September 23rd, 2013 Rosoboronexport

India is going to buy more than fifty short range air defense systems

India has announce a tender to buy more than fifty short range air defense systems. Rosoboronexport probably will submit two Russian systems – Tor-M2E manufactured by PVO Almaz-Antei and the surface-to-air missile system Pantsir-S1.

India already has air defense systems that was supplied by the Soviet Union and later on by Russia. Indian army employs the earlier counterpart of Pantsir which is called Tunguska. The army also has medium range air defense systems S-75 and short range air defense systems S-125, Kvadrat air defense systems which serves as a basis for India’s own improved surface-to-air missile system called Akash.

“India knows how to use Soviet and Russian air defense systems and they will quickly get the hang of the new systems. Of course there was a period when Israeli manufacturers cooperated with Indian military forces and nowadays supply them with short and medium range air defense systems both for Indian navy and land forces. On the other hand Russia offers the cutting edge systems which have already been tested both in Russian army and in other armies as well. Pantsir combines in itself capabilities of a quick-firing long-range missile”, said Said Aminov, editor in chief of Vestnik PVO web-site.

The range of action of Pantsir is 20 km. This characteristic makes Pantsir a one-off system. Nowadays we have made four contracts with Middle East and North African countries to supply this surface-to-air missile system.

“Tor-M2E is also quite effective system. It was exported extensively. Now we offer a container variant. The pilot model with the Indian manufactured undercarriage of this system was presented at MAKS show. Tor can protect against all air weapons including high-precision weapons”, said Said Aminov.

According to Vyacheslav Davydenko, Rosoboronexport’s spokesman not only India but also other countries choose Russian air defense systems. Such systems as Tor-M2E and Pantsir are new and in the immediate future there will be no question as to their improvement or replacement.

Experts say that if there are orders for the supply of more than 52 systems, then it will be possible to consider the licensed production of certain kinds of Russian weapons in India. As a matter of fact the experience of supplying T-90 tanks and multipurpose Su-30 MKI jets show that this can be possible.