Ballistic Missile Shields :- Where does India Stand?
World War II ended after the use of two atom bombs on the Japanese cities by the United States of America. It was the first time in the history of mankind that such kind of weaponry was used to annihilate an adversary. As the World Word II came to an end, United Nations was carved from League of Nations and two of the most powerful nations, USA and USSR spearheaded against each other, thus initiating a Cold War. To outperform each other, the superpowers competed in every field giving rises to the space race, the arms race, proxy wars, espionage and political subversion.
Post world war, the relevance of nuclear weapons could not be overlooked. If possessed, nuclear weapons acted as extraordinary weapons in the inventory of a nation. Nuclear weapons became both incentive and deterrent for the militaries of the world. With eyes of nuclear weapons, many nations initiated research and development on nuclear weapons. Observing the numerous nations attempting to have nuclear weapons, the Non-Proliferation Treaty came into existence in 1970. According to this treaty, only the USA, USSR, France, China and the UK could possess nuclear weapons. India, Pakistan, Israel, South Sudan and North Korea are the only countries which are the only countries not a signatory to the treaty.
Missile Defence systems are can be understood as series of missiles deployed to intercept enemy aircraft or missiles. These missile shields may not be just limited to short-range missiles but also to ICBM (Intercontinental ballistic missiles).
The United States of America was one of the first countries to pursue missile shield. By the early 1990s, the United States had started developing the national wide anti-missile program. National Missile Defence (NMD) is the terminology used to define the missile shield program. Presently, under the NMD program, USA operates Ground-based Interceptor Missiles, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence System, Terminal High Altitude Area Defence(THAAD), Airborne Systems, Patriot System and short-range anti-ballistic missile systems.
On the other hand, the second largest economy, China has deployed its own missile shields along with Russian S-300V and S-400(ordered)systems. Other than these counties, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea are developing a missile defence system. Following UAE, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea are in talks with the USA to deploy THAAD in their respective countries. A NATO missile defence system is being developed by NATO member to protect Europe from missile attacks.
India’s Quest for Ballistic Missile Defense Shield
India is started developing it’s anti Ballistic Missile Defence System from 1999 to protect itself from nuclear trip ballistic Missile. This system has mainly three components. Backbone of this system is Swordfish Long range tracking and fire control radar, which is a custom variant of Israeli EL-2080 Greenpine radar, with range of 800 km. This Greenpine radar is also backbone of reputed Israeli Arrow missile defence system.
Second component is two type of interceptor missile. Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile for high altitude interception, and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) Missile for lower altitude interception.Third component is command and control system.
PAD is a two-stage missile: a solid-fuel motor and liquid fuel propeller. It works with the inertial guidance navigation system with mid-course updates from the Long-Range Tracking Radar (LRTR) and active radar homing in the terminal phase. Moreover PAD is also capable of tracking 200 targets at a range of 600 km, with a maximum interception altitude of 80 km in exo-thermic-in space range.
This program is divided into two phase.
Phase 1: Objectives of this phase are interception, destruction and protection from 2500km range IRBM. Our enemies Pakistan and China has mostly this range category missile. Pakistan has Ghaznavi (320 km), Shaheen 1–3 (750km-2750km), Ghauri 1–2 (1500–2000 km).
China also has a lot medium range missiles. Like DF-11(300km), DF-12(400km), DF-15(600km), DF-16(1000km), DF-17(2000km), DF-21(2500km) etc.
In 2019, development of phase 1 is being completed. Now it is waiting for government approval for deployment and production. It is expected phase 1 will be operational by 2023-2025 in Delhi. Later it will be expanded to other major cities.
Phase 2: It is being said by DRDO that in phase 2 missile defence system, India will able to intercept 5000km range ballistic Missile. For that development works going on. Range of Swordfish radar is increasing to 1500km. But these is no news of any test of this phase 2. But as DRDO has mastered itself in missile defence system, phase 2 can be completed in much less time.
India is also planning to buy 131 surface-to-air missiles from Israel at the cost of US$70 million (S$93 million), as per the Indian Defence Ministry press relesae issued on 2nd January 2018. The BARAK missiles made by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems are to be used aboard India’s first locally built aircraft carrier, the INS Vikrant, which is under construction. Previously in April 2017 India and Israel signed a deal worth around US$2 billion which includes medium-range surface-to-air missiles. Israel has become a major defence supplier to India, selling an average of US$1 billion worth of military equipment each year.
Moreover not only relying on Israeli missiles, India signed an inter-governmental agreement with Russia for the purchase of the S-400s in October 2016. The estimated worth of the contract is US$ 4.5 billion. The S-400 is technologically one of the most advanced Missile Air Defence System in the world. The S-400 system is armed with the capacity which enables it to engage with the stand-off jammer and Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft including both ballistic and cruise missiles.
Missile defence systems are really important for nation like India which is surrounded by hostile neighbours. Having a reliable missile defence system will help counter nuclear missiles threat from enemy nations.
Source:- Quora
