Israel boosts Indian missile defence hope

SHISHIR GUPTA

India's hopes of acquiring anti-ballistic missile defence capability have got a boost. Tel Aviv is understood to have asked New Delhi to invest $100 million in the development of Arrow II weapon system.

While South Block is tightlipped over the Israeli proposal, the security establishment here sees this as a tremendous opportunity to secure its defence against the threat of short- and medium-range nuclear capable missiles in the neighbourhood. The threat perception has increased after reports of ‘‘missiles-for-nuclear-technology’’ nexus between Pakistan and North Korea. The Arrow II weapon system is built around the Green Pine Radar System which is capable of simultaneous tracking of tactical ballistic missiles from a range of over 300 kilometres. The system is designed to intercept as many as 14 incoming missiles at the height of 58 km, at nine times the speed of sound. The first test of Arrow II’s ability to launch multiple targets was conducted last month.

Defence sources said that the Tel Aviv’s proposal to involve India in the ongoing development of the Arrow II programme was officially conveyed after the missile test. It is understood that the Israelis also conveyed that Turkey had already invested $100 million in the anti-missile project.
However, Indian involvement in the project is not easy as the system is jointly being run by Israel and the US. The US has already put some $ 628 million into the billion-dollar anti-ballistic missile programme. So any Indian involvement in the Israeli programme will need a go-ahead from Washington.

Given the strong non-proliferation lobby in the US, the State department is none too keen on India acquiring the anti-ballistic missile capability. But Pentagon has a different view on the subject as it recognises India’s long-standing commitment to non-proliferation and the need for New Delhi to beef up its defensive capability. Top Pentagon officials have reportedly said that Indian acquisition of the Arrow system is not in violation of the missile technology control regime as the weapon is purely for defensive purposes.

The Israeli proposal comes at a time when the Indian Navy is doing ship trials of the recently acquired Barak anti-missile system from Tel Aviv. The first of the eight Barak anti-missile systems arrived in India last October and have been installed on guided missile frigate INS Ganga. The western fleet of Indian Navy is trying to integrate the Barak system with the indigenous radars on board the ship.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) acquired a Green Pine Radar system in 2001 from Israel for building up indigenous anti-missile defence capability. The DRDO has amibitious plans to integrate the 25-km range Akash missile and phased array Rajendra radar, both in the development stage, with the Green Pine and the Arrow interceptors. The tedious process may get speeded up if India gets involved in the Israeli project.

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