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Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’

amritmahotsav.nic.in

121–130 of 174 posts

Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’

#121
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love how people jump to flag this comment as irrelevant, when the op just says that basic sanitation should be prioritised over military helicopters. One thing that opened my eye recently to how nationalistic Indians are, is a new Indian colleague. So much false history and propaganda. Great guy though.

> when the op just says that basic sanitation should be prioritised over military helicopters. Why can't a country do both? Most countries in the world are investing in military, space or other national security related projects. They all have some internal issues they are facing. It doesn't make sense to prioritize only one thing over the many issues a country faces.

Imagine how many toilets the cost of a single helicopter can buy :)

Clearly not both topics are given the same attention.

Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’

#122
post #44
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Only about 40 helicopters were lost to hostile fire in Iraq from 2004-2009 Russia has lost that many helicopters in about 9 months in Ukraine, id say the effectiveness of helicopters is largely dependent on the capabilities of your opponent and whether or not you can gain air superiority.

Russia has made a lot of mistakes that have nothing to do with Ukraine. I find it difficult to draw any accurate or useful conclusions from the war that translate to the US or Western armies other than don't repeat Russia's mistakes. I certainly wouldn't base any opinion on the effectiveness of helicopters in general on Russian performance in the current war.

It seems hard to generalize lessons about wars. I remember commenters who thought the couple day timeline was realistic, presumably because they were used to the way the US invades countries. Most armies aren't Russia, most aren't the US...

I dunno, maybe we need to get, like, France and the UK to duke it out again? (kidding obviously).

Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having evidence is impossible at this point, however there are some hints. https://www.politico.eu/article/indias-stance-on-the-ukraine...

By your reasoning, Germany and Italy are siding with Russia too, by buying Russian oil and gas. Physician, heal thyself. First let the EU stop buying Russian oil and gas, and then they can preach to others.

Did you read the article?

"Despite U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia’s economy and hasten the war’s end, India has chosen to increase imports of Russian oil ten-fold, while increasing that of fertilizer eight-fold. Together with China, Indian purchases of Russian goods have largely negated the effect of transatlantic energy sanctions, and India further funds Russia’s war machine by purchasing big-ticket items, such as submarines, tanks, fighter aircraft and surface-to-air missile systems — a full half of the country’s arms imports come from Russia."

This is completely different from what is happening in the EU, which reduced by a lot the imports from Russia of gas, oil and other goods. My gas/electricity bills more than doubled because of it, still I'm all for cutting any support of Putin, but there's a line between that and economic suicide that at the moment can't be crossed. Ideally, we'll get there in some time; India doesn't even show they aim at that in the long run. Also, I used the word "silently" which makes a world of difference.

Moreover, if you're from India and take my post as a personal attack on your nation or nationality, you are way off track.

Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’

#124
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love how people jump to flag this comment as irrelevant, when the op just says that basic sanitation should be prioritised over military helicopters. One thing that opened my eye recently to how nationalistic Indians are, is a new Indian colleague. So much false history and propaganda. Great guy though.

> when the op just says that basic sanitation should be prioritised over military helicopters. Why can't a country do both? Most countries in the world are investing in military, space or other national security related projects. They all have some internal issues they are facing. It doesn't make sense to prioritize only one thing over the many issues a country faces.

Because money is a finite resource. The budget has X Rupees and and Y topics to split them under, and any rupee spend on the military is one that isn't spent on toilets or schools or childcare.

Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’

#125
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> when the op just says that basic sanitation should be prioritised over military helicopters. Why can't a country do both? Most countries in the world are investing in military, space or other national security related projects. They all have some internal issues they are facing. It doesn't make sense to prioritize only one thing over the many issues a country faces.

Because money is a finite resource. The budget has X Rupees and and Y topics to split them under, and any rupee spend on the military is one that isn't spent on toilets or schools or childcare.

Yes, but this is an allocation problem. Is it feasible for India to allocate 100% of its budget to toilets when it has border conflicts with its neighbors and terrorism around?

Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’

#126

Big warning here: India is silently on Russia's side wrt the invasion in Ukraine, and Russia badly needs both allies and new weapons. Not sure however if India want to risk sanctions for jumping from a silent alliance to a de facto support by supplying Russia with combat helicopters and/or spare parts. They probably already received lots of calls from the Kremlin.

Claims made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’

#127
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Indian naming always gives sci-fi kind of vibe. In an ironic twist of linguistic history, most US combat helicopters were given American "indian" names (Apache, Comanche, Black Hawk etc). I like such conventions. I wish that more nations adopted and stuck to them when introducing new equipment.

German tanks have always(?) been named after mammals, mostly after cats.

Not always, during WW2 most of their tanks were simply named "Panzer" ("Armor") with a version number. They also had the big cat tanks at this time too though.

Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’

#128
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is no scenario in which a manned rotary craft competes with a drone on cost. What drone competes with a manned MH-74 on cost? It seems like the traditional drone advantages disappear when the payload is humans.

Goal posts have now crossed state lines. And to actually the thread, drones ARE being worked on that can go do search and rescue, bringing back the victim. Safer for crew, better coverage and can get into places a traditional rotor craft can't.

It's not a moved goalpost. Remember that Hind type helicopters are used in both transport and attack roles. There aren't yet any comparable drones, nor even any drones with a comparable transport lift capability. A drone which can lift a guy on a stretcher can only do a small fraction of what transport helicopters do.

Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’

#129

As a thai whose nation adopted lots of Pali/Sanskrit words, I have to look up the word origin https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/pracanda because I suddenly understand the meaning of "Prachan", in thai it means "confront". Indian naming always gives sci-fi kind of vibe.

Most Indian defense systems are named in Sanskrit.

Agni, Vayu, Brahmos, Prithvi, etc.

Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’

#130
post #66
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing wrong with nationalism. But typically your sales pitch has to be your country is actually good, not we have to force you (and millions of others) to be here otherwise it won't be good.

No, no sales pitch needed. You either already love your community and your country or you don't. No one should force themselves or others to love or hate it.

Sales pitches are needed -- everywhere.

The level of pride in being American that Democrats have by and large is still a kind of nationalism, albeit surely a more nuanced and conscientious one than the ones Republicans have (again by and large). Can't comment on which side is actually better for the country (that's politics), but my point is that Democrats (and allied liberals) are hypocritical in the sense that their pride is supposedly healthy patriotism while another's pride is 'nationalism'.

Ultimataly both Democrats and Republicans are sustained by extensive sales pitches of what America (TM) is all about. Democrats seem to think their politics represents the One Final Political Solution to End Misery Everywhere, but it is still based on aforementioned sales pitches all around ("We're on the Good side!").

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