The contract with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems for India to purchase Spike antitank guided missiles (ATGM) has reportedly been scrapped. The deal was first discussed in 2014 and was part of multiple high level meetings between Israel and India. The The Israeli SPIKE missile family represents the only true “fourth” missile which utilizes an Imaging Infrared seeker, with automatic target tracker and special fiber-optical datalink. It is designed for deployment as man-portable or from helicopters in a “fire and forget” or “fire and observe” operating modes.
In view of rapid upgrades to quality of Armour awailable both with Pakistan and China, Indian Army had requested for a missile that can effectively blunt any misadventure by a potential adversory with easy to deploy ATGM. India presently deploys 3rd generation indegeniously developed missiles called Nag.
The task of fourth generation missile has now fallen back to DRDO which has assured government that it could deliver a missile in class of Spike within two to three years.
However if any past weapon development by DRDO is to be accounted for, the time frame can only be called a pipe dream. Nag for example was being developed as part of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) from 1982. Its development phase ended in March 2005 and induction was completed in 2015. By the time the system became operational, the threat perception had alreay moved on and Army wanted a missile system with capabilities of Spike.
In our view its another example of how Modi’s Make in India eats into Nation’s Defense Capabilities. Instead of developing weapons first and then inducting, India armed forces are now being forced to wait for their immidiate needs while DRDO takes forever to deliver. Some of the other such contracts that have been cancelled include:
- 126 MMRCA Rafale Combat Aircrafts (worth $20 billion, canceled in July 2015 – now replaced with just 36 Aircrafts in a Government to Government deals)
- 44,000 light machine guns (cancelled last month)
- 65,678 assault rifles (worth $750 million, canceled in June 2015) for Indian Army
- 44,600 carbines ($500 million, cancelled in 2016), for Indian Army
- 204 armored recovery vehicles ($275 million, cancelled May 2017)
- 702 light armored multipurpose vehicles ($190 million, August 2016)
- 98 torpedoes to arm the Indian Navy’s new Scorpene submarines ($200 million, June 2016)
- 16 multi-role helicopters ($300 million, canceled in June 2016 after a decade-long process)
With Billions of dollars poured onto DRDO, one would have expected more accountability and better preparedness for our Armed forces as we stare in the eyes of dragon.
