The wars in Ukraine and West Asia have delivered a blunt lesson in modern conflicts: they are not short, decisive bursts. They drag on, they exhaust stockpiles and they test industrial capacity as much as battlefield strength. And India is recalibrating accordingly. For decades, deterrence built around a few high-value, high-precision systems - the crown jewel being the BrahMos. But defence strategists now recognise that in a prolonged, high-intensity war, sustainability matters as much as sophistication. The new focus is on producing more, spending less per shot and ensuring that supply lines remain domestic. Enter the 'Baby BrahMos'.
India's BrahMos missiles are a force multiplier of Indian Army, Navy and Air Force
The recent test of the aerial version of the Pinaka rocket system fits squarely into this plan. Known for its area saturation capability, Pinaka has steadily evolved from a support rocket to a precision-guided platform. Because of its increasing accuracy and destructive capability - comparable to the BrahMos in effect but not in range or speed - it is now being informally referred to as 'Baby BrahMos'.
The name is not just a marketing ploy. It shows military doctrine. The Army wants scalable firepower that can be deployed repeatedly without depleting the exchequer, instead of just a handful of expensive cruise missiles.
Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi made the logic clear recently. He stated that advanced but affordable weapons are essential if India is to sustain operations in a long and intense conflict. To put it simply, quantity has regained strategic value in modern war.
The Parliament's Standing Committee on Defence has backed the pivot. In its recent report, it said that India must be able to manufacture weapons in large numbers at low cost within the country, especially during a prolonged and high-intensity war.
That advice aligns with the government's Aatmanirbhar Bharat push in defence. An increasing part of the budget is now reserved for indigenous procurement - reducing dependence on foreign suppliers who may be constrained by geopolitics during wartime.
The message is clear - in a real conflict, Plan A cannot be defence imports.
Recent wars have reshaped military economics. In the Israel-Hamas conflict, Israel reportedly used interceptor missiles that were worth lakhs, to shoot down rockets costing only a few thousand. In Ukraine, inexpensive drones destroyed tanks and armoured vehicles worth crores. In Sudan and Myanmar, even non-state actors have used improvised or low-cost systems to disrupt conventional military forces.
Israel uses Iron Dome interceptor missiles to shoot down rockets fired by Hamas
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