IAF plans missile base near Pakistan border

[A.V.]

The defence ministry will establish a huge Air Force base close to the international border in Rajasthan, moving aggressively to secure the country’s western frontiers. The 300-km range supersonic cruise missile BrahMos will be stored at this base, defence ministry sources said.

The ministry is acquiring land in Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar districts, where the Indian Air Force will store some of its most sophisticated long-range missiles. The base will be the IAF’s biggest practice station.

Defence Estate Officer KJS Chauhan confirmed the acquisition process of 29,562 acres at Hanumangarh, around 120-125 km from the border with Pakistan. The IAF has a station in Jodhpur, about 350 km from the border.

According to defence ministry sources, IAF has two projects proposed for the land: Project Richard and Project Thukrana.

Project Richard involves setting up a missile base. The BrahMos missiles will not only be stationed but also stocked there.

Under Project Thukrana, the defence ministry will set up an air force practice station, the biggest close to an international border in the country, ministry sources said.

Mugdha Sinha, who was collector of Hanumangarh till last week, said, “Hurdles for the acquisition have been almost sorted out with farmers.”

The defence ministry will spend more than Rs220 crore towards compensation and rehabilitation of the residents of Moter, Dhandhusur, Bannasur, Bangasur and Dheerdeshur villages.

 

[pyromaniac]

This is good...in the event of war, it will give us two important advantages. Firstly we put planes in the air faster and in greater numbers than them and more importantly planes can be dispatched sooner to give the troops on the ground close fire support.

Is there an ETA on the completion?

 

[Payeng]

pyromaniac I think you missed an important point, a rocket barrage for Pakistans eastern establishments, including Lahore

 

[shiv]

i think this was a foolish mistake made by the IAF.....
this will make the new IAF base the biggest target of a pakistani pre-emptive strike on us since we follow a no first use policy.....

 

[LETHALFORCE]

it is a much greater advantage than disadvantage.

 

[jackprince]

i think this was a foolish mistake made by the IAF.....
this will make the new IAF base the biggest target of a pakistani pre-emptive strike on us since we follow a no first use policy.....

Well it may be a temptation for PAF. But don't you think IAF already thought about that and will take measures to assure safety of the base? IAF planes would also have less miles to cross to hit pak strategic points. Also, if in a war scenario IA moves inside Pakistan, it will have IAF support closer in hand.

 

[EnlightenedMonk]

Well it may be a temptation for PAF. But don't you think IAF already thought about that and will take measures to assure safety of the base? IAF planes would also have less miles to cross to hit pak strategic points. Also, if in a war scenario IA moves inside Pakistan, it will have IAF support closer in hand.

I'm sure that the IAF is looking at our indigenously developed missile defence systems and also the recently acquired MRSAMs from Israel as part of the grand scheme of things to protect this base...

And, I agree, the advantages outnumber the disadvantages and this is a definite plus for us on the Western front...

 

[Rage]

In the event that war is imminent with Pakistan, the IAF will have its 3 Phalcons (booked so far, but with the reservation to procure more) patrolling within the vicinity of the airbase. Since the base itself is located in the Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar districts close to the international border, it will ostensibly (since it is playing host to a 300 km cruise missile base) put it within striking range of the Risalwala, Lahore and Chander airbases. Besides the South Western Air Command already operates 12 forward air bases in Rajasthaan and Gujarat, making it a prioritized sector of defence. And since the Phalcons can simultaneously log upto 60 aircraft within 300 km of enemy airspace while operating within 100 km of our own, it ought to give us enough time to scramble point-defence fighters like the Bisons or Mig-29's should we station them at the air force practice station there.

 

[shiv]

you guys are overestimating the capabilities of anti-bm and anti missile systems.....Modern missiles like babur do contain counter measures against them and fly at a very low altitude...the hit probability of hitting that one missile is low....think about a barrage of 10

 

[LETHALFORCE]

shiv that is why we are working on a multi layered system, it would not be a challenge at all for our S-300's and AKASH, and planes like our MIGS could also play a role, let's not focus on just waiting to get hit but what our reply should be.

 

[K Factor]

you guys are overestimating the capabilities of anti-bm and anti missile systems.....Modern missiles like babur do contain counter measures against them and fly at a very low altitude...the hit probability of hitting that one missile is low....think about a barrage of 10

Yup, but CMs tend to be vulnerable to AAA, due to their low speed,(ZSU-23x4), as 6-10 were hit and brought down by them during 1st Gulf War. (Those were Tomahawks, and Iraqi C3 was shut down at that time)

Also, CMs can be detected by Look Down Shoot Down Aircraft radars, as well as Aerostat radars, giving the Air Defenses early warning.

 

[VayuSena1]

you guys are overestimating the capabilities of anti-bm and anti missile systems.....Modern missiles like babur do contain counter measures against them and fly at a very low altitude...the hit probability of hitting that one missile is low....think about a barrage of 10

Shiv, Pakistan in recent years has also obtained sophisticated missile systems from China and has made considerable progress in their military capabilities. However, a multi-layered missile defence has the potential of taking down incoming cruise and ballistic missiles very easily. Since we are talking about a war in the inevitabe near future, we must understand that no matter how powerful a country be, there are some losses even that country faces and in this case it is a bitter truth that we must agree upon.

For this, we have to keep a balanced view of neither underestimating our enemies (especially those who specialize in asymmetrical warfare as seen throughout 2008), nor over-estimating our own systems, even as we talk on this forum. And I am of the opnion that the top brass in military are quite aware of maintaining this balance.

Though I am not pointing fingers on any country specifically, after reading quite deeply about Pakistani military strategy, the reason for their constant loss in battles is due to their induced superiority complex of considering Indians as "racially inferior" for some reasons that I am still not able to understand. It has not been mentioned in one or two but more than 20 different global military think tanks and also by fellow wingmen and ground forces personnel.