Dedicated Bomber for IAF : Arguments
- Thread starter Ankit Kumar
- Start date
India's military doctrine is we dont go beyond pakistan or go into china.
That leaves us expensive missiles to do the job.
I told you we need bombers. Yet you and @randomradio mocked me. Right now we just need tto convert IN's tu-142's re-engine them and make them bombers in the interim. If possible get hands on second hand american b-52 stratofortress if possible or the Russian tu-22M3's.
Side by side develop 4 engine stealth bomber on 52 KN Kaveri engine and 4 engine supersonic bomber using 84 KN Kaveri. They won't do anything of this.
Also we need to develop rocket force and start a program for ALBM. For comparison the Chinese have a fleet of 126 bombers.
Pic related is an h-6k carrying an air launched yj-21
I am still against such a development. For Nuke delivery roles, we have attained the technical capability long back to deliver a punch with less than 250-280kg aur dropped delivery system.
Had we currently been at say 10 trillion USD mark now, then yes, we should divert the resources to build something like this.
But no, our nuclear deterrence through aur dropped or even air launched Brahmos can be achieved via multirole fighter platforms. That is what we should aim at.
Whenever people ask me that if not to China, whom should we compare our capabilities with? What should we aim to be? I tell them imagine what UK+France together will punch. That should be our aim. Atleast for the period upto 2035-40 when if everything goes right, should allow us to cross into 10 trillion USD mark.
Once there, then sure the next landmark should be one on one to China or even US capabilities. But that's 2040 in future. Not now.
I seriously still believe this.
The bombers are vulnerable to enemy A2A missiles. If our kavery engines were good enough, I would like to see a bigger GHATAK UCAV with 4 Kaveri engines and an internal weapons bay similar to the B2 Spirit.
I do not believe the source, but just for the sake of discussion, Russia is assembling new airframes. So can be theoretically done.
Although a modernised Tu22M3 could also be , just theoretically.
Even i am not believing this news about IAF purchasing TU160 or any Bomber, it still a proposal i beleive . But for argument sake lets beleive the report of new bomber fleet, what i want to tell is before exploring Russian Bombers we should try to push US to our side. The wide variety of airborne ammunition will give us an edge on conventional warfare, what we want is that edge in conventional warfare.
I'm not understanding CAATSA won't let us buy Russian bombers. And I doubt Americans would want us to sell b1 lancers or b-52. A single b-1 would cost us around 300-500 million $. We could buy b-52 stratofortress but I have huge doubts if Americans will sell that to us. Although american b-52's would cost us 90 mil $ per unit. And they would fit our requirement well considering the Chinese have h-6k's. We could buy around 20-30 b-52's for around 3 billion $. Provided the Americans are open to selling them.
The most realistic options seems to be re-engining the navy's tu-142Mk-E's and do life extension in the interim and start investing in an indigenous bomber program.
For nuke delivery, we have ballistic missiles. Anyway TU160 will be more helpful than US bombers if u wanna deliver nuke.
How successful it will be against China is a question. Yes, for IN, it may be useful. But it won't be difficult at all to shoot down the bomber. It is a waste of money since we already have 40 MKI that can deliver the Brahmos and Rafael for nuclear bombing.
This is what the Chinese have.
Do you thing the Brahmos equals this absolute behemoth of a missile.
Or this
Agreed that what they are carrying is dated tech that could be intercepted by modern AD. But still. They have a fleet of 126 aircrafts.
If we can replicate a loadout similar to this then having bombers makes snes otherwise it's pointless.
When we get the Astra MK3, will these bombers be able to fly near 200 kilometres of the India LOC without being detected? In the matchup with these Bombers, I expect 4 mig 21. I'm not sure if the glide vehicle's width can fit into the fuselage of the plane because we don't have a hypersonic glide vehicle. In addition, MKI is capable of performing all Ashm firing roles. Before you spend a lot of money on a product, we need to see how it is used. Why not put that cash toward Rafael?
Yeas, it will. Its a bomber not an airliner or an ordinary business jet to fly with out a credible EW suite.
Also it will survive battle space like any other aircraft if it is escorted properly.
Consider this view point, if in such a crunch scenario we go for a bomber fleet, we go for it for things a Rafale or Flanker cannot do.
Like launching a dozen long range air launched cruise missiles, maybe tipped with nukes if used by SFC. Or Air launched ballistic missile or Air launched Hypersonic Glide System.
Using something like a JDAM from it will not be a priority.
Will US allow B1s to be armed with Indian Nuke tipped missiles ?