jhungary
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I have few questions regarding India vs China War
Indian usually say that they are in advantageous position in Doklam. As they are in high ground and then backed by mountain divisions.
1. If that the case then why China will use ground troops when they can use long range artillery and missiles which they have in numbers. After missiles attacks they can try to get air dominance on that area.
2. As its a mountain area, the missiles can target bridges and road passes as there will b fewer roads leading to this area. Uptil now there is no artillery deployed by India. China has already deployed HQ17 in tibet area and they ave alot more long range Sams in case india will use brahmos.
3. Indian Claim is because china air fields on high ground so planes can not use full load. But how about using air refueling in air and also they have alot more jets they can use numbers on its advantage.
4. India has to import of its spare parts so ofcurse it will dent their war capabilities incase war prolongs.
5. in an other scenarios if US will provide more weapons to India. then where Russia will b?
6. How many resources india can divert from Pakistan and Bangaldesh border.
7. What IAF how many squarden it can bring in case Pakistan just heat up LOC or just show some intent to distract India. As i believe it will b Air war and missiles skirmishes rather than troop bases initially as restricted by the area with high mountains passes.
Though its not accurate
I will appreciate constructive discussion over here keep in view past and updates of military and diplomatic approaches from both sides.
@jhungary @Oscar @hellfire @Feng Leng @wanglaokan @Horus @HAKIKAT @Hindustani78 @Abingdonboy @SarthakGanguly @ashok321 @TaimiKhan @TaiShang @TaimiKhan @MastanKhan whats your view guys.
Let me know incase you guys want to add additional scenarios and information.
@WebMaster plz keep trollers away from this thread.
Okay, well, I did not do any primary research on the case, actually, I don’t think I can point out where Doklam is in Bhutan, and I am a bit busy this week so I don’t think I will do the necessary research on the subject and just give you my thought, also I have check the post in this thread and I don’t think people are giving it a serious thought about the issue, so I am afraid my serious input would probably in vein, so instead I am going to take the role of a Platoon Commander and try to brief you on the military aspect to the operation.
I personally do not believe war (or large scale confrontation) would break out between India and China over issue in Bhutan, and I believe many people have already point out the war that China want to fight is on the other border, not thru Bhutan because it is an unfavourable country. So here are my thought as a soldier and below is my tactical appraisal to the situation.
Geographical Situation
Doklam is a plateau over a ridge which run thru the Tibet Plateau and Bhutan Ha valley, which it peak at the area, from the maps, we can see there are one Major Service Road (MSR) label S204 running approximately parallel to Chinese/Bhutan Border. The Sat photo show there are numerous mountain passes but no Auxiliary Service Road (ASR) linking into the area.
The mountain peak within Bhutan Border, which mean topologically, the Chinese side of the border is flatter and lower than Bhutan Side of the border, also, Doklam Plateau was also surrounded by Tri-Border Area between Bhutan-China-India and finally, The Area within Chinese Border was flanked by both Bhutan and India. Which essentially the area the Chinese held within their border formed a bulge toward the Bhutan and Indian Border.
Without studying the topology and weather pattern, I cannot ascertain how or what is the elevation or the weather information (tend to be fogging or tend to be sunny) so these information are not available.
Tactical Situation
First thing I need to mention is that Indian Troop has been in the area for 50 + days, during which we need to assume they are going to fortify the area, they could have been 40 + soldier, it could have been 200 + soldier, it does not matter, 50 + days in the area is more than enough to build fortification for a whole Battalion of 600 men, and that is the ceiling number Chinese is facing if we were to say the Chinese is going to attack first.
Since Indian already occupied the area, which put China into a tactical disadvantage, because it would be the Chinese troop whom need to dislodge the Indian from the position, which mean the Chinese have to take action, where the Indian troop were reacting to the Chinese offence. This is never good in this type of situation for the attacking army.
For an attacking battle, traditional wisdom suggest a 1 to 3 advantage favour the defender, which mean the attacker need to use 3 soldier to overcome 1 single defender. In case of mountain warfare, the number rose to 1 to 5 in favour of the defender. Put together with the location to which the Indian soldier are in a what we called “elevated defilade” which mean the soldier on top of the mountain can see what is going on below and direct artillery or airstrike toward the attack, the attacker cannot see the defender as they were going up hill and facing a reverse crest. Which mean both air and ground support for the attacker would have been impaired. This mean the support will either be unreliable or not available. Which in term will bump the ratio to 1 : 7, which mean to overcome 1 single defender, the attacker (The Chinese) would need to use 7 of its man to overcome 1 single Indian Soldier, that is if we assume both side have similar equipment, training and organisation (TO&E)
So if there are only 40 men defending the ridge, The Chinese would need to send a battalion (400 men) to scale up the mountain for an attack. Which would possibly have 50-65% casualty, you are looking at 200-250 KIA/WIA for PLA in order to attack Doklam. The more the defenders have in the region, the more effort/resource PLA need to devote, which mean for 50 days, if there are fighting fortification to support a reinforced battalion (600 men) of Indian Soldier, the PLA would require a Brigade size force to take Doklam.
This is a full tactical appraisal for the situation. Now, onto your question.
1. If that the case then why China will use ground troops when they can use long range artillery and missiles which they have in numbers. After missiles attacks they can try to get air dominance on that area.
Ground/Air Support in this situation is not effective, because you cannot see the target you want to shoot as the Indian are in a defensive defilade, which mean they can see the Chinese, but the Chinese cannot see the Indian. Indian would either hide behind reserve slope or build Fortification that is camouflaged to fool Chinese Air/Satellite Asset, hence the PLA cannot call accurate support fire on the area, which on the other hand, the Indian can.
Ground Troop is need if the PLA wanted to clear out the Indian Position.
2. As its a mountain area, the missiles can target bridges and road passes as there will b fewer roads leading to this area. Uptil now there is no artillery deployed by India. China has already deployed HQ17 in tibet area and they ave alot more long range Sams in case india will use brahmos.
There are not much service road linking rest of Bhutan and Doklam, which mean you don’t have many target to be begin with, don’t forget you will need to assume Indian have already set up a valid and fortified defensive position around their area, which mean it won’t be affecting much even if you bomb their rear infrastructure.
On the other hand, since PLA is attacking in this instant, they would need a larger force to overcome the Indian Garrison, which mean for PLA, service road and forward staging area are important to organize the attack, which present target for the Indian, they can drop artillery and missile on these target to disperse or disrupt Chinese effort on mounting an attack.
On Chinese side SAM is not really important for them because they have to attack, they want the Indian out, and SAM is a defensive weapon, also, since Doklam is within 40 km from Indian Border, Indian BM-21 and Light/Medium Howitzer could easily deployed anywhere within its own border and fire on Chinese troop staging on the west of Bhutan. Bhutan may also allow Indian to stage their howitzer inside Bhutan as well, which will dramatically close out the range. This is the main threat for PLA, not Indian Air Force. You may still got harassed by the IAF, but I do not think an Air War is possible, see next answer for detail.
3. Indian Claim is because china air fields on high ground so planes can not use full load. But how about using air refueling in air and also they have alot more jets they can use numbers on its advantage.
An Air War is not likely because of the mountain terrain, it would be a challenge for the USAF to hit hill side target in Afghanistan against Taliban, it will certainly a challenge for PLAAF to hit hill side target in Bhutan, also Taliban did not have functional advance SAM targeting the USAF, India does, so if an Air War over Doklam, we will see two things developed.
1.) China would have to declare war on Bhutan, because an air war over Doklam would most likely violate Bhutan Air Space (Even if we do not count the disputed area) Which lead to Mobilization of the whole Bhutan
2.) SAM site hidden inside the mountain range would be a problem for PLAAF, they are hard to track because they were hidden in the mountain, but they can be effective because aircraft need to fly over the mountain, and you cannot fly low to by-pass the radar either, because of the hilly terrain. Which mean in this end, Indian Troop with SAM protection within or outside the valley would have advantage over PLAAF. PLAAF can choose to fight thru the SAM, but it would mean a significant portion of PLAAF would be needed for this, and the same number have to be taken out from flying CAS or CAP.
4. India has to import of its spare parts so ofcurse it will dent their war capabilities incase war prolongs.
Prolonging the war is bad for both side, as I said before, China would be on the offence, and the Chinese would have to support a larger number of troop and equipment than India in order to stay in the fight.
Also, having production base does not mean you would have unlimited resource, which only mean you can in a reasonable manner re-supply your depleted force. But still, it take time to replace soldiers, aircraft, artillery piece, just because everything Chinese use is made in China does not give them an outright advantage over India. In this case, it would come down to how quickly China can replace its force before they can finish off the Indian, you need to remember, China is fighting an up-hill battle on this one, which mean it have to use at least 5 of its own soldier against 1, so for China to replace in this ratio, they would have to replace 5 of anything for the Indian to replace one of anything (Be that tanks, artillery, missile, and so on) I don’t know, maybe China can do it or not, but this type of situation usually lean with the defender, especially there are way to resupply and reinforce the Indian Troop already in Doklam.
5. in an other scenarios if US will provide more weapons to India. then where Russia will b?
Most of the Indian Offensive weapon is from Russia, I don’t think the Indian would need US help on this one, they may need Russian more.
6. How many resources india can divert from Pakistan and Bangaldesh border.
That’s depends on how big a force China can afford to support, in a protracted war, troop rotation is the key, if India can keep on rotating the troop in and out of Doklam, then they won’t need to draw much resource on defending Doklam, the key is how much pressure China can put on the Indian Troop, and how quickly they can do it. China in this case would have to take the initiative, and fact is, if the fighting drag on, it’s going to damage China more than India. Again, the ratio of men and equipment you need to sustain the operation is in favor of India, because they are defending a fortified hill side position with no meaningful mean to access, which also limited the approach.
7. What IAF how many squarden it can bring in case Pakistan just heat up LOC or just show some intent to distract India. As i believe it will b Air war and missiles skirmishes rather than troop bases initially as restricted by the area with high mountains passes.
Not sure, but I don’t think the war is going to spill over toward Pakistan and Bangladesh.