How Pakistan could effectively cripple Indian’s air force with rocket artillery, and what is needed.

[Philip the Arab]

really? You expect the Indians to allow sustained ‘barrages’ to inflict irreparable damage to their base-with no attempt to take the launchers down? Are the Indians that inept? I don’t think so..

It would be hard to find where the MLRS launchers are actually at, and with good counter battery radars, PAF and LY-80 coverage it would be hard to take them down.

 

[XTQ1999]

Yes it is, airports are huge and barrages of 30-40 rockets combined with the fragmentation that spreads meters would almost ensure destruction.

destruction of what? airports are huge, and need a lot of warheads to cause proper damage, if your intention is to take it out of operation, you will target runways which requires precision, if your targets are the aircraft, you also need precision. Airports are huge, but they are huge because there is a lot of empty space.

Airfields can also be repaired very fast

 

[dbc]

It would be hard to find where the MLRS launchers are actually at, and with good counter battery radars, PAF and LY-80 coverage it would be hard to take them down.

nah! You can locate it in 5 seconds..

 

[Philip the Arab]

nah! You can locate it in 5 seconds..

How? Magic?

 

[dbc]

How? Magic?

it’s called fire finding radar..google it

 

[Philip the Arab]

destruction of what? airports are huge, and need a lot of warheads to cause proper damage, if your intention is to take it out of operation, you will target runways which requires precision, if your targets are the aircraft, you also need precision. Airports are huge, but they are huge because there is a lot of empty space.

Airfields can also be repaired very fast

Didn't Americans take out Iraqi airbases with Tomahawks? How would you disable the GPS at airports in the first place without interfering with aircraft operation? Chinese rockets have the accuracy needed for that using GPS, and even inertial is something like 50-100 meters CEP.

Even 1 rocket hitting a runway will disable operations for at least a few hours. That video is not fast, by that time you could launch another wave of rockets and kill all the workers.

it’s called fire finding radar..google it

Yes, but how will you counter that? What weapons does India have that can reliably reach a target in a few minutes that wouldn't be detected. Shoot and Scoot is a thing you know?

 

[dbc]

Yes, but how will you counter that? What weapons does India have that can reliably reach a target in a few minutes that wouldn't be detected. Shoot and Scoot is a thing you know?

the mighty Brohmos !! Or simply their own rocket artillery

 

[Philip the Arab]

the mighty Brohmos !! Or simply their own rocket artillery

Nah, Brahmos is good for static targets with large radar signature.

Rocket artillery they have is old Soviet with no accurate rockets I know of guided by GLONASS/GPS.

 

[Yankee-stani]

Nah, Brahmos is good for static targets with large radar signature.

Rocket artillery they have is old Soviet with no accurate rockets I know of guided by GLONASS/GPS.

Yet Pakistan was able to honeypot a horny pajeet of Brahmos plans lol

 

[Philip the Arab]

Yet Pakistan was able to honeypot a horny pajeet of Brahmos plans lol

Brahmos is not even a god of a missile like people claim, it is a rebranded "Streaker" Cold War missile that NATO(And American Made) ships are geared towards.

 

[Yankee-stani]

Brahmos is not even a god of a missile like people claim, it is a rebranded "Streaker" Cold War missile that NATO(And American Made) ships are geared towards.

Of course any Soviet junk will be pushed by the Indians as something big

 

[Genghis khan1]

it’s called fire finding radar..google it

That’s why MLRS use shoot and scoot tactic. Challenge is to keep their movement secret. Because enemy can preempt the tactics based on Employment of weapon.

This writing is my short opinion, and research based article for the Best Writer completion. I don't expect to win, and that was not my complete goal here I am just trying to give my opinion on a underutilized strategic weapon. This is my first real article here that I gave a good effort on so go easy on me please.


Long range multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) are somewhat underappreciated systems that can be used effectively in a suppressive role and are a much cheaper alternative then cruise missiles yet allow much more payload delivered on target. Pakistan could in theory use rocket artillery with ranges varying from 100 to 400km acquired from nations that are recent suppliers of Pakistan that produce these systems namely, Turkey, and China.[1][2] Assuming Pakistan could use its MLRS in an offensive role like how America used its Tomahawk cruise missiles in the early stages of the Iraq war, and more recently in the April 2017 strikes on Syrian airbases thereby rendering roughly 20% of the Syrian air force destroyed. [3]


Currently Pakistan has A-100 which lacks range, and accuracy to hit more then a few airbases without coming very close to the LOC and within striking range of well-placed strikes. I have taken the liberty of making a map of the Western Air Command to the best of my knowledge with public sources with the range of the A-100 overlapped. As you can see at most Pakistan can take out a few airbases with concentrated strikes of 50+ rockets absolutely decimating targets with a large 200kg fragmentation warhead that will decimate aircraft runways and allow PAF aircraft to destroy the aircraft on the ground.[4]

View attachment 621095

One solution to this problem would be Pakistan acquiring longer range MLRS such as the A300 manufactured by China and currently used by the PLA army. The A-300 has a maximum range of 290 kilometers, a 150kg warhead roughly 1/3 the explosives of the Tomahawk and is not bound by MTCR rules which China follows.[5] This range would allow destruction, or a significant disruption in operation of airbases which would allow Pakistani fighters to operate much more easily inside of India without a major fighter threat for at least a few weeks as India is forced to make new airbases and operate further inside of India. I have again taken the liberty of making a map with the A300 launched from or near Lahore overlain over Indian airbases. As is evident, only about five bases would survive assuming a success rate of 100%, this scenario is only about the Western air command, but it can be applied to the South Western Air command as well. The other five airbases could be taken out by cruise missiles in Pakistani service such as the Babur.[6]

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@Slav Defence @Irfan Baloch @WebMaster @WAJsal @Horus

If they are in range, so is PAF bases. Any strategy will come down to element of surprise and speed of execution.

 

[Philip the Arab]

If they are in range, so is PAF bases. Any strategy will come down to element of surprise and speed of execution.

India doesn't have the same thinking cycle, they think they will be ahead and use tactics similar to America in the Cold War. Russia was developing long range MLRS while America was not.

 

[BL33D]

It would be hard to find where the MLRS launchers are actually at, and with good counter battery radars, PAF and LY-80 coverage it would be hard to take them down.

In such a scenario, I dont understand why you are counting on a equal and specific response. The response would be varying and assymetric. There would be a much large scale response and the forward air bases will be the initial target. Attacking first without gauging the extent one could go or completely creepling the western defense of India will be a mistake. Because you would have no control over the retaliation. A real bad scenario. Pretty sure Pakistan Army is much more intelligent than this.

 

[Philip the Arab]

In such a scenario, I dont understand why you are counting on a equal and specific response. The response would be varying and assymetric. There would be a much large scale response and the forward air bases will be the initial target. Attacking first without gauging the extent one could go or completely creepling the western defense of India will be a mistake. Because you would have no control over the retaliation. A real bad scenario. Pretty sure Pakistan Army is much more intelligent than this.

What retaliation, give me an example of things India could do and long range weaponry it has? This is full blown war scenario, not a minor skirmish. India would have do something drastic first in order for this to be done.

Launch a ballistic missile and let it get interpreted the wrong way and be ready for nuclear war.