"The Indian military is strengthening its forces in preparation to fight a limited conflict along the disputed border, and is working to balance Chinese power projection in the Indian Ocean," U.S. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper told the U.S. Senate this week.
That "balance" includes a strategic alliance with Washington that in turn has stoked Chinese fears of containment. It is due to test-fire its nuclear capable Agni V rocket in the next few weeks, with a strike range reaching deep into China.
In 2009, the air force reopened a high-altitude, landing strip in Ladakh last used during a 1962 border war with China. Along with other Himalayan bases, it is now upgrading the strip for fighter operations.
About 500 Indian MiG-21s have plunged to the ground since the 1960s, yet the jet is still in use, raising the question of whether painfully slow defense procurement procedures can come up with new hardware faster than old equipment is sent to the scrap heap.
Air power is probably the most important capability that India needs right now. If China grabs a chunk of disputed border lands, India needs the ability to quickly counter-attack and restore the status quo ante before threats of nuclear escalation raise their ugly head. And gaining air superiority over the battlefield would be key to successfully driving any Chinese troops out of what they take in a surprise assault.
I'm not as pessimistic about India's prospects as the article's author is. India is surely losing ground, but India's strategic position by virtue of their geography gives India a more secure position than China has. In essence, India lives in a fortress with the Himalaya Mountains one heck of a Long Wall like those that protected Athens from Sparta's phalanxes.
India can afford to have army modernization at a lower priority with only a fraction of the force brought up to higher standards to handle a Chinese attack (or to threaten Chinese positions in Burma or to bolster Burmese forces against China, depending on how Burma orients itself). Really, India can handle Pakistan's army. And if Indian nukes can't deter Pakistan, what's the point of having them?
And at sea, India can trounce Pakistan while China is still testing the waters for distant deployments. And friendship with America means our Navy stands behind them in the Indian Ocean and stands astride Chinese lines of communications from the Pacific to the Indian Oceans. Naval modernization is important but shouldn't take priority over air power
So air power is India's main shortcoming right now that must be addressed. It is shocking that it has taken so long for India to decide on a replacement for the Mig-21. And remember that no contracts have been signed, so the decision hasn't really been made yet.
Perhaps that decision-making process is the main Indian defense shortcoming, after all. India can be thankful that they didn't have to decide to build the mountains that shield them from the long halls of bureaucracy that slow down everything they touch.
