India's test fire of anti-missile interception
India, the regular customer in
the world arms market, now plans to spend three billion US dollars to
buy anti-missile systems.According to reports from US media, the
Pentagon's report on the Peoples' Liberation Army (PLA) deploys DF-21
medium-range ballistic missiles in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Therefore,
India holds the opinion that the slow development of its home-made
anti-missile systems cannot fulfill strategic needs and it thus seeks to
purchase the most advantaged anti-missile systems globally to
strengthen its defense capability. More after the break...
Reports say US Patriotic-3 and Israel's Iron Dome and David's
Sling missile defense systems are all in India's favour. The contract of
Patriotic-3 is likely to be announced before US President Barack Obama
visits India in November. Meanwhile, India and Israel both show their
willingness to make such a deal for anti-missile systems. However, India
must first gain US permission before its purchase of Israel's
anti-missile systems, because the development of these weapons relies on
the funds and technology of US.
US Patriotic-3 missile system
Israel's Iron Dome missile defense systems
Israel's David's Sling missile defense systems
Analysis points out India's
urgent purchase of anti-missile systems results from the pressure of
Chinese missiles. Indian defense officials state China targets its
hundreds of nuclear missiles at India.According to reports, US's recent
report of Military and Security Developments Involving the People's
Republic of China points out in order to enhance military deterrence,
PLA deploys more advanced solid fueled CSS-5 (DF-21) nuclear missiles
with better anti-destruction performance in the area nearer to the
China-India border. India worries that its home-made anti-missile
systems are still under development and cannot be put into real battles
in a short time. Therefore, it's necessary to bring in the west's more
advanced weapons.
China's DF missiles
Indian military experts have stressed
many times that China has geological advantages over India when a battle
breaks out between China and India. The China-India border is about
5,000 kilometers away from Beijing, while it's only more than 900
kilometers away from New Delhi, which means PLA could launch attack on
India's main military targets in the north of India within more than ten
seconds by deploying DF-11/15 strategic ballistic missiles.
Furthermore, the more powerful DF-21 medium-range missiles have bigger
military deterrence to India's military. Therefore, India urgently seeks
to purchase advanced and reliable anti-missile systems.
According to Indian media, India's indigenous anti-missile weapons
include Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missiles and surface-to-surface
"Prithvi" missiles. It's reported that totally five test fires gained
good results. An Indian defense expert states the Advanced Air Defence
(AAD) missile has better performance than Patriotic-3. He also says
India is expected to become the fourth state capable of intercepting
missiles with a range of 5,000 kilometers after US, Russia and Israel.
However, an Indian missile expert points out the fatal weakness of
India's missile defense is the poor foundation of the national industry.
Even though there are foreign technologies, some key parts related with
interception missiles cannot be produced at home but can only rely on
exports.
Does India's global purchase of anti-missile systems aim to
counteract China's DF missiles?
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