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<thread> Since there seems to be interest in relative mil capacities of India-China-Pakistan, a friend encouraged me to replug some of my data-driven work on this question from the past 2 years on this. Here are the articles & also associated discussion videos.
1/ Military balance in a 2-front war using a simple metric, from July 2018. The pt here are not the nos. but trend and relative mil power: https://abhirej.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/orf_specialreport_67_twofrontwar_finalforupload.pdf
Discussion about the paper (w/ SL Narasimhan & J Ranade) crucial for a different perspective:
Discussion about the paper (w/ SL Narasimhan & J Ranade) crucial for a different perspective:
2/ A deep-dive into twenty years of Indian defence budgets, March 2019: https://www.firstpost.com/india/government-misspend-on-defence-will-widen-gap-between-intent-and-capability-6321261.html
Conversation w/ @HappymonJacob on this:
Conversation w/ @HappymonJacob on this:
3/ A side-by-side comparison of Chinese and Indian mil spending (incl. capital & revenue) from 2010 to 2017, July 2019: https://www.firstpost.com/india/chinas-white-paper-on-defence-should-worry-india-as-beijing-focuses-on-equipment-new-delhis-approach-remains-manpower-heavy-7057141.html
4/ All of these present a manifestly grim picture. That said, other research suggest that the local balance along the LAC may indeed be more favourable to India. Worth considering the excellent analysis of @frank11285 and @alexbollfrass: https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/strategic-postures-china-and-india-visual-guide <end>
