While the Indian Air Force (IAF) plan against the threat of Chinese Air Force remains classified, the basic strategy against People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) was put to test very successfully during 2018 Gagan Shakti pan-India air exercises. The strategy is simple: Disperse, Absorb, Recoup and Retaliate.<\/p>\n
Air warriors like Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Birender Singh Dhanoa know that the Chinese will launch a barrage of early long range missile strikes against Indian air bases to incapacitate them. However, according to a March 2020 Belfer Center Study of Harvard Kennedy School, this is easier said than done.<\/p>\n
The study quotes a senior IAF officer saying that the Chinese need 220 ballistic missiles to keep one airfield shut for 24 hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will not make any difference to\u00a0IAF operations\u00a0in the east or the west since the Force has a large number of other airfields (from Leh to Pasighat) to operate from. If the PLA air force attacks just three air bases, it will require 660 ballistic missiles per day for attacking the runway and taxi track alone. China\u2019s stock of 1,000-1,200 medium range ballistic missiles or short range ballistic missiles will be over in three days with no other major target system like command and communication centres or air defence units being addressed,\u201d the study says.<\/p>\n
While recognising the rocket threat from China, the IAF strategy has been fine tuned to an art form and put to practice through more than 6,000 sorties alone on the eastern front during Exercise Gagan Shakti. \u201cThe moment the red flag is up, we will disperse the aircraft from the designated fields to all along the border with China with sufficient ammunition in those bases to take care of the air operations,\u201d said a serving Air Force commander.<\/p>\n
The next step in the Indian counter strategy is to absorb the attack at the air bases and quickly repair the runway and the taxiway. It is understood that the IAF has the capacity to repair the runway and get the air base operational within four to six hours. \u201cWe don\u2019t have either the US Patriot anti missile system or the Israeli Iron Dome system. But have a proven capacity, tested under Gagan Shakti to repair the runways within six hours maximum,\u201d said the IAF officer.<\/p>\n
Former Air Chief Dhanoa\u00a0explains it by saying that even if Chabua, Tezpur, Leh, Adampur air bases are down, the dispersed aircraft will start operating from other bases like Bareilly, Dimapur, Kanpur and Gorakhpur and a dozen of other airfields. \u201cThe next steps are to recoup and then retaliate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
During the 2018 Gagan Shakti exercise, then defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and then air chief Dhanoa landed at Pasighat advanced landing ground with a Su-30 taking off from the new air strip.<\/p>\n
While the Chinese rocket attack will damage the Indian air bases, the inherent problem of rocket attack is that it is a one-time attack and there is a limitation on the warhead load.<\/p>\n
Even though the Chinese military propaganda is on a full swing with so called use of powerful ammunition, the fact is that IAF has both the capacity and capability to bring the fight to Han China, way beyond occupied Tibet and Xinjiang.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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