At the end of last year, India began to arrive the first batch of S-400 "Triumph" air defense systems ordered from Russia, and the Indian army did not wait for the S-400 systems to be fully arrived, so it hurriedly equipped the air defense forces stationed in the India-Pakistan border area with S-400s. The indian army's purpose for Pakistan is clearly revealed, and many Indian media even advocate that with the blessing of the S-400 air defense system, India's airspace will "become impeccable, and any Pakistani warplanes and missiles will be impenetrable", and the Pakistan Air Force fighters "will be discovered by the S-400 system as soon as they fly together". Some Indian media have also clamored that with the S-400 air defense system, Pakistan's nuclear deterrence against India will be defused, which means that the nuclear balance between India and Pakistan has been broken, and India can get more "initiative". All in all, for more than a month, the atmosphere in India has been extremely fanatical, and many media, scholars, and politicians believe that with the blessing of the S-400 system, India will have no disadvantage in the India-Pakistan conflict.
Is this really the case? The defense news, a well-known US military media, published an article on January 17 criticizing this "overconfidence generated by the acquisition of the S-400 air defense system" in India, and pointed out that there is a problem with the way the Indian army deploys the S-400 air defense system, and Pakistan can easily break the Indian S-400 system with a large number of weapons of Chinese origin. Defense News interviewed Douglas Barry, an aerospace expert at the British Institute for Strategic Studies, who said that the Indian military now deploys the S-400 system in the forward zone, hoping to interfere with Pakistan's use of its own airspace, but air defense systems have never been used in this way, and this deployment method will put the S-400 system into a huge security risk. Barry pointed out that the Pakistan Army has successfully developed the Fatah-1 long-range rocket launcher on the basis of the Chinese A-100 long-range rocket system, which has a range of more than 150 kilometers, and once war breaks out, the Pakistan Army can use these long-range rockets that are difficult to intercept to destroy the S-400 air defense system deployed by the Indian Army on the Indian-Pakistani front. Barry believes that air defense systems should be deployed in critical facilities in the country, not in the frontiers of the border with other countries.
Richard Fisher, a senior researcher at the Center for International Evaluation and Strategy, a U.S. think tank, told Defense News that although Pakistan is difficult to buy the S-400 system, it is possible to buy the Hongqi-9 series of air defense systems from China. Fisher said that China's Hongqi-9 series air defense system is quite advanced, the overall strength is not weaker than the S-400 air defense system, and some technical indicators are far beyond the S-400 air defense system. At present, many countries, including Uzbekistan, have purchased the Faw-9 series of air defense systems, and Pakistan is likely to follow suit by ordering HY-9 air defense systems from China. At present, Pakistan has purchased more than thirty J-10C fighters from China to deal with India's latest purchase of Rafale fighters, so the possibility of Pakistan buying the Hongqi-9 system to counter the S-400 is not ruled out. Once the Red Flag-9 settles in Pakistan, the strategic balance between India and Pakistan will be restored.
All in all, international military experts generally believe that the arrival of the S-400 system will indeed bring some tactical advantages to the Indian Air Force, but the specific advantages will not be as exaggerated as the Indian media and scholars advocate. We can even see from the propaganda of the Indian media and the deployment of the Indian army that There is a very serious impetuous mood in India, the S-400 is indeed an advanced weapon, but the Indian media has bragged about it, as if as long as the S-400 deployment is completed, the Pakistan Air Force will become a lamb to be slaughtered. As everyone knows, in modern warfare, the side of air defense has always had an innate disadvantage, which is also the source of the proverbial "air defense and air defense, ten defenses and nine air". The introduction of an advanced foreign weapon has made the whole country rejoice, which is a very immature performance. At the same time, the Indian army deployed the S-400 system in a very aggressive manner, which exposed these S-400 air defense systems to Pakistani artillery fire.
India has long hoped to use the S-400 air defense system to offset China's air superiority over India, but now it seems that India's illusion is bound to fail. If India still chooses to place the S-400 air defense system close to the Sino-Indian border, china will easily destroy it with powerful long-range rockets. At the same time, China also has a stealth fighter represented by the J-20, which can pass through the defense line set up by the Indian S-400. What's more, China received the S-400 system as early as 2018, a full three years before India, which is enough for China to understand the specific performance of the S-400 system and make targeted deployments in combat. Therefore, international military experts generally believe that India's desire to use the S-400 to suppress the Idea of the Chinese Air Force is completely a fool's dream.
At present, India is still spending thousands of dollars in the international arms trading market and buying all kinds of advanced equipment, but it is still people who decide the outcome of the war. If India does not improve the living standards of the people, does not carry out systematic military reforms, and does not stop its unjust external expansion, even if it imports more advanced weapons, it will not be able to change its passive situation of being backward and beaten on the battlefield.