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As Israel braces for possible war with Iran and its proxies, a new kind of conflict in which the civilian population will be a primary target for massive missile barrages, there are growing concerns about the military's ability to shield cities as well as its key bases. In the 34-day 2006 war Israel fought with Hezbollah of Lebanon, Tehran's main surrogate in the Levant, the Shiite movement fired some 4,000 rockets, supplied by Iran and Syria, into Israel as far south as the port city of Haifa, at a rate of around 150 per day. That was the deepest Hezbollah...

Terming the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC) III anti-missile system as "outdated", top DRDO scientist V K Saraswat said the Indian Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) shield was better than the American system. "PAC III is an outdated system. Our Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile is 30 per cent superior in terms of range and capability. AAD intercepts at much higher ranges and altitudes compared to PAC III as it has only 15km range for BMD," he told a press conference on the successful test of BMD system on March 6. On the role of foreign countries in the Air Defence (AD)...

NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the successful testing of its fledgling ballistic missile defence, India is pushing ahead with an ambitious version of the star wars project capable of shooting down incoming ICBMs in the 5,000 km range. The phase-II of the BMD systems, likely to be deployed by 2014, will be an important part of India's defence as both China and Pakistan possess nuclear capable missiles. Once the BMD is in place it will place India in a fairly exclusive club alongside US, Russia and Israel. India will be playing catch up with China which stunned the world by shooting...

NEW DELHI: India has successfully tested an indigenous interceptor missile that destroyed an incoming "enemy" ballistic missile at an altitude of 80 km, an official said. During the test, an 'enemy' missile which was a modified version of the Dhanush surface-to-surface missile was fired from a naval ship in the Bay of Bengal to simulate the terminal phase of the flight of a ballistic missile with a range of 1,500 km. As the incoming missile neared the Wheeler Island test facility off the Orissa coast, a Prithvi air defence missile was launched to intercept it at an altitude of about...

The United States and India are in talks to join forces on a missile defence system - despite fears it could trigger an arms race with China.   Mr Gates: talks on a missile shield are at an early stage   The proposal, still at an early stage, is part of an evolving strategic partnership between the world's two largest democracies.But the fear in Beijing is that the US is trying to "encircle" China by using India and allies such as Japan and Australia as proxies, and thereby stifle its strategic rise.The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, said in New...

WASHINGTON: Israel will strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in the next “month or two or three,” an Israeli official has been quoted here as saying. The unnamed official told Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor-in-chief of the United Press International (UPI), at the recently held national day reception at the Israeli Embassy that he believed Israel would strike Iran first in the next two or three months and that fighter bombers would not be involved as they had been to take out Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor before it went critical in 1981. For Osirak, Israel had used 14 F-15s and F-16s. This time,...

NEW DELHI, NOV 18: As the mood in the US Congress begins to shift in favour of the Bush Administration’s nuclear pact with India, the non-proliferation lobby in Washington has raised a new red flag—of China reacting to the deal by stepping up its own nuclear cooperation with Pakistan. In a letter to all members of the US Congress today, a section of the non-proliferation lobby in Washington has demanded a critical review of the ‘‘full implications’’ of the nuclear deal signed by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 18 ‘‘and pursue additional stipulations that...

NEW YORK, November 4: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested an Indian-American engineer for selling secrets of its high profile B-2 bombers to “foreign countries.” Noshir S. Gowadia, 61, who had designed the propulsion system on the radar-evading B-2 stealth bomber when he worked as design engineer for Northrop Corporation from November 1968 to April 1986, was arrested by the FBI from his home in Maui, Hawaii, last week. Originally from Mumbai, Gowadia is now in the Federal Detention Centre at Honolulu. He was living in Haiiku, Hawaii, for past six years. The offense is punishable by a...

Washington, Nov 3.(PTI): The Bush administration has made it clear that it would not ask the US Congress to take legislative action that would end India's nuclear isolation unless New Delhi acted to fulfill its commitments, particularly "the most important" one on separating its civilian and military facilities. "Our judgment is that it would not be wise or fair to ask the Congress to make such a consequential decision without evidence that the Indian government was acting on what is arguably the most important of its commitments -- the separation of its civilian and military facilities," Under Secretary of State...

India's vote in favour of the IAEA resolution on Iran nuclear programme was an "encouraging and significant" step which indicated the evolving nature of US-India relationship, a leading US daily on Sunday said, while warning some American officials and lawmakers against creating the appearance of having pressurised New Delhi for its stance. Asking legislators like Congressman Tom Lantos not to "brag" about 'pushing' India and advising American officials to avoid the crude appearance of a quid pro quo of Indian vote for access to US civilian nuclear technology, The Washington Times said India had surprised even the most vigilant observers...

The United States took the "unusual step" of sharing highly classified intelligence data on Iran's alleged efforts to develop a nuclear-capable missile to secure India's support for the International Atomic Energy Agency resolution against Tehran's controversial atomic programme, an American expert has claimed. The maturity of the deepening Indo-US relationship is being tested by the contentious issue of Iran and Washington was "pleased and relieved" that New Delhi finally backed it in taking a tough stance in dealing with Tehran, John E Carbaugh, a policy analyst who advises the US administration and major American multinational firms, said in his latest...

Nuclear-armed India introduced a bill into parliament yesterday intended to codify New Delhi's policy to prevent the spread of its nuclear weapons and missile technology to non-nuclear states. The introduction of the weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems bill comes almost seven years to the day that India defied international pressure and tested a nuclear weapon. Pranab Mukherjee, defence minister, said: “The provisions of the act apply to export, transfer, re-transfer, transit and trans-shipment of material, equipment or technology relating to weapons of mass destruction or their means of delivery.” Defence analysts say the bill has long been...

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...

WASHINGTON: Ahead of a meeting between the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush next week, Washington has agreed to lift export controls on equipment for nuclear facilities to India and liberalise high-tech trade, including those related to space science. US export licensing policies will be eased to foster cooperation in commercial space programmes and certain exports to power plants at safeguarded nuclear facilities, a joint statement titled 'The Next Steps in Strategic Partnership between India and the United States' said on Friday. The first phase of this partnership was concluded yesterday following two-days of intensive talks...

Our Political Bureau. New Delhi, Sept 1: India will be collaborating with Israel and the US to develop nano-materials and hi-tech components needed for electronic warfare systems. The outgoing chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), VK Aatre said that India had decided to launch joint programmes with Israel in the field of electronic warfare, where both countries were on an equal footing. “Israel is very strong in sensors and packaging. We would like to work on fibre-optic gyros and micro-electromechanical systems,” Dr Aatre told mediapersons shortly before retiring as DRDO chief on Tuesday. Responding to questions on...

ISLAMABAD: In his inimitable fashion, Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has dropped yet another bomb. Addressing a news conference at the Pakistan Presidential Palace on Wednesday evening, Musharraf said, "I am giving you breaking news that Pakistan will conduct an important nuclear test in the next two months." According to Xinhua , Musharraf refused to give further details. However, Pakistan daily The News reported that the 'extremely important substantive test' was most likely a longer range missile test. Musharraf also added that hectic arrangements were already under way. "Chairman of Nescom Dr Samar, KRL Chairman Javed Mirza as well as...

The opinions expressed here are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CDISS or any of its members. Further information on India's missile programme, including rare images of the Prithvi SRBM and Agni IRBM, can be found in National Briefings These documents have been contributed by Jim Hackett of Titan Corp. in San Diego, California. Hackett is an occasional columnist for the Washington Times, and served in senior arms control and national security positions in the Nixon and Reagan administrations. THE BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT: INDIA & PAKISTAN One of the most dangerous missile competitions...