S-400 Triumf air defense missile systems © Vitaly
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Staff Jan 22, 2018 12:02:43 IST
The Centre has begun final negotiations to buy
Russia-built S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems for Rs 39,000
crore, The Times of India reported on Monday.
According to the report, the government wants to operationalise the deal by the
end of FY2018-19. If the deal is inked, it will be one of the biggest arms
contract with Russia, added the report.
The deal was first approved the Ministry of Defence’s
Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in December 2015, just days before Prime
Minister Narendra Modi visited Russia. If the deal goes through by the end of
the financial year, India will be the second buyer of the missile system after China, which concluded the deal
with Russia in 2014.
Once the deal is finalised, the first of the five air
missile defence systems will be delivered to India immediately while the
associated battle-management systems will be delivered after two years of the
deal being inked, The Times of India report said.
All five missile systems will be in India’s possession in
54 months, the report quoted a source in the defence ministry as saying.
A major plug in India’s air defence
India has over eight lakh square nautical miles of
airspace, of which nearly 35 percent is under military control. With two
nuclear-armed neighbours, India faces the constant threat of air attacks.
An air defence system detects, tracks and destroys hostile strategic bombers, stealth fighters, spy planes, medium-range and cruise missiles as well as drones at a range of up to 400 kilometres and altitude of 30 kilometres.
According to a Business Today report, the S-400 missile
systems has a tracking range of 600 kilometres, while it can engage up to 36
targets at one time. Compared with its predecessor, the S-300, the S-400 has a 2.5 times faster firing rate. Hence, reports
consider it to be the most modern, air defence system in the Russian arsenal.
According to reports, the missile system can be used
against Pakistan’s short-range nuclear missiles, Nasr. Nasr missiles are
specifically designed to counter India’s “cold start” strategy against
Pakistan. With S-400 missiles in India’s armoury, the air bases of Pakistan
and China’s Tibetan bases come under striking distance.
Other missile shields for India
Akash, India’s indigenously-built air defence system, is a medium-range
Surface-to-Air missile system. Built by the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO), these missiles have a range of 25 kilometres. The first
batch of the Akash missiles was inducted by the Indian Army in May 2015. The
missile was formally inducted into the IAF in July 2015.
The two other major air defence systems with India are
Spyder and Barak 8. While Spyder has a range of just 15 kilometres, Barak 8, a
joint project of the DRDO and the IAI, has a longer range of at least 70
kilometres.
Missile defence systems in other countries
South Korea
Always facing a nuclear threat from its northern
neighbour, South Korea has the Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) system to safeguard itself from a nuclear missile
strike. The missile system consists of US Surface-to-Air patriot missiles and
indigenous M-SAM (Cheolmae) medium-range missiles. The M-SAM missiles are
expected to be deployed on a large scale from 2019.
Japan
According to the Wall Street Journal, Japan has the most
sophisticated air-defence missile systems after the US. Japan has the Patriot
Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air missile defence systems. These were
acquired to destroy any ballistic missile that enters the Japanese air space.
These missile systems compliment the sea-based standard missile 3 system.
Pakistan
In 2017, Pakistan inducted the Chinese-built LOMADS LY-80, which
is a low-to-medium range air defence system. Ary News reported that the LY-80
can intercept very low-flying targets at a distance of up to about 40
kilometers. The Pakistan Army also inducted the short-range HQ-7B missile
system in 2015, which is China’s copy of the French-made Cartole surface-to-air defence
system.
China
Since the 1990s, China has been developing its air defence missile systems.
Some of the major air defence systems under China’s control are HQ-9, which has
a range of at least 200 kilometres and the 50-kilometre range HQ-12 missile
system. In addition, China has had close defence ties with Russia which has
helped it acquire several Russian models of air defence systems.
Published Date: Jan 22, 2018 12:02 PM | Updated Date: Jan
22, 2018 12:02 PM
Original post: firstpost.com
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