US media has come up with a military reform idea for India, which is very suitable for use in military conflicts with China, but India cannot apply it in reality.

On the 17th, the US "Defense News" published an article discussing the gap between China and India's missile forces, stating that although India already possesses various ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, compared to the Chinese People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, India's missile force still has a long way to go.

The article claims that if the military conflict between China and India escalates, the environment of the Himalayas will limit large-scale ground operations, so mutual attacks with long-range strike weapons such as missiles will become an inevitable choice for both sides.

US media report

However, the gap between China and India's missile forces may put India in a dilemma: India either has to endure the PLA's missiles falling into its territory without being able to retaliate, or India may recklessly escalate the conflict into a nuclear war.

So, what is the gap between China and India's missile forces according to US media?

In short, compared to the PLA's unified management and deployment of various types of missiles, India has not yet established a professional missile force.

Although India proposed in 2021 to establish a joint rocket force to centrally manage all types of missiles, due to the obstruction of factionalism within the Indian military, this proposal has never been fully implemented. Currently, India's missiles are still managed separately by each branch of the military.

The short-range "Dhruv" series missiles and the medium or intercontinental "Agni" series missiles are still under the control of the Indian strategic command. The only ones theoretically assigned to the joint rocket force for management are the "Brahmos" cruise missiles or anti-ship missiles, as well as the "Pinaka" multiple rocket launcher system, which are considered "low-power" weapons.

India has developed various models of Brahmos

US media believes that this decentralized missile management model will greatly hinder India's response efficiency in emergency situations, because short-range missiles like the "Dhruv" series and medium-range missiles like the "Agni" series do not need to be classified as "strategic weapons," otherwise, "if a military conflict breaks out with China, India's longer-range, more powerful conventional missiles will not be effectively integrated, deployed, or launched."

Factually, the issue pointed out by the US media exists not only in the Indian military, but also in Pakistan.

In the May 2023 India-Pakistan conflict, the Pakistani Air Force made a great performance with its systematized combat capabilities, but the Pakistani ground forces did not have many highlights: after being attacked by Indian missiles, the Pakistani Army was unable to quickly organize an effective counterattack.

This is largely because Pakistan's missile and rocket artillery, like India, are scattered among different branches of the military, managed separately by the Army's artillery units or the Strategic Forces Command.

Table: The military structure of the Pakistani Army is extremely similar to that of India

Therefore, after the India-Pakistan conflict ended, Pakistan established a new Army Rocket Force Command based on the lessons learned from the war and its own military construction, responsible for integrating the conventional long-range strike weapons such as ballistic missiles, artillery, and rocket launchers previously scattered among the various branches of the military. Land-based nuclear weapons are still managed by the Pakistan Army's Strategic Forces Command.

Compared to Pakistan's swift actions, India is clearly much slower in this regard.

In 2021, India proposed to establish a joint rocket force, aiming to emulate the Chinese People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, but why did this initiative stagnate?

Because the head of India's military reform, Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, died in a plane crash the same year.

After the death of Bipin Rawat, military reforms in the Indian military either stopped or slowed down

Bipin Rawat was one of the few reformists in the Indian military. With the support of Modi, he pushed through a lot of modern military reforms, such as merging several single-service commands into cross-service joint operational commands to break down the barriers between the different branches of the military; introducing the concept of "Integrated Battle Groups" within the Army, attempting to establish combined arms units, etc.

Rawat's goal was to end the problem of the three services being separate and uncoordinated, but this would inevitably touch the interests of the conservative factions in the Indian military. Eventually, Rawat died in a plane crash less than a year into his tenure as Chief of Defence Staff.

After Rawat's death, the series of modernization military reforms he led gradually stalled, and the factionalism that had been suppressed in the Indian military resurfaced.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7562855493878694426/

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