Battle-Winning Arm, notes that 100 to 120 guns were, at times, fired in concert. “Direct shooting, particularly by the Bofors, spelt terror amongst the defenders and had a devastating effect on enemy bunkers. It also meant considerable saving of ammunition as compared to indirect firing of guns, since almost every round fired was a hit,” he said.

After a decade of the bribery scandal that hit the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1987, a largely maligned Bofors gun had resurrected its credibility as a good weapon. Today, the Indian field artillery comprises 190 regiments in two Artillery Divisions, apart from those supporting infantrymen and armoured divisions to thrust forward even as they pound enemy targets.

 As with the armoured formations, artillery formations are a key part of the new Indian ‘pro-active’ strategy against Pakistan—the ‘Cold Start’ Doctrine.

 Having realised its needs to fight a short, but aggressive, war against Pakistan, the Indian Army has incorporated the artillery in this new doctrine to bring down a torrent of missiles, rockets and mortars to annihilate enemy tanks, troops, and tactical assets. The Indian artillery missiles include the heavy-duty Russian-origin 122mm BM-21 Grad, 300mm BM-30 Smerch and the indigenous 214mm Pinaka.

 Since the Bofors scandal, India hasn’t bought a single gun; it was only in 2012 that 145 ultra-light howitzers were ordered as an emergency requirement from the US to fill up a gap in the mountain warfare capability pointed out by former Army chief General V K Singh in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in early 2012.

The Cavalry

 If there is one tank battle as legendary as the battle of Kursk during World War II, it is the Chawinda battle fought by India against Pakistan in 1965 close to Sialkot. Pakistani M-48 Patton tanks had outnumbered the Indian Centurion, Sherman and AMX-13 tanks, which stood their ground, and were lording over 200 square miles of Pakistani territory at the end of hostilities. Some of the captured Pattons still stand as war trophies at key Indian military stations all over North India, a reminder of hard-won glory.

 In 1971 too, Indian Army excelled in tank battles all over the western sector, particularly in the Chamb and Shakargarh sectors, though there still were sporadic tanks battles in the eastern theatre too. In the Basantar battle, equipped with the Centurion tanks, 17 Poona Horse stopped the advancing Pakistani Patton tanks, after young Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal refused to leave the battle despite being the only one to be fighting in that theatre. Khetarpal continued to fire at enemy Pattons, before going down a martyr, for which he won the Param Vir Chakra.

After the battle ended, the Pakistani commander at Basantar specially walked over to the Indian commander to inquire who this young officer, who stopped the Pakistani advance single-handedly, was. That story is now part of tank legends.

The Indian Army’s armoured regiments are spread across three divisions in 64 regiments accounting for 4,200 tanks. At present, it boasts of 48 regiments comprising 2,400 T-72 tanks that will be upgraded with better night fighting capabilities. Another 14 regiments have 800 Russian-origin T-90 tanks that are now the main battle tanks of the Indian Army. The indigenous Arjuns form another two regiments active in the Rajasthan desert.

 Since Operation Parakram in 2001-02 when the military mobilisation faltered, India’s war-fighting strategy has changed drastically in the last 11 years. Drawing lessons from the 10-month mobilisation process, India’s ‘Cold Start Doctrine’ gives maximum weightage to its armoured might, so as to unleash a blitzkreig and advance into enemy territory. Since the new strategy was announced by then Army chief General N C Vij in 2004, the Indian Army’s three formidable ‘Strike’ Corps along with the 10 Pivot/Holding Corps have worked hard to finetune it, thanks to the 15 major exercises in the last eight years.

Now the strategy is for the armoured corps to go full steam into operations within 48 hours of a green signal from the Indian political leadership —in case Pakistan needs to be punished for its misadventures and misdemeanors. As several Indian Army commanders have spelt out over the years, “The aim of the war is total annihilation of the enemy offensive forces, having a shock and awe effect...immobilising the adversary.”

Ruling the seas The 1965 India-Pakistan conflict was mostly a land battle and the Indian Navy got an opportunity to show its prowess only in the 1971 war. After Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered it to deny Pakistan access to its territory on India’s east, the rest, as they say, is history. With their supplies depleting and the lines choked, Pakistani troops surrendered in matter of days and a record 90,000 troops were taken prisoners. Then, the Indian Navy’s best asset was its lone aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, a World War II vintage British-origin warship. When Pakistan sent its ageing PNS Ghazi submarine to hunt down Vikrant, its sailors hadn’t imagined the Bay of Bengal would become their and the vessel’s watery grave.

Ghazi thought it could sneak into the Visakhapatnam port and sink Vikrant. But unaware to Ghazi, Vikrant was far away, sailing towards Chittagong. The Pakistani submarine was detected and sunk by INS Rajput, a Destroyer, near Visakhapatnam. About 40 years later, the Indian Navy accounted for three kills in the Indian Ocean region, when its frigates and attack craft sunk three pirate ships in the last five years during its anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and the eastern Arabian Sea. No wonder, the efforts, along with the other navies, have contributed to a drastic decline in piracy in the region.

The Indian Navy has already retired Vikrant and turned it into a museum in Mumbai. It purchased a Centaur class aircraft carrier from the British in 1987 and rechristened it INS Viraat. As it stands today, Indian Navy is the fifth largest in the world after the US, China, Russia and South Korea. With a fleet strength of 170 warships, it can count Viraat, nuclear-powered submarine INS Chakra and amphibious warship INS Jalashwa, bought from the US in 2007, among its major combatants. It has 8,000 officers and around 80,000 personnel in service.  To the world navies’ surprise, India has exploited Viraat’s prowess for 25 years, thereby completing its Golden jubilee of naval service.

Indian Navy is just a year away from Russian-origin INS Vikramaditya joining its fleet. It will added another three indigenous aircraft carriers by 2025. Apart from INS Chakra, leased for 10 years from Russia, India is building its own nuclear-powered vessels of the Arihant class. Three of these vessels to will join the service in the near future. Its conventional submarine fleet, numbering 12 at present, too will be augmented with 12 more vessels in the years to come when the Scorpene class and the follow-on Air Independent Propulsion vessels join the force. Among the surface warships, the Indian Navy has 14 destroyers and 15 frigates, though more vessels are on order. In all, 42 warships will join the Indian Navy at the rate of five vessels a year over the next decade.

Air supremacy

In July-August 2008, IAF’s Sukhoi combat planes flew 19,000 km, all the way from Pune to Nevada in the US to compete against the American F-15s and F-16s, and the French Rafales, in the world’s toughest ‘Red Flag’ air exercise. Soon came the news that Indian Su-30MKI was chosen the best by British Flight magazine readers online, rating it above even the American F-22 and F-15.

Undoubtedly, the Russian origin Sukhois, with thrust vectoring capabilities, are the best, what with option to carry Indo-Russian joint venture supersonic BrahMos cruise missiles with a 290-km target range. “With such capability, no enemy target can escape the fury of the Indian Sukhois,” says a Wing Commander who has flown this potent war machine. There is a reason for the Pakistanis to fear the Sukhois, despite having the US F-16s in its three squadrons. Considered over the fourth generation fighters in terms of technology, Sukhois can be configured to carry tactical nuclear weapons.

 And that is why the IAF plans to induct 272 Sukhois in its 14 squadrons. At present, the IAF has 10 Sukhoi squadrons deployed all over the country. When all the 14 squadrons are inducted, even South India will get Sukhoi cover. The IAF is officially acknowledged as the world’s fourth largest air force after the US, Russia and China. Since it was established in 1932 as an auxiliary air force, IAF has come a long way from having five pilots flying the Westland Wapiti biplanes to having an officer cadre of 12,000 and another 1.4 lakh enlisted personnel. It also boasts of 650 combat planes and another 200 transport planes, and has over 100 airbases.

 India is in the process of buying French Dassault Aviation’s Rafales combat planes. The initial order for Rafales would be 126 planes and this could grow by another 63 Rafales. Sukhois and Rafales apart, India will fly its Russian MiG-29s, French Mirage-2000s and British Jaguars squadrons in three squadrons each. However, 12 squadrons of MiG-21 variants and four MiG-27 squadrons are clearly on the way out. Though the combat squadron strength will slide from the existing 33 beginning 2015, it is likely to go up once again by 2022 and exceed the sanctioned 42 squadrons by 2025.

The IAF did not get to join the war effort in 1962 during the Chinese invasion, leading to criticisms even today. Present IAF chief Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne had said in October last that the outcome of the 1962 war could have been different only if air power had been used by India. Three years later, it got an opportunity in 1965 against Pakistan, when it actively engaged an enemy air force for the first time, carrying out independent strikes on Pakistan Air Force bases. The IAF’s agile Gnats earned the sobriquet of ‘Sabre Slayers’; the IAF ‘killed’ 20 of them. In 1971, the IAF carried out 6,000 sorties, destroying nearly 30 Pakistani tanks and 40 infantry combat vehicles, apart from taking out a railway track on the western front. In Kargil battle, MiG-27s, MiG-21s and Mirage-2000s pounded enemy positions on the peaks accurately.

The Indian military’s record speaks for itself. When it is challenged, the guns do the talking.

Admiral (Retd) Arun Prakash on India’s fighting men

Valour

The Indian soldier’s valour is legendary. They are the best in the world. They have proved it in the two world wars and also in the four wars that India fought since Independence.

Operational capability

Indian forces’ operational capability will be as good as the equipment they get. Against Pakistan, Indian forces are more than a match to their adversary in a conventional war. In China’s case, we have to be careful, though we have the capability to defend ourselves.

Civilian Aid

It is not correct to use our armed forces in every domestic crisis. Armed forces are meant to fight the external enemy. That’s what the armed forces are for. We should not use our armed forces to fight our own people internally. The role of the armed forces and police in tackling external and internal threats needed to be defined and followed strictly. Use of armed forces in internal conflicts is not good for the armed forces and the country.

General (retd) V P Malik on the indian soldier

Valour

 He is the best in the world. He can take on anyone in case he is challenged.

Operational capability

 It is dependent on what the Indian troops are up against, China or Pakistan. If it is Pakistan, we can definitely defend ourselves. In the case of China, there are some shortcomings in the form of infrastructure along the northern border, which makes it difficult to deploy force at all places. This is the main problem. China is better positioned in Tibet. In terms of equipment also, we need to make up in artillery modernisation.

Civilian Aid

 One of the responsibilities that the Indian armed forces have is to go in aid of the civil administration in case of maintenance of law and order and relief work during natural calamities. They have done this work well in the past. I am sure they will continue to do it well in the future too.

Air Chief Marshal (Retd) P V Naik on india’s air warriors

Valour

Very high, there can be no doubts on that front. They are the best and they have proved it time and again. They are also the best trained, as witnessed in the operations that they have carried out and during the joint exercises they hold with other countries.

Operational capability

Very good and up to the mark, at present. Even with the present capability, we are quite capable of defending ourselves. In terms of capability to defend ourselves, we have got a lot of acquisition plans in the pipeline. We are today at the lowest cusp of capability building. In the next 10 to 15 years, we have to speed up procurements. If not, depletion in capability levels will let people get adventurous with India.

Civilian Aid

It is part of tasks under the charter provided to the armed forces. Yeah, they must continue to perform this role. However, the armed forces should not be used indiscriminately and should be a last resort.

ARMY

Corps HQs

Leh-14, Srinagar-15, Nagrota-16, Yol-9, Jalandhar-11, Bhatinda-10, Jodhpur-12, Ambala-2, Mathura-1, Bhopal-21, Siliguri-33, Tezpur-4, Dimapur-3, Panagarh-Mountain Corps (Proposed)

Command HQs

Udhampur-Northern, Chandimandir-Western, Shimla-Training, Jaipur-South Western, Lucknow-Central, Kolkata-Eastern, Pune-Southern

AIRFORCE

Air Bases

Siachen, Leh, Srinagar, Chandigarh, Adampur, Pathankot, Bhatinda, Halwara, Ambala, Sirsa, Bareilly, Suratgarh, Bikaner, Barmer, Uttarlai, Jamnagar, Bhuj, Naliya, Pune, Gwalior, Cuttack, Bidar, Hakimpet, Sulur, Thanjavur, Kalaikunda, Hashimara, Panagarh, Tezpur, Chabua

Missile bases

Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, North East, Odisha (Testing Base)

NAVY

Naval Bases

Goa, Tuticorin,  Chennai, Kakinada, Paradip

Command HQs

Mumbai-Western, Visakhapatnam- Eastern, Kochi-Southern

Submarine Bases Karwar, INS Varsha,  Visakhapatnam