New Delhi is Moscow's exclusive partner, but cooperation between the two countries is overshadowed by Russia's stake on Beijing
India, along with the DPRK and Israel, is among the second three countries in the world in terms of military potential (the first three, of course, are the United States, China and Russia). The personnel of the armed forces (Armed Forces) of India have a high level of combat and moral and psychological training, although they are recruited. In India, as well as in Pakistan, due to the huge population and the difficult ethno-confessional situation, the recruitment of the Armed Forces by conscription is not possible.
The country is the most important importer of arms from Russia, it maintains close military-technical cooperation with France and Great Britain, and more recently with the United States. At the same time, India has a huge military-industrial complex of its own, which, in theory, is capable of producing weapons and equipment of all classes, including nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles. However, the samples of weapons developed in India itself (the Arjun tank, the Tejas fighter, the Dhruv helicopter, etc.), as a rule, have very low technical and tactical characteristics (TTX), and their development has been going on for decades. The quality of assembly of equipment under foreign licenses is often very low, which is why the Indian Air Force has the highest accident rate in the world. Nevertheless, India has every reason to claim the title of one of the world-class superpowers already in the 21st century.
The ground forces of India include a Training Command (headquarters in the city of Shimla) and six territorial commands - Central, North, West, South-West, South, East. At the same time, the 50th Airborne Brigade, 2 regiments of the Agni MRBM, 1 regiment of the Prithvi-1 OTR, and 4 regiments of the Brahmos cruise missiles are directly subordinate to the headquarters of the ground forces.
The Central Command includes one Army Corps (AK) - 1st. It includes infantry, mountain, armored, artillery divisions, artillery, air defense, engineering brigades. At present, the 1st AK has been temporarily transferred to the South-Western Command, so the Central Command, in fact, does not have combat forces in its composition.
The Northern Command includes three army corps - 14th, 15th, 16th. They include 5 infantry and 2 mountain divisions, an artillery brigade.
The western command also includes three AK - 2nd, 9th, 11th. They include 1 armored, 1 SBR, 6 infantry divisions, 4 armored, 1 mechanized, 1 engineer, 1 air defense brigade.
The Southwest Command includes an artillery division, the 1st AK, temporarily transferred from the Central Command (described above), and the 10th AK, which includes an infantry and 2 SBR divisions, an armored, air defense, engineering brigade.
The southern command includes an artillery division and two AKs - the 12th and 21st. They include 1 armored, 1 SBR, 3 infantry divisions, armored, mechanized, artillery, air defense, engineering brigades.
The Eastern Command includes an infantry division and three AK (3rd, 4th, 33rd), three mountain divisions each.
The ground forces own most of India's nuclear missile potential. In two regiments there are 8 launchers of MRBM "Agni". In total, there are supposedly 80-100 Agni-1 missiles (flight range 1500 km), and 20-25 Agni-2 missiles (2-4 thousand km). The only regiment of OTR "Prithvi-1" (range 150 km) has 12 launchers (PU) of this missile. All these ballistic missiles are developed in India itself and can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads. Each of the 4 regiments of cruise missiles "Brahmos" (joint development of Russia and India) has 4-6 batteries, each with 3-4 launchers. The total number of Bramos missile launchers is 72. The Bramos is perhaps the most versatile missile in the world, it is also in service with the Air Force (it is carried by the Su-30 fighter-bomber) and the Indian Navy (many submarines and surface ships) …
MiG-27 of the Indian Air Force. Photo: Adnan Abidi / Reuters
India has a very powerful and modern tank fleet. It includes 124 tanks of Arjun's own design (124 more will be manufactured), 907 newest Russian T-90s (another 750 will be manufactured in India under a Russian license) and 2,414 Soviet T-72Ms, which have been modernized in India. In addition, 715 old Soviet T-55s and up to 1100 no less old Vijayant tanks of their own production (English Vickers Mk1) are in storage.
Unlike tanks, other armored vehicles of the Indian ground forces are, in general, very outdated. There are 255 Soviet BRDM-2, 100 British Ferret armored vehicles, 700 Soviet BMP-1 and 1100 BMP-2 (another 500 will be manufactured in India itself), 700 Czechoslovakian armored personnel carriers OT-62 and OT-64, 165 South African armored vehicles Kasspir , 80 British armored personnel carriers FV432. Of all the equipment listed, only the BMP-2 can be considered new, and very conditionally. In addition, 200 very old Soviet BTR-50 and 817 BTR-60 are in storage.
Much of the Indian artillery is also obsolete. There are 100 self-developed self-propelled guns "Catapult" (130-mm howitzer M-46 on the chassis of the tank "Vijayanta"; 80 more such self-propelled guns in storage), 80 British "Abbot" (105 mm), 110 Soviet 2S1 (122 mm). Towed guns - more than 4, 3 thousand in the army, more than 3 thousand in storage. Mortars - about 7 thousand. But there are no modern samples among them. MLRS - 150 Soviet BM-21 (122 mm), 80 own Pinaka (214 mm), 62 Russian Smerch (300 mm). Of all Indian artillery systems, only the Pinaka and Smerch MLRS can be considered modern.
It is armed with 250 Russian ATGM "Kornet", 13 self-propelled ATGM "Namika" (ATGM "Nag" of its own design on the chassis of the BMP-2). In addition, there are several thousand French ATGM "Milan", Soviet and Russian "Baby", "Konkurs", "Fagot", "Shturm".
The military air defense includes 45 batteries (180 launchers) of the Soviet Kvadrat air defense system, 80 Soviet Osa air defense systems, 400 Strela-1, 250 Strela-10, 18 Israeli Spyders, and 25 British Taygerkat. Also in service are 620 Soviet MANPADS "Strela-2" and 2000 "Igla-1", 92 Russian air defense missile systems "Tunguska", 100 Soviet ZSU-23-4 "Shilka", 2,720 anti-aircraft guns (800 Soviet ZU-23, 1920 Swedish L40 / 70). Of all the air defense equipment, only the Spider air defense systems and the Tunguska air defense missile systems are modern; the Osa and Strela-10 air defense systems and the Igla-1 MANPADS can be considered relatively new.
The army aviation is armed with about 300 helicopters, almost all of them are of local production.
The Indian Air Force includes 7 Commands - Western, Central, Southwest, Eastern, Southern Training, MTO.
The Air Force has 3 squadrons of OTR "Prithvi-2" (18 launchers in each) with a firing range of 250 km, can carry conventional and nuclear charges.
Attack aviation includes 107 Soviet MiG-27 bombers and 157 British Jaguar attack aircraft (114 IS, 11 IM, 32 combat training IT). All of these aircraft, built under license in India itself, are obsolete.
The backbone of fighter aircraft is the newest Russian Su-30MKI, built under license in India itself. There are at least 194 vehicles of this type in service, a total of 272 should be built. As mentioned above, they can carry the Brahmos cruise missile. 74 Russian MiG-29s are also quite modern (including 9 combat training UB; 1 more in storage), 9 own Tejas and 48 French Mirage-2000 (38 N, 10 combat training TN) … Remains in service with 230 MiG-21 fighters (146 bis, 47 MF, 37 combat training U and UM), also built in India under a Soviet license. Instead of the MiG-21, 126 French Rafale fighters are expected to be purchased, in addition, 144 5th generation FGFA fighters will be built in India based on the Russian T-50.
Tank T-90 Indian Armed Forces. Photo: Adnan Abidi / Reuters
The Air Force has 5 AWACS aircraft (3 Russian A-50, 2 Swedish ERJ-145), 3 American Gulfstream-4 electronic reconnaissance aircraft, 6 Russian Il-78 tankers, about 300 transport aircraft (including 17 Russian Il-76, 5 newest American C-17 (there will be 5 to 13 more) and 5 C-130J), about 250 training aircraft.
The Air Force is armed with 30 combat helicopters (24 Russian Mi-35s, 4 of its own "Rudra" and 2 LCH), 360 multipurpose and transport helicopters.
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 includes three Commands - Western (Bombay), Southern (Cochin), Eastern (Vishakhapatnam).
There is 1 SSBN "Arihant" of its own construction with 12 SLBMs K-15 (range - 700 km), it is planned to build another 3. However, due to the short range of missiles, these boats cannot be considered full-fledged SSBNs. The submarine "Chakra" (Russian submarine "Nerpa" pr. 971) is on lease.
There are 9 Russian submarines of project 877 in service (one more such submarine burned down and sank in its own base at the end of last year) and 4 German submarines of project 209/1500. Three newest French submarines of the "Scorpen" type are under construction, a total of 6 will be built.
The Indian Navy has 2 aircraft carriers - Viraat (formerly British Hermes) and Vikramaditya (former Soviet Admiral Gorshkov). Two of their own aircraft carriers of the Vikrant class are under construction.
There are 9 destroyers: 5 of the Rajput type (Soviet pr. 61), 3 of our own Delhi type and 1 of the Calcutta type (2-3 more Calcutta-class destroyers will be built).
In service there are 6 newest Russian-built frigates of the Talvar type (project 11356) and 3 even more modern self-built frigates of the Shivalik type. Remain in service with 3 frigates of the Brahmaputra and Godavari types, built in India according to British designs.
The Navy has the newest Kamorta corvette (there will be from 4 to 12), 4 corvettes of the Kora type, 4 of the Khukri type, 4 of the Abhay type (Soviet pr. 1241P).
In service there are 12 Veer-type missile boats (Soviet pr. 1241R).
All destroyers, frigates and corvettes (except "Abhay") are armed with modern Russian and Russian-Indian SLCMs and anti-ship missiles "Bramos", "Caliber", Kh-35.
Up to 150 patrol ships and patrol boats are in the ranks of the Navy and the Coast Guard. Among them are 6 Sakanya-class ships that can carry the Prithvi-3 ballistic missile (range 350 km). These are the only surface combat ships in the world with ballistic missiles.
The Indian Navy has an extremely insignificant mine-sweeping force. They include only 7 Soviet minesweepers, pr. 266M.
The airborne forces include the Dzhalashva DCKD (American type Austin), 5 old Polish TDKs of the project 773 (3 more in sludge), and 5 own Magar-class TDKs. At the same time, India has no marines, there is only a group of naval special forces.
The naval aviation has 63 carrier-based fighters - 45 MiG-29K (including 8 combat training MiG-29KUB), 18 Harrier (14 FRS, 4 T). The MiG-29K are intended for the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier and the Vikrant type under construction, the Harriers for the Virata.
Anti-submarine aircraft - 5 old Soviet Il-38 and 7 Tu-142M (1 more in storage), 3 newest American P-8I (there will be 12).
There are 52 German Do-228 patrol aircraft, 37 transport aircraft, 12 HJT-16 training aircraft.
Also in the naval aviation there are 12 Russian Ka-31 AWACS helicopters, 41 anti-submarine helicopters (18 Soviet Ka-28 and 5 Ka-25, 18 British Sea King Mk42V), about 100 multi-purpose and transport helicopters.
Aircraft carrier Vikramaditya. Photo: AFP / East News
In general, the Indian Armed Forces have a huge combat potential and significantly exceed the potential of their traditional adversary Pakistan. However, now the main adversary of India is China, whose allies are the same Pakistan, as well as Myanmar and Bangladesh bordering India in the east. This makes India's geopolitical position very difficult, and its military potential, paradoxically, insufficient.
Russian-Indian military-technical cooperation is exclusive. The point is not even that India has been the largest buyer of Russian weapons for several years now. Moscow and Delhi are already 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 of the world put together, including Russia itself.
At the same time, alas, not everything is cloudless in our relations. Surprisingly, many officials in Moscow have managed to fail to notice that India is already almost a superpower, and by no means the former third world country, which will buy everything that we offer it. As opportunities and ambitions grow, so do Indian demands. Hence the numerous scandals in the field of military-technical cooperation, most of which Russia is to blame. The epic with the sale of the aircraft carrier "Vikramaditya", which deserves a large separate description, especially stands out against this background.
However, it must be admitted that such scandals in Delhi arise not only with Moscow. In particular, in the course of the fulfillment of both major Indian-French contracts (for the Scorpen submarine and for the Rafale fighters), the same happens as with the Vikramaditya - a multiple increase in the price of products and a significant delay by the French in terms of their production. In the case of Rafals, this may even lead to the termination of the contract.
It is not cloudless in the field of geopolitics, which is much worse. India is our ideal ally. There are no contradictions, there are great traditions of cooperation, while, what is especially important, our main opponents are common - a group of Sunni Islamic countries and China. Alas, Russia began to impose on India the delusional idea of the "Moscow-Delhi-Beijing triangle", generated by one of our "outstanding politicians." Then this idea was very “successfully” supported by the West, throwing in the idea of BRIC (now - BRICS), which Moscow enthusiastically seized on and began to implement earnestly. Meanwhile, Delhi absolutely does not need an alliance with Beijing, its main geopolitical adversary and economic rival. It needs an alliance AGAINST Beijing. It is in this format that she would be happy to be friends with Moscow. Now India is being stubbornly pulled over by the United States, which understands perfectly well against whom Delhi is going to be friends.
The only thing that keeps India from completely disagreeing with "China-loving" Russia is the aforementioned exclusive military-technical cooperation. Maybe to some extent it will save us from ourselves.
