Pakistan warned that Indian purchase of Russian S-400 missile system could destabilise the region but simultaneously downplayed its effectiveness, noting that Pakistan had missiles that could bypass the S-400 Air Defence System.
- 1st Batch of S-400 Missiles To India Will Be Delivered by 2020: Russia
- Israel Concerned By Russian Aggression in the Lucrative Indian Defence Market?
“The Indian purchase of S-400 missile system is a part of their efforts to acquire a Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) System through multiple sources. This will further destabilise strategic stability in South Asia, besides leading to a renewed arms race,” Pakistan Foreign Office stated
India and Russia inked a $5.43 billion pact for five S-400 ‘Triumf’ missile systems. The deal is being dubbed one of the biggest defence deals signed by India with a potential defend any of Pakistan’s or Chinese misadventure. Moscow is expected to deliver the missiles to Delhi by 2020.
India has been working on the development of a multi-layer ballistic missile defence system for quite some time. Besides the S-400 deal, India has large-scale cooperation with Israel for air defence systems and has also been working extensively on indigenous defence systems.
Experts in Pakistan, however, claim that India may not be able to fully defend itself from strikes by Pakistani missiles because of the short distance between India and Pakistan. However, it is evident that India would be able to protect its major cities like Delhi and Mumbai from any possible strikes during a war.
Pakistan’s National Command Authority (NCA) had last year pointed out the development of Ababeel Missile System that is equipped with ‘Mirv’ capability to defeat the air defence system of India. The NCA had described the attainment of Mirv capability as “technological breakthrough of Pakistan’s capabilities”.
