History UsefulNotes / IndiansWithIglas

While they have many examples of CrazyAwesome, the existence of a camel-mounted marching band is probably toward the top of the list.

'''[[UsefulNotes/TheThirdEyeOfBharat Indian Nukes]]'''

[[caption-width-right:300:The Plane of Radiance. [[{{CoolPlane}} Cool!!]]]]

* The main character of ''Bollywood/MainHoonNa'' is a major in the Indian military.
* In ''Bollywood/{{Pukar}}'', if they aren't a terrorist, they're connected with the Indian military.

Since then, India has been loaned Tu-142 "Bear" reconnaissance aircraft, has a version of the Su-30 and may get Tu-22M "Backfires" at some point in the future. It will soon get an ''Akula'' class SSN from the Russians, albeit without the long-range missiles due to the Russian Federation being a signatory to the Missile Technology Control Regime (a 34-country agreement barring the export of missiles with a range of 300km plus). It is also partnering with Russia on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi/HAL_FGFA FGFA]], a derivative of the PAK FA (the Russian rival to the F-22). More importantly, the positive performance of Soviet-made tanks against their American-built counterparts in the Indo-Pakistani wars of 1965 and 1971 has led the Indian Army to rely extensively on contemporary Russian equipment, with its principle MBTs being the T-72 (of which it has 2,400) and the [[CoolTank T-90]] (with as many as 900). Indian and Russian armor commanders regularly perform joint exercises, following the example of their air forces.

India has an STOVL aircraft carrier (INS ''Viraat'' formerly the British ''Centaur'' class carrier HMS ''Hermes'', carrying Sea Harriers and soon to be retired), is building two full-length carriers of its own design (INS ''Vikrant'' and INS ''Vishal''), and is having the former Soviet ''Kiev'' class STOVL carrier ''Admiral Gorskhov'' converted to a full-length one, to be called INS ''Vikramaditya'' (which is running rather late and over budget). While the original plan was for the ''Viraat'' to be retired as soon as the ''Vikramaditya'' came into service, delays led to the ''Viraat'' being refitted and now it's expected to stay in the fleet until 2020 (which at 60 years of combined British and Indian service is more than twice as long as the hull was designed to last).

The Indian Navy is heading towards blue-water status, being able to seriously deploy outside its own waters.[[note]] navies are divided into Brown Water, Green Water and Blue Water. Brown Water navies are only capable of operating in the country's rivers, inland lakes, lagoons and close to the shore. Green Water navies can operate in the ocean past the continental shelf, but usually cannot leave the seas that border their country without logistical assistance from a more advanced navy. These navies can attain sea control of their own seas, but can't project power. Blue water navies can operate nearly anywhere on the globe. [[/note]]

While they have many examples of CrazyAwesome, the existance of a camel-mounted marching band is probably toward the top of the list.

[[folder: Tropes associated with the Indian Armed Forces]]
* AbnormalAmmo: The hollow point "dum dum" rounds were invented here, at the Ordnace Factory in Dum Dum West Bengal
* BadassCreed: Each regiment has a motto as well as one of these as a battle cry.
* ChurchMilitant: Many of those battle cries unabashedly invoke the name of certain Hindu deities to grant them victory, most commonly Kali or Durga. Even the Sikh regiments use a religious phrase.
* TheCavalry: Tank and AwesomePersonnelCarrier units are all descended from old cavalry regiments in UsefulNotes/KiplingsFinest. They even use old cavalry ranks for the enlisted.
* CoolPlane: Besides the Tejes shown above, the Indian Air Force also has the Sukhoi 30 MKI that was custom built to IAF specifications. There is also the FGFA being jointly developed by Sukhoi and the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited company. The Navy was one of few nations to deploy the BAE Sea Harrier. A naval version of the Tejes will soon be rolled out.
* CoolShip: The Arihant class nuclear missile submarines.
* DamagerHealerTank: If you combine the Army Medical Corps with its various [[AttackAttackAttack Strike corps]] and [[HoldTheLine Holding corps]] formations. The army's doctrine is to use designated corps sized units to hold firm against enemy advances, but use other specifically designated strike corps units to strike at the enemy units who have become bogged down.
* DevelopmentHell: Indigenous weapon programs in India have not had great success in terms of fast completion and acceptance. The Arjun MBT has been in development since 1990, the Tejas fighter since 1994, the Arihant class nuclear submarine since 1988 and the new Vikrant aircraft carrier since 1999.
* HoldTheLine: The Battle of Longewalla saw a heavy weapons company held off an entire ''armored brigade'' for a whole night. The army’s Holding Corps are built specifically for defensive battle.
* InsistentTerminology: Senior NCO personnel are always addressed with the honorific "Sahib" by both junior enlisted and officers. By tradition, even the President of India must address them as Sahib.
** All junior enlisted in the Madras Sappers are addressed as "Thambi" (little brother in Tamil). Even the regiment's name qualifies, as it is based in Bangalore [[note]] which lends its name to the Bangalore torpedo mine invented there [[/note]], and Madras has renamed itself to Chennai.
** Some cavalry (armor) regiments still have the word "Horse" in their name.
** The Sapper regiment based in Mumbai still calls itself Bombay Sappers.
* MeaningfulName: A new enlisted soldier is called ''jawaan'' meaning "young man", while a newly enlisted cavalryman is called ''sowar'' meaning "rider".
* MilitaryAcademy: India's National Defence Academy functions like Canada's Royal Canadian Military College - trains prospective officers from all three services in a common curriculum, but does so for only 3 years. Officer cadets then go to a service academy for a year to complete their service specific training.
** There is an institution called the Rashtriya (national) Military College, but that is actually a prep school for NDA aspirants [[note]] In the Indian education system, junior and senior years of high school are sometimes designated as "Pre-University College" hence some institutions are called "colleges" when they just matriculate students [[/note]]
* MountainMan: The army not only has the famous Gorkhas, but also the Kumaon - India's own Gurkhas.
* OldShame: Notwithstanding the [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame repugnant battle honors]] from their days as UsefulNotes/KiplingsFinest, the army doesn't look back fondly at the IPKF counterinsurgency against the LTTE in Sri Lanka. Nor do they want to remember the trouncing they got from the Chinese in 1962.
* TrainingFromHell: To join the Navy's Marine Commandos, requires a long arduous selection course lasting ''two years'' - longer than even the UsefulNotes/NavySEALs or the British SBS.
** Every infantry officer is expected to complete Commando School - India's equivalent of Ranger School.
** The Counterinsurgency and Jungle Warfare school has recently been taking in US Army Green Berets to train. You know that it is a tough school when the elite forces of other countries come there to train.
** The ''Parvath Ghatak'' or "Mountain soldier" school is similarly attended by the world's best elite forces.
** The HAWS or High Altitude Warfare School only lets people in who have passed the previous school.
* TankGoodness: The Defense Research and Development Organization designed [[Literature/{{Mahabharata}} Arjun]] Main Battle Tank. How good a job they did is questionable, since it took ''[[DevelopmentHell 30 years]]'' (1974 to 2004) before any operational Arjuns were produced, and by some accounts the main lessons learned were how ''not'' to desing a main battle tank. The Arjun Mk II (still in prototype stage as of 2019) is supposedly a dramatic improvement, though continued purchases of the Russian T-90MS show that at a minimum the Indian Army is hedging its bets.
* TrueCompanions: The Indian Army follows a Regimental system similar to the British Army. Therefore, an enlisted soldier always remains in the same regiment throughout his career, and will always serve with the same squadmates. It is only units who get transferred, so if you are reassigned somewhere, your entire unit gets reassigned there too. Only officers may rotate through assignments.
[[/folder]]

* RockBeatsLaser: Two instances, once with tanks and another with fighter planes.
** The tank instance was the Battles of Assal Uttar and Phillora where [=40s=] era Centurion tanks crushed the more advanced [=60s=] era Pattons fielded by UsefulNotes/PakistanisWithPanters.
** The fighter plane instance was small nimble low tech Folland Gnats shooting down Super Sabres and Starfighters.

** The tank instance was the Battles of Assal Uttar and Phillora where [=40s=] era Centurion tanks crushed the more advanced [=60s=] era Pattons fielded by PakistanisWithPanters.

* Shows up in some of the later Tom Clancy novels, such as ''Executive Orders'' and ''Debt of Honor''. Not really described in full, and generally used somewhere between {{Mooks}} and TheDragon by the actual BigBad of whatever is going on.
** In ''Debt of Honor'', some [=B1B=] Lancers break their best carrier, ''Vikrant'', by flying very close to it and going supersonic. There are no diplomatic consequences for this. At the time, however, India was attempting to invade Sri Lanka, and the United States had chosen to guarantee Sri Lanka's sovreignty, so whatever consequences may have resulted from the ''Vikrant'' flyby [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking were small potatoes compared to the larger geopolitical conflict going on]].

However, India, a non-aligned country during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar (with a mutual defense treaty with the USSR), also has plenty of equipment from the UK and France (including Mirage 2000s, Sea Harriers, and licence-built SEPECAT Jaguar attack aircraft) and has recently placed orders for C-130J Super Hercules transports and P-8I Poseidon maritime patrol planes from the United States (which signed a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.%E2%80%93India_Civil_Nuclear_Agreement civil nuclear agreement with India in 2005]] and has generally been ingratiating itself with New Delhi since 2000). The most recent procurement deal of this kind occurred in 2011, when the Indian Air Force agreed to purchase the French Dassault Rafale (with 16 fighters to be bought from French factories and the remaining 108 to be manufactured in India). India has also begun the process of augmenting its Russian helicopters with the American Chinook Ch-47.

Just how many bombs it has and how rapidly deployable they are is a subject of speculation, but India is developing an ICBM (''Surya'', meaning "Sun" in several Indian languages) and possibly ballistic missile subs. The recent development of nuclear weapons by India's perennial nemesis, Pakistan, has raised fears worldwide that the next Indo-Pakistani War will be the world's first atomic war.

* In Bollywood/{{Pukar}}, if they aren't a terrorist, they're connected with the Indian military.

** Every infantry officer is expected to complete Commando School - I dia's equivalent of Ranger School.

* TankGoodness: The Defense Research and Development Organization designed [[Literature/{{Mahabharata}} Arjun]] Main Battle Tank.

* In ''Series/SEALTeam'' season 2 episode 21, an Indian Air Force helicopter arrives to provide emergency exfiltration for Bravo Team from their failed mission in Kashmir. Due to the [[UsefulNotes/TheIndoPakistanConflict volatile situation in that region]], the helicopter is operating under the guise of [[PlausibleDeniability "military exercises."]]

* TheCavalry: Tank and AwesomePersonnelCarrier units are all descended from old cavalry regiments in KiplingsFinest. They even use old cavalry ranks for the enlisted.

* OldShame: Notwithstanding the [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame repugnant battle honors]] from their days as KiplingsFinest, the army doesn't look back fondly at the IPKF counterinsurgency against the LTTE in Sri Lanka. Nor do they want to remember the trouncing they got from the Chinese in 1962.

* Before Creator/ShahrukhKhan became a big name in UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}}, he starred in a short lived TV show called Series/{{Fauji}} [[translation]] army [[/translation]] about Indian Army Para-Commando trainees.

* HoldTheLine: The Battle of Longewalla was a CrowningMomentOfAwesome in which a heavy weapons company held off an entire ''armored brigade'' for a whole night. The army’s Holding Corps are built specifically for defensive battle.

* Fights a war of aggression against Burma and Thailand in ''Literature/ShadowOfTheHegemon''. Sabotaged by the [[MagnificentBastard evil teenage mastermind]] Achilles who is manipulating the Indian government so that the Chinese can wipe the floor with them after they have been exhausted by a long campaign against fierce Thai attacks on their supply lines. Petra Arkanian, the [[UsefulNotes/ArmosWithArmor Armenian]] tactical genius captured by Achilles had predicted exactly this result and issued a plan that anticipated the Thai strategy (masterminded by her former classmate Bean), but Achilles put the kibosh on that. The result is that India is occupied by China until a Muslim army under a new Caliphate (headed by their classmate Alai) liberates India.

* On nuclear arsenal, we have Nuclear Gandhi of ''VideoGame/Civilization'' to thank. While it may seems odd that Gandhi the pacifist would favor nukes, as noted in the above blurb, the only thing that is truly at odd is the AI's frequent first use of nukes.

* HoldTheLine: The Battle of Longewalla was a CrowningMomentOfAwesome in which a heavy weapons company held off an entire ''armored brigade'' for a whole night.

Much of India's military equipment is Soviet/Russian in origin (hence the "Iglas" in the title, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K38_Igla Igla]] being a Russian man-portable SAM), sometimes licence-built, with India continuing to buy mostly Russian today. This trend is the result of a combination of factors, but the most important are the Bangladesh Liberation War, where America armed Pakistan, and the long-standing Pakistani alliance with [[ChineseWithChopperSupport China]], which stopped being friendly with the USSR sometime during the late '50s or early '60s. In the lead-up to the war, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi scored a surprise coup with with the ''Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation'', an public declaration of support to offset Pakistani's American support (like the [[CoolBoat nuclear-armed ''Enterprise'' carrier]]) which allowed direct Indian intervention into Bangladesh.

The Indian Navy is heading towards blue-water status, being able to seriously deploy outside its own waters.

* Before Creator/ShahrukhKhan became a big name in UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}}, he starred in a short lived TV show called Series/{{Fauji}} [[Translation]] army [[/Translation]] about Indian Army Para-Commando trainees.

* ChurchMilitant: Many of those battle cries unabashedly invoke the name of certain Hindu deities to grant them victory. Even the Sikh regiments use a religious phrase.

* + There is an institution called the Rashtriya (national) Military College, but that is actually a prep school for NDA aspirants [[note]] In the Indian education system, junior and senior years of high school are sometimes designated as "Pre-University College" hence some institutions are called "colleges" when they just matriculate students [[/note]]

* The [[UsefulNotes/KiplingsFinest OLD Indian Army]] from the days of UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire is mentioned in works by Creator/RudyardKipling, John Masters, and others.

* AnOfficerAndAGentleman: None more so than Sam Hormus Jamshed Fram Manekshaw and Kodadendra Maddappa Cariarpa.

-->'''Jai Hind'''