From INS Vikramaditya to BrahMos: India's defence capabilities are a force to be reckoned with

In a massive statement, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that while the country's stand on its Nuclear policy has remained 'no first use', what will happen in future will depend on the circumstances. He was addressing media at Pokhran on the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee under whose administration India had conducted nuclear tests in May 1998.

"This is the truth that India's stand as much as Nuclear policy is concerned has remained 'no first policy' but what will happen in future will depend on the circumstances in the future," the Defence Minister had said.

The statement spooked Pakistan which had all through the conflict following the Pakistan-sponsored Pulwama terror attack had upheld its 'nuclear status', but the truth is that India has plenty of advanced conventional firepower to give the Pakistan military-terror deep-state nightmares, irrespective of the nuclear policy: 

SPICE 2000 MISSILE

SPICE stands for Smart Precise Impact and Cost-Effective guidance kit. Developed by Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the SPICE intends to convert 'dumb bombs' into smart guided air-to-surface munitions. Recently, the Indian Air Force used the bombs for their 17-minute knockout punch on Pakistani JeM terror in Balakot on 26 February 2019. It has a glide range of about 100 kms and can hit the targets from 500 kms away. 

INS CHAKRA

8000-ton nuclear-powered, armed with four 533MM Torpedo tubes and four 650MM Torpedo tubes, the INS Chakra is a Russia-made hunter-killer submarine. It can stay underwater as long as it wants, unlike conventional submarines that India operates which need to surface to charge their batteries often. The INS Chakra displaces about 10,000 tons and can do over 30 knots - more than twice the speed of conventional submarines.  With the capacity to go up to a depth of 600 metres, INS Chakra is one of the quietest nuclear submarines around, with noise levels next to zero.

INS VIKRAMADITYA

A 44,570-tonne warship which is capable of being equipped with over 30 aircraft, INA Vikramaditya is armed with an array of weapons like anti-ship missiles, beyond visual range air-to-air missiles and guided bombs and rockets. Its primary embarked aircraft type is the Mikoyan MiG-29K, a navalised version of the Mikoyan MiG-29M. It is a refurbished version of the Russian vessel Admiral Gorshkov, which entered into service of the Indian Navy in 2013. The warship is equipped with modern launch and recovery systems for handling different aircraft – the LUNA landing system for MiG-29Ks and the DAPS Landing system for Sea Harriers.

Nuclear Arsenal

India has nine types of operational missiles, including the Agni-3 with a range of 3,000km to 5,000km, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. 

AGNI missiles

The Agni missile is a series of intercontinental-range ballistic missiles developed by India, which is a long-range nuclear weapons-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile. As of 2018, the Agni missile family comprises four deployed variants while one more variant is under testing and one under development. 

Agni 5: A three-stage solid-fuelled missile with composite motor casing in the second and third stage, Agni 5 can hit its targets 5500 kms away and can deliver 1500 kgs of payload. 

Agni 4: Fourth in the Agni series of missiles, Agni 4 is light-weight missile with two stages of solid propulsion and a payload with re-entry heat shield. It has 4,000 km (2,500 mi) range and is capable of striking targets in nearly all of mainland China if launched from Northeast. It can hit can deliver 1000 kg of payload. 

Agni 3: Agni-3 is an intermediate-range ballistic missile developed by India which is the successor to Agni-II and is capable of engaging targets deep inside neighbouring countries, including China's Shanghai. Designed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Agni III is a two-stage ballistic missile that is capable of nuclear weapons delivery. It can hit its targets 45000 away and can deliver 2490 kg payload. 

Agni 2: A medium-range strategic ballistic missile (MRBM) with two solid fuel stages. It is always in a ready-to-fire mode and can be launched within 15 minutes. Agni 2 can hit targets 2000 km away and can deliver 1000 kg payload. 

Agni 1: It is a short-range ballistic missile developed by DRDO of India. A single-stage missile, Agni 1 was developed after the Kargil War to fill the gap between 250 km range of Prithvi-II and 2,500 km range of Agni-II. It can hit targets 700-800 kms away and can deliver 1000 kg payload.

S-400 missile defence system

India is soon going to acquire the S-400 missile defence system from Russia. India inked an agreement with Russia in October 2018 to procure a batch of the S-400 missile systems at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore. The S-400 Triumph is an anti-aircraft weapon system has been described as "one of the best air-defence systems currently made" and "is among the most advanced air defence systems available". It can detect, track and destroy hostile strategic bombers, jets, spy planes, missiles and drones at a range of 380-km and has all-terrain transporter-erector-launcher vehicles, four different kinds of missile with strike ranges from 120-km to 380-km. 

Sukhoi

Developed by Russia's Sukhoi, the Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter built for the Indian Air Force (IAF). India has signed a deal with Russia in 2000 to manufacture 140 Su-30 fighter jets. The IAF had 240 Su-30MKIs in service as of October 2017. The tailor-made aircraft Su-30MKI is expected to form the backbone of the IAF's fighter fleet to 2020 and beyond. It has a range of 3,000 km with an in-flight refuelling (IFR) probe that retracts, and electronic counter-measure systems.

BrahMos

The fastest supersonic cruise missile and fastest anti-ship cruise missile in operation in the world, BrahMos is a medium-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile which can be launched from submarine, ships, aircraft, or land. Developed in a joint venture between the Russian Federation's NPO Mashinostroyeniya and India's DRDO, the BrahMos is based on the Russian P-800 Oniks cruise missile and other similar sea-skimming Russian cruise missile technology. The missile travels at speeds of Mach 2.8 to 3.0, which is being upgraded to Mach 5.0. In 2019, India upgraded the missile with a new range of 500 km. Now, India and Russia are planning to jointly develop a new generation of Brahmos missiles with 600 km-plus range.

Rafale

A fourth-generation ''omnirole' fighter aircraft, Rafale was developed by France's Dassault Aviation through the 1990s and early 2000s and is considered among the most advanced fighter jets in the world. It is a French twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft, equipped with a wide range of weapons. Rafale is intended to perform interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, air supremacy, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions. India is likely to procure the consignment of 36 multirole fighter aircraft from France by September 2019. 

Air Force combat power

With 127,200 personnel and 814 combat aircraft, India's Air Force power can pose grave fear among the enemies.