Indian Armed Forces at a glance

  Is canceling Russian weapons deals right or not?                           Maybe not… By- Kartikeya Semwal  Mig-29UPG of IAF We all know that China has been a pain in the ass for the past 2 years. And in order to deal with them effectively, we need a lot of weapons, of different types and pretty soon. And like before, Russia has offered them of which deals for some of them had been signed. These weapons included medium multirole 220 Kamov choppers for army and airforce, 10 KA-31 choppers for navy, 800 Igla-S atgm system & 21 Mig-29 UPGs, The last one was worth Rs.7000 crore and was considered as pretty costly.  Ka-31 chopper All the above-mentioned deals have been cancelled in the name of reducing weapon dependence and import in favour of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” & “made in India” schemes. But I’m worried about the last one, i.e. of cancelling purchase of 21 Mig-29 UPGs. These were much needed as ...

Tribute to India’s CDS Gen. Bipin Rawat, his wife, Lt. Gen. Lidder & 10 other myrtrs whom we lost on 8 Dec. 2021   By: Kartikeya Semwal My heart aches as I write this blog-post in memory of India’s first CDS General Bipin Rawat, his wife, Lt. Gen. Lidder and 10 other martyrs who we lost in the fateful chopper crash on 8/12/2021. I come from an army background family and had wanted to join Indian Army as a para commando. Due to that reason, I feel the loss of all these brave-hearts as a personal loss. Late CDS Gen. Bipin Rawat hailed from Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand which also happens to be my state. He got commissioned in Indian Army in December 1978 and joined the 5 th battalion of 11 Gorkha which also was his father’s unit. He was the first CDS who specialized in counter-insurgency warfare and had served in some of the most difficult environments of India across northern and eastern borders.  He was the mastermind behind reducing militancy in north-east states of Indi...

 Possible Missiles of India's Rocket Force By: Kartikeya Semwal We all know how India’s neighbour China has been trying to transgress and illegally occupy Indian land by force using its PLA Army since 2020, first at Depsang & then at Pangong-tso Lake. And since the second half of current year 2021, China has been deploying its Rocket Force against India on its borders. India too has deployed its different types of ballistic and cruise missiles such as Agni and Brahmos as a counter-measure but it doesn’t have a Rocket Force. But this will be a reality soon as India too has started work to raise its own Rocket Force that will have different types of missiles and rocket systems such as Pinaka, MRSAM and XRSAM. Here’s a list of possible missiles that can be a part of India’s own Rocket Force:- Surface to Surface Missiles- Prithvi-2 Prithvi 2 & 3- Prithvi is a type of short range surface to surface missile that has ranges of 350 & 600 kms respectively.  Agni 3 Ag...

  Indian Navy gearing up for underwater combat with Project 75-I By:- Kartikeya Semwal We all know that China has a lot of submarines and now that it has the largest navy in the world, it is trying to force in and get into the Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean region. Now there’s just one way to stop them from doing so, and that is- get more submarines for the Indian Navy. Keeping the Chinese challenge in mind, the Indian Navy is up on its toes and has started working to acquire new submarines in the next decade.  Indian Navy is going to acquire 6 latest generation attack subs by 2022 under Project 75i. Many of you won’t know about this project so let me tell you. The Project 75i is a program to acquire 6 Scorpene class diesel-electric submarines that will be powered by air-independent propulsion system (AIP). All these subs are designed by French company DCNS in partnership with Spanish firm Navantia. INS Kalvari   All these next-generation submarines are being built at ...

Are Indo-Japan Navies well prepared to counter PLA Navy? By:- Kartikeya Semwal Of late, China has been focusing on increasing its PLA Navy’s strength in terms of ships. In the name of trying to deal with anti-piracy missions and to provide humanitarian missions across the Indo-Pacific region, it has added over 150 ships in the past decade (2010-2020). And by doing so, China’s PLA Navy has transformed itself from a green-water to a blue-water navy that has reach and can operate anywhere. In the process, it has also surpassed the US Navy fleet in terms of combat ships.  PLA Navy Ships sailing in combat formation But little does everyone know that by using various excuses, China has improved its fleet only to encroach on maritime territories of neighboring countries that are smaller in size & can’t match PLA Navy’s firepower alone. And by encroaching other countries’ maritime areas, it wants to mine out all the available underwater resources including fishes. And this very issue...

  Indian Army’s hunt for Light Battle Tank: Options & Choices By: Kartikeya Semwal With the ever increasing threat of a short-term large scale war that India may have to fight in near future with China, a need has been felt by the Indian Army of an LBT (Light Battle Tank) that can be easily transferred by road, is light by weight, can move swiftly in rough mountainous terrains and carries enough fire power to push back enemies advancing troops. Not just that, it will also be able to launch counter-offensive strikes and support troops in tank vs tank warfare. Unlike China that has 3 rd generation Type-15 tank that weighs 36 tonne with fully loaded armour, Indian Army has Russian made T-72 tanks but they are 1 st generation tanks & lack in firepower, armour protection & can’t fire APFSDS (Armour Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabots) shells as of now. Keeping the month long standoff between armies of China & India in mind with PLA troops not moving back to...

By: Kartikeya Semwal With the ever-increasing escalation by China on India’s eastern border, chances of India fighting China in the near future cannot be ruled out. With the growing air-space violation by Chinese helicopters & jets & the number of jets being regularly being inducted by Chinese airforce, the need of having more & more combat-capable jets is being felt by IAF (Indian Air Force).  Chinese choppers. We all know that the induction of LCA Tejas is going on and the 1 st squadron of Tejas Mk-1 IOC variant has already been inducted while induction of 2 nd squadron having an improved Tejas Mk-1 FOC variant has just started from 27 May 2020. The ‘good thing’ about Tejas is that its second squadron will be complete (18 jets) in the next 12 to 18 months.    Tejas Mk-1.  But in order to meet the Chinese aerial threat, IAF needs to induct more new jets & modify and upgrade the existing ones. One such similar and much needed modifica...