Why would India induct Russias new S500 air defense system?
Monday, November 8, 2021 | Chimniii Desk
Key Highlights
- India will get the first S-400 Air Defense System soon, according to the Indian government.
- In a recent announcement, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that both China and India are expected to be export customers for Russia's new S-500 air defence system, which is designed to swat down both air-breathing and ballistic missile threats.
- The S-500 is presently in the process of being fielded.
- The anti-access and area denial (A2/AD) capabilities of the S400 are supplemented by the S-500's capabilities.
- India purchased only two long-range interceptor missiles for each S400 system, opting not to purchase the remaining two low-range interceptor missiles that were available.
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India will get the first S-400 Air Defense System soon, according to the Indian government. In a recent announcement, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that both China and India are expected to be export customers for Russia's new S-500 air defence system, which is designed to swat down both air-breathing and ballistic missile threats.
After completing pre-service testing of the system, Russia's military will begin deploying it on a large scale. The S-500 is presently in the process of being fielded. The S500 system should not be regarded as an upgrade to the existing long-range S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, but rather as a complement to it, allowing it to defeat the entire spectrum of existing and future attack weapons (hypersonic) at all altitudes and speeds across the entire spectrum of altitudes and speeds.
The Indian S400 Air Defense System is comprised of two main interceptor missiles, the 40N6E missile (with a range of 400 kilometres) and the 48N6 missile (with a range of 250 kilometres). This allows each S400 battery to be configured to fire a range of two different missiles, allowing it to deal with threats of varying types and at varying ranges and elevations. 77N6-N-series missile, which is a hit-to-kill missile developed with an inert warhead and capable of killing its target at a range of 600 kilometres, is included with the S500.
Pic: S400 Air Defence System
The anti-access and area denial (A2/AD) capabilities of the S400 are supplemented by the S-500's capabilities. India purchased only two long-range interceptor missiles for each S400 system, opting not to purchase the remaining two low-range interceptor missiles that were available.
The 77N6 Interceptor missile not only has greater range, but it also has additional capabilities over the 40N6E and 48N6 Interceptor missiles, allowing it to deal with hypersonic glide vehicles and hypersonic cruise missiles much more effectively, which is why India will procure them due to significant advances made by the Chinese in the hypersonic regime and their ability to manufacture them in large quantities.
Some may wonder why S500 is needed when India's Ballistic Missile Defense Program, which has multi-layered ballistic Interceptor missiles, can do the job. While India's Ballistic Interceptor Missiles are unquestionably designed to take down intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) with re-entry speeds of around 21 Mach, they were not designed to take down hypersonic glide vehicles and hypersonic cruise missiles that remain in the atmosphere, unlike Ballistic Missiles that One of two options is available: either India's ABMs must be modified, or new interceptor missiles must be installed in order to shoot down high-speed glide vehicles and high-speed cruise missiles; this might take several years, or India can begin development on a new programme.
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