Posted on 10/08/2011 5:11:52 PM PDT by AfricanChristian
Moscow - India's military is considering using Russia's Glonass satellite system for navigation and targeting, a leading Russian newspaper reported Thursday.
Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov offered Delhi access to the system during a recent meeting with his Indian counterpart Arackaparambil Kurien Antony, Kommersant newspaper wrote.
Glonass is a worldwide satellite navigation system similar to the US' GPS system. Russia placed its 24th Glonass satellite into orbit on Monday, upgrading the system to full worldwide coverage.
India could use Glonass for monitoring and controlling its own ballistic missiles and would avoid the cost of setting up its own worldwide satellite navigation network, the report said, citing a senior Russian army officer.
Russian army spokesmen have said that the Glonass system would allow guided missiles to strike targets anywhere on Earth with an error margin of less than one metre.
Antony was in Russia from Monday through Wednesday on a visit devoted primarily to talks on ongoing and future arms acquisitions from Moscow.
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The US is a major trading partner but trust goes with the Russians. kind hearts the World trade argument?
Not trust, but just a belief that the Russian system might be safer from a preemptive hack attack from China.
It’s going to take several decades of painstaking diplomacy to build trust with the Indians.
There is no major World power (except nations in the Anglosphere, Japan, South Korea and Israel) that trusts the US on defense related matters.
The US has a well-earned reputation for letting down its allies at their hour of need. This is why nations like Brazil and India try to limit their dependence on US made systems.
I believe that during the Kargil conflict, the US switched off the GPS system accessibility on the Indian side of the border, denying the the Indian AF use of GPS munitions. remember, the war was fought wholly on the Indian side of the LOC, both on land and in the air. After this the Indian forces do not trust the Americans.
With the current resident in the White House and the fickle public that elected him, can you blame them?
Disgusting
This could also be the reason Indian AF decided to forge ahead with the euro-canards for the MMRCA instead of the F16/18 series. They obviously would not want the jets to simple refuse to start in the event of a war!
Probably the fact that we detected movement around nuke weapon storage sites in Pakistan had something to do with denying India the use of GPS. Last thing anyone wants is to light off one of those..
As far as I know IAF was under strict orders NOT to cross the border and keep all engagements within India’s own borders which they did for the most part. The Indians were remarkably restrained.
Also I thought the nukes were moved towards the later end of the conflict. No reason to disable the GPS early in the conflict to avoid “accidentally bombing the nukes”.
I don’t think the IAF had any GPS munitions during Kargil. Besides, IIRC, only the US military has military-standard GPS. The rest have to make do with the standard civilian systems.
well said
That was during Clintoon’s time, right? All the good work done by Dubya has nearly been wiped out by OLoser
Actually I think the India don’t trust the Russians so much either even since the fiasco over that aircraft carrier. The Indians probably trust the Israelis more these days
The Russians would have their moments too, very often they would fleece the Indians or throw a hissy fit about something but to be fair to them, they never turn off supply of critical systems, services or deny technologies in times of need. Something the Americans have done to both India and Pakistan.
“they (Russia) never turn off supply of critical systems, services or deny technologies in times of need.”
So, oil and gas is not a critical item?
Russia has repeatedly restricted oil and gas deliveries over recent years as a means of diplomatic pressure, though Moscow usually explains away the reduction by referring to technical upsets or pipeline maintenance.
Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Belarus and Estonia have all seen either a total shut down or a reduction in Russian gas flows after annoying the Kremlin.
You simply can not put your faith in the blue eyes of Russia.
“Russia has repeatedly restricted oil and gas deliveries “
They never did it to India.
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