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.
Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’
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Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’
#92Big 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.
Do you have evidence? India was one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement, and I believe their current stance is a result of their fidelity to the movements ideals.
Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
India is not anti west. The west has this binary/absolute way of looking at things, "either somebody is with them or against them". India recognises the world is a much more complicated place and sees the world through its own perspective rather than whatever self serving agenda driven perspective the west deems as the only valid one. India has a long track record of being a non-aligned power. If anything india has b…
But even that perspective that you ascribe to India is reductive. It seems in your view, India are the only ones who understand complexity, the West are just arrogant morons. In reality, everyone's equally just looking out for themselves. In the West we don't care about Kashmir, in India people don't care about Ukraine. It's the same, until one day India will discover that Russia is useless against China and the US a…
Russia being useless against China is still much better than Russia openly siding with China (and Pakistan) against India. You can't defeat geography, no matter how much common ground increases between India and the West.
Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
The runtime cost of helicopters is pretty terrible, though. You can easily exceed the cost of several expendable "switchblade" type drones simply taking off and flying to the target.
Range and eyeballs are the elements a lot of people leave out. Helos carry the eyeballs with them long ranges. Drones require radios with enough bandwidth for real time video. Which at the range of 100s of km is very non trivial and non cheap. That’s to say switch blades don’t have comparable range obviously, and that’s not nothing.
You don't need 100km ranges when your drones are standard issue at company and platoon level.
Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’
#95Big 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.
New attack and scout helicopters are probably not on the top of Russia's shopping list for foreign weapons purchases. Their own tactical helicopters have not performed well against Ukrainian air defenses and there's no reason to think these Indian helicopters would fare any better.
More likely Russia is trying to obtain spare parts to keep their existing weapons operating. They're working hard to source those through neutral countries, either purchasing locally manufactured products or employing straw buyers to purchase from Western manufacturers.
Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’
#96No post body was provided.
Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’
#97Big 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.
Do you have evidence? India was one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement, and I believe their current stance is a result of their fidelity to the movements ideals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Aligned_Movement
Having evidence is impossible at this point, however there are some hints.
https://www.politico.eu/article/indias-stance-on-the-ukraine...
Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’
#98As 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.
>> 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.
I always found that particular convention incredibly gruesome and dystopian.
The US genocided the native Americans and then use their names on their death machines they use for killing other people.
Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’
#99Earlier 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.
I always found that particular convention incredibly gruesome and dystopian. The US genocided the native Americans and then use their names on their death machines they use for killing other people.
It is a bit bizarre given the role the US Army played in that genocide. But the Army does only use those tribal names with formal permission from the tribes themselves.
Re: Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’
#100Where do attack helicopters fit into modern war, out of curiosity? From my very uninformed point of view -- seems like in a world where man-portable weapons are getting more and more capable, being in a relatively (compared to jets) slowly moving, lightly (?) armored flying vehicle would be pretty terrifying.
India has terrains and fronts, and enemies where such equipment will prove valuable.