Missile defense systems can save lives and protect civilian infrastructure from damage or destruction, since they are designed to detect. More importantly, missile defense is essential and plays a critical role in strategic deterrence.
THE MAIN STORY SO FAR
Russia's President "Vladimir Putin" is scheduled to visit India in early December for an annual bilateral meeting with Prime Minister "Narendra Modi", but the arrival of $5.4 billion Russian long-range Surface-to-Air Missile defense shield "S-400" also scheduled for next month, and can expect to produce more International Attention.
WE SHOULD NOT FORGET THE FACTS FROM PAST
If we see, from the Second World War onwards, that airpower has been the critical War winning factor. For instance, we first saw this in the Battlefields of Europe in 1939 itself in the invasion of "Poland". When the Blitzkrieg over the low countries over France with the help of which the whole Western Europe was occupied.
It was a huge combination of dive Bombers and the Panzer columns advancing on the ground. We then saw the Lethal combination being repeated in the initial battles of Russia when the Germans almost reached the gates of Moscow.
With this Lethal combination of Airpower and tanks, we also saw the Japanese using Airpower to very good effect in the Second World War in their attack on Malaysia, Singapore, and Burma, when they had total Air supremacy.
And Of course, we are all aware of how Japanese Naval Aviation destroyed "Pearl Harbor". All the battleship of Pearl Harbor was destroyed. Fortunately for the Americans, the Aircraft carriers were not at Pearl Harbor, otherwise they would have lost the War at the very first blow.
HOW AIRPOWER HAS BEEN A CRUCIAL DEFENSE WINNING COMPONENT
- If we saw 1967, Arab-Israeli War, Israel launched a preemptive Airstrike and destroyed the air forces of Syria and Egypt on the ground.
- Once again, in 1973, "Israeli Airpower tilted the Scales." in the invasion of Lebanon.
- And when Syria tried to intervene they staged an Air Ambush with the help of their Hawkeye Airborne early warning aircraft and their F-16's ambushed and destroyed about 90 big series Aircraft in just one day.
INDIA NEGLECTED AIRPOWER CALLOUSLY DURING UPA GOVERNMENT-
India has neglected its Airpower, so callously, in the decade of the UPA(United Progressive Alliance) rule of 10 years. Not even a single Aircraft was purchased.
Combat Aircraft all that they were interested in purchasing were only V-VIP Westland Augusta helicopters which were found too overpriced for the American President.
We must understand the clear Backdrop to this. Till the 1990s, more or less, before the Soviet Union collapsed. India was getting "Cutting-Edge Technology" very cheap from the Soviet Union for the cost of bananas and tea, we were being given tanks.
We were being given Fighter Aircraft's and India had won the 1971 War with a Plethora combination of Mig-21's and Su-8's, which had devastated Pakistan and given us air supremacy over Bangladesh. And it is this which enabled us to mount a blitzkrieg in just 13 days. So India had seen for itself the value and the lethality of Airpower.
THREAT FROM CHINA, PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN
My simple point is never in India's Independent history has the National Security Threat been so acute as it is today.
We have the Lethal combination of China and Pakistan already against India and getting very aggressive by the day. And, we have Taliban now in Afghanistan. Pakistan has been gifted the whole of Afghanistan by the Americans and gifted $80 billion worth of weaponry in addition.
And now, we also have Turkey, which is acting very, very aggressive, where Turkey was threatening to send in 3000 Syrian terrorists into Kashmir. They were planning to take over the Bag ram Airbase in Afghanistan so that they could intervene in the times of the War of Pakistan with India.
WHY DOES RUSSIA'S S-400 MISSILE DEFENSE DEAL MATTER TO INDIA?
The S-400 deal is very critical for India's Airpower and Air dominance. The only simple fact is that we must understand the Backdrop of how the problems that have cropped up in the crucial realm of Airpower.
India has purchased this and the $5.43 billion deals was officially signed 5th of October 2018 and now, in just two years plus, the first deliveries have started as confirmed by Dmitry Shugaev of the Military Technical Cooperation.
IMPORTANCE OF S-400 TRIUMPH MISSILE:-
The only way to plug many dangerous gaps in Airpower was to give the Air defense to the S-400 Missile, which is today the best Missile system in the world.
I wish to point out the S-400 missile-
This is a Russian Missile, which we are buying five regiments worth of this as 400 missiles. Central Design Bureau had started work in the late 1990s, they came up with the S-300 first, and now they have come up with the S-400. S-400 has a radar with a 600 Km range.
It can track 100 targets at the same time. It can tackle enemy missile strategic bombers, enemies early air surveillance and early electronic warfare aircraft, fighters, drones. These all can be tackled by this system, which has a system of four different ranges of missiles.
Cruise missiles and enemy drones, so all these can be shot down by S-400. As I said, S-400 is a road-mobile system. So, therefore, it is highly mobile, and it can sort of be deployed for the changes in the threat profile.
THE CAA TSA SCARE
"Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act". Which is an important Act undertaken by the United. States Government. Now the American's are threatening to impose the CAA TSA ACT. They imposed this CAA TSA, that any country buying Russian weapons, would impose economic sanctions and other trade sanctions on such countries.
They have already imposed these sanctions on China and Turkey. Now, whether they would impose it against India is a question mark. If America has only strategic insight, they will not do this, because they badly need India to counterbalance their rising power and aggression of China in Asia.
INDIA-US-RUSSIA RELATIONS
It's a very sad fact, that somehow, though the Americans and India, India is supposed to be in a quad relationship, a strategic kind of partnership with the quad. But the American's are somehow averse to supplying us with their cutting-edge technology.
For example, if we see from the past, the Americans have given the F-35 stealth Aircraft to Japan, they haven't even offered them to India. Americans are now ready to give Nuclear Submarines to Australia, and they haven't offered these also to India; they forget about selling them to India.
They had tried to give these cutting-edge technologies to Pakistan, which is very sad and unacceptable. That is why we have been forced to go to Russia because Russia whatever we may say is a tried & tested Arm supplier. Russia has given us many cutting-edge technologies, they have leased to Us Nuclear Submarines. They also helped us with our Nuclear Submarine.
CONCLUSION
The S-400's need was dire, where china already has deployed the S-400 systems against, India. So. quite obviously we have to now catch up with China, and thank god these deliveries have started. Despite all Chinese pressure to cancel this deal, But the Russians have continued. So, the Russians are reliable, time-tested friends. And, I don't think we should be in a hurry to ditch them and to switch entire resources towards America.
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