INDIA- Strategic Command to acquire 40 nuclear capable fighters

[Archie]

Well , the indian navy has 4 Tu22M AND ALSO PLAN TO LEASE 3 MORE OF THEM , However i dont think that strategic force command needs a heavy bomber , even a good ground attack platform with 8000 Kg Payload and range of 4000 km can do the job , If u ask me , then if rafale wins the mmrca contract , then SFC will also acquire 40 of these , Otherwise , if a Sukhoi aircraft is to be acquired for this purpose , then IT WOULD BE MODIFIED Su30Mki not Su34 or Su35 as most of u have suggested

 

[SpArK]

Well , the indian navy has 4 Tu22M AND ALSO PLAN TO LEASE 3 MORE OF THEM , However i dont think that strategic force command needs a heavy bomber , even a good ground attack platform with 8000 Kg Payload and range of 4000 km can do the job , If u ask me , then if rafale wins the mmrca contract , then SFC will also acquire 40 of these , Otherwise , if a Sukhoi aircraft is to be acquired for this purpose , then IT WOULD BE MODIFIED Su30Mki not Su34 or Su35 as most of u have suggested

How do you know that?

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Originally Posted by Archie
"Well , the indian navy has 4 Tu22M AND ALSO PLAN TO LEASE 3 MORE OF THEM"

Compadre, that is some news. Where did you find it ?

 

[Camdor]

Too big radar cross section for bombers!
Why not acquire missiles instead of deep penetration aircraft ? I am a bit confused here!

Yes you are right, why not to have more missiles than aircrafts, sounds deadlier. But, we need means to launch it plus its economical decision which will increase the number of pilots in IAF, builds strategic partner ship with other countries and it can be of multipurpose usage.

What do you think, that Tejas is taking so long time to develop, lets forget that here but its understood. We have the money so lets throw it become the largest PPP finally market is not just seller's and producer's .

 

[Camdor]

self deleted

 

[Dash]

I dont know why SFC wants to acquire 40 fighters seperately and tell that these nuclear fighters are based at this base.

 

[Kinetic]

It could be the new 42 MKIs ordered recently as well. Those new MKIs costing $ 79 million per ac!!! Way more than earlier fighters.

Dedicated fighter-bomber for SFC should be different from normal fighters.

 

[Dash]

It could be the new 42 MKIs ordered recently as well. Those new MKIs costing $ 79 million per ac!!! Way more than earlier fighters.

Dedicated fighter-bomber for SFC should be different from normal fighters.

Actually you have a point here, Most conventional bombers use cruise missiles to deliver Nuclear weapons and these new Sukois are Brahmos capable.

 

[!!craft!!]

Actually you have a point here, Most conventional bombers use cruise missiles to deliver Nuclear weapons and these new Sukois are Brahmos capable.

aint bhramos a cruise missile...

 

[deckingraj]

What I feel here is that we don't need to focus on the aircrafts capable of delivering nuks deep into enemy territory as that's something that soon is going to be a fairy tale as if India concentartes on its missile developement I don't think the IAF, IA, IN or the ISC would need any more fighter aircraft to deliver nukes... We have Short, Medium, Long range missiles in with us to do the same job, whay do you wanna risk a fighter aircraft and the pilot for that sake... India simply lacks the ICBM capability and that will also be there in the coming years... I don't understand the need of opting for nuke capable fighter aircrafts... We all know that a nuke war is something that's far from any of our imaginations and will be the complete end... A fighter bomber with powerful conventional warfare can do the same if the enemy airspace and landspace is in control.... I won't suggest to make this 40+ fighter bomber deal a part of the 126 fighter deal as we need those as a separate batch to boost the depleting AF squadrons... On top of that of the command decides to go for additional 40 jets then the best deal would be the Rafale... In IAF we already have Mirages that are going to be upgraded to 2000-Mk2 standards, Jaguars and the MKIs which are already capable of delivering nukes and above all increasing the MKI stock might solve the problem from the core of it... Su35BM is a great option but again as I said, if India has a strategic defence then this all won't be necessary... what say...?

You do have some great points but remember all these are deterrants which no one would like to use unless nuke war is the only option left...Now why are we going for dedicated bombers, then few points to ponder upon

- The first thumb rule of nuke deterrant is to have effective delivery mechanism. Mainly Air(bombers),Land(missiles), water(Submarines)...If we look at current scenario then i would say we don't have the level of effective mechanism that we would like to have, i hope you agree...We are working on all three mechanism's and this demand seems to be in synch with rest of platforms....

- Now why dedicated bombers for SCC then remember our Air-Force is already operating below the sanctioned number of fighters so further reliance on them might further effect their operation capacity. In short more fighters are definitely the need of hour....

- Now why not more MKI's : Simple answer is that MKI is not battle proven. Mind it i am a big fan of MKI however when you want to use something as deterrent and delivery system for strategic weapons you want something battle proven(which is what SCC is looking out for). Reason, this gives a clear message to adversary, you nuke me i promise you will be cooked for good and because my delivery system is already a proven system adversary will also know the dire consequences of trying the unthinkable....

 

[jha]

I would like to have atleast 10 Tu-160 just for its payload.

 

[Markus]

Actually you have a point here, Most conventional bombers use cruise missiles to deliver Nuclear weapons and these new Sukois are Brahmos capable.

I think this is a misconception.

Not all MKI's (including new ones) will be Brahmos-compatible.

To carry a Brahmos, MKI needs to undergo a structural change and currently 2 of them are in Russia for the same. These 2 will be dedicated to carrying the Brahmos. Depending on how things work out and depending on further requirements, more MKI's will undergo modifications to carry the Brahmos.

 

[Kinetic]

Actually you have a point here, Most conventional bombers use cruise missiles to deliver Nuclear weapons and these new Sukois are Brahmos capable.

I guess they are considering a nuclear capable Brahmos. A Sukhoi with Brahmos will be multiple time more capable than normal land or sea based Brahmos. Nuclear capable Brahmos on the Su-30 MKI will be a decent strike capability.

 

[Kinetic]

I think this is a misconception.

Not all MKI's (including new ones) will be Brahmos-compatible.

To carry a Brahmos, MKI needs to undergo a structural change and currently 2 of them are in Russia for the same. These 2 will be dedicated to carrying the Brahmos. Depending on how things work out and depending on further requirements, more MKI's will undergo modifications to carry the Brahmos.

We mean the recently ordered 42 MKI which is much more costly than current one must be capable of carrying Brahmos or can serve as long range nuclear strike aircraft.

Currently no MKI is capable of carrying Brahmos. Other than these two, those were sent to Russia for modifications, none f the current MKIs will be modified to carry Brahmos instead IAF will get all new Brahmos capable MKIs.

 

[Dash]

I guess they are considering a nuclear capable Brahmos. A Sukhoi with Brahmos will be multiple time more capable than normal land or sea based Brahmos. Nuclear capable Brahmos on the Su-30 MKI will be a decent strike capability.

That is what I was thinking.....
And imagine, lets see 1 nuke tipped Brahmos and 2 subsonic Nirbhay with 1000 Kms range if carried by Sukhio, then it will be a formidable weapon system.

However, coming back to topic. I am certainly thinking that they will not go for any dedicated bomber for Nuke delivery simply because of the reason that we cant get advanced stealth bombers. So Sukhio is the one they are looking for.