S-400 Systems Will Boost India’s Air Defence

The Indian Air Force started taking deliveries of the first systems of the S400 air defense missile. What is the importance of this missile? 

So, the much-discussed and debated S400 air defense system, has begun to come to India soon. They will be deployed at various locations, along the border either on the western front or on the northern front. The Indian Air Force, in fact, will be taking charge of these systems to make sure that India's sky's are protected and are safe from including flying objects, be it unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and armed drone fighter jets or any other possible missile that may be launched by India's adversaries either Pakistan or China. 

Why is the S400 manufactured and designed in Russia? And of course, sold by the Russians, do India and other countries called the game-changer. That's the big question in everybody's mind. Now, as the name denotes S400, what does 400 signify? Well, that's the range of the reduction that the S400 missile defense system has it can detect incoming objects at distance of 400 kilometers, Although it can have a surveillance capability of 600 kilometers.400 kilometres is a time or the space, or the distance at which the missile system, the defensive missile system can hit and in coming target. That's why it's called S400. The Russians are already designing and developing missile systems of the same family which has a range of 500 kilometers and even 600 kilometers would be called S500 and maybe S600 as been talked about in defence analyst reports.

                         

But for India S400, for the time being, is sufficient, why is it sufficient for strengthening India's air defense? Let's take the western front with Pakistan. Now the range of the S400 as mentioned is 400 kilometers to destroyer incoming object, but it can detect, an object taking off from anywhere near 600km range. Now from the Indian border, India-Pakistan border, the Pakistani Air Force bases, are all well within the range of 600 kilometres distance. So any fighter jet taking off in Pakistan or any jet taking off in Pakistan, provided the S400s are deployed along India- Pakistan border can be detected. The moment they take off from any of these air fields. Similarly, any of the unmanned aerial vehicles or missile launched from Pakistan, which does not have too much breaths from west to east as the country is physically located. Not very far from India's borders from Punjab where mostly the S400 may be deployed for air defense. These incoming objects can be detected the moments they take off that brings in the ability, which will give India the advantage. The Indian Air Force, and the Indian military advantage of keeping a track of hostile objects coming from Pakistan.  

The advantage for the Indian Air Force by deploying S400s is something different. While the Chinese have tried to obviate the disadvantage that they have, in terms of their fighter jets being based in Tibet, which is an high altitude desert, where fighter jets have a reduced ability to carry payloads of ordinance, that is bombs and missiles because of the thin air that pervades, the higher attitude areas of debt.The Chinese have tried to overcome that disadvantage by deploying as many ballistic and conventional besides as possible to make sure that they attack Indian targets, valuable targets and valuable positions before the PLA Air Force comes into play. 

Indian Air Force, on the other hand, is far better place because it's fighter jets take off from the airfields that are located in the planes. If you come from east to west the fighter jet bases are located in the plains of Assam, for instance, at Shabua, and Tejpur and Jorhat and other fields. If you come to further, westwards there are fields like Bareilly and Gorakhpur and it goes on till the west where in Ambala in Suratgarh, in Amritsar, and in Srinagar and Jammu, with all these air, bases are located in the plains areas where these fighter jets can take off. They need not take off from Ladakh or from Arunachal Pradesh. The Indian Air Force planes have the advantage of carrying, much more payload against their adversaries in this case China. So, the Chinese had tried to overcome that disadvantage by placing missiles aimed at India.

Now, the S400, which is an air defense system obviate source of neutralizes, the missile power of the Chinese in Tibet, if the Chinese launched missiles from Tibet, or even further deep, the S400s can detect and destroy those missiles. Remember S400 has the ability to detect 10 incoming objects at the same time and then destroy it. It's a very important system. It has no comparison across the world except for the American system, a very expensive system, perhaps called the patriot air defence system. And it gives an easy access to technology that the Russians have developed. So, therefore, when it were the decision was taken by the government of India, the Ministry of Defense, and the Air Force to procure S400s, the Americans were up in arms, In fact, even today there is a bit of an uncertainty that the US administration might impose the CAATSA for purchasing the Russian equipment and sanctioning Russian entities, because they are according to the American legislation, helping the American adversaries. So, therefore India is in a peculiar position particularly by it is importing and buying Russian equipment.

The Americans have threatened sanctions against India. The big political question here is, will the Americans dead do that? Do they want to lose India as a friend at a time? When there is a huge, Indian Ocean region in the Indo-Pacific as the Americans like to call it, perhaps not. And therefore, there is a lot of debate in America. Whether India should be given an exception, whether there should be a waiver that not withstanding. India has already started taking deliveries as Russian officials announced. There has been no word officially from the Indian government about having taken deliveries from Russia.

Remember that India will do it quietly? It might be deployed on the Western Front. It might be deployed on the northern front. Those locations will hardly be known no Air Force or the Army or the Navy would like to give away the location to the general public or even to his adversaries. So, therefore, that will remain largely a secret but not withstanding. Some of the abilities and the capabilities of S400 is something that we must know. It has a target speed, maximum target, speed of 17,000, kilometres an hour. If it is the home ground to a target, it can travel the anti incoming object missile from the S400 system can travel at the rate of thousand kilometres an hour. The target direction, is about 600 kilometers range against maximum range against incoming object for destroying. It is 400 kilometers. Minimum is true 2nkilometers. So, what the S400 brings to the table is its maneuverability and flexibility. It has three different ranges of missiles which can take on incoming targets.It has a short range beside. It has a medium range missile and it has a long range missile. So you can also do against tactical ballistic missile, the maximum detection range or target range is 60 kilometers. So, ballistic missile launched from a 60 km away. Can also be destroyed by the S400 if it is detected in time.So it's easy to operate, it's easy to maintain according to the claims by the, by the manufacturers. And the Indian Air Force actually home down to S400 after a lot of study, how does it suit? India's operational philosophy and India's needs? All that was taken into consideration before the S400 was chosen in?In 2018, when the contract was signed and within three years, the deliveries have started. The radar of the S400 is also very powerful since it has to detect objects, as 10 to 600 kilometers away, and therefore, the capabilities incomparable. As far as 400 or similar vehicles are concerned it is road mobile. It can be put on to track or vehicle mounted on the vehicle and is easily transportable to various locations from location. 

And therefore, India is a will be little better off. Once these systems are fully deployed for India's air, defense architecture in the coming months and years. Once that is done the air defense architecture of India will be further. Strengthened it has had some setbacks in the past decade or so, it was weakening because of lack of modern air defense system, but it's that gap and filtered admirably.