If China, Pakistan and Sri Lanka attack India at the same time, how long will it take them to defeat India?
Friday, February 19, 2016
By: Debasish Pal - DefenceNews
There is such a lack of (say) faith of Indians in its armed forces, India is not still the India of the 60's but since you ask a question let me try to answer. Lets also assume no nuclear weapons are used (nuclear weapons don't leave much for any win scenarios or any point to this answer).
China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka (seriously SL!) join hands to defeat India. Lets see what can China do? The answer is not much.
China has only two points of entry for its ground force offensive against India (1st) through Ladakh (2nd) through Arunachal Pradesh and no not through Nepal (Nepal won't allow this and it's just not really possible for a massive ground force to get through the mountain ranges of Himalayas especially when there are no motor able roads). So in case of Ladakh they can be easily repealed by a handful of well placed regiments. Such is the nature of the Himalayas. It could be one of the most naturally defended place on Earth and the hardest to mount any meaningful offense, so Ladakh will become a slaughter house very fast as after a few bouts into the mountains it won't matter how many troops come in, they will be slaughtered.
Arunachal Pradesh has just recently started to develop infrastructure. It was not because India lacked the funds to build roads but because it was left to the wild as it is hardly defensible from our side and the perfect place for China to mount an offensive into India. So the basic strategy of India was if we can't exactly defend it let's make it hard for them to come in and this would delay the Chinese advance just enough to allow Indian Army to regroup in Sikkim and Bhutan (Yes, the Indian Army has a considerable presence in Bhutan) which happens to be the best place for the Indians to mount an offensive (towards the north-east) into China and cut off the logistical support lines of the Chinese troops in north-east India. This makes ground forces quite evenly matched.
Air forces of the two countries however are in no way evenly matched. China has the quantitative advantage and India's perceived advantage in quality is debatable (it's always assumed that China which is producing its jets at home are of lesser quality that could easily turn out to be false). India will have to compensate for it by deploying overwhelming no. of SAMs which would atleast ensure denial of air superiority to China. This leaves only one meaningful theater of war left that is between the two Navies and here too China enjoys an advantage in nos. But India enjoys the advantage of being the home team.
Two aircraft carrier battle groups which will be handy in the Bay of Bengal and their proximity to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands where due to its strategic location its fairly easy to fend off a larger Naval force from ever entering the Bay of Bengal. This choke point if used properly can potentially bring China to its knees. Also it helps us that most of nations in that region are not very fond of the Chinese either so they could be persuaded to provide intelligence.
Pakistan has no direct advantage with respect to India but still a sizable no. of Indian forces (Air,Navy and Army) will be engaged with China which makes it a bit harder to beat Pakistan but not really hard enough. Pakistan only holds one point of advantage in the Kashmir region which it will exploit and a sizable no. of its forces will engage the Indian Armed forces there whose objective will be to cut off our supply lines to our troops engaged with China in Ladakh. This will have to be defended until our ground forces can mount an offensive through Rajasthan and penetrate into Pakistan and with a population as volatile as of Pakistan it's quite possible to involve Balochistan rebels and Sindhi rebels into a freedom bid which will really be quite embarrassing for Pakistan.
China will not be able to reinforce Pakistan with troops as again it is not the best place for any significant Army to just pass through. Deployment of one of the Carrier Battle Group in the Arabian Sea will ensure the destruction of Pakistan's Navy and Ports and Air Strips. Air force of India has a stellar record of maintaining air superiority in all the wars involving Pakistan.
Sri Lanka (at risk of seeming cocky) will not consume more time than a day of rigorous bombing runs.
CONCLUSION ::
If all else fails we will arm every able bodied citizen of the country and send them to fight for their homeland(If Russia can defend itself against Hitler's Germany so can we) . I don't know about the rest but I think Indians after 800 years of sustained invasions by the Muslims and 200 years of British rule have lost their appetite to be invaded yet again.
I would rather fight than see my country and myself humiliated. It's my country and my future and I do intend to keep it that way. I'm not being a war monger but I just believe in 'hope for the best but be prepared for the worst' and if our history hasn't taught us this much then I don't know what will.
