Indian Air Force Seeks Made In India Missile Defence System, Does Not Want High-Priced American NASAMS-II

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has conveyed to the government that it would prefer to induct India's very own multi-tiered Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) program including medium and long range surface-to-air elements rather than the US made NASAMS-II networked air defence system, Livefist has reported.

The indigenous missile defence program has successfully completed its first development phase and is expected to be deployed by 2022.

The Indian government is currently locked in negotiations with its American counterparts over a potential deal for the NASAMS-II missile defence system - the process has slowed down due to the high price being quoted by the Americans.

The IAF has been expressing its support for the Indian BMD program and is willing to invest resources in its development. This program has been in development for the past 20 years and is now said to be ready for deployment. It currently includes the endo-atmospheric Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor and the exo-atmospheric Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) systems.

India is also all set to get the highly rated Russian S-400 missile defence system, with the government requesting its Russian counterparts to speed up delivery in light of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) standoff with China.