NEW DELHI: India has maintained its position as the fourth strongest military globally, according to the Global Firepower rankings in 2024.
The Indian Armed Forces constitute the military forces of three professional uniformed services to include the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.
With a strength of over 1.4 million active, 2.1 million reserve and 1.3 million paramilitary personnel, it is the world’s second-largest military force and has the world’s largest volunteer army.
It also has the third-largest defence budget in the world with $83.6 bn behind US and China with $916 bn and $296 bn respectively in 2023, as per SIPRI Fact Sheet, April 2024.
India has maintained its position as the fourth strongest military globally according to the Global Firepower rankings in 2024.
Armed with the nuclear triad and two aircraft carriers, the Indian armed forces are steadily undergoing modernization to address emerging threats.
INDIAN ARMED FORCES: POST INDEPENDENCE
India has fought many wars with Pakistan and China and also participated in Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka and Operation Cactus in Maldives to ensure stability and regional peace.
It also successfully pre-empted Pakistan’s tourist expeditions and gained control over all of the 76-kilometre-long Siachen Glacier and all of its tributary glaciers, as well as all the main passes and heights of the Saltoro Ridge in April 1984.
The sphere of influence having surpassed the South Asian Subcontinent, India is fast emerging as a regional power and “net security provider” in the Indo-Pacific Region, thereby launching itself gradually to the global stage.
Having taken part in 49 peacekeeping missions so far with a total contribution exceeding 195,000 troops and a significant number of police personnel deployed in several UN Peacekeeping Operations, India has been the largest troop contributor to UN missions since inception.
ORGANISATION OF THE INDIAN ARMED FORCES
The Indian Armed Forces are under the management of the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces but the executive authority and responsibility for national security is vested in the Prime Minister of India and their chosen Cabinet Ministers.
At present, the Indian armed forces have 17 individual commands, seven each of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force and three of the Indian Navy. However, two tri-service commands—the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Strategic Forces Command—are also operational.
INDIAN ARMY
The Indian Army is a voluntary service, with 1,237,117 active troops and 960,000 reserve troops. The Indian Army is divided administratively into seven tactical commands.
The main combat and combat support units are 68 armoured regiments, and over 350 infantry battalions and 300 artillery regiments including two surface-to-surface missile units. Amongst major armaments and equipment, there are 4,614 main battle tanks, more than 150,000 vehicles, 140 self-propelled artillery, 3,243 towed artillery, more than 700 rocket artillery in the Indian Army.
INDIAN AIR FORCE
The Indian Air Force is divided into five operational and two functional Commands.
According to open sources, the Indian Air Force has 170,576 active personnel and 140,000 reserve personnel, and approximately 1,926 aircrafts.
In 2024, the Indian Air Force is ranked fourth in the world for air power, with 1,645 aircrafts.
INDIAN NAVY
The Indian Navy operates three Commands with more than 142,000 personnel in total, including 7,000 personnel of the Indian Naval Air Arm, 1,200 Marine Commandos and 1,000 personnel of the Sagar Prahari Bal.
The Indian Navy has a large operational fleet of total 294 vessels consisting of 2 aircraft carriers, 1 amphibious transport dock, 9 Landing ship tanks, 12 destroyers, 12 frigates, 1 nuclear-powered attack submarine,17 conventionally-powered attack submarines, 18 corvettes, 6 mine countermeasure vessels, 4 fleet tankers and 137 patrol vessels.
INTEGRATED THEATRE COMMANDS
India currently has a service-specific commands system.
The only fully functional theatre command is the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) set up in 2001 while the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) set up in 2003 is an integrated functional command or specified combatant command.
Recently constructed integrated functional commands under the Integrated Defence Staff include the Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency(DSA) and the Special Operations Division.
As of 2023, three different commands were to have been set up, one for managing the border with China, another one for managing the border with Pakistan and the third as the Maritime Theatre Command.
THE ANC
The ANC is an integrated tri-service command based at Port Blair in the Andaman Nicobar Islands. It safeguards India’s strategic interests in Southeast Asia and the Strait of Malacca and beyond.
THE SFC
The SFC is part of India’s Nuclear Command Authority.
India is one of only four nations in the world to possess a nuclear triad.
The recent estimates suggest that India has 170 nuclear weapons and has produced enough weapons-grade plutonium for up to 200 nuclear weapons.
INTEGRATED ROCKET FORCE (IRF)
The IRF is a proposed tri-service entity to be formed under Indian Armed Forces which will handle ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and multi barrel rocket launchers with conventional warheads unlike the SFC which is tasked with land-based nuclear deterrence. This is required especially along the northern borders with China and hence deserves to be operationalised expeditiously.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE PRODUCTION
Comprising 16 Defence PSUs, the Government of India, as part of the Make in India initiative, seeks to indigenise manufacturing and reduce dependence on imports for defence.
DRDO
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has a network of 52 laboratories which are engaged in developing defence technologies covering various fields, like aeronautics, armaments, electronic and computer sciences, human resource development, life sciences, materials, missiles, combat vehicles development and naval research and development.
MISSILE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
India has developed a wide range of missiles, including ballistic missiles (Agni, Prithvi), cruise missiles (BrahMos, Nirbhay), anti-tank missiles (Nag, HELINA), surface-to-air missiles (Akash, Astra), and anti-ballistic missiles (Prithvi Air Defence).
Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV) -tipped missiles are a necessity simply because they strike multiple targets simultaneously and help evade ballistic missiles defences.
With a range of over 5,000 kilometres, the Agni-5 is the longest-range missile India has tested so far. The potency of India’s nuclear deterrent is enhanced because this variant is integrated with MIRVs.
The crowning jewel of DRDO has been the BrahMos programme (as a joint venture with Russian NPO), which aims at creating a range of supersonic cruise missiles.
BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENCE
Introduced in light of the ballistic missile threat from Pakistan, it is a double-tiered system consisting of two interceptor missiles, namely the Prithvi Air Defence missile for high-altitude interception, and the Advanced Air Defence Missile for lower altitude interception aimed to intercept any incoming missile launched 5,000 kilometres away.
CRUISE MISSILE DEFENCE
To ward off the threats of nuclear-tipped cruise missile attack, India has a new missile defence programme which will be focused solely on intercepting cruise missiles.
ANTI-SATELLITE (ASAT) PROGRAMME
Aimed at demonstrating anti-satellite capability, India conducted an ASAT successfully in March 2019.
DEFENCE SPACE RESEARCH AGENCY
Responsible for developing space-warfare systems and technologies for the DSA, various types of ASAT weapon systems to include directed energy, co-orbital, lasers and electromagnetic pulse are currently under development.
UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES
The DRDO has also developed many unmanned aerial vehicles in addition to its plans to develop a new class of UAV—High Altitude Long Endurance and Medium Altitude Long Endurance types.
As of December 2023, Ghatak Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle’s progress has demonstrated the nation’s prowess in technological innovation in cutting-edge, indigenous technology.
DEFENCE SATELLITE
India’s first exclusive defence satellite GSAT-7, designed and developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) provides the Indian navy with an approximately 3,500–4,000 kilometres footprint over the Indian Ocean and enables real-time networking of all its operational assets in the water and the land.
NAVIC
A regional navigation satellite system called Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) offers a positioning accuracy of 3 meters, whereas the GPS has an accuracy of 5 meters.
MAKE IN INDIA
The continued shift towards domestic procurement of defence products drives India’s goal of becoming self-reliant in arms development and production.
As on 1 April 2024, India’s defence exports crossed Rs 21,000 crores, approximately $2.7 billion, for the first time, a spectacular growth of 32.5% over the previous fiscal.
The defence exports have grown 31 times in the past ten years compared to FY 2013-14. The growth reflected the global acceptability of Indian defence products and technologies.
CONCLUSION
Battle hardened and experienced in warfare, the Indian Armed Forces continue to remain prepared and can respond to any threat against the country from external aggression and internal disorder or disasters.
However, with growing recognition of its global stature and expanding sphere of influence, there is a need to enhance their capability with progressive, sustained and consistent efforts to address these threats effectively.
Maj Gen Sudhakar Jee, VSM (Retd) is a former Colonel of the Mahar Regiment. His expertise is in geopolitics, defence and strategy.