 "How does India's military measure up against China and Pakistan?")
India and China this week held yet another round of high-level military talks over the border row in Eastern Ladakh.
While there was no breakthrough in the 21st round of talks at the Chushul-Moldo border point, both sides did agree to maintain ‘peace and tranquillity.’
Meanwhile, defence secretary Giridhar Aramane on Wednesday said India is standing up to a ‘bully’ in a very “determined fashion.”
“India is giving a face off to our neighbour in almost all the fronts we have with them, wherever there is a mountain pass, we are stationed there… and wherever there is a road we have to be there. So that way we are there standing against a bully in a very determined fashion,” he said.
Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande last month called the situation along the LAC in eastern Ladakh is “stable” but “sensitive.”
He said Indian troops are maintaining a “very high state” of operational preparedness to effectively deal with any eventualities.
But how strong is the Indian military? How does it measure up against China and its traditional rival Pakistan?
Let’s take a closer look:
The Global Firepower Index
The Global Firepower, which rates the world’s nations on military strength, in January released its 2024 index.
The company uses over 60 factors including military equipment, financial stability, geographic location and resources to determine a country’s ‘Power Index’ score.
It assigns a a value to a country’s military firepower.
The firm says that while its perfect score of 0.000 is unnatainable, the smaller the value assigned to a country the more powerful is its ability to fight a conventional war.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Our formula allows for smaller, more technologically-advanced, nations to compete with larger, lesser-developed powers and special modifiers, in the form of bonuses and penalties, are applied to further refine the list which is compiled annually,” the firm states on its website.
So how did the India, China and Pakistan fare?
The Global Firepower Ranks Index 2024 put India in fourth place on its top ten list with a value of 0.1023
China, meanwhile, placed one spot ahead of India at rank three with a value of 0.0706.
Pakistan was at number nine at a value of 0.1711.
The top two countries on the list are the United States and Russia with values of 0.0699 and 0.0702 respectively.
Bhutan was dead last with an assigned value of 6.3704.
Manpower
Now, let’s examine the armed forces of all three nations – beginning with the manpower
China can call upon 2,035,000 active personnel, while India has 144,55,550 active duty personnel.
Pakistan, meanwhile, has just 600,000 personnel.
China has just 510,000 reserves, while India has 1,155,000 reserves.
Pakistan, interestingly has 550,000 reserves – more than China.
It is important to note that China and India are the top two most populated nations in the world with 1.4 and 1.2 billion people respectively.
Pakistan, by comparison, has around 250 million.
So naturally, China and India have a larger population to draw from.
When it comes to the paramilitary, India is ahead with 2,527,000 troops.
China has just 625,000 paramilitary personnel, while Pakistan has 500,000 paramilitary troops.
India has, of course fought wars, with both China and Pakistan.
The India-China border conflict erupted on 5 May, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area.
The ties between the two countries nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.
But army chief Pande has signalled that India is prepared for anything.
“The army is ready and capable of dealing with any situation along the northern borders (with China). We have taken several concrete measures to develop our capabilities in those areas,” Pande said.
Budget
When it comes to the money spent on defence, China is ahead with a budget of $224 billion.
India, meanwhile, has a budget of $73.8 billion.
Of course, even China’s declared budget must be taken with a pinch of salt.
The Times of India quoted Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) as reckoning China’s military budget was four times more than the figures they gave out in 2002.
The US Department of Defence thinks its real military budget might be around 1.1 to 2 times more than what it gives out in its official reports.
Pakistan, by comparison, has a paltry defence budget of $6.34 billion.
Air Force
When it comes to the air forces of all three nations, it is again China that comes out on top.
Beijing has 3,304 aircraft, while India and Pakistan have 2,296 aircraft and 1,434 aircraft respectively.
It is to be noted that while India is attempting to beef up its air force and phase out aging crafts, deliveries of fighter jets and other equipment takes time.
Tanks
China has 5,000 tanks, while India is not far behind with 4,614 tanks.
Pakistan has only 3,742 tanks.
China has 174,300 armoured vehicles, while India has 1,51,248 armoured vehicles.
Pakistan lags far behind here with just 50,523 armoured vehicles.
China leads the pack when it comes to self-propelled artillery with 3,850 systems.
Pakistan, surprisingly, has 752 such systems while India has just 140 systems.
This is even more surprising given India’s history when Bofors guns played a vital role in winning India the Kargil war.
Naval power
When it comes to the naval power, it is China that emerges on top yet again.
While China has 730 vessels in its fleet, India has 294 vessels.
Pakistan has just 114 vessels.
China and India both have two aircraft carriers each – the INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant for India – while Pakistan has zero aircraft carriers.
Interestingly, China until recently was considered a ‘Green-water Navy’ – that is one that had operational capabilities limited to its own region.
However, China has since built the world’s largest fleet and has other countries including Australia the United States – which is a ‘Blue-water Navy’ – worried about Beijing’s expansionist ambitions.
CNN quoted FDD senior fellow Craig Singleton as saying, “It’s a question of when – not if – China will secure its next overseas military outpost,” he said.
This comes in the backdrop of China’s continued threats to force a reunification with Taiwan – which Xi Jinping has described as ‘inevitable’.
But defence minister Rajnath Singh in February sounded a warning.
Rajnath said that India is maintaining a sustained presence in the strategic waters to ensure safety and security of all cargo vessels and it will not shrink from countering any threat that undermines collective well-being of the region.
“It is our steadfast resolve to be the first responder and the preferred security partner in the Indian Ocean Region, and for the peace, stability and prosperity of the wider Indo-Pacific,” he added.
Singh said India will continue to play the role of a ‘Vishwa Mitra’ (friend of the world) in forging meaningful partnerships with an aim to make the world a truly “connected and equitable habitat”.
With inputs from agencies
Tune into Firstpost Defence summit on 24 February at 3 pm. You can register at www.firstpostdefencesummit.com
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