India may replace their Russian built air-to-air missiles after being outgunned by Pakistan in their skirmish this February.

An Indian Air Force SU30. NDTV.

India may replace their Russian built R-77 missiles after they were outgunned by Pakistani AIM-120's during their skirmish in February of 2019. NDTV. In the Indian account of the skirmish, 8 of their fighters faced off with 24 Pakistani fighters. The Pakistani fighters fired the AIM-120's but the two Indian SU-30's were unable to return fire due to the inferior range of the R-77. India is looking to replace the missile with Israel's Derby missile, which is already in use with their indigenous Tejas fighter. They are also looking to replace the shorter range R-73 with the European ASRAAM missile. India is also developing their own air-to-air missile, the Astra, but that missile will not be ready for ten years.

My Comment:

An update to a previous story from earlier this year. Back then I had wondered why India had failed in comparison to the Pakistani fighters, who got at least one kill on an Indian MIG-21. It seems as though the reason my have been that their most advanced fighters weren't able to mix it up. 

To be certain, I don't know if I agree with the events described in the NDTV post. It's an Indian perspective so they are trying to make it seem like the Pakistani's used American F-16's and AIM-120's but that hasn't been established with certainty. 

However, I do think it is as good as explanation as any as to why the Indians didn't use their SU-30's effectively in the battle. Them being outgunned is as good as an explanation as any. Being able to see the enemy and not being able to engage them has got to be frustrating and that sounds like that is what happened last February. 

I do think that India needs to step up their military innovations. Their weapons are out of date and Pakistan generally has a better military, even though they are outnumbered. The fact that they were using old Russian tech instead of more modern designs is a bad sign if they have any more skirmishes. Buying Israeli and European technology is a good step but it's long overdue and also probably not enough on there own. 

As for India and Pakistan relations it seems to have calmed down quite a bit. Much has been made of the fact that a major election in India was about to happen when the skirmishes occurred and after the election things have calmed down. I don't know if those two things are related or not but I do know that both countries were playing a dangerous game. However, if India does manage to upgrade their weapons, it's very possible the next air skirmish won't be so one sided.