2 MIG- 35s!
However, there is some merit in acquiring a larger naval gun.There has been much ink spent in the previous decades bemoaning the gun-gap situ in the USN , a key element in support of amphib ops. and the US is an expeditionary superpower which will undertake offensive amphib. ops on any continent.
In WW2, the atoll-hopping of the US Pacific marine forces would've been impossible without naval gunfire support from its battleships, cruisers et al. I think the last time we saw US battleships of the WW2 era in action was when the USN New Jersey pounded the shores of Lebanon with its 16" guns. We lost our 6" gun capabilities when the erstwhile Mysore and Delhi passed on to the breaking yard.Our 4.5" guns of the Leander class were the largest we had and they've moved on too.
We do not possess the USN carrier air wings which alternatively can deliver munitions in quantity on the landing grounds and further inland.Our planned 4 amphibs appear to have been sunk not by the enemy but by our very own MOD with nary a squeak in protest from the IN !
However , a few 5" guns moving on from existing 4" ones
isn't going to increase our capability very much.Will these guns come with ER munitions? With the advent of rail guns and the PLAN appears to be in pole position to start fielding them, conventional guns would be outgunned in the future once rail guns are perfected and fielded increasingly aboard surface combatants.
Lastly, main guns have become of secondary value in anti-ship surface warfare where long- range missiles reign supreme.We have supersonic Klub and Brahmos already with us.The guns are of value and use in destroying smaller vessels which venture within range and exterminating kamikaze attacks from fast craft. The cost of a shell is also far cheaper than that of even a lowly short- range sub-sonic missile, but in amphibious ops, which commander would send his warships within range of shore- based anti-ship missile batteries? Guns do have anti-air defence value against aircraft and missiles, but against supersonic missiles and hypersonic ones to come?
I welcome the thought though of acquiring larger guns but would instead prefer the IN to acquire the 8" guns aboard the new Zumwalt class of DDGs which supposedly have an 80+nm range with the LRAP projectiles.That would be great for our future larger surface combatants giving main guns much greater reach.