FIREPOWER

INDIGENISATION COUPLED WITH MODERNISATION AND HUGE CAPITAL OUTLAYS HAVE ADDED TO THE COUNTRY'S MILITARY MIGHT.

- P.B. Jayakumar

IN MARCH 2022, an Indian missile without warheads flew 124 km deep into Pakistan's territory at supersonic speed and crashed near the eastern Punjab city of Mian Channu without any casualties or damage. India cited it as a 'technical malfunction during routine maintenance'. Pakistan, however, used the incident as an opportunity to ridicule India's 'malfunctioning defence technology capabilities'. Neither country specified which missile.

“In hindsight, it could have been an unfortunate technical malfunction or a ploy to test their defences. Normally, time-tested and costly missiles are unlikely to malfunction,” a retired military expert told Fortune India while commenting on Operation Sindoor.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, bombing nine terrorist camps in Pakistan. According to reports, India used SCALP-EG and AASM-250 Hammer guided missiles fired from Rafale and Sukhoi-30MKI jets, besides India-made SkyStriker suicide drones. Pakistan retaliated with swarm drones, including the indigenous Shahpur, and Turkish-made drones, Songar and Yiha III. But these were fully neutralised by India's indigenously developed integrated air defence systems, undergoing constant development and upgrades since the 1990s to make them one of the best in the world. An integrated air defence system includes Russian-made S-400s (can fire up to 380 km), Indo-Israeli Barak-8s surface-to-air missiles or SAMs (which can fire up to 70 km), India-made Akash SAMs (25 km), and Israeli Spyder SAMs (15 km), besides Bofors L70 and calibrated anti-aircraft guns. Another hero was Akashteer, an AI-powered advanced drone detection, deterrence, and destruction system network developed in the past two years by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Bharat Electronics and Isro.