India plans to expand missile export drive
NEW DELHI, June 10, 2016, Reuters:
India has stepped up efforts to sell an advanced cruise missile system to Vietnam and has at least 15 more markets in its sights.
Experts say the move reflects concerns in New Delhi about China’s growing military assertiveness.
Selling the supersonic BrahMos missile, made by an Indo-Russian joint venture, would mark a shift for India, the world’s biggest arms importer, which seeks to send weapons the other way in order to shore up partners’ defences and boost revenues.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ordered BrahMos Aerospace, which produces the missiles, to accelerate sales to a list of five countries topped by Vietnam, according to a government note. The others are Indonesia, South Africa, Chile and Brazil.
The Philippines is at the top of a second list of 11 nations, including Malaysia, Thailand and United Arab Emirates, countries which had “expressed interest but need further discussions and analysis”, the undated note added.
A source familiar with the matter would only say the note was issued earlier this year. New Delhi had been sitting on a 2011 request from Hanoi for the BrahMos for fear of angering China, which sees the weapon, reputed to be the world’s fastest cruise missile with a top speed of up to three times the speed of sound, as destabilising.
Indonesia and the Philippines had also asked for the BrahMos, which has a range of 290 km and can be fired from land, sea and submarine. An air-launched version is under testing.
Eye on China
India has an unsettled land border with China and, in recent years, has grown concerned over its powerful neighbour’s expanding maritime presence in the Indian Ocean.
It has railed against China’s military assistance to arch-rival Pakistan and privately fumed over Chinese submarines docking in Sri Lanka, just off the toe of India.
“Policymakers in Delhi were long constrained by the belief that advanced defence cooperation with Washington or Hanoi could provoke aggressive and undesirable responses from Beijing,” said Jeff M Smith, Director of Asian Security Programs at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington.
Experts say the move reflects concerns in New Delhi about China’s growing military assertiveness.
Selling the supersonic BrahMos missile, made by an Indo-Russian joint venture, would mark a shift for India, the world’s biggest arms importer, which seeks to send weapons the other way in order to shore up partners’ defences and boost revenues.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ordered BrahMos Aerospace, which produces the missiles, to accelerate sales to a list of five countries topped by Vietnam, according to a government note. The others are Indonesia, South Africa, Chile and Brazil.
The Philippines is at the top of a second list of 11 nations, including Malaysia, Thailand and United Arab Emirates, countries which had “expressed interest but need further discussions and analysis”, the undated note added.
A source familiar with the matter would only say the note was issued earlier this year. New Delhi had been sitting on a 2011 request from Hanoi for the BrahMos for fear of angering China, which sees the weapon, reputed to be the world’s fastest cruise missile with a top speed of up to three times the speed of sound, as destabilising.
Indonesia and the Philippines had also asked for the BrahMos, which has a range of 290 km and can be fired from land, sea and submarine. An air-launched version is under testing.
Eye on China
India has an unsettled land border with China and, in recent years, has grown concerned over its powerful neighbour’s expanding maritime presence in the Indian Ocean.
It has railed against China’s military assistance to arch-rival Pakistan and privately fumed over Chinese submarines docking in Sri Lanka, just off the toe of India.
“Policymakers in Delhi were long constrained by the belief that advanced defence cooperation with Washington or Hanoi could provoke aggressive and undesirable responses from Beijing,” said Jeff M Smith, Director of Asian Security Programs at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington.
No comments:
Post a Comment