Shields up!
Posted on 05/22/2002 10:31:57 AM PDT by mhking
Wednesday May 22, 11:02 PM
Missile-carrying Indian naval warships steamed into the Arabian Sea, closer to Pakistan, as military tensions between the two South Asian nuclear neighbours soared, officials here said.
"We have moved five frontline ships of the eastern fleet to be cross-deployed to the western seaboard to augment the force levels," Naval spokesman Commander Rahul Gupta said.
Highly-placed naval sources told AFP that four of the vessels are armed with missiles but the spokesman declined to elaborate on the redeployment, which comes in the middle of heightening military tensions between India and Pakistan.
"A Russian-built destroyer, an indigenous frigate and three corvettes are steaming into the Arabian Sea from the Bay of Bengal," the source said, adding the destroyer, the frigate and two of the corvettes are capable of launching missiles.
The Indian Navy has already brought the country's merchant navy under its flag and kept its only aircraft carrier on a state of alert in the Bay of Bengal.
The Indian Air Force, the world's fourth largest, also went on alert as India's mobilisation gained momentum on Wednesday.
"We are still not at the stage where we scramble jets but we are now on a state of alert," a senior offical from the Western Air Command told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He said the air force has also cleared some 80 grounded MiG-21s for operational duty due to the increased tensions. The planes were grounded when a jet ploughed into a state-run bank, killing or injuring 23 people earlier this month.
"We are also redeploying our Mirage-2000 and Jaguars to forward locations from their mother bases," the official said of the fleet of French- and British-built warplanes which adds teeth to India's mainly Russian-built air force.
The Press Trust of India said the air force was also moving its "strategic assets" including ground-to-air-missiles to protect vital installations but there was no independent confirmation of the dispatch.
The twin moves come amid signs India and Pakistan are moving to the brink of war, with an already bitter standoff being intensified Wednesday by a statement by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that the time had come for a "decisive fight."
"Our goal should be victory because now the time has come for a decisive fight and in this war we will win ... We have to fight our own war, we are ready for it, we are prepared for it," Vajpayee said, addressing Indian troops on the Kashmiri frontlines.
Tensions between the two South Asian states, which have fought three wars since independence in 1947, were sent soaring on December 13 when Islamic militants New Delhi claims were sponsored by Islamabad attacked the Indian parliament, leaving 14 people dead.
Since then, India and Pakistan have together deployed nearly one million troops along their shared border.
Tensions are certainly high, but with Jack Straw and Richard Armitage coming to the region in the coming weeks I don't think we'll see any major military action in the near furure, unless there is some sort of unexpected incident which snowballs of course.
Ordinarily, I would agree with you, but after hearing the Indian president last night/this morning, I truly wonder. I've been watching StarNews India off and on of late, and things look grim, indeed.
Congratulations! I just heard about the proposal yesterday.
Those must be the 2003 model Corvettes. Gonna have to get me one of those. :)
So if you're Mushariff in Pakistan, you've got al-qaeda infiltrating your Western border with Afghanistan (and half your troops deployed to stop them), al-qaeda infiltrated in your ISI security agency, al-qaeda stirring up trouble on your North-Eastern border with India, you're surrounded by some of the world's largest armies (China, India), you're outnumbered by India ten to 1 in men, tanks, fighters, bombers, and nukes; and you've got fewer than 20 of your own nukes (out of 80 Hiroshima-sized devices) on missiles (the rest being vulnerable to air or ground interception) to defend yourself with.You've got an Indian aircraft carrier and missile ships off of your Southern coast and an Indian army on your Eastern border.
Perhaps this is not the time for Pakistan to be playing the prima-dona regarding their claims to frozen wasteland in Kashmir.
It'll be somewhat sad to see Pakistan razed to the ground ala Carthage (delendo est) because Mushariff actually seemed to be playing ball with us (finally). Too bad. At least the Indians will be rather likely to insure that al-qaeda isn't operating in that region any longer.
And China? China isn't getting involved in this conflict. Why? Because they've been moving their surface to air and surface to surface missiles to the OTHER side of the country in their attempt to intimidate Taiwan, and without those anti-aircraft missiles near Kashmir, they aren't going to iritate the Indian air force.
One has to wonder just how stupid world leaders can become that they would play the hand that Pakistan has played in a game with such high stakes (and stacked deck), but perhaps the answer is that the al-qaeda infiltration of Pakistan not only influences policy but also doesn't give a whitt if Pakistan is vaporized...
Of course, India already has a substantial force in the West already, which includes the Viraat Class aircraft carrier.
...yah right!
Here's a pic of an Indian Air Force MiG-21, which are Korean War vintage. According to Jane's, the India has been developing it's own fighter since 1983. That's taken so long, the MiG-21's had to be upgraded with Israeli and Russian help. I don't have a clue as to their capability or the Pakistani Air Force's capability.
Here's a map of likely targets in Pakistan.
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