link : Successful anti-aircraft missile QR SAM launch gives teeth to air defence unit, Arun Jaitley congratulates DRDO
Successful anti-aircraft missile QR SAM launch gives teeth to air defence unit, Arun Jaitley congratulates DRDO
Third, preserving neutrality or equidistance between the US and China will in no way contribute to Indian security. One need only look at the recent experience of Indonesia, perhaps the only large country more wedded to antiquated notions of Cold War-era non-alignment than India. Despite remaining steadfastly neutral and currying favour with Beijing by awarding it high-value infrastructure contracts, Indonesia has seen growing tensions with China over the presence of fishing and coast guard vessels around its Natuna Islands.
Neutrality, it turns out, is a false comfort blanket.
A sign of growing confidence
Finally, the notion that a closer Indian defence relationship with the US is a mark of “defeatism” is particularly confounding. That very fear of weakness or defeatism prevented India from seizing opportunities for cooperation with not just the US, but many of its allies, such as Japan, opportunities it is now seizing squarely, with barely a squeak from Beijing. The argument about defeatism also underestimates India’s own agency and its ability to make decisions based on its own interests. The progress in India’s relations with the US has never been motivated by naïve sentimentalism. The idea that these agreements are some sort of “parting gift” to US President Barack Obama is ludicrous. In the past few years, India has responded severely to the treatment of an Indian diplomat by US authorities, condemned the administration’s support for the Pakistani military, and criticised the US’ public calls for joint military patrols. India has also locked horns with the US recently over its solar program and US immigration policies. Any number of American officials would attest to the fact that South Block can hold its own in any negotiation with Foggy Bottom. Far from defeatism, India’s ability to shake hands with Washington is a sign of growing confidence in its own abilities.
An informed debate is must
There is a dangerous subtext in much of this criticism. Those implying that deeper defence cooperation with the US, by its very nature, cannot be in Indian interests and is a product of American pressure, are narrowing the space for any rational arguments in its favour. This is a slippery slope. Mehta, of all people, should appreciate its possible implications.
By all means, elevated defence ties with the US – and the specific foundation agreements under question – must be considered very carefully, even if they are unlikely to be concluded in the near future. But a security partnership with the US should also be discussed and debated on its merits rather than on sentimentalism, whether in favour of the US or based on nostalgia for a principle that was unceremoniously discarded 45 years ago. It is worth keeping in mind that a healthy debate on defence ties with the US has taken place for a long time in India, and continues; that such cooperation in no way makes India a frontline state against China at Washington’s behest; and that defence agreements with the US are neither a sign of weakness nor of defeatism, but are instead reflective of India’s growing confidence in its own capabilities.
Dhruva Jaishankar is a fellow with the German Marshall Fund.
Source:- TheWire
" data-image-meta="[]" data-image-title="Deepening Security Ties With the US a Sign of India’s Growing Confidence" data-large-file="" data-medium-file="" data-orig-file="" data-orig-size="" data-permalink="http://ift.tt/2tBEqbY" data-recalc-dims="1" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s5DjDag_RHYX417MoFIGQEByLzvStUinbmTdoSJAaRcBkzp1Kco26bVsOOquDBhODJQ_0qUs4VgQ=s0-d">QR-SAM launch by India: Defence Minister Arun Jaitley has congratulated the scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the successful launch of the Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QR-SAM). The Defence Minister has said that the successful launch of the missile has added to the defence capabilities of India.The induction of the Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile into the armed forces will greatly boost the capabilities of the unit. The air defence arm of the army suffers obsolescence rate of 97 percent as per a letter which was written to the then Army Chief General VK Singh to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2012, according to Indian Express.
Five years after the report was written, the situation has not changed dramatically. Although the Air Force is responsible for safeguarding the airspace of the country, the army’s air defence corps is responsible for providing air defence for important installations and for providing air defence to the army’s offensive formations during times of war.
Currently, the air defence arm of the army provides terminal air defence with the L-70 40 mm guns of Swedish origin and the ZU-23 twin barreled anti-aircraft guns, which are of Soviet origin. The L-70 gun is of 1960s vintage and the ZU-23 is of 1970’s vintage. Both these weapon systems had reached obsolescence by the turn of the century, as per an Indian Express report.
The DRDO had also successfully test fired the QR-SAM in early June from the launchpad on Kalam Island, in Odisha, as per an ANI report. The QR-SAM is an all-weather weapon system capable of tracking and firing and has a strike range of 20 to 30 kms, as per PTI.
Source:- FE
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