What matter is this
When ever our friends decide to talk about their recent purchases just remember this asset we have its called the Equalizer
This talk about conventional war, and conventional weapons do not do well -
What all nations need to look at is
a) Future is Russia - India - China - Pakistan - Iran - Middle east
b) If you want proxy war just look at what happened to Afghanistan and Iraq learn lessons from fighting
someone else's proxy wars
From a tactical point of view - India cannot sustain a three or four front war , and to be honest India really should look towards peace as oppose to starting new arms race in region
I think days of conventional war have ended - we live in world of 2 days war outcome
and sadly , due to the wind pattern in Sub continent any Nuclear fall out either side of border will ultimately destroy lands on either side
And I think , the wise man's view is resolve differences the talk of picking a fight with china is suicidal
Well in term of quantity vs quality perhaps what our Military head / analyst was trying to point was
look we will not sustain a 45 days war , the old conventional war if we are attacked it will be pretty stright forward quick path to mutual destruction
We can only sustain fight for 30 days , and likely Pakistan will use its Nuclear strike capabilities on a hostile nation
Des that points to a impotance in Indian forces , No , does it says the Indina airforce is useless No , what it points to is hard facts
a) World has changed - its not about who has more planes , or more frigates
b) Its about looking towards future
The current weapons trend will lead to chaos - and I think Mr Manmohan is right to persue a path of peace
Singling out China !!! is quite suicidal
An attack from Western front , and North , and East - plus possible second strike from Sea is not something India could handle , and frankly speaking is not really needed because most countries interested in SCO organization - should be really thinking about Trade and not a meaningless war
What Pakistani Minister stated is simple
"Don't expect us to be in long war, when we are attacked - we will go for a shortest path to victory"
And I think - the message is quite clear - inviting China - into mix just creates more headaches for India to be honest - I don't see why there even should be war in the region
While war may be a dream of a political nuckle head , who wants to attain votes perhaps reality is that the region just cannot afford to be thrown back to 1800 again
CHINA + Pakistan
Just too much to handle, who knows next time you turn around Srilanka or Bangladesh might also be on the other side
But it is tad bit bothersome why all of sudden India wants to start an arms race specially when its economy is doing well
At present India is going thru an Identity crisis
It does not know what to do
It has abandoned its close ally Russia , and its picking a fight with Russians best Ally China , and it already does not gets along with Pakistan who it cannot handle on its best days with out intervention from United Nations.
Air-force:
Virtual Tie - India has more planes but Pakistan has better missiles and 100 JF17 adds a punch
One could argue a small advantage in minor scrimmages but otherwise its a dead tie
Military:
India has better transport capabilities , helicopters and number of troops , Pakistan has tactical nukes it can fire from artillery so any troop advantage can be quickly done, India and Pakistan both have tanks , India has some special weapons (Smart bombs to take out bunch of tanks in one shot), but we have unlimited supply of baktar shiken, and hand held missiles. Same goes for helicopters does not matter if you have 2000 , if we have 10000 anza missiles the helicopters are toast. Plus its a known fact we own better artillery units, india still operates the age old stuff transported on trucks, the advantage India has is very minor
Missiles:
Dead tie , both nations have capability to cover each others full territory and any bases near by in other countries so its a dead tie , India has a better space program so they have slight advantage with that but that has no bearing on war , unless india setup a base on moon.
Navy:
Well untill recently india enjoyed a great advantage in this sector but with the arrival of Pakistani cruise missiles and , TOT of submarine and frigate technologies to Pakistan , Pakistan will have enough capability to hold its ground if not invade India , with the new ships arriving in Pakistan , and Submarines and missiles while India will hold an advantage with their aircraft carrier - but again , that is a trivial advantage because with one nuclear strike , all the planes on aircraft carrier would become "unoperational" and the aircraft carrier would be a sitting duck specially if the missile / aircraft was stealth, I would assume advantage india here but we have more trust in our NAVY and it will get stronger.
Finally the Stealth Strategic Assets:
We don't have it nor do india but even if India does gets Russian Stealth (thats if Russia trusts india specially after its snub in favor of USA) - Pakistan already is researching on its own stealth
Either way you look at it its just a virtual dead tie the situation is such that imagine if two ppl were arm wrestling and once they started there was just a tilt of just 10 degree to one side but after 1 hour nothing happened that is the situation with India and Pakistan.
Considering the above , if India decides to challenge China , I mean that is just suicidal the marginal numeric advantage that india had , nulllifies , and all sectors where it enjoyed an advantage now become "dis advantage" plus ...
now India has to protect 1000% more territory , diluting its defenses , because before they just watched
few 100 km now they have to protect 5000km plus region
Its just a political madness to really say China is India's enemy -
