India is procuring multiple Air Defence Systems to make its major cities safe. The Indian Defense Ministry recently approved the purchase of the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System-II (NASAMS-II) worth around $1 billion from the US, which will complement the Russian S-400 systems that India plans to acquire. EurAsian Times explains why NASAMS systems are vital for India.
Armed with the three-dimensional Sentinel radars, short and medium-range missiles, launchers, fire distribution centres and command-and-control units to instantly identify, track and hunt multiple targets, the NASAMS is part of the air defence network which even guards the US capital, Washington D.C. The NASAMS system, as per EurAsian Times secondary research, has also been deployed in several NATO countries in Europe.
The decision to acquire NASAMS comes concurrently with continuing endeavours to build a two-tier ballistic missile defence shield intended to track and destroy incoming ballistic missiles both inside and outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
India is also seeking a US waiver from the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) that prevents nations from purchasing Russian weapons or Iranian oil to be able to buy S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems from Russia.
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India might have convinced the US to purchase both NASAMS and Russian S-400 air defence systems to maintain its balance between two powers. Russia remains the biggest and most influential player in the Indian defence sector, while the US is one of the biggest economic and trading partners of India, that Delhi would not want to upset.
Earlier, as EurAsian Times reported, India is working on an extensive air defence systems shield to make the airspace of its major cities impregnable. India has seen a great interest in procuring missiles, launchers, command and control units, etc from its defence allies Israel, Russia and the US. India will soon be buying a wide range of air defence systems from them in the wake of increasing threats from Pakistan and China.
