The Indian army has the most complicated weapon models among the major powers’ armies. With so many different types of weapons, logistical support could be very troublesome.
Take the Indian Air Force fighters as an example:
The Su-30, MiG-29, MiG-21, Il-76, An-32 transport aircraft, Mi-17, Mi-24, Mi26, Mi35 helicopters are from the Soviet Union/Russia;
C17, C130 transport aircraft, Apache and Chinook helicopters are from the United States;
Mirage 2000, Rafale fighter, Jaguar attack aircraft, Cheetah helicopter are from France;
Faircon early warning aircraft, heron, searcher, skylark, and Hubi drones are from Israel;
The EMB-145 early warning aircraft comes from Brazil;
The core components and technologies of many pieces of equipment such as LCA fighter jets and Polaris helicopters made in India also come from foreign countries.
There are many types of the above models in the Indian army, which come from the United States, Russia, Europe, Israel, and Brazil, of which the systems are fundamentally different. And in respect of the ages of weapons, they are half a century old or brand-new, according to Chinese analyst Junwu. The integration of such complex weapons together is not something an ordinary country can do. Although the Indian Air Force has crashed thousands of fighters in recent decades, it is actually a very good achievement to be in front of such a complex system of equipment.
Air force equipment is like this, so why not army equipment?
For the army artillery unit only, the 105mm caliber are IFG based on the British L13 howitzer and LFG based on the British L118 howitzer;
122mm diameter D30 imported from the Soviet Union;
39 times 155mm howitzers are purchased from Sweden’s FH77B and the United States’ M777;
The 45-times 155mm howitzer has the domestic imitation and improved Danush (Indian version FH77B);
52 times 155mm howitzer has K9 imported from South Korea.
The suppressed artillery of these calibers comes from the United States, the Soviet Union/Russia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and South Korea. The systems are naturally different, and there are both ultralight guns, towed guns, and self-propelled guns. The technological age has spanned more than half a century since the 1950s. Such complicated artillery can be guaranteed in place in India. For example, half of the FH77B purchased in the 1980s is still available. This is also not simple.
In fact, the difficulty of the Indian army’s support is beyond our imagination. Its army needs as many as 163 types of ammunition. If an Indian army unit is equipped with several rifles at the same time, don’t be surprised, this is normal. Among this required ammunition, India can produce only 90 types, and the quality and output are still difficult to guarantee. The remaining ammunition depends on outsourcing, and the funds for outsourcing are still very limited.
In this very difficult situation, the Indian Army can still guarantee the high-intensity combat needs of about 7 days, which is very rare.
Don’t think that 7 days are short. The Third Middle East War only lasted 6 days, and the Gulf War ground battle only lasted 4 days. In terms of the size of the Indian Army, 7 days are quite a lot. In addition, the Indian army is still working hard to ensure that the ammunition reserve can guarantee 10 days of fierce combat from 2022 to 2023, and has a plan to guarantee 40 days of ammunition reserve in the future.
So we said that although the Indian army’s weapons are messy, complicated in origin, and have a large age span, the Indian army does ensure that these weapons can basically operate. Although the integrity of weapons is indeed not high, accidents often occur in ammunition. But in such a complicated situation, it is not easy to keep them operable.
Therefore, we have to say that the Indian army’s logistics support is outstanding. To face up to India, we must face up to the fact that India has a certain level of logistical support capabilities.