Gurugram: Capital ships such as aircraft carriers are integral in ensuring deterrence and denial of space in the Indian Ocean, even as warfare continues to evolve, former Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Anil Chauhan (Retd.) said Saturday at ThePrint’s Off The Cuff.
Chauhan also highlighted that armoured warfare and tanks will have to evolve to maintain their utility as a platform.
“Obviously today warfare is moving subsurfaces. So a submarine is a good platform. But that doesn’t do away with the requirement of an aircraft carrier. Aircraft carriers are required even if it is huge. After a few years, you do not know actually that this will be required. But on a day to day basis you are there in the Indian Ocean region. If your presence is there with those aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean region they are a large force of deterrence,” the former CDS said, while in conversation with ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta and Snehesh Alex Philip (Editor, Defence and Diplomacy), at the Quorum Club in Gurugram.
He added: “Small countries get influenced. Otherwise if you are not there then this space will be filled up by other people. So this secures the country in the long term. It may not be a war fighting platform, but it is required on a day to day basis. So these large capital ships are required to demonstrate your strength. They are important because fighting is one part. It may not happen at whatever point of time, but you need to secure the nation.”
India currently operates two aircraft carriers—INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya.
Questions surrounding the future of maritime operations have arisen, especially as Ukraine has achieved certain control in the Black Sea despite lacking a Navy, through the use of unmanned vehicles. Kyiv was able to establish a corridor ensuring its exports through the Black Sea, while striking and sinking a number of Russian naval ships, including the flagship of the fleet, the Moskva, in April 2022.
Kyiv has been successful in showcasing its ability to strike at Russian surface assets across the Black Sea through the use of unmanned underwater vehicles.
The Russia-Ukraine war also showcased the evolution of land warfare, in which Russian armoured vehicles and tanks have seen large losses. Kyiv has claimed to have destroyed or disabled over 12,000 tanks, a claim that has yet to be verified.
“So, a tank actually uses its main gun to inflict battle to about 1, 5, 3 kilometres. If it is a missile, 4 kilometres. So, they will have to change how to fight. That means they will have to put in, get integrated with their ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), get drones mounted on that. So, they can actually defeat armour of the opposing side at 40, 50 kilometres away. So, you have to increase the range, firepower of this gun from 3 kilometres, to 20, 25 kilometres, which is possible,” said the former CDS.
He added: “That means every tank should be networked. It should be aware as to who is where. And what is not networked, if it is visual, that is an opposing tank. And it should be able to target. So, if you are able to do that, then the utility of this platform will remain. Obviously, we need to modify the design to save it from top attack. Which is a profile where the tank is the weakest. And that is the area which drones use.”
On whether India needs new tank platforms, Gen. (Retd) Anil Chauhan highlighted that there needs to be a “fundamental change” to the platform to ensure the continued utility of the platform in future wars.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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If India’s future aircraft carrier is going to be along the present aircraft carrier, it won’t last one day against a country like Iran with its thousands of missiles and drones. Your new aircraft carrier has to be a drone carrier…carrying hundreds of drones coupled with a multilayered defence system against attacking missiles and drones. The layered defence should include laser defence systems which will require nuclear power… thus India will need to build a nuclear powered aircraft carrier supported by nuclear powered capitialships or cruisers armed with likewise defence and attack systems in order to fight against a country like Iran in the future. As it is, India’s carriers won’t even be able to fight Pakistan! Time to engage your younger think tanks instead of retired old men. And time to go nuclear!