S-400: India missile defence purchase in US-Russia crosshairs.

Pedro_P

▼ India has signed a deal with Russia to acquire the S-400 air defence missile system, despite the possibility such a move could trigger US sanctions.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the $5bn (£3.8bn) deal in Delhi on Friday.
The S-400 is one of the most sophisticated surface-to-air defence systems in the world. It has a range of 400km (248 miles) and can shoot down up to 80 targets simultaneously, aiming two missiles at each one.
India's neighbour China also has the same system - the two countries fought a war in 1962 and routinely see skirmishes on their border. So for India it was imperative to boost its defence capabilities - especially in view of a possible two-front conflict, with Pakistan and China.
Rajiv Nayan, defence expert at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses think-tank, believes India had to take "a calculated risk".
"India needs to look after its strategic interests. An air defence missile defence system was the need of the hour. The US has said that going ahead with the deal would attract sanctions - but Delhi cannot be seen coming under pressure," he told the BBC.
Relations between the US and Russia have been strained since Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 American presidential elections has further fuelled tensions.
Washington has put several Russian firms under sanctions. The Countering America's  Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (Caatsa)  was introduced in 2017to target Russia, Iran and North Korea with economic and political sanctions.
It also prohibits any country from signing defence deals with these nations.
But US President Donald Trump has the power to provide waivers to some countries. India was hoping to secure one, but recent statements from some Trump administration officials have sent mixed signals.
"I can't sit here and tell you that they [India] would be exempt, that we would use that waiver - that will be the decision of the president if he is faced with a major new platform and capability that India has acquired from Russia," Randall Schriver, assistant secretary of defence for Asian and Pacific security affairs, recently said.
Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also failed to mention the waiver during their visit to Delhi in September.
The S-400 is an important boost to India's defence because its air force is facing a shortage of squadrons. Its squadron  strength has depleted to 31 - largely owing  to ageing Russian aircraft.It would need 42 squadrons in the event of war with both China and Pakistan.
The new surface-to-air defence system will enable the air force to detect and destroy missiles. Mr Nayan says India already operates defence systems "manufactured by Russia and it make sense to continue with the systems we are familiar with".
Delhi's decision to go ahead with the deal also signals an attempt to inject a greater degree of balance in its foreign policy, according to Pratyush Rao, associate director for India and South Asia at Control Risks consultancy.
"After investing significant political capital in strengthening US-India ties during Barack Obama's presidency, Mr Modi is now seeking to calibrate relations with the US under the Trump administration.
"Given the high degree of unpredictability associated with the Trump administration, Delhi needed to hedge its bets," he said.
How the S-400 system works
1.Long-range surveillance radar tracks objects and relays information to command vehicle, which assesses potential targets
2.Target is identified and command vehicle orders missile launch
3.Launch data are sent to the best placed launch vehicle and it releases surface-to-air missiles
4.Engagement radar helps guide missiles towards target
Mr Trump recently described India as "tariff king" and said it wanted to have a trade deal with the US to keep him happy. The statement hasn't gone down well in Delhi's diplomatic circles.
It's not surprising that India has been trying to improve ties with powers like Russia and China in the new world order under Mr Trump.
India - which makes very few of its own weapons - is the world's biggest defence buyer, and Russia supplies most of its military equipment and spare parts.
"India had to assure Russia that it still values Moscow as an important defence and strategic partner and signing this deal was a demonstration of that," Mr Rao said.
He added that this was a "Catch-22 situation for Delhi with it having to walk the diplomatic tightrope between a trusted but waning partner [Russia] and a growing yet temperamental partner [US]".
Indian officials now hope that Washington will grant a waiver for Delhi.
Mr Nayan believes that backroom negotiations with Washington may result in such a move. But it may not be easy because the US has its own Catch-22 situation to deal with.
The US has been clear about sanctioning countries that sign defence deals with Russia. It sanctioned China for buying  S-400s in September.
Nato ally Turkey is also in the process of acquiring the same system, and many believe that's a red line the US doesn't want Turkey to cross.
If the US allows India a waiver, others countries will press for similar concessions.
Meanwhile, Washington cannot afford to ignore India's increasing defence equipment requirements. It has increased its own arms exports to India more than five times in the past five years, taking its share in Delhi's defence procurement to 15%.
"Having painstakingly built up the defence partnership, Washington would want to insulate it's burgeoning defence trade with India through some kind of a solution," Mr Rao says.
Mr Modi's administration is also likely to try to defuse tensions. He will seek re-election next year and will not want a new controversy that could affect his campaign.
"If the US imposes sanctions on India, it will give more ammunition to India's opposition parties ahead of the elections. It will open Mr Modi to further attacks over his management of foreign policy coming days after perceived flip-flops on holding talks with Pakistan," Mr Rao added
He signed a government-to-government deal with France in 2016 to buy 36 Rafale warplanes manufactured by Dassault Aviation. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the main opposition Congress party, has alleged that Mr Modi "favoured" an Indian company that is part of the French deal.
Mr Modi's ministers have denied the allegation, but the issue continues to dominate headlines in India.
Both Mr Modi and Mr Trump have reasons to avoid falling out. The big question now is whether Mr Trump will see it Mr Modi's way.

► Article originally published in: Source

ssangra

The biggest shock to me was why the deal was done when the dollar rate was overboard....is it that the kickbacks are most lucrative then?

ssangra

Besides do we really need such systems ...why cant we get Indians to make them if we need them.....why must so much money be paid to other countries....Russia has dope that can incriminate trump....do we need to play to the gallery and escalate tensions just because someone wants to make money selling us arms...how has India ensured that these cannot be rigged or deactivated by Russia remotely after sale.....what if India needs to use this against russian aggression.....why the silence before purchase and why the rush ?

Pedro_P

Country A and Country B are "enemies", Russia sells arms to both countries... So, instead of both countries spending that money on more and better education and health for their citizens, that money is literally given to Russia, for fattens its own pockets at the expense of hunger, education and health of the citizens of both countries... Definitely Putin must be laughing at this whole situation while watching how quickly he increase his bank accounts. And Trump in the USA, well, happily he has little time left, 4 years go by very quickly.

abhi89492i

ssangra 8-10-2018 02:39 PM
Besides do we really need such systems ...why cant we get Indians to make them if we need them.....w ...

Russians have historically been good friends with India. it's preposterous to think they'll be aggressive towards us in near future...or have any reason to "deactivate" it remotely. besides, it was USA who thought up to ban countries buying Russian arms. not other way around. Consider what would have happened if we'd bought any jet (F-35?) from them and citing these reasons, they deactivate it?

And why can't we build it? the reason is obvious enough: no money or R&D know-how. these things result from a heck of a lot of both of these two.

ssangra

Trust me...there will come a day when u will agree with me,,,,,nothing like indigenous weapons.

America opposes anything u buy from anyone else....its obviously a dollar game. Surely thats elementary for them.  Its a fact that any country selling u anything has inbuilt a mechanism to control and deactivate if that item is used against them. Surely that is also elementary...I wud build this in if I build any weapon to sell to any trigger happy nation even if it appears peaceful at any time because no one can be sure what will happen in future or if the weapon falls into wrong hands. Even ur Airbus has that....when it travels it sends tracking signals to manufacturer / seller country.....u remember the Malaysian air crash dont u ? did u not read the reports ? . ....and pls dont undermine the Indian aviators. My own father was one of the people who cannibalized the WWII machines that America had bashed up and tried to destroy when they left India because it was more expensive to move these there.....the result was some of the earliest aircrafts used by the Indian Air Force.....he was a fellow of the Royal aeronautical society Great Britain and the only reason he did not work for HAL way back then was that in his interview he openly opposed the idea of non-retractable landing gear which he later found out was the interviewers own cost saving design. He opposed it because it was impractical as it caused huge drag and would be unviable.....he had studied aeronautical design so he knew the principles. The result was he never got the job...and the interviewers plane never took off.....but he went on to serve an airlines.....and not one plane he serviced ever fell. There are men and women like that in India ....but its the politicians and the others in power who undermine and retard the growth of this country.  

ssangra

Often their idea of progress is  spending a huge amount of dollars which we cannot really afford ....a well deserved kick to the likes of such people

parivijesh100

Superb action by present Government as it focus on the country need rather comes under political pressure. Russia gas always assisted us as & when required & majority of war items are Russian make.  Hence it was important.

vivekjanu

excellent move. defence sector is progressing. hope to see such progress in other fields too.

ssangra

Pls do see the DW report on arms sale by French. Their economy is suffering and only defence is in a better shape. They sell arms to countries and train their forces and earn heaps on it. At times they sell these to countries where there are human right violations also. Obviously India is having a govt that is treading where fools fear to tread and now after aggravating border tensions they wanted to buy nuclear warhead carrying rafale which is going to cause arms escalation in this region. France is happy to sell these..Germany and EU nations are not totally on their side on this. However France is clear that they will sell and frankly they will lie to sell. They r reputed  to sweeten the deals by kickbacks . India is having sufficient capability to make these weapons if the brightest minds are applied but the fools in the parliament wont allow anyone with an average mind capability above theirs to survive so they prefer buying by wasting dollars as that way they hv a reason to earn individually. No one is bothered abt the defence forces....if they were so many young innocent men would not get killed like sitting ducks... every day one aircraft crashes .....sorry but I dont see a single thing thats helping