India's participation in military organizations. Army of India. Indian Ground Forces

Currently, India is confidently among the top ten world powers in terms of its military potential. The armed forces of India are inferior to the armies of the United States, Russia and China, but still very strong and numerous. It could not be otherwise in a country with a population of about 1.3 billion people. In terms of military spending in 2014, India was ranked 7th in the world - $ 50 billion (data from the Stockholm Peace Research Institute).

More than 1.3 million people serve in the Indian armed forces (3rd place in the world). Speaking of the Indian armed forces, it is worth remembering that India is the world's largest importer of weapons (as of 2012), and also possesses nuclear weapons and their means of delivery.

In addition to the armed forces themselves, India has a variety of paramilitary forces, in which about 1.1 million people serve: national security forces, special border forces, special paramilitary forces. As of 2015, the population of India is 1 billion 276 million people (the second largest population in the world, after China). At the same time, the country's mobilization resources are estimated at least 270 million people, of which 160 million are fully fit for military service.

The armed forces of India are designed to organize the defense of the Republic, protect the freedom and independence of the country, this is one of the most important weapons political power. The personnel of the Indian armed forces have a high level of moral, psychological and combat training and serve on a contract basis; there is no mandatory conscription in India. For India, due to the huge population and the difficult ethno-confessional situation, recruiting the armed forces by conscription is simply not possible.

Speaking about the armed forces of India, it can be noted that they are relatively young. The armed forces of the independent Republic of India appeared only in 1947. At the same time, they were formed on the basis of military contingents that went to the country when it was divided into two British dominions - the Indian Union and Pakistan. At the same time, units with personnel practicing Hinduism and other religions, with the exception of Islam, were included in the Indian armed forces, and Muslim military personnel were included in the Pakistani army. The official date of the formation of the national armed forces of India is August 15, 1949.

A feature of the Indian armed forces is very close cooperation with the Russian military-industrial complex. The Indian army is armed with a huge amount of military equipment and weapons produced by the Soviet Union and Russia. For example, the largest fleet of T-90 tanks in the world is not possessed by Russia, but by India. At the same time, both countries are actively cooperating in the military-technical sphere, carrying out the joint development of various weapons. India is currently the most important importer Russian weapons, at the same time, the country cooperates quite closely with the UK, France and in Lately with the USA.

At present, Russian-Indian cooperation is exclusive. And it's not that India has been buying arms from Russia for decades. Delhi and Moscow are jointly working on the creation of modern weapons systems, and quite unique ones, such as the Brahmos missile, or the 5th generation fighter - FGFA. The leasing of a nuclear submarine also has no analogues in world practice (Russia leased the Nerpa nuclear submarine to India for 10 years), the USSR had a similar experience in this area in the 1980s with the same India.

At the same time, India has its own military-industrial complex, which is able to produce weapons and equipment of all classes, including nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles. However, this is more in theory, since the models of weapons created in India itself, as a rule, have lower tactical and technical characteristics in comparison with foreign counterparts, and their development has been going on for decades. Most good example in this regard, this is the Indian Arjun tank, the development of which lasted about 37 years.

Samples of equipment assembled in the country under foreign licenses are not the most reliable either. For example, according to experts, the high accident rate in the Indian Air Force may be associated with this factor. However, despite all of the above, India has everything to become one of the world's major superpowers in the 21st century.

Indian Ground Forces

The ground forces of India are the largest component of the country's armed forces, they serve at least 1.1 million people (there are 990 thousand reservists). In its composition, the ground forces have a Training Command (headquarters in Shimla), as well as 6 territorial commands - Central, Northern, Western, Southwestern, Southern and Eastern. At the same time, the 50th airborne brigade, two regiments of Agni IRBM launchers, one regiment of Prithvi-1 OTR launchers and four regiments armed with Brahmos cruise missiles.

The Indian ground forces have 12 army corps headquarters, 36 divisions (18 infantry, 3 armored, 4 rapid deployment divisions, 10 mountain infantry and one artillery). In addition, the SV has 15 separate brigades (5 armored, 7 infantry, 2 mountain infantry and 1 airborne), as well as 12 air defense brigades, 3 engineering brigades and 22 helicopter squadrons of army aviation.

Indian T-90

Currently, India has a rather impressive tank fleet, which is mainly equipped with modern vehicles. The army has received 124 Arjun tanks of its own design, with plans to supply 124 more, while work is underway on a modernized version of the Arjun-2. Also, the troops have 1250 modern Russian T-90 MBTs, it is planned to produce another 750 of these tanks under license. Also in stock are up to 2400 Soviet T-72M MBTs that have been or are being upgraded. In addition, up to 1,100 old Vijayanta tanks of our own production (British Vickers Mk1) and up to 700 Soviet T-55 tanks are in storage.

Unlike tanks with other weapons, things are much worse. Basically, the fleet of other Indian armored vehicles is outdated. The country has about 100 BRDM-2s, about 1200 BMP-2s and up to 300 different armored personnel carriers. Currently, the BMP-2 fleet is being modernized. In 2006, 123 vehicles were converted into the BMP-2K variant, armored vehicles are assembled under a Russian license in India, while the Indian Ministry of Defense plans to purchase another 149 BMP-2K.

Most of the Indian artillery is also outdated. The troops have up to 100 self-developed Catapult self-propelled guns - a 130-mm M-46 howitzer on the chassis of the Vijayanta tank, and about 80 more of these vehicles are in storage. There are also 110 Soviet 122-mm self-propelled guns 2S1 "Gvozdika" and 80 British 105-mm self-propelled guns "Abbot".

It is curious that in September 2015, India held a tender for the purchase of 155-mm self-propelled guns, which was won by the South Korean K9 Thunder artillery system, which bypassed the Russian one. This South Korean self-propelled gun is definitely a success in the international market, it was also chosen as the main one in the Turkish armed forces. The production of the K9 Thunder SPG will be deployed in India, it is reported that the armed forces will purchase at least 500 of these SPGs.

BMP-2 Indian Army

In addition, about 4.3 thousand towed guns of various calibers are in service, more than 3 thousand in storage and about 7 thousand mortars. There are also practically no modern samples among them. At the same time, since 2010, India has been trying to purchase 145 light 155-mm M-777 howitzers from the United States, the deal has been discussed for 5 years, but it seems that in May 2015 things got off the ground and howitzers will be delivered to the country.

The situation with the MLRS is similar in terms of the availability of new samples. India has about 150 Soviet (122 mm), 80 MLRS of its own design "Pinaka" (214 mm) and 62 Russian systems "Smerch" (300 mm). At the same time, "Pinaka" and "Smerch" can be attributed to modern jet systems salvo fire.

Also, the ground forces are armed with about 250 Russian-made Kornet anti-tank systems, 13 Namika self-propelled anti-tank systems (Indian Nag anti-tank systems on the BMP-2 chassis), in addition to this, there are several thousand Soviet and Russian Malyutka and Fagot anti-tank systems , "Competition", "Sturm", French ATGM "Milan".

Upgraded Indian MBT "Arjun"

The basis of army air defense is the Soviet / Russian air defense systems "Strela-10" (250), Osa (80), "Tunguska" (184), "Shilka" (75), as well as Indian short-range air defense systems "Akash" (300). The army aviation is armed with about 300 helicopters, almost all of Indian production.

Indian Air Force

In terms of the number of aircraft, the Indian Air Force is in fourth place in the world, behind the United States, Russia and China. Wherein the Air Force has about 1,800 aircraft of all types, including about 900 combat vehicles. About 150,000 people serve in the Indian Air Force. Organizationally, they are an integral part of the combined branch of the armed forces - the Air Force and Air Defense (Air Defense). The country's air force has 38 headquarters of aviation wings and 47 squadrons of combat aviation, the country has a developed network of airfields.

Past and present of the Indian Air Force: MiG-21 and Su-30MKI

The Indian Air Force Headquarters consists of the following departments: operational planning, intelligence, combat training, electronic warfare, meteorological, financial and communications. Also subordinate to the headquarters are 5 aviation commands and one training (headquarters in Bangalore), which manage the Air Force units in the field: Central (Allahabad), Western (Delhi), Eastern (Shillong), Southern (Trivandrum) and Southwestern (Gandhinagar).

A serious problem of the Indian Air Force throughout for long years is a high accident rate. From the early 1970s to the early 2000s, the Indian Air Force lost an average of 23 aircraft and helicopters each year. At the same time, the largest number of flight accidents falls on the Soviet ones, which were produced in India, and for a long time formed the basis of its fleet. In the Indian Air Force, these aircraft have earned themselves a reputation as "flying coffins" and "widowmakers". From 1971 to April 2012, 482 such fighters crashed in India (this is more than half of the 872 MiG-21s that were received by India). At the same time, at least 150 such machines remain in service, 120 of which are planned to be operated at least until 2019.

In general, the basis of the Indian Air Force is Soviet / Russian-made aircraft and helicopters. Attack aviation was represented by Soviet MiG-27s (113 vehicles), most of them were planned to be decommissioned in 2015, and about 120 British Jaguar fighter-bombers. All of these aircraft were built in India under license and are now obsolete.

Su-30MKI

Much better is the situation with fighter aircraft. The Air Force has about 220 modern Russian ones, their total number will be increased to 272. In terms of the number of Su-30 fighters in service, the Indian Air Force bypasses Russian Air Force. There are also 62 MiG-29 fighters in service, all of them have been upgraded to the MiG-29UPG (53) and MiG-29UB-UPG versions.

In addition, there are 50 French Mirage-2000 fighters and 11 more such training machines. It is planned to upgrade them to the level of "Mirage 2000-5", which will extend the period of their operation for another 20 years. In addition, the Indian Air Force is starting to receive a fourth-generation light multipurpose fighter of its own design - HAL Tejas, since 2014 14 fighters have been built, including prototypes. In total, it is planned to build about 200 such aircraft for the Indian Air Force, which should completely replace the MiG-21 and MiG-27.

India also has AWACS aircraft, there are three Russian A-50EI and three DRDO AEW & CS aircraft of a joint Indian-Brazilian development. There are also three American Gulfstream-4 electronic intelligence aircraft, six Russian Il-78 tanker aircraft, and another 6 European Airbus A330 MRTT will be delivered.

In transport aviation, there are 17 Il-76MD, 105 An-32, part of the aircraft has been modernized in Ukraine since 2009, the rest will be modernized directly in India. At the same time, India plans to replace all Soviet Il-76MD, which have been in operation for more than 28 years, with the latest American C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft. In 2010, a contract was signed for the purchase of 10 such aircraft, with a possible option to purchase 6 more aircraft. The first aircraft was handed over to the Indian Air Force in January 2013.

Light multirole fighter HAL Tejas

The Air Force is armed with about 30 combat helicopters, including 24 Russian Mi-35, 4 helicopters of own production "Rudra" and 2 LCH. In addition, about 360 multi-purpose and transport helicopters are operated, among which a large number of Soviet Mi-8 and Russian Mi-17, Mi-17V5, as well as Mi-26.

Indian Navy

The Indian Navy includes the Navy, Naval Aviation and Special Forces units. Currently, about 58,000 people serve in the Navy, including about 1,200 in the marines and about 5,000 in naval aviation. The Navy is armed with more than 180 ships and 200 aircraft. The Indian Navy uses three main naval bases to base warships - Kadamba (in the Goa region), Mumbai and Visakhapatnam. At the same time, the Navy includes three commands - Western (Bombay), Southern (Cochin) and Eastern (Vishakhapatnam).

The Indian submarine fleet has one of its own design with 12 K-15 SLBMs (range 700 km), it is planned to build 3 more submarines of this type. At the same time, the missile launch range is quite modest. Also under lease is one Russian nuclear submarine "Nerpa" of project 971, which received the Indian name "Chakra". In addition, 9 Russian diesel engines are in service. submarines project 877 "Halibut" and 4 German submarines of project 209/1500. Also under construction are 3 modern French submarines of the "Scorpion" type, in total it is planned to build 6 such submarines.

On the deck of the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya.

Currently, the Indian Navy has two aircraft carriers - the Viraat (formerly the English Hermes) and the Vikramaditya (the former Soviet Admiral Gorshkov). In addition, the construction of two own aircraft carriers of the Vikrant type is underway. The Indian Naval Aviation has 63 carrier-based fighters - 45 MiG-29K (including 8 combat trainers MiG-29KUB) and 18 Harriers. MiG-29K fighters are designed to arm the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier (the composition of the air group is 14-16 MiG-29K and 4 MiG-29KUB, up to 10 helicopters) and the Vikrant and Harrier type aircraft carriers under construction are used on the Viraat.

Anti-submarine aviation is represented by the old Soviet Il-38 - 5 aircraft, Tu-142M - 7 aircraft (one in storage) and three modern American R-8I (a total of 12 were ordered). In addition, Indian naval aviation has 12 Russian Ka-31 AWACS helicopters, 41 anti-submarine helicopters, including 18 Soviet Ka-28 and 5 Ka-25, as well as 18 British Sea King Mk42V.

Talwar-class frigate

The surface forces of the fleet are quite diverse. There are 9 destroyers: 5 of the Rajput type (Soviet project 61), 3 of our own type of Delhi and one of the Kolkata type (2-3 more destroyers of this type will be built). Also in service are 6 modern Russian-built frigates of the Talvar type (project 11356) and 3 even more modern own-built Shivalik type. The Navy has the latest Kamorta corvette (from 4 to 12 units will be built), 4 Corvettes of the Kora type, 4 of the Khukri type, 4 of the Abhay type ( soviet project 1241P).

It is worth noting that all destroyers, frigates and corvettes (except for the Abhay) of the Indian fleet are armed with modern Russian and Russian-Indian sea-based cruise missiles and Caliber, Brahmos, X-35 anti-ship missiles.

Nuclear Forces of India

In the structure of the armed forces of India, a special structure was created to manage the existing nuclear forces - NCA (Nuclear Command Authority), the Nuclear Command Administration. At the same time, this governing body is not only military, but also military-political. This command deals with issues of nuclear planning for defense, and is also responsible for making and implementing decisions on the use of nuclear weapons to repel external aggression, the command is headed by the Prime Minister of the country.

The military command and control body reporting directly to the NCA and the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Indian Armed Forces is the SFC - Strategic Forces Command, which was established in 2003. This command is responsible for coordinating the actions of the nuclear components of the ground forces and the country's air force, represented by units of the ground forces equipped with ground-based ballistic missiles and aviation squadrons armed with carrier aircraft nuclear bombs. In the foreseeable future, the SFC will also take control of India's emerging naval strategic nuclear forces.

Most of the rocket nuclear capability India is concentrated in the ground forces, which have two regiments of 8 launchers of medium-range ballistic missiles "Agni". In total, presumably, India has 80-100 Agni-1 missiles (700-900 km), up to 20-25 Agni-2 missiles (2000-3000 km) and a number of extended-range ballistic missiles of the Agni- 3" (3500-5000 km) . Also in the only regiment of operational-tactical missiles "Prithvi-1" (150 km) there are 12 launchers for these missiles.

All of the listed missiles can be carriers of both conventional warheads and nuclear warheads. The carriers of nuclear weapons in the Indian Air Force can be both Russian Su-30MKI fighters and the French Mirage-2000.

According to experts, today India has a limited stock of nuclear warheads, in combat readiness - about 30-35 warheads. At the same time, the country has a certain number of ready-made components for completing new charges. It is believed that, if necessary, India will be able to produce another 50-90 nuclear warheads rather quickly.

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Armed Forces of India(Hindi भारतीय सशस्‍त्र सेनाएँ , English Indian Armed Forces) - the military organization of India, designed to defend the Republic, protect the freedom and independence of the state, one of the most important instruments of political power. There is no mandatory call.

India ranks first in the world in terms of arms imports (2012). India has nuclear weapons.

For 2018, it ranks fourth in the ranking of the strongest armies in the world after the US Armed Forces, Russia and China.

General information

More than 1.3 million people serve in the armed forces of India (3rd place in the world). In terms of military spending in 2014, India ranked 7th in the world - $50 billion.

The official date of formation of the national armed forces of India is August 15, 1949, when the army was first led by the Indian General Kodandera Kariappa (English)Russian. They were formed on the basis of the military units of the army of British India, the Royal Indian Air Force and the ships of the fleet of British India, which the Indian Union received during the division of British India in 1947. At the same time, units with personnel practicing Hinduism were included in the armed forces of India and other religions with the exception of Islam.

The general direction and financing of the armed forces is carried out by the Ministry of Defense. Traditionally, it is led by a civilian. Most of the employees of the Department of Defense, including both Deputy Ministers, are also civilians. The supreme body of military command is the committee of chiefs of staff, which includes the chiefs of staff (commanders) of the ground forces, the air force and the navy, who take the position of chairman in turn.

In military-administrative terms, the territory of the country is divided into five military districts: Northern, Western, Central, Southern, Eastern.

The armed forces are completed by recruiting volunteers from among Indian citizens, regardless of their religious or caste affiliation. However, many military units are recruited on an ethno-regional basis. The officer corps is subdivided into officers of the personnel and non-personnel service. The cadre of officers is recruited from graduates of military educational institutions. Non-professional officers are recruited mainly from among civilians with higher education and those wishing to temporarily serve in the armed forces.

The initial three-year officer training is conducted at the National Military Academy in Khadakwasla. (English)Russian and at the College of the Army in Mhou (English)Russian. Upon graduation, cadets are sent for further training to the Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun. (English)Russian and Air Force Academy (English)Russian with a training period of 1-1.5 years, after which they are awarded officer ranks. Graduates of the Naval Department of the National Military Academy are awarded officer ranks after one and a half years of service on training and warships.

At the staff college (English)Russian officers with a length of service of at least six years are being trained, from the positions of company commander, equal to them and higher (up to division commander). The reserve of the armed forces (535 thousand people) consists of the reserve of the first stage of the ground forces - 300 thousand people who have served at least 5 years in regular units (in war time another 500 thousand people under the age of 50 can be recruited), the territorial army (volunteer army) - 40 thousand, the Air Force reserve - 140 thousand and the Navy reserve - 55 thousand people.

Composition of the armed forces

The Regular Armed Forces of India include

In addition, there are various paramilitary formations in India (about 1,090 thousand people): national security forces, special paramilitary forces, special border forces and a number of others. The country's mobilization resources are 770 million people, of which 560 million are fit for military service.

Coast security

Coast Guard - about 8 thousand people, 12 patrol ships, 22 patrol boats, 20 aircraft, 15 helicopters.

Nuclear weapon

India made its first test of a 20 kiloton nuclear weapon on May 18, 1974 at the Pokharan test site in Rajasthan. India officially became a nuclear power in 1998, having completed a series of 5 Shakti-98 underground nuclear tests.

A special structure has been created in the structure of the Indian armed forces to control nuclear forces - NCA (Nuclear Command Authority), Nuclear Command Administration. This is not only a military, but also a military-political governing body. The Nuclear Command deals with nuclear planning for defense, is responsible for making and implementing the decision to use nuclear weapons to repel external aggression, and is headed by the Prime Minister.

The body of operational and technical military control, directly subordinate to the NCA and the chairman of the committee of chiefs of staff of the armed forces of India, is the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) formed in 2003. It coordinates the actions of the nuclear components of the ground forces and the air force, represented by ground forces equipped with ground-based ballistic missiles and air squadrons of aircraft carrying nuclear bombs. In the foreseeable future, the SFC's responsibility will also include the currently created naval strategic nuclear forces.

The command of the strategic forces has at its disposal, as part of the ground forces, two groups of tactical ballistic missiles "Prithvi-2", one group of tactical ballistic missiles "Agni-1" and medium-range missiles "Agni-2", "Agni- 3", "Agni-4". In the Indian Air Force, French Mirage-2000N tactical fighters and Russian Su-30MKIs can be carriers of nuclear weapons. Marine component of their nuclear forces India began to create even with the help of the USSR. In 1988, the K-43 nuclear submarine of project 670 was leased to the Indian Navy. In India, it was called the Chakra, for three years of its lease, Indian sailors received a unique experience in its use. This good tradition has been continued in the Russian Federation; the multi-purpose nuclear submarine K-152 (“Nerpa”) of project 971I built in Komsomolsk-on-Amur is intended for the Indian Navy. The lease term will be up to 10 years, the Indians also called it "Chakra". In addition, the Indians themselves are building nuclear submarines, and strategic ones, armed with nuclear ballistic missiles. Under the ATV (Advanced Technology Vessel) program, three nuclear submarines are being built, the project was created back in the late 80s. The lead nuclear submarine "Arihant" (in Sanskrit means "Enemy Destroyer") will be commissioned this year or 2012. Its striking power is 12 K-15 Sagarika medium-range ballistic missiles. This missile was developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization's (DRDO) Hyderabad Missile Center - the same one that created the Agni and Prithvi missiles. The first underwater launch of Sagariki from a submerged test pontoon took place in 2008. The following Indian nuclear submarines may be armed with more long-range ballistic missiles K-X, which is a naval version of the Agni-3 land-based missile. India plans to lay down two more nuclear submarines.

Tamil military expert Krishnaswami Subrahmanyam.
Photo courtesy of www.foreignpolicy.com

Any war contributes to a deep transformation of the army and a revision of the main approaches to ensuring the security of the state. This is exactly what happened in 1999, after a three-month war between Pakistan and India in the disputed Kargil region of Kashmir province (Kargil, Kashmir), which ended in victory for India. This was already the 4th Indo-Pakistani military conflict - after the First Kashmir War of 1947 (First Kashmir War), Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar of 1965 (Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar) and Pakistan's Operation Search for Light during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 year (Operation Searchlight, Bangladesh Liberation War).

It would seem that this conflict zone is not surprising in the world community - the region is explosive. However fundamental difference The 4th episode of the aggravation of relations between India and Pakistan concluded that it was a real war between two nuclear powers. India joined the nuclear club in 1974, Pakistan in 1998.

FOUR BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR MODERNIZATION

The military-practical "value" of the Kargil conflict, which made certain lessons learned, includes three critical factors: the unleashing of hostilities by Pakistan and the invasion of its army was relatively unexpected for the Indian leadership (including the country's special services); military clashes between the two countries "traditionally" turn into large casualties; the nuclear issue was added to the fierce confrontation. All this together served as an occasion for serious transformational changes in the Indian army.

One of the important documents of the Indian defense establishment of the Think-Tank level is called "Post-Crises Defense Reforms in India, 1998-2010". The report was prepared on the basis of the recommendations of a specially created Kargil Review Committee (Kargil Review Committee) with the direct participation of the Delhi Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis (Institute for Defense Studies and Analyzes) and submitted to the Parliament of India.

Despite the identified significant shortcomings in the Indian army, in its management and training of troops (especially in terms of conducting operations in mountainous areas), the experts chose not a cardinal revolutionary version of the transformation of the Armed Forces, but a phased soft “benign” approach with a gradual increase necessary abilities. This was insisted on by the well-known Tamil military expert Krishnaswami Subrahmanyam, dean of Indian defense experts, founder of the Delhi Institute of Defense Research and Analysis, head of the Kargil Conflict Review Committee (who died in February of this year).

Four ex-ministers of the Indian military department: Narinder Nath Vohra, Ajay Vikram Singh, Naresh Chandra and Jaswant Singh, as well as representatives of the headquarters of three branches of the Indian Armed Forces and the Secretary of the Kargil Review Committee Satish Chandra, who is headed by the Chief India's intelligence think tank is the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC).

Under the leadership of Mr. Subrahmanyam, the Kargil Conflict Review Committee has developed several clear recommendations or requirements that are currently being implemented in the construction of the Indian Armed Forces. The first thing that drew attention was the state of the National Security Council, whose domestic political influence was strengthened. The Joint Intelligence Committee, which was integrated with the National Security Council, was also strengthened with the granting of greater powers.

In general, the Kargil Conflict Review Committee concluded that the weakness of India's intelligence structures greatly complicated the course of the 1999 Kargil War. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was created to deeply integrate intelligence into the defense establishment.

No less important place in the paragraph of recommendations relating to various issues of intelligence, the Kargil Conflict Review Committee assigned the stimulation of the so-called "brainstorming" in the expert environment, the encouragement of the exchange of views and open discussions of experts and politicians (in the Western way, Think-Tanks) with the aim of finding ways to improve analytics, intelligence and forecasting. According to experts, there is currently a lack of strategic defense analytical concepts in India. “Brainstorming” should be facilitated by the greater openness of the military to the media and retrospective studies of the history of the Indo-Pakistani conflict, preferably on the basis of declassified documents (which India is not in a hurry to do yet).

The second requirement of the Kargil Review Committee concerned the creation of an Indian satellite reconnaissance constellation (the first such satellite has already been launched) and the development of a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In addition, in 2004, a special electronic and information intelligence structure of India was created, which is called the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO) by analogy with the American National Security Agency - National Security Agency.

In terms of the development of new technologies, in particular UAVs, it is worth noting that the Kelkar Committee, created by the Indians in parallel to develop recommendations on the defense industry, summarized that in order to achieve a technological breakthrough, it is necessary to integrate defense production into the private sector of the economy, as well as adhere to greater openness to society in defense planning.

The third requirement of the Kargil Conflict Review Committee, following important structural changes and decisions in the intelligence sphere, is devoted to counter-terrorism activities. It is noteworthy that the Indians have introduced a key approach that is observed in Western countries and, unfortunately, has not yet been properly developed in Russia (which regularly suffers from mass terrorist attacks). The approach lies in the creation of "near-army", police forces to counter terrorism. However, this decision still remains extraordinary from the point of view of generally accepted concepts of the functions of the traditional army, so its implementation causes sufficient resistance in the political circles of India.

The next, fourth requirement of the Kargil Conflict Review Committee concerns the creation of an operational-tactical border force (Task force on border management) and a special committee that should deal with border security policy.

The Kargil Conflict Review Committee paid attention to the modernization of the army (but not as intensive as, for example, in Russia), the creation and purchase of new weapons (the key responsible agency is the Defense Research and Development Organization, Defense Research and Development Organization, DRDO). By the way, missile technologies are the most powerful direction in the development of India's defense industry. NVO spoke in detail about the BrahMos project in one of its previous issues (see the article "BrahMos: The Fifth Height" in NVO No. 30 of 08/12/11). India plans to create a fleet of super- and hypersonic cruise missiles and supply them not only to their troops, but also to allied countries (including their neighbors Indonesia and Malaysia).

The latest tests of new modifications of the BrahMos missiles were devoted to the development of its combat use in mountainous conditions. And this is not accidental, since the zone of the Kargil conflict is, in fact, the Himalayan region (the highest mountainous places on the planet). On a larger scale, the mountainous Himalayan relief unites not only India and Pakistan, but also countries such as Nepal, Tibet (China), Bhutan, Burma (Myanmar), and even Afghanistan. It can be unequivocally noted that the Indian military considers the continuation of armed confrontation in this mountainous zone as a reality.

Of course, the recommendations included Once again India's nuclear program has also been revised. Commenting on the nuclear issue at one of the Moscow-Delhi teleconferences at RIA Novosti, Smita Purushottam, Senior Research Fellow for Eurasia Studies at the Delhi Institute for Defense Research and Analysis, emphasized that today India’s nuclear weapons policy is very responsible, the state strictly adheres to the strategy of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons of mass destruction in region and the world as a whole. India's nuclear policy has two aims: abandoning the first strike strategy and minimizing the nuclear arsenal in the interests of national defense and deterrence. India has continued to implement a voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing since 1998. Today, special attention in the country is paid to the troops guarding nuclear arsenals.

HIGH CASTE IN THE ARMY OF INDIA

Historically, the Indian military department has been conducting its report since 1776, when the Ministry of Defense was created in Calcutta. Since 1895, the Indian Army has become one with four military regional regions. Since 1906, the Ministry of Defense of India has been divided into two departments - army and military supplies. Then again there was an association, and starting from 1947, the Indian Ministry of Defense became subordinate to the government (cabinet of ministers), and each of the three types of armed forces had its own commander-in-chief.

The President is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. India has the position of Minister of Defense, now it has been occupied (since 2006) by Arakaparambil Curien Anthony. And there are six more positions in the rank of defense ministers: Minister of State for Defense and five special secretary ministers. The Group of Ministers (GOM) defines the National Security Doctrine, the Defense Minister's Directives, the Long Term Integrated Perspective Plans (LTIPP) and the Joint Interservice Plan for the Forces (Joint services plan).

There is no post of Chief of the General Staff in India. There is the Integrated Defense Staff (IDS), created according to the recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee in 2001 with the aim of deep interspecific integration in the Indian Army. The IDS headquarters coordinates both the Armed Forces and the defense industry. IDS has its own Chief of Staff, the Chief of Integrated Staff, currently Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha. Reporting to him is the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) and the Committee itself.

The Chiefs of Staff Committee is responsible for all branches of the Indian Armed Forces - the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Coast Guard, and also coordinates the work of the Defense Group crisis management (Defence Crisis Management Group, DCMG). The Committee of Chiefs of Staff carries out defense planning within the framework of five-year plans and recommendations for the formation of annual budgets, works with doctrinal documents, and determines priorities for the construction of the Armed Forces.

The basic shortcomings of the Indian Army, identified by the report "Post-crisis military reforms in India 1998-2010" are as follows: lack of integration of types and branches of the military, as well as intelligence services; unoptimized army command vertical; poor defense planning. It is these areas that remain the most difficult in the process of transformation of the Indian Armed Forces. Particularly criticized is the flaw in the definition of clear intraspecific priorities, from which the overall integration process suffers.

India is clearly focused on copying the American command and control system, that is, the generally accepted Western, NATO one. By analogy with the American structures in India, the Army Training Command (ARTRAC), the Office of Net Assessment (ONA) and the Center for Army Lessons Learnt (CALL) have been established.

An essential condition for the implementation of the transformation of the Armed Forces according to Western "patterns" is the achievement of interoperability of various types and types of troops in the format of joint and mobile groupings. If in Russia this direction of transformation is stalled due to the excessive centralization of army management - a heavy command system inherited from Soviet times, then in India the opposite is true. The army lacks effective communications between the commands of the three types of armed forces, which also makes it impossible to move towards interoperability. On the whole, there is even a certain intra-army split, which was complicated by three problems.

The first problem lies in the fact that it is difficult to carry out a clear military planning on the scale of all the Indian Armed Forces, it is impossible to agree on a common operational plan. The biggest controversy is the issue of air support for troops (Close Air Support, CAS). Land commanders see the tasks of the Air Force as providing support for the initial phase of the offensive of the Ground Forces. Aviation commanders view their mission as an independent air combat with the achievement of air superiority in the theater of operations and airspace control in the war zone. The discrepancy in priorities and views on the functions of the Air Force has not been overcome, which is directly reflected in the defense order - the ground forces demand an increase in the number of cargo army aviation, the aviators - fighters for air battles.

The report "Post-crisis military reforms in India 1998-2010" focuses on the current situation in the Air Force. In the course of the modernization of the Indian Army, it was the Air Command (the recognized elite of the Indian Army) that began to seriously worry about the loss of its internal independent “sovereignty” - there are fears that the Air Force will turn into ammunition carriers, support forces and nothing more. The commands of the Army and the Indian Navy united against military aviators.

The second problem, caused by a mismatch in the three-service structure of the Indian Armed Forces, concerns financial and military-technical duplication. In the context of the lack of an integrated approach to planning the procurement of weapons and the asymmetry in the awareness of military officials about the needs of various army units, inefficient spending of funds allocated by the state for the army was observed and is observed. The Indians are working on this by improving the procedures for purchasing weapons. They are trying to change the thinking from procurement focused on only one type of troops (single-service thinking), which is due to the historical, social and cultural characteristics of the Indian military environment - a significant lack of proper interaction between the three types of aircraft. Special requirements have been developed to ensure uniform quality purchases for all types and arms of the troops (Joint Services Quality Requirement, JSQR).

The third problem is related to the fact that on the same territory where troops are being trained or are operating, the commands of different types of the Armed Forces are not united by a single center. To change the situation, Forward Air Commands were created.

POST-CARGIL AND POST-DAMAN HERITAGE

Often, thanks to inertial thinking, experts fail to highlight those new “faults” that are imperceptibly formed against the backdrop of historical tectonic shifts. Almost all international experts today agree that the main events in the international arena will develop in the Asian region. Only one thing remains debatable - which country will still determine the main Asian vector of development and, accordingly, which international organization.

In this regard, more attention is paid to China, which has mastered nuclear and space technologies and has become one of the world's leading economies. It was relations with China, or rather, the settlement of border disputes between Russia and China, that laid the foundation for a unique international format - Shanghai Organization cooperation. This year the SCO celebrated its tenth anniversary. Today the members of the SCO are Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; observer countries - India (at the anniversary SCO summit this summer, India applied for official membership in the SCO), Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan (which also applied for membership in the organization); and new dialogue partners - Sri Lanka and Belarus. Official Afghanistan has declared its interest in the SCO.

What factor is missed by analysts today? The fact that the world has already experienced two wars between nuclear states - the military conflict between Russia and China in 1969 (on Damansky Island) and the Kargil war between India and Pakistan in 1999. All four states today are somehow united by the SCO format, that is, the organization has a unique heritage in the field of security.

It is even possible to “draw” such a historical nuclear vector from West to East (by the way, it is the Eastern vector that is decisive in the transformation of NATO structures, taking into account the challenges and threats of the new century). The development of nuclear weapons began in the West, the first nuclear "bell" thundered in 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Then, in 1962, the Caribbean crisis occurred in connection with the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, which almost turned into the beginning of hostilities between the US and the USSR. Next - a military conflict between the USSR and nuclear China(The Chinese had previously conducted their first nuclear test in 1964). And, finally, South Asia - the Kargil war, already without the participation of the USA and the USSR.

Taking into account the Eastern vector, the composition of the leaders of the nuclear club in terms of the volume of nuclear warheads has changed. Today, according to experts (see the article "Game ahead of the curve with a fuse" in "NVO" No. 28 of 07/29/11), the five nuclear "leaders" include the United States (since 1945), Russia (since 1949), China, Pakistan and Israel (which supposedly has had a significant nuclear arsenal since the late 1960s and early 1970s). North Korea announced the creation of nuclear weapons in mid-2005, the first test was carried out in October 2006. And Great Britain (in the nuclear club since 1952) and France (since 1960) have significantly reduced their nuclear arsenals as part of collective defense under the guaranteed protection of America.

Thus, from individual cold-blooded nuclear strikes and to a greater extent verbal political threats (with the involvement of the West), the world has moved into a different reality - to uncontrollable military territorial conflicts in overpopulated nuclear South Asia and, as experts are warning more and more, to a real possibility capturing asian nuclear arsenals terrorist groups. Therefore, it is possible to give a clearer definition of the Eastern vector of threats known in Western circles - this is not just the Eastern Vector, it is already the Nuclear Eastern Vector.

The ability to solve the problem of nuclear proliferation also originated in the West, just like nuclear weapons themselves: the United States and Russia are quite successfully developing the practice of nuclear deterrence and non-proliferation. Today, this issue is controlled not only at the bilateral level, but also in an expanded Western format, which can be designated as the Russia-NATO Council.

But in Asia, no one is making such efforts! And the first thing that comes to mind (considering all the unique factors gathered in one SCO organization): why has not the SCO regional format been used so far to ensure the guaranteed non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in Asia? In this vein, one can look at the “growing pains” of this organization in a completely different way today, when the SCO is actively trying to define its identity, its “speciality” and its meaning in the heterogeneous geopolitical landscape of the 21st century.

It is also useful to recall such a historical fact, when the refusal of the USSR to be actively involved in the issue of acquiring a nuclear potential by China in five years unexpectedly "boomerang" hit the Daman conflict, over which the nuclear issue "hung" like sword of Damocles. Today, an analogy arises with Iran (involved in the SCO), ignoring the nuclear development of which can also lead to an unexpected military incident in a few years (taking into account, for example, the closest conflict-prone territory connected with Iran nationally, historically, and mentally - Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh). One way or another, the SCO is definitely becoming the most important format for the countries of Eastern Eurasia in terms of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and prevention of nuclear terrorism.

Deputy Director of the Indian Council for Social Research, Professor Nivedita Kundu, speaking at one of the Moscow-Delhi teleconferences in RIA Novosti, noted that India is very concerned about the growth of terrorist threats in Asia. India firmly intends to unite its antiterrorist efforts with the SCO countries. Taking into account the main directions of the transformation of the Indian Army, determined on the basis of post-Kargil events and taking into account the nuclear issue - the development of intelligence, border and counter-terrorism structures - India has something to strengthen the SCO.

Nivedita Kundu emphasizes that Afghanistan is the center of instability in the region, therefore border control and countering terrorism and extremism are especially important. It is in these areas that India is currently bringing its positions closer to Russia and China (which is further facilitated by interaction in the BRICS format), and even to Pakistan on a bilateral basis.

Many Russian experts are convinced that in the near future the SCO can turn into a serious regional antiterrorist structure, consolidating the countries' unique format and experience. But while anti-terrorist cooperation within the SCO is not very effective, it is carried out at the level of training officer exchanges and demonstration exercises. Recently, in May, under the coordinating role of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) of the SCO, within the framework of the "Program of cooperation between the SCO member states in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism for 2010-2012", joint anti-terrorist exercises of special services and law enforcement"Tien Shan-2-2011" on the territory of the Chinese People's Republic. The exercises were attended by representatives of observer countries: India, Pakistan and Mongolia.

But exercises are one thing, real joint operations are another, Russian experts say. It is not enough even just to share intelligence, we need troops and forceful methods. Russia is interested in expanding the range of work of the RATS, disseminating the experience of the CSTO, deepening interaction and borrowing the experience of China and India (with which Indra bilateral military exercises have been regularly held since 2003). All this testifies to the absence of significant obstacles to joint operations - there are no special secrets in operational tactics in the fight against terrorism. There are only legal, organizational problems and the question of interoperability of forces and means.

General Rahul Bhonsle, an Indian expert in the field of security and anti-terrorist activities, is convinced that the SCO needs a military component. Now she is gone. It can be based on the military strategic partnership between India and Russia, which has been going on for many years. Moreover, among the three Eurasian giants - Russia, India and China - the first two are the strongest.

Rahul Bhonsle emphasizes that without the SCO, India will not be able to adequately ensure its security. Therefore, India may well support the idea of ​​​​creating a joint force. rapid response within the framework of the SCO (similar to the CSTO CRRF), but for this it is necessary to achieve a higher level of trust between the countries within the SCO, Rahul Bhonsle said at one of the Moscow-Delhi teleconferences.

The Indian expert notes that when creating the military component of the SCO, one should be guided by the experience of Russia (CSTO), and the experience of NATO (the American version of the creation of the Joint Rapid Reaction Forces), and the experience of India and other Asian countries. By improving the RATS anti-terrorist mechanism, Russia and India, together with other countries, could form an appropriate international legal framework on the SCO platform for creating collective forces that can be used in special operations in the region of responsibility and in the territories of third countries.

The importance of developing confidence-building measures with China lies at the heart of the SCO, and today this organization has also become a strategic platform for stabilizing the countries of Central Asia and strengthening Kazakhstan's regional leadership. The time has come to realize the need to involve India (and South Asia on a broader scale) in the partnership format of the SCO. This organization can and should build a security space in the rapidly growing Asian region, based on the unique experience of two local wars of the four nuclear powers of Eurasia.

India, based on its post-Kargil conclusions, has the potential to significantly influence the development of the region's security system in the right direction - intelligence, border forces, internal police forces, anti-terrorist forces, and the protection of nuclear arsenals. To this it should be added that only the SCO has a real opportunity to prevent the excessive proliferation of Indian missile technologies in the region and the escalation of the conflict with nuclear Pakistan.

Armed forces of the countries of the world

India, along with North Korea and Israel, is in the second three countries in the world in terms of military potential (the first three, of course, are the United States, China and the Russian Federation). The personnel of the Indian Armed Forces have a high level of combat and moral-psychological training, although they are recruited. In India, as well as in Pakistan, due to the huge population and the difficult ethno-confessional situation, recruitment of the Armed Forces by conscription is not possible.

The country is the most important importer of arms from Russia, maintains close military-technical cooperation with France and Great Britain, and more recently with the United States. At the same time, India has a huge military-industrial complex of its own, which, theoretically, is capable of producing weapons and equipment of all classes, including nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles. However, weapons models developed in India itself (the Arjun tank, the Tejas fighter, the Dhruv helicopter, etc.), as a rule, have very low performance characteristics, and their development has been going on for decades. The assembly quality of equipment under foreign licenses is often very low, because of this, the Indian Air Force has the highest accident rate in the world. Nevertheless, India has every reason to claim the title of one of the world-class superpowers already in the 21st century.

Ground troops India has a Training Command (headquarters in the city of Shimla) and six territorial commands. At the same time, the 50th airborne brigade, 2 regiments (groups) of the Agni IRBM (334th with Agni-1, 335th with Agni-2), 333rd regiment (group) OTR "Prithvi-1", 4 regiments (861st, 862nd, 863rd, 864th) Brahmos KRNB.

Central Command (headquarters in Lucknow) includes one army corps - the 1st AK (headquarters in the city of Matura). It includes the 4th Infantry Division (Allahabad), the 6th Mountain Division (Bareilly), the 33rd Armored Division (Hissar). Currently, the 1st AK is temporarily transferred to the South-Western Command, so the Central Command, in fact, does not have combat forces in its composition.

Northern Command (Udhampur) includes three army corps - 14th, 15th, 16th.

14th AK (Leh) has in its composition the 3rd Infantry (Leh) and 8th Mountain (Dras) divisions.

15th AK (Srinagar) has in its composition the 19th infantry (Baramulla) and 28th mountain (Gurez) divisions.

16th AK (Nagrota) has in its composition the 10th (Akhnur), 25th (Rajauri), 39th (Yol) infantry divisions, 10th artillery brigade.

Western Command (Chandimandir) includes the 40th artillery division (Ambala) and three AK - 2nd, 9th, 11th.

2nd AK (Ambala) It has the 1st Armored Division (Patiala), the 14th RRF Division (Dehradun), the 22nd Infantry Division (Mirut), the 474th Engineering Brigade, and the 612th Air Defense Brigade.

9th AK (Yol) has in its composition the 26th (Jammu) and 29th (Patankot) infantry divisions, the 2nd, 3rd, 16th armored brigades.

11th AK (Jalandar) has in its composition the 7th (Firozpur), 9th (Mirut), 15th (Amritsar) infantry divisions, 23rd armored and 55th mechanized brigades.

South West Command (Jaipur) includes the 42nd Artillery Division (Jaipur), the 1st AK, temporarily transferred from the Central Command (described above), and the 10th AK (Bhatinda), which has the 16th Infantry Division (Ganganagar), 18- yu (Kota) and 24th (Bikaner) divisions of the RRF, 6th armored, 615th air defense, 471st engineering brigades.

Southern Command (Pune ) includes the 41st Artillery Division (Pune) and two AKs - the 12th and 21st.

12th AK (Jodhpur) has in its composition the 11th (Ahmedabad) and 12th (Jodhpur) infantry divisions, the 4th armored and 340th mechanized brigades.

21st AK (Bhopal) has in its composition the 31st armored division (Jhansi), the 36th RRF division (Sagar), the 54th infantry division (Hyderabad), artillery, air defense, 475th engineering brigades.

Eastern Command (Kolkata) includes the 23rd Infantry Division (Ranchi) and four AKs (3rd, 4th, 17th, 33rd).

3rd AK (Dimapur)- 2nd (Dibrugar), 56th (Zakhama), 57th (Leymakhong) mountain divisions.

4th AK (Tezpur)- 5th (Bomdila), 21st (Rangia), 71st (Missamari) mountain divisions.

17th AK (Panagar)- 59th (Panagar), 72nd (Pathankot) infantry divisions.

33rd AK (Siliguri)- 17th (Gangtok), 20th (Binnaguri), 27th (Kalimpong) mountain divisions.

There are 20 Agni-1 launchers and 8 Agni-2 launchers in two regiments. In total, there are supposedly 80-100 Agni-1 missiles (flight range - 1500 km), and 20-25 Agni-2 missiles (2-4 thousand km). It is possible that the first 4 launchers of the Agni-3 MRBM (3200 km) are deployed in the 335th regiment. In the only regiment of the OTR "Prithvi-1" (range - 150 km) there are 12-15 launchers and 75-100 missiles. All these ballistic missiles are developed in India itself and can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads. Each of the 4 regiments of Brahmos cruise missiles (jointly developed by Russia and India) has 4-6 batteries, each with 3-4 launchers. The total number of launchers of the Brahmos GLCM is 72.

The tank fleet of India includes 124 tanks of its own design "Arjun" (their production continues), 1402 of the latest Russian T-90 (in total it is supposed to have 2011 of these tanks) and up to 2414 Soviet T-72M, which have been modernized in India (are locally called "Adzheyya" ). In addition, up to 815 old Soviet T-55s and up to 2000 no less old Vijayanta tanks of our own production (English Vickers Mk1) are in storage.

Unlike tanks, other armored vehicles of the Indian ground forces, in general, are very outdated. There are up to 598 Soviet BRDM-2s, up to 48 British Ferret armored vehicles, up to 2000 BMP-2s (including 123 command BMP-2Ks), 300 Czechoslovak OT-64 armored personnel carriers, 462 South African Kasspir armored vehicles, 12 English BTR FV432. Of all the equipment listed, only the BMP-2 can be considered new, and very conditionally. In addition, up to 700 old BMP-1s, up to 200 very old Soviet BTR-50s, up to 250 BTR-152s, up to 55 BTR-60s, up to 299 Czechoslovak OT-62s are in storage.

Much of the Indian artillery was also obsolete. There are 20 self-developed Catapult self-propelled guns (130-mm M-46 howitzer on the chassis of the Vijayanta tank; another 80 of these self-propelled guns are in storage), 68 British Abbots (105 mm), 10 K9 Vajra (155 mm) . Towed guns - 215 Yugoslav mountain M48 (76 mm), from 700 to 1300 own IFG Mk1 / Mk2 / Mk3 and from 700 to 800 LFG, 50 Italian M-56 (105 mm), 400 Soviet D-30 (122 mm), 210 British FH-77B, 180 M-46 with a new barrel, 3 American M777 (155 mm), 40 Soviet S-23 (180 mm); up to 721 M-46s and 200 FH-77Vs, as well as 900 mountain guns (75 mm), 800 British guns (88 mm), 350 Soviet BS-3s (100 mm) are in storage. Mortars - 5000 own E1 and 220 self-propelled SMT on the BMP-2 chassis (81 mm), 500 French AM-50 (120 mm), 207 Finnish M-58 "Tampella" and 500 Soviet M-160 (160 mm). MLRS - up to 200 Soviet BM-21 (122 mm), 80 own "Pinak" (214 mm), 42 Russian "Smerch" (300 mm). Of all the listed artillery systems, only South Korean self-propelled guns K9 (manufactured in India under license), American howitzers M777 (also manufactured under license), MLRS "Pinaka" and "Smerch" can be considered modern.