India to Acquire X-band Radar to Detect Ballistic Missiles from 4,600-km

India is looking to acquire American made ultra long range high-powered X-band radar to detect the incoming enemy’s ballistic missiles from long ranges. According to the sources this X-band radar can detect the ballistic missiles from 4,600-km. Such a capability will allow ground-based ballistic missile handlers to search and track enemy ballistic missile from extremely long distance. Such capability will help Indian in its retaliation options.

With this induction Indian planners and Indian Strategic Forces Command  will have around six times extra reaction time when compared to the present Indian capacity. India can use this capability both to build up its ballistic missile defense systems that are at early stage of testing or for the retaliatory strike against its neighbors China and Pakistan.

For the first time Indian nuclear missiles controlling authority will have an eye over the Chinese cities like Beijing, large parts of South East Asia and also countries in the entire Middle East.

Currently Indian capability is limited to the Swordfish Long Range Tracking Radar (LRTR) which can spot objects from 600-800 km away. India had earlier also imported two Israeli Green Pine long range radar and Swordfish is a derivative of the Green Pine long range radar developed by Israel with some Indian contents to meet India's specific BMD needs.India has already approached Israel to help upgrade its range to 1,500-km.

So far India have only tested its two ballistic missile interceptors four times and have been able to score three hits. Its Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) was tested on November 2006 against the modified Prithvi-II Missile at an altitude of 50 km. PAD was again tested on March 6, 2009 by DRDO against the ship launched Dhanush missile at 75 km altitude. India have also successfully tested its Advanced Air Defence (AAD) Endo-Atmospheric interceptor on 6 December 2007 against Prithvi-II missile at an altitude of 15 km.

Afther this test, terming the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC) III anti-missile system as "outdated", top DRDO scientist V K Saraswat said the Indian Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) shield was better than the American system. Another test of this type was planned to happen on 15th of March this year but failed to materialize as target Prithvi missile deviated from its planned path. Indians have so far only planned to conduct three to four more tests of their ballistic missiles which are insufficient to make the Indian ballistic missile system operational. On the other hand Israel have tested its Arrow ballistic missile interceptor a joint project of Israel and the United States more than 18 times.

For its ballistic missile system India is receiving received active corporation from Israel (Swordfish LRTR and Green Pine Radar), France (fire-control radars) and Russia (seekers for the ballistic missile interceptors).

This new new state-of-the-art technology x-band radar will allow India to tackle Chinese ICBMs, SLBMs with range of more than 8,000 km and new long-range Pakistani Shaheen-III ballistic missile which is currently under development with 4000km range. This American made radar is expected to cost India around $600-700 million. Indian sources say that Israel has already requested the US to provide one such radar and that was delivered to them.

Islamabad in the past has expressed concern that Indian weapon purchases and aggressive behavior will destabilize the region. “This is a nuclearized region, and it is important that Pakistan and India engage meaningfully on the whole range of issues under regional peace and security,” Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir had said.

Successful deployment of anti-ballistic missile system by the Indian will tilt the balance in their favor. Such sense of security on the Indian part might permit them believe that they can counter the Pakistani nuclear strike thus enabling India to think that it can attack Pakistan without worrying about its nuclear retaliation. This will also start a new arms race in the region in which China has already claimed to successfully test its own ballistic missile defense system early this year. Once operational, such ballistic missile interceptors could be effectively deployed against Indian ballistic missiles and might be exported to the Pakistan in future.

Pakistan is looking to acquire upto 9 batteries of Chinese HQ-9/FD2000 advanced air defense system as a short-term countermeasure. Chinese HQ-9/FD2000 has a range of 150 kilometers for airborne targets. The Chinese HQ-9/FD2000‘s range for missile targets, or air-to-ground missiles, is 7-50 kilometers, with a firing altitude of 1-18 kilometers. Its range for cruise missiles is 7-15 kilometers, at a firing altitude of 0.025 kilometers. The range for ballistic missiles is 7-25 kilometers at a firing altitude of 2-15 kilometers.

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