Pakistan Leads in MANPADS Race, But India Ups Its Game

Okay, let's talk about those little missiles you sometimes see soldiers carrying on their shoulders – the ones designed to take down planes and helicopters. They're called MANPADS, short for Man-Portable Air-Defence Systems, and India and Pakistan have a bunch of them. Like, a LOT.

Pakistan's Homegrown Advantage​

Pakistan, even with its smaller army overall, has been busy stockpiling MANPADS for years. They actually make some of their own! Think of their Anza missiles as basically Chinese knock-offs they've been building since the 80s.

Plus, they've got tons of other imported ones. All told, we're talking about almost 8000 missiles ready to take down aircraft.

India Plays Catch-Up​

Meanwhile, India mostly buys its MANPADS from Russia – those Igla missiles you might have heard about. They've got a few thousand of those, and recently picked up a slightly fancier version called the Igla-S. Pretty cool stuff, but their numbers are way smaller than Pakistan's.

The good news for India is that they're finally getting serious about making their own. The DRDO, India's defence research guys, have this new system in the works called VSHORADS. The hope is they can start producing these at home instead of relying on imports.

So, Who's Winning?​

Pakistan definitely wins in terms of sheer numbers. On the technology side, though, India's newer Igla-S missiles probably pack a bigger punch. The real winner might be whoever figures out how to produce a large number of advanced MANPADS right at home.

Why Does This Matter?​

India and Pakistan, well, let's just say they haven't always been the best of friends. Having all these shoulder-fired missiles floating around adds another layer to an already tense situation.

Plus, let's be honest, it's fascinating to think about this high-tech arms race happening right in South Asia.

 

[Kira]

Another factor could be due to larger number of potential Indian aircraft that Pak has to deal with in a potential conflict plus dearth of long range SAMs as compared to India.With the exception of recent import of air defence systems,Pak does not have an extensive inventory of SAMs while India has heavily invested in long range SAMs since decades ranging from Soviet to Israeli and now Indigenous systems.

 

[Prashu Sam]

Finally, someone dares to discuss the strengths of our adversaries without succumbing to fear. Too often, we're bombarded with narratives falsely glorifying India's supremacy in every aspect. However, if we objectively examine the facts, there's much to admire and learn from Pakistan. Rather than constantly belittling China and Pakistan, we must embrace these lessons as opportunities for growth. Our failure to do so is evident in our prolonged development processes spanning over 15 years, where successful trials are touted without a clear roadmap for production and large-scale integration. This glaring lack of strategic foresight within our forces often results in temporary solutions rather than long-term planning. Articles like this, grounded in factual analysis, serve as vital wake-up calls that we desperately need.

 

[Sanatani Yodha]

Equipment wise Pak air power is in better situation than IAF… they have full fighter squadrons numbers whereas IAF have only 31 against sanctioned 42, they have more AWACS, mid air refuel planes, better range A2A missiles (120km Aim-120, >150km PL15)……
IAF is just catching up… still decades away…

 

[Sandeep]

Equipment wise Pak air power is in better situation than IAF… they have full fighter squadrons numbers whereas IAF have only 31 against sanctioned 42, they have more AWACS, mid air refuel planes, better range A2A missiles (120km Aim-120, >150km PL15)……
IAF is just catching up… still decades away…

You are factually incorrect. Pakistan Air Force is very weak as most of their squadrons is filled with the Chinese junk fighter which is unreliable, inferior technology, poor service, weak engine and poor weapons capability. Also we have long range missiles as well along with SAM which are much better than anything they have. Our Mig 21 took out their latest and best fighter with the F16 which is proof that our Air Force isn't weak.

 

[Sandeep]

Finally, someone dares to discuss the strengths of our adversaries without succumbing to fear. Too often, we're bombarded with narratives falsely glorifying India's supremacy in every aspect. However, if we objectively examine the facts, there's much to admire and learn from Pakistan. Rather than constantly belittling China and Pakistan, we must embrace these lessons as opportunities for growth. Our failure to do so is evident in our prolonged development processes spanning over 15 years, where successful trials are touted without a clear roadmap for production and large-scale integration. This glaring lack of strategic foresight within our forces often results in temporary solutions rather than long-term planning. Articles like this, grounded in factual analysis, serve as vital wake-up calls that we desperately need.

Yes this article would be great if they are actually real and true facts. India has a stronger air defence shield which compromises the BMD, S400, MR-SAM, Akash, Spyder etc and future upcoming Akash NG, QRSAM, VSHORAD so our air defence is much stronger in taking out any missile from Pakistan and China. Also Pakistan having more MANPAD is weaker as it has a very short range, old technology and unreliable because of cheap Chinese products and technology that doesn't perform as stated.

 

[Bhishma]

MANPADS are useful for the Paks in an offensive strategy to capture the mountains of Kashmir. They had some success during Kargil war. We dont need to match it number by number. We need a combination of high altitude drones for target acquisition, precision cheap bombing, that can be accomplished with kamikaze drone or glide bombs.

 

[Sandeep]

Pakistan having more MANPAD is a weak air defence as it only has a short range, old technology and inferior capability. On top of that they have a cheap Chinese air defence systems that are supposed to work but failed to even detect our missile. India on the other hand has a very powerful, strong and multi tiered system ranging from our BMD, S400, MR-SAM, Akash, Spyder and upcoming Akash NG, QRSAM AND VSHORAD.

India needs to develop our own 100% indigenous light, modern, long range missile that can target jets and helicopters with IIR, dual waveband IR and radio frequency seeker. We need it to be immune from EW, ECCM, low probability of intercepting enemy's counter measure flares along with being highly manoeuvrable. This will allow our troops to have adequate protection in high altitude or hard to reach areas as its much lighter than using a SAM system which needs towing all of the time.

 

[Prashu Sam]

Yes this article would be great if they are actually real and true facts. India has a stronger air defence shield which compromises the BMD, S400, MR-SAM, Akash, Spyder etc and future upcoming Akash NG, QRSAM, VSHORAD so our air defence is much stronger in taking out any missile from Pakistan and China. Also Pakistan having more MANPAD is weaker as it has a very short range, old technology and unreliable because of cheap Chinese products and technology that doesn't perform as stated.

Well, comparing MANPAD to MANPAD, It looks like Pak has advantage, irrespective of poor economy and 1/5 of the budget.
Large number of MANPAD is cheaper solution against our Helicopters, drones and low flying objects. The right question to ask is why India not able to develop and induct VSHORDS. It has been in development stages for 10 plus years and yet to go in production which is by todays standard is 4-5 years away.

As I complain earlier we oscillates between extremes when buy sophisticated S-400 but lacks basic infantry tools likes MANPADS, AK-203, bulletproof jackets, cheap drones etc

 

[Sandeep]

Well, comparing MANPAD to MANPAD, It looks like Pak has advantage, irrespective of poor economy and 1/5 of the budget.
Large number of MANPAD is cheaper solution against our Helicopters, drones and low flying objects. The right question to ask is why India not able to develop and induct VSHORDS. It has been in development stages for 10 plus years and yet to go in production which is by todays standard is 4-5 years away.

As I complain earlier we oscillates between extremes when buy sophisticated S-400 but lacks basic infantry tools likes MANPADS, AK-203, bulletproof jackets, cheap drones etc

No because you’re only looking at the numbers and not the quality of SAM defence systems. MANPAD have a low range and as Pakistan uses more Chinese MANPAD then its quality, technology and capability will be even worse and old. Also we haven’t spent 10 years or anything. We only just recently started our indigenous project a few years ago as otherwise we were just going to make a deal and manufacture the Igla MANPAD in India which would have costed more and in our tests the missile is more advanced.

Buying the AK203 could have been avoided as India spent over 10 years to develop a gun that the military would accept but they kept rejecting every of our gun. As for the rest we have adequate protection to our troops with bullet proof body armour and helmet.

 

[dheerajdelhi .]

How about American Stingers that Uncle Sam provided to Porkis in large numbers during Afghan war in 80s and 90s

This shows that our generals and babus in mod have been just sitting in ac offices boasting on superiority of Indian forces, instead of taking concrete action. They should not forget that we have 2 enemies on either side, who will collaborate is an event of a war.

After Balakot, vulnerabilities of Indian Sukhois and Air to Air missiles superiority were brutally exposed and then we procured some from Russia as emergency procurement. Till then all our generals were boasting of superiority of Su30s. Shame that we have 8-10 times defence budget of Porkies, but ate behind them in numbers and quality in some areas. How do we plan to tackle Chinese then.

 

[Devasahayam]

Noted that article totally ignored the vast number of MANPAD's bilked by Zia from Reagan 1981 - 1987 (when Reagan got concerned with the lack of concrete dislodging of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and sent Charlie Wilson's aide Dr. Jack Wheeler to investigate -- resulting in change of delivery-avenue, direct shipment to Northern Alliance rather than relying on ISI as middleman)

 

[Kunal Kaistha]

This report does not account for 10 years shelf life of missiles..so a missile produced in 1982 expires by 1992..article written by a novice partakaar maliciously spreading bogus analysis