Government baffled over DRDO chief’s claim on missile shield

[arp2041]

The government of India has been baffled by DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat’s repeated claims that aballistic missile shield is ready for deployment, and that two locations, presumably New Delhi and Mumbai, will be the first recipients of the ballistic missile defence (BMD) system. Speaking on a TV programme in early May, Saraswat said that “this system is now ready for induction”. Nearly two weeks later, the claim was repeated in an interview to Press Trust of India where Saraswat was quoted as saying, “The ballistic missile defence shield is now mature… We are ready to put phase I in place.”

Well-known defence technology analyst Prasun K. Sengupta is sceptical; he bluntly terms the DRDO’s claims as “sheer unabashed jingoistic kite-flying by DRDO, period”.Only six tests, that too in highly controlled conditions, have taken place so far and there is no independent confirmation of whether they have been successful. As of now it is not clear which of the three services will even man the system. Former joint director of the Centre for Air Power Studies, Air Vice-Marshal (retd.) Kapil Kak says, “It is indeed surprising why the IAF – as the national instrument vested with the responsibility of India’s air defence – was not closely involved from the proof-of-concept stage itself.”

Mail Today requested the DRDO to respond to a series of questions early last week, but had received no response till Tuesday.According to the DRDO, six of its seven tests have been successful. But, instead of carrying them out in realistic conditions, they have been done in laboratory conditions so far. The usual test comprises of the launch of a “hostile missile” from the Interim Test Range in Chandipur on the Orissa coast, and the counter-launch of an interceptor missile from Wheeler Island just 70 km away. DRDO scientists say that the target missile that was intercepted in the test of February 2012, for example, mimicked a 2,000-km range missile of the type that Pakistan possesses, yet it was actually launched from 70 km away.

Equally important is the fact that the “target” missile is a liquid fuelled slow-moving Prithvi, and as of now the DRDO has not tested its system against its own solid-propelled missiles like Agni I or Agni II. As Sengupta puts it, “Its (the Prithvi’s) slow speed during both the boost phase and the terminal phase “does not in any way mimic the flight profiles of the solid-fuelled Theatre Ballistic Missiles and Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles with both China and Pakistan.”

With nuclear weapons around, only a shield that will guarantee blocking every single missile is the only one worth having. As of now there is no indication that the DRDO, or any other country, can achieve such a goal. None of the DRDO’s claims have been verified by third parties, say, any of our armed forces. In contrast, China’s January 2010 test was authenticated by the Pentagon whose spokesman said, “We detected two geographically separated missile launch events with an exo-atmospheric collision also being observed by space-based sensors.”

The Indian BMD system is something of a puzzle. It was initially mooted by APJ Abdul Kalam in 1997 and taken up in the 2000s, when key technology relating to tracking, fire control and guidance radars became available from Israel, France and Russia. However, none of the three services ever expressed any requirement for such a system. Their need has been for a system to counter shorter ranged, theatre ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

Non-proliferation experts are appalled at the lack of any visible political guidance to the BMD. The obvious response of an adversary to a missile shield is to field greater numbers of missiles with nuclear weapons; that seems to be the track Pakistan is following. Kak notes, “For an unstable and fragile state like Pakistan, India’s BMD could indeed be destabilising, as this would substantially reduce the value of Pakistan’s nuclear and missile arsenal, tempting it to increase the same.”

MIT scholar Christopher Clary argues that, “Indian policymakers must be willing to make the calculation that whatever safety comes from missile defences of dubious effectiveness outweighs the risks that come from a Pakistani nuclear arsenal that is larger than it would be without Indian missile defences.”

Of course, there is the other question. In its claims DRDO says that the system will be ready for “two places”, presumably Mumbai and Delhi. But what about Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow and the rest of the country?

The government only has itself to blame for permitting a technology programme with such serious ramifications and not providing it any political guidance.

Government baffled over DRDO chief’s claim on missile shield | idrw.org

 

[Markus]

DRDO - Stop wasting public money.

 

[keerthan]

The government of India has been baffled by DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat’s repeated claims that aballistic missile shield is ready for deployment, and that two locations, presumably New Delhi and Mumbai, will be the first recipients of the ballistic missile defence (BMD) system. Speaking on a TV programme in early May, Saraswat said that “this system is now ready for induction”. Nearly two weeks later, the claim was repeated in an interview to Press Trust of India where Saraswat was quoted as saying, “The ballistic missile defence shield is now mature… We are ready to put phase I in place.”

Well-known defence technology analyst Prasun K. Sengupta is sceptical; he bluntly terms the DRDO’s claims as “sheer unabashed jingoistic kite-flying by DRDO, period”.Only six tests, that too in highly controlled conditions, have taken place so far and there is no independent confirmation of whether they have been successful. As of now it is not clear which of the three services will even man the system. Former joint director of the Centre for Air Power Studies, Air Vice-Marshal (retd.) Kapil Kak says, “It is indeed surprising why the IAF – as the national instrument vested with the responsibility of India’s air defence – was not closely involved from the proof-of-concept stage itself.”

Mail Today requested the DRDO to respond to a series of questions early last week, but had received no response till Tuesday.According to the DRDO, six of its seven tests have been successful. But, instead of carrying them out in realistic conditions, they have been done in laboratory conditions so far. The usual test comprises of the launch of a “hostile missile” from the Interim Test Range in Chandipur on the Orissa coast, and the counter-launch of an interceptor missile from Wheeler Island just 70 km away. DRDO scientists say that the target missile that was intercepted in the test of February 2012, for example, mimicked a 2,000-km range missile of the type that Pakistan possesses, yet it was actually launched from 70 km away.

Equally important is the fact that the “target” missile is a liquid fuelled slow-moving Prithvi, and as of now the DRDO has not tested its system against its own solid-propelled missiles like Agni I or Agni II. As Sengupta puts it, “Its (the Prithvi’s) slow speed during both the boost phase and the terminal phase “does not in any way mimic the flight profiles of the solid-fuelled Theatre Ballistic Missiles and Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles with both China and Pakistan.”

With nuclear weapons around, only a shield that will guarantee blocking every single missile is the only one worth having. As of now there is no indication that the DRDO, or any other country, can achieve such a goal. None of the DRDO’s claims have been verified by third parties, say, any of our armed forces. In contrast, China’s January 2010 test was authenticated by the Pentagon whose spokesman said, “We detected two geographically separated missile launch events with an exo-atmospheric collision also being observed by space-based sensors.”

The Indian BMD system is something of a puzzle. It was initially mooted by APJ Abdul Kalam in 1997 and taken up in the 2000s, when key technology relating to tracking, fire control and guidance radars became available from Israel, France and Russia. However, none of the three services ever expressed any requirement for such a system. Their need has been for a system to counter shorter ranged, theatre ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

Non-proliferation experts are appalled at the lack of any visible political guidance to the BMD. The obvious response of an adversary to a missile shield is to field greater numbers of missiles with nuclear weapons; that seems to be the track Pakistan is following. Kak notes, “For an unstable and fragile state like Pakistan, India’s BMD could indeed be destabilising, as this would substantially reduce the value of Pakistan’s nuclear and missile arsenal, tempting it to increase the same.”

MIT scholar Christopher Clary argues that, “Indian policymakers must be willing to make the calculation that whatever safety comes from missile defences of dubious effectiveness outweighs the risks that come from a Pakistani nuclear arsenal that is larger than it would be without Indian missile defences.”

Of course, there is the other question. In its claims DRDO says that the system will be ready for “two places”, presumably Mumbai and Delhi. But what about Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow and the rest of the country?

The government only has itself to blame for permitting a technology programme with such serious ramifications and not providing it any political guidance.

Government baffled over DRDO chief’s claim on missile shield | idrw.org

again there claim fell tumbling from sky even before hitting target

 

[DMLA]

Lol... An article citing Sengupta as their expert analyst belongs in the dustbin! The entire article is flawed. While it is quite true that the BMD system as is far from perfect and has major limitations, but that is true for most other rudimentary BMD systems out there. Saraswat has actually clarified on most of the discussed points either himself or one can get necessary clarifications from DRDO's newsletters! When did DRDO say that it is ready with a system for more than 2 cities? When did they say that the system is foolproof? When did they "not" say that a new PDV (solid fueled) interceptor is in the works! The reason India should want a BMD is to destabilize the balance by changing the paradigm of "stability-instability" paradox (in this case with BMD) and thereby force Pakistan to divert the limited resources (when compared with a bigger adversary) it has towards its ballistic missile program! It is a well known fact that no BMD system in the world (either deployed today or for the foreseeable future) can be foolproof!

Lifafa journalism at its best!

 

[GORKHALI]

Famous chor gupta!! Since when.

 

[xataxsata]

Prasun K. Sengupta - alert


Its ur time waste if u like

 

[Devianz]

Prasun K. Sengupta = Government ??? WOW!
I do agree that the system is far from ready in it's current form.

 

[angeldemon_007]

I would only agree with one point that DRDO should have tested BMD interceptor against Agni series too. All other point are just being too critical. Its not all DRDO's fault, everybody is responsible including the PM. After 1999 PM should have taken BMD program under himself. Its a very critical project.

However, none of the three services ever expressed any requirement for such a system. Their need has been for a system to counter shorter ranged, theatre ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

Source: http://www.defence.pk/forums/indian...ief-s-claim-missile-shield.html#ixzz20zFJvc3d

There's nothing no defence against cruise missile yet. Barak 8 was meant for theatre ballistic missiles and cruise missiles but since it was also never tested against them so we don't know whether it works or not. In short if you can have faith in Barak 8, you should also believe in BMD considering it success rate of BMD program as compared to other similar projects from US, Israel and Russia.

As far as armed forces never asking anything like BMD shows lack of proper planning, threat assessment and tells all the negative stuff about our government and armed forces not DRDO. Everbody in world understands why DRDO is testing BMD and how important it is, except our own government and armed forces.

In short what DRDO Director said is wrong but its time for GOI and armed forces to join the ship before anything bad happens. Our neighborhood is not safe and a BMD shield is important. We should join hands with everyone for this particular project. MBDA and Israel are best partner for our BMD project.

 

[Jon Snow]

Prasun K. Sengupta - alert


Its ur time waste if u like

Yes its Sengupta, but instead of the name we should be concentrating on his claims - has the missile defense never been tested against an agni missile?? If so then how can we be sure in its capabilities?? to be completely secure we should be testing it against the best ballistic missiles we have and also which Russia has(They should co-operate and with this they can start testing their missiles against a missile shield and we'll be able to build a missile shield which can stop some of the best missiles in the world)

 

[asad71]

It's pretty usual for Indian media / agencies to make bombastic claims. That is how some gullible Indians already claim themselves to be Super a Power where as Sashi Tharoor has called India Super Poor.

 

[WHF]

It's pretty usual for Indian media / agencies to make bombastic claims. That is how some gullible Indians already claim themselves to be Super a Power where as Sashi Tharoor has called India Super Poor.

STFU Dude..what ru??a citizen of a maggot nation at best..Here big leagues are taking of hitting missiles do.u understand what it is?? Do u guys even have a missile to start with??

Btw sashi tharoor who has become ur god I'm the annice post its also.the part and parcel of the same media and agency ur bad mouthing..
Instead of the mental masturbation here go n have some sada hua hilsa..

 

[Abingdonboy]

What nonsense:

Non-proliferation experts are appalled at the lack of any visible political guidance to the BMD. The obvious response of an adversary to a missile shield is to field greater numbers of missiles with nuclear weapons; that seems to be the track Pakistan is following. Kak notes, “For an unstable and fragile state like Pakistan, India’s BMD could indeed be destabilising, as this would substantially reduce the value of Pakistan’s nuclear and missile arsenal, tempting it to increase the same.”


Source: http://www.defence.pk/forums/indian...ief-s-claim-missile-shield.html#ixzz20zWz4hol

India is at fault for trying to protect herself? The BMD is a purely DEFENSIVE weapon India should not allow herself to be vulnerable just because her neighour is "fragile and unstable". These are words from these people paying lip service to India but doing nothing to address the problem of Pakistan so India has to do it themselves.



+ whilst the initial plans are for only Delhi and Mumbai to be covered subsequent plans are for many more to be covered but obviously not 100% of India. I don't know why people can't understand this.

 

[subincb]

DRDO will test it with Agni once phase 2 of the program is in testing phase. BMD was initially just a technology demonstrator. since it was a success or rather a huge success its being implemented. Only in 2 cities right now cos mainly issue with LRTR. By the time Phase two is ready we will have longer range swordfish/LRTR

 

[The Deterrent]

DRDO has produced some good products such as Agni-4 and 5, but BMD is something much more advanced. The article correctly points out the "mimicking" of Agni's trajectory with a slower Prithvi.
Anyways, not much to worry for Pakistan. The only system that could show a considerable resistance against Pakistani SRBMs is the S-300 PMU.

 

[arp2041]

DRDO has produced some good products such as Agni-4 and 5, but BMD is something much more advanced. The article correctly points out the "mimicking" of Agni's trajectory with a slower Prithvi.
Anyways, not much to worry for Pakistan. The only system that could show a considerable resistance against Pakistani SRBMs is the S-300 PMU.

nope not exactly true, AFAIK Pakistan working extensively on Babur cruise missiles was a result of India working on BMD systems, the prob Pakistan will face is that Pak establishment do not exactly know how efficient Indian BMD systems are, so in an effort to bluff the BMD systems, Pakistan will always work on more on more cruise missiles or MIRV missiles, this means more money pouring into missile tech. when the gap b/w conventional forces of India & Pakistan is widening, this means even if BMD systems of India are inefficient they will take a heavy toll on limited resources of Pakistan.