Posted on 10/15/2004 6:51:45 PM PDT by CarrotAndStick
Indicating that the Indo-US strategic partnership is blooming, the United States has offered to sell its Patriot missile defence system to India. Highly placed sources say the offer was made during the discussions between US and Indian officials on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September.
The Patriot is an air-defence system which can defeat both attack aircraft and tactical ballistic missiles.
Sources say the sale of the Patriot may be linked to India getting on board the National Missile Defence (NMD) as it can also be integrated into the broader NMD framework.
While India is said to have kept its option open on the system, it is in the process of getting a detailed briefing on the NMD.
The offer to sell the Patriot comes with the assurance that the US wants an all-weather defence relationship with India, and that the Next Step in Strategic Partnership (unveiled by the two countries in January) would further facilitate the two countries' defence partnership.
Costing about $90 million a piece, the Patriot missile system is manufactured by the Raytheon corporation of the US. It was given to Israel in 2003 and was earlier used in the Gulf war during Operation Desert Storm by Israel and Saudi Arabia, albeit with mixed success.
A Patriot battery consists of a phased array radar, an engagement control station and up to eight launchers, each of which holds four ready-to-fire missiles.
Although what India has on offer is an upgraded system called PAC-3, talks are still in the preliminary stage and no firm decision has been made about a purchase. India is also considering Israel's Arrow anti-ballistic system.
If India gets the Patriot system, it will be a deterrent against Pakistani and Chinese ballistic missiles and attack aircraft. It can be used to defend against any accidental missile launch.
Alright... we need to ring China with these things.
A new Great Wall of China... <--<< sorry, i had to say that
Glad to hear it. We gotta keep our tech support workers safe.
Well I don't think that there is the level of mutual trust between the US & India for Delhi to purchase these high-end weapons.Id think India should wait a while & purchase P-3 Orions,sub rescue vessels etc before even thinking of the Patriots.India already uses the Russian S-300 system(widely regarded as analogous to the Patriots) to defend Delhi,Mumbai & the Bhabha atomic research centre in Trombay.The idea was to hook up the S-300(which would provide lower tier defence) with the Israeli Arrow(which would provide the high level interception capability).I think the journalist is mistaken in comparing the Arrow & PAC-3 as both have pretty different specs.
Giving away our defenses.
I've come to believe its all one big game to see who can become richest of the taxpayer.
of=off
Err,if you didn't know ,India is one of the world's largest arms importers after China.It buys billions worth of weaponry from Russia,Israel,France,Britain etc & pays solid cash for it.It will do the same if they buy the Patriot(which is unlikely) & not depend on American taxpayers to subsidise it like the Egyptians or Pakistanis.
As for US assistance what would be nice would be to stop arming the Pakistanis. The P-3C Orions, the anti-air radars and the tech improvements going the way of the Pakistanis are obviously going to be turned against India (by the Paks).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.