State-Of-The-Art Air Defence Systems For India

DELHI, India - May 8, 2014 - PRLog -- India’s long wait for new air defence (AD) guns may be about to end soon, says a leading defense analyst.The Indian Army has set the ball rolling on acquiring new anti-aircraft (AA) guns, and has issued a request for information (RFI) for this.

Writing in the May issue of the Indian Military Review (IMR), Maj Gen (Retd) Ravi Arora says the RFI seeks details from vendors who can provide not only AA guns and ammunition, but ensure their maintenance and transfer of technology, too.

Although the overall AD responsibility lies with the Air Force,says Gen. Arora,“the Army requires advanced surveillance, automation and weapon systems to ensure it can detect and destroy enemy aircraft much before they release their weapons.” The surface-to-air (SAM) missile systems and AA guns of the Army Air Defence (AAD) “have long suffered from lack of modernisation and upgrade.”The Army’s current air defence systems comprise Kvadrats (Russian-origin), L-70s (Bofors-made), Schilka and Pechora (Russian-origin) SAMs—obsolete guns, inducted in the 1950s, which are still deployed around key headquarters, air bases, and installations across the country.

“Despite induction of a few new systems, the bulk of its weapons and equipment are obsolete or nearing obsolescence,” Gen Arora points out. “In fact, a letter written by former Army Chief Gen VK Singh to the prime minister that was leaked into the public domain had stated that 97 per cent of AD equipment was obsolete. The Bofors L40/L70 guns that equip a number of air defence regiments, for example, are almost five decades old. Similarly, the ZSU 23-4 self-propelled radar-controlled guns belong to the 1970s. Some indigenous projects to upgrade the existing guns and to design a new gun in collaboration with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ordnance Factories and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) are also under way.”

As part of the Army modernization effort, contracts worth over Rs 17,000 crore have been drawn up since 2011, and several more are in the pipeline for the AAD corps. “These will be in addition to two regiments of the indigenous Akash systems, with six firing batteries and hundreds of missiles each, ordered at a cost of Rs 14,180 crore,” says Gen Arora. The 25-km-range Akash system can be launched from static or mobile platforms and provides multi-directional and multi-target area defence. It can handle multiple targets and destroy manoeuvring targets such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), fighter aircraft, cruise missiles and missiles launched from helicopters. It can operate autonomously, and engage and neutralize different aerial targets simultaneously in all-weather conditions. “The Army began inducting Akash missile systems in March 2013, while the IAF plans to acquire eight Akash squadrons – six of them based in the north-east to counter China – for Rs 6,200 crore.”

The Armyis also shopping for man-portable, very short-range air defence (VSHORAD) systems with anti-aircraft missiles “that can be effectively used in high altitude areas, plains, deserts or in maritime conditions at ranges of 3,500 metres or more.”The Army currently uses the 1970s-era Russian SA-7 shoulder-fired heat-seeking missiles to tackle low flying enemy aircraft at close ranges. The Army’s current AD systems comprise Kvadrats (Russian-origin), L-70s (Bofors-made), Schilka and Pechora (Russian-origin) SAMs. These obsolete guns, inducted in the 1950s, are still deployed around key headquarters, air bases, and installations across the country. So the new VSHORAD systems will not arrive a minute too soon. “A vibrant and effective AD environment, backed up with low and medium level surveillance and automated control and reporting system, is essential to protect key strategic installations as well as the combat potential and freedom of manoeuvre of our fighting forces, says Gen. Arora.

Maj Gen Ravi Arora is the Chief Editor of IMR

The May 2014 issue of the IMR hits the stands on 10 May.