The Centre for Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS) and Indian Military Review are jointly organising a seminar cum exhibition on "Precision Attack & Targeting" on 11-12 July 2013 at New Delhi.
Indian Capabilities in Precision Attack & Targeting
Indian capabilities in precision attack and targeting are restricted to laser-guided bomb (LGB) kits attached to dumb bombs. The Astra beyond visual range (BVR) missile has long been under development. The Kargil conflict showed in 1999 that the Indian armed forces urgently required these capabilities in large numbers.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is upgrading a large number of unguided bombs to this standard based on excellent results. Several IAF bombers like Mig-27, SEPECAT Jaguar, Su-30MKI, Mirage-2000 and MiG-29 could carry the LGBs for the air-toground attack tasks. The Indian Navy has a large requirement for firing precision weapons from onboard launchers.
Short range close combat missiles either derived from the indigenous Astra or imported are likely to be standardised across all IAF aircraft fleets in the next ten years. For precision attack, the Helina (an air launched variant of the Nag anti-tank missile) with an imaging infra red (IIR) seeker backed by an upgraded variant of the currently available algorithm able to discriminate targets including moving targets even in heavy clutter, should be the standard fit across all types of IAF aircraft.
Indigenous Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) with satellite navigation-laser designation/terrain matching/optical hybrid guidance systems developed indigenously should become available in the five to ten year period given that work on such weapons is being pursued, albeit at a slow pace, because these fall under unfunded private research at a few DRDO laboratories in the absence of firm IAF orders and sanction to develop such weapons.
Artillery.Less than 1% of India’s artillery munition stockpile is precision guided. After India’s decisive victory in Kargil 1999 the artillery has decided to exploit the superiority of trajectory correctable munitions and terminally-guided munitions. It is working to improve precision-guided munitions from the current negligible levels to 20 per cent of total available ammunition.
Anti-tank. While the Army is buying a few hundred DRDO-developed Nag fire-and-forget anti-tank missiles, it is still looking for better anti-tank missiles to make up the shortfall of 44,000 missiles through transfer of technology.
The Future
The IAF is moving towards advanced capabilities in platforms and systems. Precision bombing with maximum impact and minimal collateral damage is the key to warfare. The focus is slowly shifting towards indigenisation, i.e., production of all major and crucial systems within the country.
The IAF is engaged in major equipment renewal to become a more potent and “able-to-deliver” force. This process includes induction of several advanced weapons and combat support systems. It is in the process of inducting modern surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), such as the indigenously designed and built Akash to replace older Soviet era SAM-III systems. It is collaborating with foreign vendors to develop a variant of the existing Barak SAM to meet the IAF's Long Range SAM (LRSAM) project. Induction of at least four more Aerostat radar systems is also expected within the next five years. These aerostats could be supplemented by larger numbers of indigenous Rohini and Reporter ground-based radars.
Phalcon AWACS and the DRDO developed indigenous EMB-145 based AEW&C platforms will add to the IAF's capabilities to take on threats and targets more efficiently with the Su-30MKIs, Tejas LCA, upgraded MiG-29s and MiG-21 Bisons. Rafale could also be expected to be assigned for Air Defence duties.
The Israeli Arrow3 and/or American Standard Missile (SM)-III systems should boost BMD capability.
Acquisition of all-weather precision bomb technology like the Enhanced Paveway-II Dual Mode GPS/Laser Guided Bombs has become imperative for indigenous manufacture.
There are great opportunities for foreign companies to enter into genuine collaboration with Indian players in the public and private sectors of the aerospace industry in India to design and develop new systems and platforms leading to a win-win situation for both sides.
Foreign governments and companies will require to shed their erstwhile "sell and maybe give a license to make" policy in favour of genuine from-the-ground-up collaborative design and development. A step in this direction has been made by the Indo-Russian Brahmos project. More than the original Brahmos project, this is more applicable to the new hypersonic variant of the Brahmos missile being developed jointly.
