Massive augmentation of India's armed forces.

Byline: M. Fazal Elahi

It has been reported in the Indian and Pakistan print media lately that India has firmed up its plan to massively augment its military capability over the next 5-7 years. According to information emanating from an official document and Indian military sources, published in leading Indian Daily 'India Today' on September 11 and some leading English dailies of Pakistan on October 23, 2019, India has decided to take a quantum leap vis-a-vis strengthening its military capability. As reported, India has finalised a plan to spend USD 130 billion over the next five to seven years to modernise its armed forces. The document, as reported in the media, says the Indian government will work on a comprehensive plan to expedite modernisation of its army, navy and the air force. Under this plan, a range of significant weapons, missiles, fighter jets, submarines and warships will be procured in the next few years.

Regardless of all that has been reported vis-a-vis India's plans to strengthen its armed forces phenomenally and it's not so good past track-record with regard to procurement of military hardware for its armed forces, what should be a cause for major concern for the countries of the region, China and Pakistan in particular, is India's unprecedented hegemonic designs in this part of the globe. Strongly backed by the US, in particular, and the other powers that be, in general, which are deeply engaged in selling state-of-the-art military hardware worth billions of dollars to India, augmentation of its armed forces has become a cornerstone of India's defense policy.

According to Indian defense analysts, Pakistan is an immediate threat to India while China will be a medium- term threat, they presume. They, therefore, firmly believe that India should focus more on Chinese military threat because, according to them, if India is prepared take on China it could capably confront two-front wars.

A report of 'The Military Balance', a prestigious annual publication of The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) UK, published in eminent Indian Daily-The Economic Times on February 15, 2018, India overtook the UK as the fifth-largest defense spender in the world in 2017 at $52.5 billion. Quoting from the 2018 issue of 'The Military Balance 2018', The Economic Times further said that India's defense budget broke into the world's top five, beating the UK for the first time, signaling a key shift in the military balance between...