I remember someone here claiming this is impossible
@randomradioIn the next 5 years, pakistan will be doing it.
ROK Navy - Discussion & Updates
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I remember someone here claiming this is impossible
@randomradioIn the next 5 years, pakistan will be doing it.
I remember someone here claiming this is impossible
In the next 5 years, pakistan will be doing it.
It's just a simple ballistic missile along the same lines as Pralay, it's not an MRBM or IRBM. We have already done that on Sukanya class patrol vessels, never mind a submarine. Firing the Brahmos-1 from an SSK will be equally challenging, if not more.
Anyway, my argument still stands. Unless the Paksitani subs can stay submerged for more than a month, it's useless. The alternative is they need to operate along their shores, under air cover, and then their submerged speed "post-detection" will be way too low for the sake of survival to be tactically relevant. Meaning, they will reach South India well after the nuclear war is over.
Any potential for a nuclear war is the first 24-48 hours. During this time, most of the PAF and pretty much all of the PN would have been taken out, while the IA would be threatening Pak's main lifelines by placing them under artillery fire control. Pak HQs would all be under attack. So Pak's response has to be nuclear or not. Otoh, even at 14knots, a submarine would take 60 hours at the minimum travelling in a straight line to get to within firing range of South Indian cities, say Bangalore. More realistically, a submarine would reach its target after 4 days or so even at its highest possible speed while retaining stealth. That's too late. The only alternative is to place an MRBM on the sub, but that's pointless, 'cause you can have them on land.
Second problem is the geography. Major South Indian cities are protected by the Ghats. These can go up to 2Km in height. So any CM has to fly high above the hills making it easily detectable. The same advantage we have in the Himalayas with China, plays out along the Ghats as well. We see the entire sky, we see all the threats in the sky. As for BMs, the skies in the South will be way too clean for it to go undiscovered. I mean, literally, air traffic and 4 ballistic targets, that's it. It's probably the easiest environment for BMD to work in, unlike in Korea, where the skies are saturated enough for some SLBMs to slip through. So, even if the sub survives the journey, its payload is insufficient.
People here don't understand the tactical situation either. India won't start any war with Pakistan until all of PN's submarines are tagged. And current SSKs have this bad habit of surfacing every week or so, that's when they become vulnerable. During the Pulwama attack, the IN found both subs in the water along the Pakistani coastline, post which they allowed the strikes to take place. PN has to hug the coastline if they wish to survive, and then the long distance comes into play. We were already prepared to go to war then, and the IN was ready to take out both the subs as well.
Pak's submarine fleet is not meant for nuking India's mainland, it's meant to keep Pak's SLOC to the Gulf open during a war with India, ie, they plan to operate under air cover. And if any nuclear capability is provided to the subs, whether it's CMs or nuke torpedoes, it will be for tactical use against the IN.
Using SSKs as a second strike option is absolutely useless for the Pakistanis. They are better off with just land-based MRBMs and ALCMs, focusing on North and Central India, with a handful of MRBM attacks down south.
