By Lt Col JS Sodhi (Retd)
Omar N Bradley’s famous quip “Airpower has become predominant, both as a deterrent to war, and-in the eventuality of war-as the devastating force to destroy an enemy’s potential and fatally undermine his will to wage war” has immense relevance for India which is located a precarious geopolitical location as it has two hostile neighbours China and Pakistan, on its eastern and the western borders respectively.
As India enters into the final stages of talks with Russia for purchase of six Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers, this deal would go on to be a game changer in India’s safety and security, when it is inked.
Only three countries in the world – USA, Russia and China possess strategic bombers in its air force. The Indian Air Force (IAF) would be the fourth air force in the world to possess the deadly and destructive strategic bombers after the Tupolev Tu-60 strategic bombers, nicknamed White Swan, starts joining its fleet. NATO has named the Tupolev-Tu160s as Blackjack.
A strategic bomber is a medium to long range aircraft designed to drop enormous quantities of air-to-ground munitions onto a distant target in an enemy nation with the aim of destroying and debilitating the enemy’s capability and capacity to wage a war.
The basic difference between fighter aircrafts and strategic bombers is that while the fighter aircrafts are employed for air interdiction operations and limited ground destruction of enemy combatants, the devastation caused by a strategic bomber is phenomenal as it cripples and collapses an enemy’s strategic assets to unprecedented levels by destroying logistical establishments, factories, cities, major infrastructure and military installations.
An important reason of the thinking of the IAF to acquire the White Swan is that China has deployed its H-6K strategic bombers near the Indian borders. H-6Ks were first sighted near the Indian borders on November 11, 2021 which was the 72nd Raising Day of the Chinese air force which is called the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
The PLAAF has 231 H-6 strategic bombers and 36 H-6K strategic bombers, making it the biggest air force in the world in terms of strategic bombers.
US Air Force comes a distant second with 156 B-1, B-2 and B-52 strategic bombers whilst the Russian Air Force has 135 Tu-22s, Tu-95s and Tu-160s.
Clearly, the first baby step has been taken by India in acquiring six TU-160s to match up with the enormous strategic bombers fleet with the PLAAF.
The Tupolev Tu-160 is operated by a crew of 4 personnel comprising a pilot, co-pilot, bombardier and a defensive systems officer. The aircraft has a length of 54.1 metres and a wingspan of 55.7 metres. It has a maximum speed of 2,220 kilometres per hour and an operational range of 12,300 kilometres. It has two internal weapon bays which can house 45,000 kilograms of ordnance.
The strategic bombers being large size aircrafts have a large Radar Cross Section (RCS), and hence are extremely vulnerable to both airborne and air defence systems. The strategic bombers are generally operated from the airbases located in depth.
Having a strategic bomber in a nation’s air fleet is a matter of immense pride for a nation, apart from the great fire power and is a psychological deterrent for the enemy. A strategic bomber is expensive to maintain and requires great technical expertise in its operations. Thus, only a miniscule number of nations have a strategic bomber. India is about to enter that coveted group of nations which possess a strategic bomber.
Giulio Douhet rightly remarked “In order to ensure an adequate national defence, it is necessary and sufficient to be in a position in case of war to conquer the command of the air”.
The author retired from the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army and is an alumnus of NDA, Khadakwasla and IIT Kanpur. He is a M.Tech in Structures, done MBA and LLB. He Tweets and Koos at @JassiSodhi24.
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