Saturday, April 25, 2015

India to develop Strategic Chabahar Port of Iran

India is poised to counter expansion of China’s strategic footprint in Pakistan with development of Chabahar Port on the Iranian coast. New Delhi is set to ink a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the development and operation of Chabahar port in Iran, taking into account the international obligations that arise out of Tehran’s nuclear program. 

Merely 72 km west of China-developed Gwadar port in Pakistan’s restive province of Baluchistan, Chabahar, on the mouth of the Straits of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, provides India a land-sea access route into Afghanistan and Central Asia through the Bandar Abbas-Caspian Sea axis.

The MoU is expected to be signed in Tehran by roads, transport and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari very soon.

Although India’s development of Chabahar port has been hanging fire since 2003, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s two-day visit to Pakistan this week has triggered renewed interest in the Modi government with Beijing announcing a network of roads, railway, optical fibre cables and pipelines linking the strife-ridden Xinjiang province to Gwadar via the Karakoram highway.



( Image Courtesy - hindustantimes.com ) 

Intelligence reports indicate China will push the optical fibre line to Afghanistan via Pakistan so that Islamabad continues to have a big say in Kabul. The 1,300-km Karakoram highway links Kashgar in Xinjiang to Hassan Abdal in Punjab of Pakistan.

Although the inter-governmental MoU between India and Iran involves a joint venture investment of $85.21 million (about Rs 537 crore) that will allow operation of the port for 10 years, New Delhi is examining the option of signing the agreement and injecting the money later so it does not violate any international obligations. The joint venture — between Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust, Kandla Port Trust and an Indian or Iranian company — will be supported by annual expenditure of around Rs 150 crore.

According to plans, the Indian JV will develop two berths at Chabahar, one to handle container traffic and the other a multi-purpose cargo terminal. With sea-land access to Afghanistan as part of the MoU, New Delhi has plans to build a road-railroad network from Chabahar to Milak in Iran in order to link it with the Indian-built 223-km Zaranj-Delaram road in Afghanistan so that aid could be pushed to Kabul and beyond.

Chabahar port will also allow Indian goods into Central Asia using the existing north-south corridor to counter Beijing’s domination in the region as reports indicate Indian traders are using Chinese ports to push goods into Kazakhstan. “The Chabahar MoU is crucial to India as Pakistan will never allow a land route to Afghanistan and PM Narendra Modi’s proposed July 2015 visit to Central Asia will have little to offer to these extended neighbours,” said a South Block official.

News Courtesy - hindustantimes.com

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Second Sino-Indian War of 1967: Decisive Victory for India and Defeat of China

Indian print media of 1960s and then Indian Government only speak about Sino-Indian conflict of 1962 where weak political leadership gave the military advantage to China. However, the history of 1962 conflict is not the only history that exists, though this is what the Indian history syllabus have been teaching us for a long time.

The setback in the 1962 can be credited to the Indian political leadership, more than the military excellence of the PLA. It was this illogical fantasy of “Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai”. It would leave one confused whether this was the Chinese diplomatic excellence or Indian diplomatic blunder when political class could not see the reality behind the Indo-Chinese border even after being cautioned by Indian Military on numerous occasions.

I believe, this is the first article in 21st century which is tearing apart the cloak of secrecy on Second Sino-Indian War of 1967, reasons best known to political class and history commission there was an intentional cover-up of this war to a great extent. Limited reach of print media in that era helped Government at that time to keep the details about this war from the mainstream.

On one side is a hush-hush by China, which is well understood because of the huge setback of this strategic defeat which caught over-confident military leadership of Chinese Military by surprise. It being so close to 1962 would have open a can of worms for Chinese Communist Party and sense of euphoria in Chinese public for their leadership would have quickly evaporated.

However, real surprise is on Indian side which after scoring a decisive victory over Chinese in 1967, avenging their 1962 setback valiantly, still chose to wrap one of the finest hour of Indian Military under cloak of secrecy. Their could be only one reason for that, a decision to not rub the salt on the wounds of Indian political leadership of 1962, since this valiant victory of 1967 by a competent and decisive Indian Military would have exposed the stark contrast to incompetent leadership from politicians in 1962.

After the setback of 1962, China dared to attack India again on at least two occasions and lost both of these conflicts badly. After 10th October 1967 Chinese People’s Liberation Army never ever dreamt to attack India, and their guns fell silent ever since. Indians need to boost up their morals by knowing the exact truth of 1967 War, when Indian Army had beaten back the columns of Chinese Army all the way back to their barracks.

Second Sino-Indian War of 1967 got its roots from 1965 Indo-Pak war where several small scale military skirmishes between Indian and Chinese troops happened on the Sino-Indian border. Chinese Military was looking to intrude into the Indian Territory and gain strategic position so that they can engage India in a manner that Indian Military attention is divided between Pakistan and China. However the Indian Army thwarted all these attacks and Chinese authorities forced their military to withdrew due to “heavy casualties” compared to “moderate loss” on India side.

Few day before hostilities broke out in September of 1967, Chinese Army threatened through loudspeakers that if Indians don’t withdraw from their perceived border line, 1962 type casualties will repeat. However, this time Indian Army was in avenging mood. Chinese Army marched forward in large numbers towards Indian Army positions, however were shocked to see the heavily fortified Indian positions instead of vacated posts as they were expecting while boasting of 1962 on loudspeakers, seeing this Chinese columns halted and promptly marched back without firing at Indian positions. 

In order to de-escalate the situation on Sino-Indian border and make sure Chinese do not have an excuse for border violations, it was decided by the Indian Military to lay a wire in the centre of the Pass from Nathu La to Sebu La to demarcate the perceived border. This task was to be carried out by the Jawans of 70 Field Company of Engineers assisted by a company of 18 Rajput deployed at Yak La pass further north of Nathu La. The wire laying was to commence at first light on the fateful morning of 11 September 1967.

On 11th September, the engineers and Jawans started erecting long iron pickets from Nathu La to Sebu La along the perceived border while 2 Grenadiers and Artillery Observation Post Officers at Sebu La and Camel’s Back were on alert. Immediately the Chinese Political Commissar, with a section of Infantry came to the centre of the Pass where Lt. Col Rai Singh, CO 2 Grenadiers was standing with his commando platoon. The Commissar asked Lt Col Rai Singh to stop laying the wire. Orders to the Indian Army were clear. They were not to blink. An argument started which soon built up into a scuffle. In the ensuing melee, the commissar got roughed up. Thereafter the Chinese went up back to their bunkers and engineers resumed laying the wire.

Within a few minutes of this, a whistle was heard on the Chinese side followed by murderous medium machine gun fire from north shoulder. The pass was completely devoid of cover and the Jawans of 70 Field Company and 18 Rajput were caught in the open and suffered heavy casualties which included Col Rai Singh who was wounded. He was awarded MVC later. 2 Grenadier opened small arms fire on North shoulder but it was not very effective. Within the first ten minutes, there were nearly seventy dead and scores wounded lying in the open on the pass. Within half an hour, Chinese artillery opened up on the pass as well as in the depth areas but it was mostly prophylactic fire due to lack of observation and failed to do much damage.

Looking at this blatant aggression from Chinese, full of rage Indian Artillery observation post officers went for an extremely heavy artillery response to Chinese positions. Because of excellent domination and observation from Sebu La and Camel’s back, Indian artillery fire decimated Chinese positions. It was followed by a ferocious counter strike from the Mountaineers, Grenadiers and Rajputs which included close quarter combat also.

Chinese were caught off-guard by this ferocity from Indian side and suffered heavy casualties which number more than 300 dead and 450 wounded according to Chinese estimate which numbers the Indian tolls up to 89; however Indian authorities claim it to be 65. Most of the Chinese bunkers on North shoulder and in depth were completely destroyed and Chinese suffered very heavy casualties across all their positions.The artillery duel thereafter carried on relentlessly, day and night. For the next three days, the Chinese were taught a very good lesson.

After suffering heavy casualties at Nathu La, a bewildered Chinese Army tried to open another front and planned to extend the conflict throughout Sikkim. On 1st October, the Chinese Army attacked Chola area to avenge what happened in Nathu-La. Chinese planned for a command-style assault to surprise Indian defence positions with shock and awe. However, this commando strike went horribly wrong and Chinese lost 40 of their elite commandos. This led to a panic within Chinese ranks followed by a shabby retreat in haste. Since this skirmish had a lot of close quarter combat, Indian army chose not to assault the retreating Chinese columns as there were many wounded soldiers on Chinese side. Indian Army continued to monitor the border closely for any activities on Chinese side, however Chinese had retreated deep inside their territory, nearly three kilometers away to a feature named Kam Barracks where they remain deployed till date. Indian Army had got better of the Chinese yet again. Finally, all hostilities ended on 10th October. Chola Pass is firmly in Indian hands since then.

The Chinese are estimated to have suffered heavy casualties on both war fronts. This time, Indians Lions refused to blink and the mighty Chinese Dragon was made to look very ordinary. This was the first time the Chinese got a bloody nose, and the myth of their invincibility was broken.

Post this heavy defeat of Chinese Army in 1967 Sino-Indian War, Chinese never dared to attack Indian borders. They realised the huge difference between Indian Diplomatic inefficiency and Indian Military excellence and that on border now they will have to face the latter. That’s the historical reason they chose not to help their ally Pakistan in 1971 and 1999 and did not get involved in the hostilities at any level.

No wonder, Sino-Indian border has remained peaceful ever since.


References - www.covertwires.com

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Rafale Deal for Indian Air Force - A Wise Decision by a Wise Man

I have been away from my own blog for a while now, close to 10 months, and the reason was a herd of Clueless Indian Politicians who were in power at the Centre. However, things have changed dramatically in last few months and now we see a Man in Power who has the wisdom, got foresight and has the capability to take crucial decisions for our country.

I am no astrologist but for now it seems India as a country is really lucky to have Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister.

Now, coming to the title of this post, I have seen all kind of reactions on the scrapping of the 126 aircraft deal where some intellectuals are asking the rationale of going with a G2G deal for 36 planes.


( Image Courtesy - worldwide-military.com) 

For starters, how about these guys just shut the hell up just by looking at the duration of this messy acquisition process. I believe it was at the minimum 2005 when those lazy bum politicians started their stupid process for MMRCA acquisition. We are now in 2015, and we are still trapped in that spiral of negotiations. You stupid dumb people, have some shame. In 2 decades, other countries have designed, developed, manufactured and commissioned the new fighter aircraft in their air forces. In one decade, you morons could not even BUY the aircraft.

Our armed forces have been pleading to this shameless politicians to take decisions citing how our enemies are equipping their forces but these politicians of last two decades were busy to address whims and fancies of some cynical regional politicians for support to cling to power. Then whatever time they got, they were busy to loot the country, running their scams.

Indian Navy was pleading, drawing their attention to depleting submarine fleet. But these politicians made sure that our silent was weakened from 21 boats in 1980s to just 12 operations boats in 2015.

Indian Air Force has been reduced to 34 squadrons, its trainer aircraft fleet in jeopardy.

Indian Army has been pleading for artillery, helicopters and they never came.

It is such a sigh of relief to see those arrogant morons kicked out of power and replaced by a Wise Man.

Now, within two years, we should see Rafale in IAF colours, and credit should also go to our Defence Minister - Manohar Parrikar. 

If we look at the current state of the Indian Air Force, this is what we got -

224 - Sukhoi 30 MKI (~9 Squadrons)
069 - Mig 29 (~3 Squadrons)
059 - Mirage 2000 (~3 Squadrons)
245 - Mig 21 (~10 Squadrons) - Need replacement in very near future
145 - Jaguar (~6 Squadrons)
085 - Mig 27 (~3 Squadrons) - Need replacement in very near future

Which if added comes up to 34-35 Squadrons.

However, looking at the immediate need of replacement for Mig 21 and Mig 27, very soon effective strength would comes down to just 21 Squadrons (or bit more due to Sukhoi 30 MKI additions). To get to a healthy level of 45 squadrons, IAF need to add 24 squadrons maximum by 2020 i.e. 5 years from now. If that is delayed further, then we should all be ready to learn either Chinese or we should be ready to live in an Islamic Republic, because one of these scary scenario would definitely come true if IAF does not reach a level of 45 Squadrons by that time.

So, how can we get to the level of 45 Squadrons with new fighter aircraft to safeguard our Motherland -

272 - Sukhoi 30 MKI (~13 Squadrons)
069 - Mig 29 (~3 Squadrons)
059 - Mirage 2000 (~3 Squadrons)
145 - Jaguar (~6 Squadrons)
300 - Tejas (~14 Squadrons)
126 - Rafale or MMRCA (~6 Squadrons)

Which if added comes up to around 45 Squadrons by 2020-2022.

Let's hope this Dynamic Duo of Prime Minister and Defence Minister would take India to 2020 with a Strong Indian Air Force, which will have a strategic vision and sound planning to replace its old fighter aircraft with a seamless pipeline of new acquisitions and we will never have to see our Air Force struggling again to keep up its Squadron Level to mitigate the threats of 21st century.  

An Active Defence Original