WEAPONS AND MISSILES IN THE INDIAN ENVIRONMENT Major General P K Chakravorty, VSM (Retd) VIVEKANANDA INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION New Delhi Published in 2017 by Vivekananda International Foundation 3, San Martin Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi-110021, India www.vifindia.org @vifiindia © Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), September 2017 Designed & Printed by Alpha Graphics, New Delhi All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced or utilized in any form, or any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. The view are that of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Contents Abbreviations v Foreword ix Chapter I Elements of Weapons and Missiles 1 Chapter II Likely Developments 6 Chapter III Impact on India 35 Chapter IV Optimisation of Weapons and Missiles in the 41 Indian Environment of Hybrid Warfare and Conventional Warfare Chapter V Way Ahead 66 Vivekananda International Foundation Abbreviations ABM Anti Ballistic Missile AEW&C Airborne Early Warning and Control ALH Advanced Light Helicopter AWACS Airborne Warning and Control System AMSL Above Mean Sea Level BMC Battle Management Weapon Control Centre Cal Calibre CBRN Chemical, Biological. Radiological and Nuclear C4I2SR Command Control Communications Computer Information Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance DPP Defence Procurement Procedure DRDO Defence Research and Development Organisation DPSU Defence Public Service Unit FDC Fire Direction Centre GPS Global Positioning System FGFA Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft ICBM Inter Continental Ballistic Missile INS Inertial Navigation System ISR Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Vivekananda International Foundation vi Weapons and Missiles In The Indian Environment LOR Letter of Request LOA Letter of Acceptance LRLAP Long Range Land Attack Projectile MARV Manoeuvrable Re-entry Vehicle MGS Mounted Gun System MIRV Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles NCW Network Centric Warfare OP Observation Post QF Quick Firing. RFP Request for Proposal SP Self Propelled START Strategic Arms Reduction Talks TAR Tibet Autonomous Region TEC Technical Evaluation Committee TEL Transport Erector Loader Tr Tracked UAS Unmanned Aerial System UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle UCAV Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle Vivekananda International Foundation The Author Major General P K Chakravorty, VSM (Retd) is a former Deputy Director General of Perspective Planning Directorate, Defence Attaché to Vietnam and Additional Director General Artillery at Army Headquarters. Post- retirement, the Officer was an Advisor to Brahmos Aerospace. Author of many books, articles and projects for the country’s various top think tanks, Gen Chakravorty’s main areas of interest are geo-strategy, firepower, and defence procurement, issues on which he has organised and participated in numerous seminars at national and international levels. Foreword From times immemorial, fire power and manoeuvre have been the two significant pillars to the tangible aspects of military strategy. As a corollary, military’s tactical as well as technical leadership down the ages have endeavoured to devise ingenious means to achieve a congruence of these two aspects to shape the battle field. Fruition of this endeavour has accelerated over the past hundred years or so when military technology developed in leaps and bounds. Indeed, the modern means of long range and high volume firepower have enabled military commanders to achieve better engagement of targets and combine that with dominant manoeuvre to test the enemy forces. Firepower in the current era is characterised by multiple platforms– guns, howitzers, multi-rockets and missiles of various classes and capabilities. Management of such combat platforms require a range of support ancillaries to perform the tasks of surveillance, target acquisition, engagement, destruction, and finally, damage assessment. To that extent, management of firepower has assumed additional complexities of orchestrating the right combination of tactical, technical, logistic and financial factors before the firepower is actually brought to bear. Needless to state, exercise of that kind of acumen requires the professional education to be rooted at the origins of firepower, the courses of its development and finally the contemporary parameters of its application. This Monograph titled ‘Weapons and Missiles in the Indian Environment’ is a scholastic step aimed at delving into the background, development and x Weapons and Missiles In The Indian Environment current status of various area weapons and missiles in the Indian context. Going further, it also offers a glimpse of key milestones to be gone past. I am sanguine that military, research and development, and finance professionals would find the descriptions contained in this Monograph of much use in informed opinion making. Jai Hind, General NC Vij, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM (Retd) Director VIF New Delhi Former Chief of the Army Staff & Jul 2017 Founder Vice Chairman, NDMA Vivekananda International Foundation Chapter – I Elements of Weapons and Missiles “The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.” –Sun Tzu Salience of Fire Power Weapons and Missiles comprise the combination of Small Arms, Artillery, Air Defence, Tanks, Aircraft, Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs), Ships, Submarines and Unmanned water vehicles. The payload from these weapons could be Conventional, Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN). The use of nuclear bombs delivered by an aircraft at Hiroshima and Nagasaki saw the capitulation of Japan during the Second World War. Thereafter these elements have been used efficiently in numerous conflicts. In India’s case, the Kargil Conflict of 1999 terminated in favour of India due to preponderance of firepower delivered by these weapons by the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force. The use of 155 mm Bofors gun in effectively engaging the Tiger Hill and Tololing, as also the Indian Air Force using Mirage 2000 aircraft to release Laser Guided Bombs on the Tiger Hill in the third week of June 1999 paved the way for assaulting troops to reach their objectives. Similarly the effective use of weapons by the Indian Army compelled Pakistan to declare ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC) in 2003. It is an indisputable fact that Firepower and Manoeuvre have been two components on which battles were won. Classical use of these was seen Vivekananda International Foundation 2 Weapons and Missiles In The Indian Environment during the two Gulf Wars in 1990’s. However that was in open terrain which permitted freedom of movement. However, when we narrow it down to our mountainous borders with Pakistan and China, the issues become entirely different. Mountainous terrain on the Indian borders provides limited space for manoeuvre. Accordingly Firepower assumes greater importance. Therefore, asymmetry of firepower will decide victory in the Indian sub continent. Accordingly, making it extremely important to have a good assortment of guns, rockets and missiles. Globally, modernisation is being undertaken by all armed forces to enable them to fight in a Network Centric Warfare (NCW) environment. Accordingly all countries are restructuring their armed forces and transforming their strategic thinking. Armed forces’ networks essentially link the elements comprising of the sensor, command elements and the shooter to engage targets instantaneously. Therefore, the current focus is on precision stand-off strikes in real time. Fire power presently is undertaken from all four dimensions, which include land, sea, air and submerged surfaces of the sea. Outer space is being used currently for surveillance. However, despite the various space treaties, it is gradually becoming an area for deployment of weapons. Technologically, it would be practicable to consider deployment of anti-satellite and direct energy weapons in this region with developments taking place in this field. Extrapolating to the year 2050, fire power should be capable of breaking the enemy’s will to fight. This would entail causing physical damage as also psychologically attenuate his mental capabilities so as to set in a fear psychosis. Firepower from weapons and missiles essentially comes down to bringing effective fire on selected targets. The entire process entails getting details of the area to be engaged commonly referred to as surveillance, followed by selection of targets, and thereafter engaging the target. It is natural that the target may not have been effectively decimated. Accordingly, there is a need to undertake a Post Strike Damage Assessment (PSDA). These could lead to a correction or a reengagement to ensure destruction. Destruction of critical targets would break the enemy’s will to fight, thereby paving the way to success. Asymmetry Vivekananda International Foundation Elements of Weapons and Missiles 3 of fire power in future wars will lead to victory. The important decision to take here is finding the right mix of weapons and missiles to achieve optimised engagement of targets. The Elements Results will be achieved at the target end based on the diversity of application of weapons and missiles. The principal elements are weapon and missile platforms with ammunition, which can deliver from five dimensions: land, air, surface of the sea, below the surface of the sea (hereafter referred as sub- surface), and possibly in times to come, the outer