Russia's historical partner against friendship for three
In terms of military potential, India, along with the DPRK and Israel, is among the second three leading countries. The first, of course, is made up of the United States, China and the Russian Federation. The personnel of the Indian Armed Forces have a high level of combat and moral and psychological training, although they are recruited. Here, as in Pakistan, due to the size of the population and the difficult ethno-confessional situation, recruiting by conscription is not possible.
New Delhi is a major customer of Russian weapons, it maintains close military-technical cooperation with France, Great Britain, and more recently with the United States. At the same time, India has a huge military-industrial complex of its own, which is theoretically capable of producing weapons and military equipment of all classes, including nuclear weapons with delivery vehicles. However, the samples developed independently (the Arjun tank, the Tejas fighter, the Dhruv helicopter) have very modest performance characteristics, and their design takes decades. The quality of equipment assembled under foreign licenses is often very low, which is why the Indian Air Force has the highest accident rate in the world. Nevertheless, the country has every reason to claim the title of one of the superpowers in this century.
Time-tested Arsenal
The Indian Ground Forces have a training (headquartered in the city of Shimla) and six territorial commands. The Airborne Forces brigade, two regiments of the Agni MRBM, the Prithvi-1 OTR regiment, and four BrahMos KRNB regiments are directly subordinate to the SV headquarters.
"Moscow still does not notice that India is by no means the former third world country, which will buy everything that is offered."
The Central Command (headquarters at Lucknow) includes one army corps. It includes infantry, mountain and armored divisions. Currently, the corps has been temporarily transferred to the Southwest Command.
The Northern Command (Udhampur) has three army corps. In the 14th and 15th AK - one infantry and one mountain division. The 16th AK has three infantry divisions and one artillery brigade.
Western Command (Chandimandir): an artillery division and three army corps. 2nd AK: armored, SBR and infantry divisions, engineering and air defense brigades. 9th AK: two infantry divisions, three armored brigades. 11th AK: three infantry divisions, armored and mechanized brigades.
The Southwest Command (Jaipur) includes an artillery division, a temporarily transferred army corps and the 10th AK, which has one infantry and two SBR divisions, three brigades - armored, air defense, engineering.
Southern Command (Pune): an artillery division and two army corps. 12th AK: two infantry divisions, armored and mechanized brigades. 21st AK: armored, SBR and infantry divisions, three brigades - artillery, air defense, engineering.
Eastern Command (Kolkata): an infantry division and three army corps with three mountain divisions each.
In two regiments of the MRBM - 20 launchers "Agni-1" and 8 launchers "Agni-2". A total of 80–100 missiles “Agni-1” (flight range - 1500 km) and 20–25 “Agni-2” (up to 4000 km) are supposed to be in total. Perhaps the first 4 launchers of the Agni-3 MRBM are deployed (3200 km). The only regiment OTR "Prithvi-1" (150 km) has 12-15 launchers and 75-100 BRMD. All of these ballistic missiles are made in India and can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads. Each of the four regiments of the KR "Brahmos" (joint development with Russia) has 4-6 batteries, each with 3-4 launchers (their total number is 72).
The tank fleet of India includes 124 Arjuna, at least 947 of the latest Russian T-90s (they are supposed to have 2011) and 1928 Soviet T-72Ms, which were modernized on the spot (Ajeya). Up to 815 Soviet T-55s and about 2000 Vijayants of their own production (English Vickers Mk1) are in storage.
Other armored vehicles are for the most part very outdated, like artillery. There are 20 self-developed self-propelled guns "Catapult" (130-mm howitzer M-46 on the platform "Vijayanty"), 68 British "Abbot" (105 mm). Towed guns: 215 Yugoslav mountain M48, 700-1300 own IFG Mk1 / 2/3 and 700-800 LFG, 50 Italian M-56, 400 Soviet D-30, 210 British FH-77B, 180 M-46 with a new barrel, 40 Soviet S-23, up to 721 M-46 and 200 FH-77B. Mortars: 5000 own E1 and 220 self-propelled SMT on the BMP-2 chassis, 500 French AM-50, 207 Finnish M-58 Tampella and 500 Soviet M-160. MLRS: up to 200 Soviet BM-21, 80 own "Pinaka", 42 Russian "Smerch". Of all these artillery systems, only the Pinaka and Smerch MLRS can be considered modern.
It is armed with 250 Kornet ATGMs, 13 self-propelled Namika (Nag ATGMs of our own design on the BMP-2 chassis), 300 newest Israeli Spike. In addition, there are several thousand French ATGM "Milan", Soviet and Russian "Baby", "Konkurs", "Fagot", "Shturm".
Military air defense includes 25-45 batteries (100-180 launchers) of the Soviet Kvadrat air defense system, 80 Wasp air defense systems, 200 Strela-1, 45 Strela-10, 18 Israeli Spyders, 25 British Taygerkat … There are 620 Soviet Strela-2 and 2000 Igla-1 MANPADS, 92 Russian Tunguska air defense systems, 100 Shilka ZSU-23-4, 4000 anti-aircraft guns (800 Soviet ZU-23, 1920 Swedish L40 / 70 and 1280 L40 / 60). Of all the air defense equipment, only the Spider air defense system and the Tunguska air defense missile system are modern; the Osu, Strela-10 and Igloo-1 can be considered relatively new.
The army aviation has more than 100 helicopters: up to 80 Dhruv, 12 Lancer, and 22 Rudra. They are all made in India. More than 100 helicopters from the Air Force, primarily the Mi-35 and SA315 / 316/319, operate on a permanent basis in the interests of the army aviation.
The Indian Air Force includes seven commands - West (Delhi), Central (Allahabad), Southwest (Gandhinagar), East (Shillong), South (Thiruvananthapuram), training (Bangalore), MTO (Nagpur). The Air Force consists of three Prithvi-2 OTR squadrons (18 launchers in each) with a firing range of 250 kilometers, capable of carrying conventional and nuclear warheads. Attack aviation consists of approximately 140 Soviet MiG-27M bombers and 139 British Jaguar attack aircraft. All of these licensed aircraft are outdated. The newest Su-30MKI form the basis of fighter aviation. They are collected in India under license. Up to 239 vehicles of this type are currently in service. About 76 Russian MiG-29s, 17 own "Tejas" and 50 French "Mirage-2000" are quite modern. Remain in service with up to 228 MiG-21s, also produced in India under a Soviet license. It is planned to purchase 36 French "Raphales", in addition, 144 fifth-generation FGFA fighters will be built on the basis of the Russian T-50.
There are 6 AWACS aircraft (3 Russian A-50 and Swedish ERJ-145), 7 RER (3 American Gulfstream-3, 1 Boeing-707, 2 Canadian Global 5000, 1 Israeli IAI1125 Astra), 6 tankers Il-78. MTC: 17 Russian Il-76s, 10 newest American S-17s, 97 Soviet An-32s (4-5 more in storage), 39 German Do-228s (plus 1 in storage), 5 Brazilian EMB-135BJs, 6 American " Boeing-737 "and 5 С-130Js, 59 British HS-748s (and 1 in storage). It is armed with more than 30 combat helicopters - mainly Mi-35, as well as 7 own "Rudras" and 3 newest LCHs. Multipurpose and transport helicopters: 46 Dhruv, 276 Mi-17 and up to 98 Mi-8, up to 115 SA315B, 139 SA316B, 75 SA319, 1 Mi-26. Models SA315 / 316/319 were produced in India under a French license under the names Chetak and Chitah. They, like the Soviet Mi-8s, are outdated, so they are written off and replaced by Dhruv and Mi-17s.
Ground-based air defense includes 25 squadrons (at least 100 launchers) of the Soviet S-125 air defense system, at least 24 Osa air defense systems, 8 squadrons of its own Akash air defense system (64 launchers).
The Indian Navy has three commands: Western (Bombay), Southern (Cochin), Eastern (Vishakhapatnam). There is the only SSBN "Arihant" of its own construction with 12 K-15 SLBMs (range - 700 km), it is planned to build three more. The submarine "Chakra" (project 971) is on lease; Russia is expected to transfer the second one of the same.
In service - nine Russian submarines of project 877 and four German projects 209/1500. Three newest French submarines of the "Scorpen" type are under construction, there will be six of them in total. Four Soviet submarines of Project 641 are being laid down. In addition to two imported aircraft carriers (Viraat - the former English Hermes, Vikramaditya - the Soviet Admiral Gorshkov), two of their own types of Vikrant are being built. There are nine destroyers - five of the Rajput type (Soviet project 61), three of our own Delhi type and one of the Kolkata type (with the prospect of delivering two or three more of the same type). In service - six newest Russian-built frigates of the Talvar class (project 11356) and three modern own types of Shivalik. Remain in service with three frigates "Brahmaputra" and "Godavari", manufactured in India according to British projects. 4 old British frigates of the "Linder" ("Nilgiri") class are laid up. Corvettes: the newest "Kamorta", four types of "Kora", "Hukri" and "Abhay" (Soviet project 1241P). There are also 12 Veer-class missile boats (Soviet project 1241R). All destroyers, frigates and corvettes (except "Abhay") are armed with modern Russian and joint SLCMs and anti-ship missiles ("BrahMos", "Caliber", Kh-35). The airborne forces have the Dzhalashva (American Austin) DVKD, 4 old Polish Project 773 TDKs (4 more in a sludge), and 5 own Magar TDKs.
The naval aviation is armed with 44 carrier-based fighters: 33 MiG-29K (including 8 combat training MiG-29KUB, there will be 12 more) and 11 Harrier (10 FRS51, 1 T60). The MiG-29K are intended for the Vikramaditya and the Vikrants under construction, the Harriers for the Viraat (this year they will be decommissioned along with the aircraft carrier). Anti-submarine aircraft: 5 old Soviet Il-38 and 4 Tu-142M (4 more in storage), 6 newest American P-8I (there will be 6 more). There are up to 64 German patrol Do-228, 6-10 British transport BN-2, up to 17 training HJT-16 and 17 "Hawk" Mk132. Naval aviation includes 14 Russian Ka-31 AWACS helicopters, up to 38 anti-submarine helicopters (17 Soviet Ka-28 and up to 4 Ka-25, 17 British Sea King Mk42V), no less than 125 multipurpose and transport helicopters (11 Dhruv, up to 103 SA316B and SA319, 6 Sea King Mk42C, 6 UH-3H).
With a triangle around my neck
In general, the Indian Armed Forces have a huge combat potential, significantly superior to the Pakistani one. However, now Beijing is becoming the main enemy of New Delhi. And its allies are the same Pakistan and adjacent to India from the east of Myanmar and Bangladesh. This makes the geopolitical position of the country very difficult, and its military potential, paradoxically, insufficient.
Russian-Indian military-technical cooperation is exclusive. Moscow and Delhi are engaged in joint development of weapons, and unique ones, such as the BrahMos missile or the FGFA fighter jet. The leasing of submarines has no analogues in world practice (only the USSR and India had a similar experience in the late 1980s). There are more T-90 tanks, Su-30 fighters, X-35 anti-ship missiles in the Indian Armed Forces than in all other countries combined, including Russia itself.
But the historically established partnership is just now being tested for strength. Many officials in Moscow still do not understand that India is almost a superpower, and by no means a former third world country that will buy whatever it offers. New Delhi's demands grow with ambition. Hence the scandals, most of which Russia is to blame. The epic with the sale of the aircraft carrier "Vikramaditya" is indicative and deserves a separate story.
However, it must be admitted that such excesses arise not only with Moscow. With both major Indian-French contracts (submarine "Scorpen", fighters "Rafale"), the same is happening as with "Vikramaditya": a multiple increase in the price of products and a significant delay in production.
Much worse is that cloudy in the field of geopolitics. India is our ideal ally. There are no contradictions between us, and the main opponents are common: a group of Sunni countries and China. Alas, Russia continues to impose the idea of the Moscow-Delhi-Beijing triangle. Meanwhile, India absolutely does not need an alliance with China, its main geopolitical adversary and economic rival. She is interested in the alliance against Beijing. It is in this format that she would be happy to be friends with us. Now she is stubbornly lured away by Washington, which perfectly understands whom New Delhi would prefer to be friends with.
The only thing that keeps India from completely disagreeing with Russia is the aforementioned exclusive military-technical cooperation. Maybe it will save us to some extent from ourselves.
