Indian military’s capabilities: Handling a high-tech Chinese military

Source: The post is based on the article “Handling a high-tech Chinese military” published in the Business Standard on 4^th November 2022.

Syllabus: GS 3 – Security challenges and their management in border areas.

Relevance: About the challenges and advantages of the Indian military’s capabilities.

News: Recently, Prime Minister has laid the foundation stone for the C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing facility. He talked about his vision of “atmanirbharta” in the defence sector. But there remain serious questions over the Indian military’s capabilities.

What are the concerns associated with the Indian military’s capabilities?

India’s ability to prevail in the two-front war: China is fighting its version of an “informatised war.” In this killer robots, driven and enhanced by artificial intelligence, machine learning and quantum computing quickly will threaten the Indian Army that is driven in a more conventional manner.  An opportunistic Pakistani military might not ignore the opportunity to jump into battle. 

So, the Indian military going to such a battle in future using tactics and equipment very similar to those used in the 1999 Kargil conflict will severely limit India’s ability to prevail in such a battle.

Technological advancement in battle: The glimpses in Azerbaijan-Armenia and Ukraine show the new threat to ground forces is posed by remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs), or weaponised drones, that are driven by ultra-modern technologies. These can overleap the enemy’s forward defences to strike its reserve echelons and tactical infrastructures.

While Pakistan enjoys parity with India in legacy weapon systems, it is beginning to enjoy superiority in drone warfare. This is due to RPVs supplied by China, including the Wing Loong and RPVs obtained from Iran and Turkey.

India does not have a doctrine to counter new threats: India does not have a tactical, and operational doctrine for drones. This is a painful absence of a National Security Strategy (NSS).

India’s weakness in Grey Zone warfare: This involves information, disinformation, cyber-attacks, gathering electronic, signals and satellite intelligence and altering historical records. For instance, China did these in Tawang, Doklam and Ladakh.

India’s lag in conventional fields: China has dominance over India’s conventional fields, such as long-range fires and missiles to support ground operations.

How advantages are the Indian military’s capabilities compared to China?

Resilience and fighting quality of India’s combat forces: India has a significant advantage in this domain. Indian soldiers face high mountain terrain severely tests even the most rugged of them.

In contrast, the average Chinese soldier is a lone male child, pampered by an adoring family and ill-prepared for the hazards and discomforts of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

However, this will be diluted by the so-called Agniveers having only short-service tenures.

India is not alone: With India’s growing relations with Indo-Pacific democracies such as Japan, Australia, the UK and the US, India would quickly align and combine the Indian forces with the AUKUS and Quadrilateral groupings. This will split Chinese forces in two directions — the land border with India and the South China Sea maritime theatre.