The day of August 13, 2025, Pakistan was joyfully celebrating its 78th anniversary of independence. At that time, they announced the establishment of a Rocket Force Headquarters and clearly stated that it would be modeled after the Chinese People's Liberation Army Rocket Force's structure. This event caused a big stir in the South Asian geopolitical circle.

Especially in May 2025, there was a brief air battle between India and Pakistan, which made the Indian strategic community particularly attentive and vigilant. The newly established Rocket Force in Pakistan has significant implications, not only reorganizing and integrating its own military system, but directly throwing a "heavy bomb" into the balance of power in South Asia, challenging the existing balance of power.

Take May 2025, for example, the situation at the Kashmir border became extremely tense, directly triggering a four-day India-Pakistan air battle. In this air battle, India seized the loopholes in Pakistan's air defense and launched precise strikes; while Pakistan responded quickly, mobilized rapidly, shot down Indian aircraft, and then claimed to have achieved a "victory".

The conflict exposed the shortcomings in both sides' command coordination and long-range strike capabilities. Pakistan's response was to deepen its military cooperation with China, purchasing 40 J-35 stealth fighters, KJ-500 early warning aircraft, and HQ-19 anti-ballistic missile systems, and establishing the Rocket Force under this context.

The Rocket Force is positioned as a specialized unit integrating ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and hypersonic weapons, aiming to enhance Pakistan's precision strike and regional denial capabilities. This is not just a response to India's "Cold Start" rapid reaction strategy, but also reflects the deepening and strengthening of the "ironclad friendship" between China and Pakistan. Pakistan's establishment of the Rocket Force indicates that they are transitioning from a previous scattered use of missiles to a centralized, strategically planned operational model, which may greatly compress India's space for maneuvering in conventional warfare.

South Asian strategic balance has always been fragile, with nuclear triad and asymmetric conflicts defining India-Pakistan relations. The Indian strategic community believes that the emergence of Pakistan's Rocket Force introduces new complexities, possibly weakening India's advantage in limited conflicts. By unifying the command of long-range rocket and missile assets, the Rocket Force enhances Pakistan's ability to conduct large-scale, coordinated salvo attacks in the early stages of conflict, targeting India's air defense systems, airports, and command centers. This "saturation attack" strategy may force India to enter the nuclear threshold faster, challenging the effectiveness of its "Cold Start" theory.

Pakistan's missile arsenal, such as the "Babur" cruise missiles, "Shaheen" ballistic missiles, and "Fatah" series, when integrated under the Rocket Force, have upgraded from tactical support tools to strategic denial weapons. These systems have borrowed from Chinese technology, partly due to the transfer of the Chinese A-100 multiple rocket launcher system. The precise strike capability of the Rocket Force may make the previous advantages of the Indian Air Force in conflicts less obvious, and also tie down India's manpower and resources when it has to fight on multiple fronts.

India thinks that Pakistan's establishment of the Rocket Force has further strengthened the military cooperation between China and Pakistan, which also indirectly helps China to limit India's strategy in the Indo-Pacific region. Pakistan's confidence may also embolden its proxy activities in Afghanistan and other areas, complicating India's counter-terrorism efforts. In short, the establishment of Pakistan's Rocket Force is not just a military upgrade, but also a tool for geopolitical games.

The Rocket Force operates under the leadership of the Pakistani Army, parallel to the Army Strategic Forces Command responsible for nuclear assets, and is supervised by the Strategic Planning Directorate. This separation ensures a clear distinction between conventional and nuclear weapons, while granting the Rocket Force operational flexibility. The Rocket Force may be led by a Major General, directly reporting to the Army Chief or the Chief of Army Staff, and will include multiple rocket artillery brigades, cruise missile units, and potentially hypersonic weapon units.

The organizational structure of the Rocket Force imitates the Chinese People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, emphasizing specialized training, unified command, and rapid deployment. Compared to the previously dispersed missile assets, the centralized command of the Rocket Force shortens the decision-making chain and enhances response speed. This structure enables the Rocket Force to implement an operational mode of "precise, long-range, rapid strikes from a single command center," posing an agile and efficient threat to India.

Does India need its own Rocket Force?

The answer is definitely yes. The establishment of Pakistan's Rocket Force has exposed structural flaws in India's missile assets, which are currently spread across the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Since 2023, discussions within India about forming an integrated Rocket Force have gradually intensified. This structure has several advantages:

Quick Response: Centralized command shortens decision-making time and improves non-contact warfare capabilities.

Enhanced Cost-effectiveness: Integrating resources avoids redundant investments by the three services.

Strategic Signal: It demonstrates India's determination in conventional deterrence to Pakistan and China.

In summary, the establishment of Pakistan's Rocket Force serves as a warning in South Asian geopolitics. Its imitation of the Chinese Rocket Force and learning from its centralized command model mark a potential shift in the strategic balance. In this regard, the Indian military lags behind, and falling behind means being beaten, which is the iron rule.



Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7543079041240777266/

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