Request for Information has been issued for “a high voltage, multi-calibre potent parabolic air defence system (ADS) comprising a range of missiles, definitive munitions and hyper-reactive sensors,” as per UNI. Dubbed as India’s THAAD system, it is proposed to protect the vital assets and strategic installations. The ADS is expected to guard against aerial, space and clandestine operations.
To plug gaps and build up a robust air defence system, India will soon buy a large number of missiles to defend the country's vital tactical and strategic locations and high-security zones from enemy threats and possible aerial attacks, an officer said Wednesday.
Ahead of issuing a tender for the purchase of medium-range surface-to-air (MRSAM) missiles, the defence ministry has this week issued a request for information (RFI) from global and domestic missile manufacturers asking them if they could supply the weapon system within a short time-frame to the Indian Air Force (IAF).
"The defence ministry intends to procure the MRSAM system for the Indian Air Force and the system will be required for air defence of vital areas and points. The MRSAM is required in an early time-frame," a senior IAF officer said here Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has confirmed Washington's plans to deploy missile defenses and Air Force units in Poland.
"As was announced by our two presidents in December, we plan to establish a new permanent U.S. air detachment in Poland, build missile defenses in Poland, and as agreed at the NATO summit, develop a contingency plan in the region," Clinton told journalists ahead of talks with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in Washington.
Wikileaks published U.S. cables in late 2010 showing that NATO was drawing up a plan on the protection of Estonia, Lithuania and Poland from external threats on a request from the United States and Germany.
The Guardian reported that under the plan, reportedly approved by Clinton, the United States, Britain, Germany and Poland would deploy troops in the region in case of a military aggression against the Baltic States or Poland itself.
According to the British newspaper, NATO members approved the draft plan during the alliance's summit in Lisbon in November 2010.
In 2009, the United States decided to deploy several F-16 fighter jets and Hercules transport aircraft in Poland. Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich has said the United States was also planning to deploy Patriot missile defense systems in Poland at a base just 100 kilometers from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
"We have a full agenda that will concentrate on three essential areas: building our mutual security, expanding prosperity and promoting democracy," Clinton said on Thursday, adding "as we grow our military partnership, we continue to expand economic ties between the Polish and American people."
Moscow has long opposed the deployment of U.S. missile defenses near its borders, arguing they would be a security threat and could destroy the strategic balance of forces in Europe.
The United States scrapped earlier plans in September last year for an anti-ballistic-missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland. Moscow welcomed the move, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said later that Russia would drop plans to deploy Iskander-M tactical missiles in its Kaliningrad Region, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania.
Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on the so called Euro missile defense system at the Lisbon summit. NATO insists there should be two independent systems that exchange information, while Russia favors a joint system.
The strategic command of Russia's space defense forces took delivery of its second unit of S-400 Triumf missile systems on Wednesday, which will be based in the Moscow Region, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Vladimir Drik said.
Until now, the Russian forces have had only one unit of S-400s, based at Electrostal, near Moscow.
"The handover ceremony for the second S-400 will take place at the state firing range in Kapustin Yar from February 16-19," Drik said.
The unit will consist of two regiments, each consisting of eight launch points, each with four missiles.
The S-400 has a maximum range of up to 400 km at an altitude of 40,000-50,000 meters. The system uses a range of missiles, optimized for engaging ballistic and cruise missiles and hypersonic vehicles, Drik said.
India’s first modern air defence system readying to roll off the assembly line. Bharat Electronics (BEL) in Bangalore, will deliver operational Akashmissile system, to the IAF by March 2011. Thisfirst Akash squadron will protect the Gwalior Air Base, where the IAFbases its Mirage-2000 fighters. BEL will follow this up quickly with a second Akash squadron byDecember 2011, which will safeguard Lohegaon Air Base at Pune, a majorbase for the front-line Sukhoi-30MKI fighters. Meanwhile, anotherdefence public sector undertaking, Bharat Dynamics, will build six moreAkash squadrons, most of these for the IAF’s new fighter bases alongthe Sino-Indian border, including Tezpur, Bagdogra and Hasimara.
“BEL is building two Akash squadrons for Rs 1,221 crore,” saysAshwini Datta, BEL’s chairman and managing director. “The groundinfrastructure would cost another Rs 200 crore, so each squadroneffectively costs about Rs 700 crore. That is not justsignificantly cheaper than foreign procurement, but also permits bettermaintenance and allows for continuous technological improvements.”
DRDO and MoD sources say the Indian Army is close to ordering ahigh-mobility version of Akash, mounted on T-72 tanks, that can movealongside tank forces. One of the army’s three strike corps, whichattack deep into enemy territory, has no anti-aircraft “area defencesystem”; the other two strike corps are equipped with the vintageRussian SA-6, designed in the early-1960s. This makes them dangerouslyvulnerable to enemy fighters if they advance deep into enemy territory.
The Akash – developed by the DRDO, in partnership with BEL, under theIntegrated Guided Missile Development Programme – is a sophisticatedamalgam of systems working in concert. The heart of the Akash is amobile Rohini radar, which can detect an aircraft when it is 120kilometres (km) away; automatically, a coded electronic interrogatorascertains whether this is an IAF aircraft, or a civilian airliner.With the target identified, the Rohini radar alerts the Akash squadronheadquarters, which then controls the engagement.
As the enemy fighter races in at about 15 km per minute, the task ofshooting it down is allocated through a secure digital link to one ofthe squadron’s two missile “flights”, which are normally about 25 kmaway, to cover the maximum area. The designated Flight Control Centrelocks its sophisticated 3D phased-array radar onto the enemy fighterand calculates the launch parameters for an Akash missile to shoot downthe target at its maximum range of 25 km.
Meanwhile, the flight’s four Akash launchers raise their missiles tothe launch positions and swivel automatically towards the incomingaircraft. At the calculated time of launch, the Flight Control Centreelectronically passes a launch order to one of its four launchers. Anaudio signal starts beeping and the missile operator presses the launchbutton, which is quaintly labelled “MARO”. A “ripple” of two missilesroars off the launcher, seconds apart, to increase the chances of ahit. The 3D radar guides the missiles throughout their flight, homingthem onto the enemy aircraft. The DRDO claims that a two-missile“ripple” will destroy an enemy fighter 98 per cent of the time.
The dangerous shortage of India’s air defence resources has been known for some time, but can only now be publiclyrevealed, with the induction of the Akash remedying the situation. Thenumber of installations that need protection – each is termed aVulnerable Area (VA) or a Vulnerable Point (VP), depending upon howlarge it is – has steadily increased. In a letter written on December4, 2002, to the MoD, the IAF’s Air Marshal Raghu Rajan pointed out thata study by the military’s apex Chiefs of Staff Committee, ordered bythe Cabinet Secretariat, had identified 101 Indian VAs/VPs in 1983.That went up to 122 in 1992; to 133 in 1997; and is now understood tobe well above 150.
Without the anti-aircraft resources needed to protect these VAs/VPs,the outdated Pechora missiles, which began service in 1974 with adesignated life of nine years, have been granted repeated extensions.The Russian manufacturers extended the life to 15 years; when theyrefused any further extensions, the DRDO extended it unilaterally to 21years. By 2004, only 30 Pechora units of the 60 originally importedwere still in service.
On January 15, 2003, the IAF boss, Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy,wrote to the MoD saying that 60 per cent of India’s VAs/VPs could nolonger be provided anti-aircraft protection. The IAF’s top officerwrote: “By 2004… terminal defence of VA/VPs would be only notional… Weneed to import minimal number of systems to meet our national defenceneeds.”
