The government should immediately deploy the indigenously developed missile defence system and foil efforts by foreign arms lobbies to push through their systems.
The government should immediately deploy the indigenously developed missile defence system and foil efforts by foreign arms lobbies to push through their systems, military sources said.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) flight-tested the third ballistic missile interceptor on March 6. The earlier two tests were also successful. Scientists and military sources say India should not repeat the blunders committed in development of Arjun tank and Akash missile. In fact, “immediate deployment” was the need of the hour.
The project to develop defense against incoming ballistic missiles is one of the most expensive by India. DRDO said it will perfect the first stage system in two years and carry out integrated tests in exo and endo atmospheric regions by year-end. But, deployment of any system would mean they would be mass produced. That would bring down cost per piece, and improve technology. “In most of our indigenous projects, delay in serial production has been a setback,” a defence ministry source said. Citing main battle tank Arjun, a senior army official said, “Had it been pushed into serial production, the product would have been significantly better today. As its production was stalled, Arjun fell behind other products of its class.”
Similar was the case of Akash, a surface-to-air missile with a 30km range. “Had the air force inducted it in large numbers, economies of scale would have ensured Akash became cheaper. But since the promised large scale induction did not happen, foreign missile systems are taking its place,” a DRDO source said.
DRDO chief Dr M Natarajan recently said in Bangalore, the Air Force had inducted eight Akash squadrons, but after the then IAF chief retired, the new air chief brought down the order to two squadrons.
The call for immediate deployment comes in the light of intense pressure from the US to sell PAC-III and Aegis missile defence systems to India. Russia and Israel too have their own defence systems and powerful lobbies capable of influencing decisions here.
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