As Israeli missiles shot down two rockets aimed at the city
of Ashdod this afternoon, an officer in the defence establishment in New Delhi
totted up the scores.
India is closely watching missile defences deployed by Israel
in its “Operation Pillar of Defence”, the latest flare-up between the Hamas and
Israel across the Gaza Strip.
These are systems that the Indian military is evaluating.
Chiefly, the Indian military is focusing on the performance of a system called
“Iron Dome” that is the defence mechanism for a clutch of cities and
settlements in Israel — including the southern suburbs of Tel Aviv — that are
within range of the rockets fired from Gaza.
Southern Israel this week has been the true test for Iron
Dome — a system touted by Israeli military officials as a “game changer”. Iron
Dome first became operational last year and intercepts rockets fired from short
distances of up to 80km with up to 80 per cent effectiveness.
The system, largely funded by the US and developed by the
Israeli company Rafael, works by using a radar detection and tracking system to
determine whether rockets will fall in areas needing protection. It then fires
interception missiles that destroy the warheads and engines of incoming
rockets.
The Jerusalem Post newspaper reported today of 83 missiles
fired from the Gaza Strip in the hours after the killing of a Hamas commander,
a majority were neutralised by a missile shield.
In 2009, the Indian Air Force was Israel’s first foreign
customer for the Spyder missile defence system — a Quick Reaction Surface to
Air Missile (QR-SAM) — that is replacing vintage Soviet-origin OSA-AK system.
The value of the contract was not disclosed.
India’s requirement of missile defence systems are huge and
Israel has been a steady supplier. It supplied the Barak I that the Indian Navy
has installed or is installing on almost all its frontline ships. The Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) also has a project with Israel to
develop the Barak NG (next generation) that will be deployed on ships that the
Indian Navy has on order.
An estimate of India’s missile defence requirements is
difficult to make because of the secrecy involved. The army and the air force’s
missile defence systems largely made up of outdated Pechora and OSA-AK systems
procured from the Soviets.
In March this year, through a letter that was leaked, the
then chief of army staff, Gen. V.K. Singh, had told Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh that missile defence systems were 97 per cent obsolete and that they
could not protect high value targets.
India’s own short-range missile defence programmes — the
Akash and the Trishul — have not been able to meet the requirements of the
armed forces.
Since 2010, Rafael Advanced Systems is known to have offered
two missile defence projects — the “Iron Dome” and another called “David’s
Sling” to the Indian armed forces.
A developer of Iron Dome at Rafael’s headquarters said that
one of the problems with the system was its high cost.
Each time an Iron Dome missile is fired it costs about
$70,000 (Rs 9.3 lakh). Israeli police reported that in the first few hours of
Israel’s current operation in Gaza, Iron Dome shot down 18 rockets that would
have hit civilian areas.
“The problem with Iron Dome is that it is not a solution. It
is not the final answer but rather assistance to the communities under fire,”
the Rafael developer said.
