Missile tests, border roads set India's tone to China

India has conducted a series of missile tests in quick succession since September, in a clear attempt to show off its indigenous missile capabilities at a time when China has been encroaching Indian borders since the spring.

Nine missiles have been tested in this period, an unusually high number.

In addition, the defence ministry is playing up something that bothers China — the creation of extensive border infrastructure. On Monday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced the dedication of 44 border bridges to the nation. These bridges had been constructed earlier this year but Monday’s announcement shows India has chosen to confront Chinese concerns on this issue, especially since it coincided with the seventh round of talks being held between senior officers from the two armies in eastern Ladakh.

Monday would likely have also seen a second announcement from the defence ministry — the tenth missile test, had it not been aborted because of technical problems.

Missile Tests

While some reports suggest the the tests might have been conducted in such a time-frame because of delays due to the Covid 19 pandemic, there is no question that these tests have contextualised India’s response to the continuing stand-off with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), with the tempo, number and type of tests leaving doubt about what is left unsaid to the People’s Republic of China, over and above validating India’s indigenous missile capabilities.

The capabilities tested since September span short-range, tactical, battlefield weapons to no-bullshit, zero-ambiguity, strategic weapons.

September 07, 2020: HSTV

Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle | Image: DRDO

Only three other countries, the U.S., Russia and China have achieved hypersonic speeds of Mach 6 within the Earth’s atmosphere .

September 22 & October 01, 2020: LG ATGM

The Laser Guided Anti Tank Guided Missile (LG ATGM) is a tactical battlefield weapon and was tested twice in this period. According to DRDO, it employs a tandem HEAT warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armoured vehicles in ranges from 1.5 to 5 km. It has been developed with multiple-platform launch capability and is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from 120 mm rifled gun of MBT Arjun.

September 23, 2020: Prithvi II

Already in service, the surface-to-surface nuclear-capable 350 kilometre-range ballistic missile was tested by the Strategic Forces Command, with a random example selected for night-time launch.

September 30, 2020: BrahMos

DRDO and BrahMos Aerospace test-fired the BrahMos to its ‘full range of 290 kilometres’. The missile is already in service in the armed forces. The extended-range variant of the BrahMos was first tested in 2017, when India developed the 400-kilometre variant after joining the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in 2016. The initial variant was said to have a range of 290 kilometres, largely to avoid conflict with the 300 kilometre-limit of the MTCR.

October 03, 2020: Shaurya

DRDO conducted a test-firing of its hypersonic, 800 km-range, nuclear-capable Shaurya missile.

October 05, 2020: SMART

DRDO conducted the first test of its Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) missile-launched torpedo with apparently perfect results, ‘far beyond torpedo range’, that could theoretically hit objectives almost more than 600 kilometres away, after lifting it to its target area at Mach 3.

October 09, 2020: RUDRAM Anti Radiation Missile

According to a statement issued by DRDO, the India’s first indigenous anti-radiation missile was flight tested ‘onto a radiation target located on Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha’ after being ‘launched from SU-30 MKI fighter aircraft.

“It has INS-GPS navigation with Passive Homing Head for the final attack. The RUDRAM hit the radiation target with pin-point accuracy,” said the statement, adding, “The Passive Homing Head can detect, classify and engage targets over a wide band of frequencies as programmed. The missile is a potent weapon for IAF for Suppression of Enemy Air Defence effectively from large stand-off ranges.”

“With this, the country has established indigenous capability to develop long range air launched anti-radiation missiles for neutralising enemy Radars, communication sites and other RF emitting targets,” the statement said.

October 12, 2020: Nirbhay

The test of the 800 kilometre-range cruise missile was aborted due to technical problems.

Although not a missile, DRDO also said it conducted a successful flight test of its ABHYAS – High-Speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) on September 22, 2020, with two demonstrator vehicles, which could be used as a ‘target for evaluation of various missile systems’.

Border Infrastructure

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh dedicates 44 border bridges built by Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to the nation and laid the foundation stone for Nechiphu Tunnel on the road to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh through a video conference in New Delhi on Monday | Image: Ministry of Defence

India constructed 54 major bridges in the border regions this year, with a further 48 to be completed before the end of this year. Forty-four of these 54 major permanent bridges were formally ‘dedicated to the nation’ by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday. 40 of these bridges are in states sharing a border with Tibet and have all been constructed by the defence ministry’s Border Roads Organisation (BRO). The defence minister also Rajnath Singh also ‘laid the Foundation Stone of the strategically important Nechiphu Tunnel on the road to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh’. “This 450 mtrs long, bi-lane tunnel would ensure all weather connectivity across Nechiphu Pass besides providing a safe and secure passage through accident prone areas,” said the defence ministry.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also inaugurated the Atal Tunnel, a new all-weather link to Ladakh.

Other completed projects include:

April 20, 2020: New Bridge in Arunachal Pradesh
May 08, 2020: 80 kilometre road cutting Kailash-Mansarover travel time
July 09, 2020: Six new bridges in Jammu and Kashmir
August 17, 2020: Bailey Bridge in Uttarakhand

Messaging

The announcements of missile tests and ‘dedication’ of border bridges constructed earlier this year are perhaps most evident of an emerging design in messaging to China. This is the current refinement of the response to the PLA after its spring intrusion that escalated to the deadly clash at Galwan valley in mid-June, in which 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops lost their lives.

Diplomatic and military talks up and down the two hierarchies over the summer have, so far, succeeded only in reaching agreement on holding further talks. While this was not an undesirable outcome, since it reduced the likelihood of a fresh spark (especially before logistics for future contingencies were properly in place), it also continues to leave the situation liable to easy conflagration in the absence of clear progress on de-escalation.

Besides missile tests and border bridges, there has been other messaging as well. Chinese state media and proxies have posted videos and messages on social media attempting to show-off their military capabilities in the border region, often with footage that includes live-fire demonstrations.

India’s messaging on this count has generally been more restrained, with demonstrations of its logistical preparedness to defend against any PLA aggression and drills in partnerships with the Quad countries. The single most aggressive Indian move was the ban on the super-popular TikTok and other Chinese apps, many of which were of dubious for privacy and security reasons, anyway.

The missile testing, the underlined emphasis on border infrastructure and the videos on social media are over and above the induction of some 40,000 troops and commitment of resources for their logistical support and sustainment through the winter, in the event the stand-off survives a year.

No one is incognisant of the fact that the complete onset of the winter freeze in Ladakh is just a few weeks away, that this was the exact time period when the 1962 war flared up on some of the same ground, that both armies have reinforced their posture in the region to unprecedented levels and that the U.S. presidential election, with a certainly more than the usually disproportionate and uncertain impact on the rest of the world, is three Tuesdays away.

For now, the latest joint press release following Monday’s military talks says the two sides have an ‘enhanced understanding of each other’s positions’. And once again, they’ve agreed to meet again, saying, “Both sides agreed to maintain dialogue and communication through military and diplomatic channels, and arrive at a mutually acceptable solution for disengagement as early as possible.”