How so? Balance of forces and the lack of numbers is certainly not on India's side. IN has to commit forces for her huge coast line and also throw numbers to block Pakistan's coast too.
It is. Not every inch of India's coast needs to be protected. A few major ports and shipping channels need to be protected only on the West Coast. Even if they are unguarded, Pakistan does not possess the wherewithal to exploit it. No Pakistani surface ship will be able to go. At best a few shells or missiles will be lobbed. What does that achieve in a military context? Nothing.
No one is questioning IN's technological capability. If PN and IN slug it out in the open sea, PN will get annihilated in a matter of hours. But for coastal defence, i am not so sure. The scenario is a bit similar to USN and PLAN, the defensive weapons that PN possess are quite lethal and can make a serious dent on IN's strategy. The strategy of sea denial is much cheaper than sea supremacy.
Sea denial means at best Pakistan can throw up a defensive zone. IN can implement a blockade without crossing that limit. And while i question PN's ability to come up with anything close to sea denial. With the assets PN has, it cant do what you claim.
Already seen, most of the new fancy toys (P8 and Akula etc) are mostly aimed at China as they hardly provide any advantage against Pakistan.
Well, the AAW is geared towards Pakistan. And its not as if P8's or Akula's are not going to be used against Pakistan. Its a war against Pakistan, not China. All resources will be mobilized against Pakistan, especially all maritime ones. IN hardly has to maintain a balance in the east, unlike IAF. PLAN cant do anything in IOR.
Do you mind naming one for me please? I would any day on my life put my money on a Harpoon II compared to any other ASM missile.
Put your life/money, doesnt mean others would too. BrahMos is but one of the major AShM's.
Indeed the defence is commendable, but this is where strategy comes in. It will be up to PN war planners on how they manage to break the fleet's defences. PAF with her Mirage III were able to break the defences of USS Kity Hawk and fly past it in a practice exercise, so don't for a second think that IN's fleet will be safe because a US CBG is probably a thousand times better protected than an IN CBG.
Great. Where all do you expect to deploy your very limited air assets? IN alone will have an fighter complement of 100 jets by the decade end. That would be 1/4th of the entire projected PAF fighters.
Let alone that PAF has to contend against IAF which is technologically and quantitatively superior.
That apart, PAF will also have to simultaneously provide air cover/defence to PA!
A Harpoon II whether on surface ship or coastal battery is a very serious threat whether you like it or not.
As i said, this is where strategy comes in.
No its not. It used to be a good while back. Today technology allows such coastal batteries to be bombed on the first day itself. They are not as mobile and consequently easy to put out.
No Pakistani Naval warship will remain standing if it goes to a fight even from its harbour. Its that simple. Pakistan's defence is based on submarine and coastal batteries. Your procurements also reflect this.
For an effective blockade, yes IN will need to bring her ships to close down Pakistan's EEZ. IN will need to maintain a continuous presence of her fleet and effectively stop the ingress/egress of civilian ships for it to be considered an effective blockade. The question is how many ships can IN throw at this venture and how many casualties are they willing to accept? A continuous round the clock blockade is going to be an expensive venture in both monetary terms and in terms of blood as PN will continuously harass IN with strikes from the coast, air, sea and under sea
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You realize that with PN surface ships destroyed, and a continuous ASW screen put up, there is not much left for PN to do?
I know that you are knowledgeable in military affairs. Please take a moment out to consult with those serving in Navy in different countries or even PN. If your surface ships are destroyed, and your ports are bombed.
The only threat there is, is from PN submarines, not coastal batteries. They will be bombed at the outset along with the ports. Every SAG of IN will have a fleet wide MRSAM capability backed by fighters. Even if you are able to locate the SAG's and even if you are able to fire a volley of AShM's, even then it would be hard to make even the SAG operationally invalidated. The AAW being put up is too big for PN to penetrate easily. With the resources PN possess it is very hard. Your procurements must reflect what you say that PN would be able to get past the AAW repeatedly! They do not. And unless it is repeatedly, one off successful strikes are not likely to stop IN or the blockade.
At best you maintain say a 100 sq km area denial by your subs which in themselves would be under great pressure. Loss of even one of the subs will be extremely hard for PN.
Even beyond that ring a blockade can be implemented. Your EEZ does not need to be constantly patrolled for a blockade. And though it will, your cargo handling infrastructure needs to be bombed for it to be rendered operationally inactive. If your allies are unable to land oil/gas/military gear on your ports, then it becomes a defacto blockade.
Losses are acceptable part of any war. However, in case of Naval Forces, Pakistan will not be able to inflict a high level of losses in any case.
In any case, every loss of asset of IN, will be alongside loss of assets for PN, which will pinch PN that much greater and erode their capability to put up the next strike on IN. This loss of capability of PN per asset is much greater and very severely limits PN strikes for a longer duration.
They are more than welcome to. But looking at their posture from 2001 and 2008, it does appear that they want to refrain from it because they know how unfruitful this venture would be.
You would know that it was the Army which backed out. At the outset of any war, IN will , not if, implement a blockade. 3 ports of Pakistan will - not if - be bombed to stop any cargo movement in and out.
The gap b/w IN and PN is ridiculously large and only growing at a very alarming pace for Pakistan. The capability gap is too big for Pakistan to be able to stop a blockade. The solution is only investing in assets. Pakistan has not done that for a decade, seems unlikely for the next decade as well.
Well that is an assumption and an assumption only not backed by any proof
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Cheers
You only have history to go by for the basis of that assumption.