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Vol.
XXIX No. 42
October 16,
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US
Triggers Arms Race In South Asia
Raghu
A
HIGH-LEVEL US delegation led by Lt Gen Jeffrey Kohler, head of the Pentagon’s
Defense Security Cooperation Agency responsible for inter-governmental arms
deals, visited New Delhi last week and made a top-security presentation to
Indian defence ministry and military officials on three major weapons systems:
F-16 fighters, F/A-18 Hornet attack aircraft and the PAC (Patriot Advanced
Capability)-3 anti-missile systems. The US has been aggressively pushing sale of
the aircraft to India having earlier persuaded it to include them in its
short-list for the forthcoming acquisition of multi-role warplanes. However, the
main focus of this visit appears to have been on the PAC-3 and various reports
circulating internationally suggest that it was India which had expressed
interest in the PAC-3 system which is more advanced than the PAC-2 that the US
had put on the table. The US Agency’s spokesperson maintained that the
presentation did not mean that the US was about to sell the anti-missile system
but was “just a briefing”. But a delegation led by a three-star
general does not come visiting for a simple briefing, especially when very few
countries have been similarly privileged.
So,
is the US ready to sell PAC-3s to India? Are there strings attached or, put
another way, what does the US really want?
More importantly perhaps, does India really want this anti-missile
system? And what impact will such an acquisition have in India’s neighbourhood?
Given that the presentation itself has been shrouded in confidentiality, and
since India’s intentions regarding acquisitions of military hardware from the US
are still mired in uncertainty, answers to these questions can at present only
be speculative. Yet there is sufficient evidence to form an informed opinion.
PAC-3
SYSTEMS
The
PAC (Patriot Advanced Capability)-3 anti-missile system is the culmination of a
series of significant upgrades of the first generation Patriot system which saw
action in the first Gulf War in 1991. The Patriot systems are designed to
intercept incoming ballistic missiles (projectiles that come down from high
altitudes using gravity) in their terminal phase, that is just before they hit
the ground. Contrary to popular notion, Patriots can also be used against
aircraft and cruise missiles (low-flying missiles that use their own guidance
systems along almost their entire flight path). Given this task description,
Patriots have relatively short range of about 20km, high speeds of upto Mach 5
or five times the speed of sound. While the earlier Patriots including the
currently widely deployed PAC-2 used a warhead that exploded when in close
proximity to the target missile and may thus only deflect rather than destroy
target missiles, the PAC-3 systems physically use a hit-to-kill strategy by
physically colliding with target missiles also carrying a high-charge
fragmentation warhead that explodes to maximise probability of completely
destroying incoming missiles that may also be carrying nuclear weapons.
The
ambitious task of anti-missile systems such as the Patriot have often been
described as trying to shoot a bullet with a bullet and it is no wonder
that there is a great deal of skepticism about the very concept. Indeed, the
early versions of the Patriot became the object of international ridicule when,
during their first battlefield deployment in the first Gulf War in 1991, they
notoriously failed to shoot down even a single one of the rather primitive Scud
ballistic missiles fired by Iraq into Kuwait and Israel. In fact, the
Israelis were further outraged by the fact that even the few Iraqi Scuds that
were deflected off their course by Patriots landed in Israeli territory causing
extensive damage to property and civilian life.
Of
course, major improvements have been made in the Patriots since then Patriots
are designed to intercept ballistic missiles at their terminal phase and also
aircraft and cruise missiles. Upgraded versions use better guidance systems and
radars, as also improved target recognition enabling the system to distinguish
the target warhead from debris or similar intentional distractions. In fact,
while earlier versions including PAC-2 used the original MIM-104 missiles, the
latest operational version uses a completely new (not just improved) missile
confusingly also named PAC-3. Being much lighter and more compact, 16 PAC-3s can
now be deployed in each multiple-rocket launcher compared to 4 with earlier
versions. Presumably, it is this
version that is now on offer by the US to India.
Not
that even these anti-missile systems are without their problems. During trials
between 1999 and 2002, PAC-3 systems brought down 10 out of 11 incoming short,
long-range and cruise missiles but usually using multiple or ripple
launches to counteract misses. The US Army decided upon a mixed configuration of
PAC-2 and PAC-3 systems, with the latter targeting ballistic missiles and the
former intercepting cruise missiles and aircraft. Such a system had its first
battlefield experience during the recent US invasion of Iraq. While almost all
of the few incoming short-range ballistic missiles set off by Iraqi troops were
destroyed, the combined PAC-2/PAC-3 batteries failed to intercept several cruise
missiles fired by Iraqi forces towards Kuwait city and also had trouble
identifying warheads from the debris that old Scuds usually give off.
So
all that can be said at present is that the PAC-3 system is the most advanced
such anti-missile system currently available but it is hardly infallible. The US
and Israeli military have opted for a 2-tier system of the jointly-developed
US-Israeli Arrow anti-missile systems for long-range high-altitude interception
of medium and long-range ballistic missiles and PAC-2/PAC-3 systems for
short-range low-altitude intercepts of ballistic missiles in their terminal
phase and cruise missiles. The US has vetoed Israeli sale of Arrow systems to
India at least partly because of its 300km range and 500kg warhead, which brings
it under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) unlike the Patriots.
MISSILE
DEFENCE
OR ARMS RACE?
Question
is whether such anti-missile systems really provide effective defences against
incoming missiles or do they provoke others to develop offensive systems, which
can overcome such defences, thus setting off an escalating chain of missile
proliferation in both quality and quantity. All experience hitherto suggests it
is the latter.
Japan
has deployed PAC-2/PAC-3 systems whereas Taiwan has deployed PAC-2 systems and
is awaiting US approval of PAC-3, a deal vehemently opposed by China. Japan,
fearing attack by North Korean long-range No Dong missiles, is rapidly
developing its own long-range anti-missile system and has integrated its
anti-missile systems with highly advanced US-made Aegis-class battleships and
surveillance systems.
To
counter these anti-missile systems, China has deployed hundreds of missiles
along its coasts against both Japan and Taiwan. Chinas missiles include the
new Dong Hai-10 with 1500km range and Ying Ji-63s with 500km range besides
shorter-range missiles. China has clearly said that it will position many more
missiles against Taiwan if the US supplies more advanced anti-missile systems to
Taiwan.
In
response to fears arising from Patriot failures to date, the US military avers
that this would be overcome under battlefield conditions by firing multiple
Patriot missiles against incoming ones. But cost is a major factor here as
regards effectiveness of such missile shields.
Each
PAC-3 missile now costs about $2.5 million (about Rs.12 crore), having been
brought down from $4m a few years ago. In contrast, each of Chinas missiles
cost only $1m so close to 3 offensive missiles can be fired at the cost of each
defensive missile of which probably many would need to be fired, thus
overwhelming the defensive system. The Patriot system had cost about $7 billion
to develop and more sophisticated systems would be even more costly to develop.
While ability of offensive missiles to evade interception can be continuously
increased, it is far cheaper to counter such systems by simply multiplying
considerably less expensive offensive missiles!
Pakistans
response to news that India may acquire Patriot systems is instructive of
spiraling missile proliferation accelerated by anti-missile systems in the
strategic environment. In March this year, US offered PAC-2 systems to India
which later rejected it. Defence analysts in Pakistan scoffed at the PAC-2s and
felt that their Hatf missiles, for which a production line has also been set up,
would be more than a match, certainly in numbers and cost. Anticipating Indian
acquisition of PAC-3s, Pakistan has stepped up its missile deployment targeting
India. Pakistan also unveiled a new cruise missile, Babur, which it (wrongly)
claimed was invulnerable to anti-missile systems.
Indian
military planners are said to have originally considered anti-missile systems in
view of Pakistans stated desire to develop a strong nuclear first-strike
capability so as to counter Indias conventional military strength and despite
Indias declared no-first-use doctrine: such is the logic of nuclear
deterrence. But in view of the above discussion, is it really worth it for India
to even consider acquiring a PAC-3 based anti-missile system, which would cost
totally around $1.5 billion (Rs 6750 crore)?
US
GAME
For
all its non-proliferation claims, the US would be quite happy to see India and
Pakistan engage in missile race to complement the arms race between the two
countries that the US is actively abetting.
Defence
minister Pranab Mukherjee has been quoted in the media as saying that India is
not interested in the Patriot system since it would prefer to build an
anti-missile system indigenously. The Akash system being developed is indeed
quite sophisticated but would face all the limitations discussed earlier. It
would also take many years to be confidently deployed and, if India unwisely
believes an anti-missile system is required, it may well look favourably upon
PAC-3 as an interim measure.
However,
for any anti-missile shield to be at least as effective as possible, India would
also have to consider 2-tier systems with the Arrow or similar systems and also
look at boost-phase interception of offensive missiles. All this would imply
integration of satellite-based navigation systems such as the US GPS (global
positioning system) used for civilian and military operations. And if India
somehow gets enticed to adopt anti-missile or other systems based upon GPS
integration, which the US could switch off whenever it desires, then India would
be well and truly trapped within the global US military straitjacket.
The
US offer of PAC-3 is thus only bait with other temptations on the hook too. The
US is also offering the Aegis system, which would bring India closer within its
net. All this is being done with a view to offer India transformative
military systems, that is systems to bring about a qualitative shift in
Indias capabilities, in keeping with the stated US goal of helping India
become a great power, albeit as a junior partner of the US.
While
some observers, certainly in Pakistan, see a pro-India slant in the US, the US
on its part continues to maintain, as stated clearly in a recent official report
to the US Congress, that it would take no actions that could upset the
military balance in the sub-continent! To square this circle, the US is
offering an increasingly bigger basket of military hardware to both Pakistan and
India. F-16s have been offered to India even while the US eagerly waits to
resume supplies of the same fighters to Pakistan. The US is also offering the
transformative P-3C Orion maritime surveillance systems to India having
already given the same to Pakistan! The US delegation is also believed to have
virtually clinched the sale to India of the 1971-vintage USS Trenton, a large
troop-carrier ship, even while it has given Pakistan free of cost the
decommissioned battleship USS Fletcher which, at 9000 tons displacement, is
larger than any Indian vessel other than its aircraft carriers. It must be noted
that the US has made additional military grants to Pakistan besides making
military sales from a $1.5 billion annual loan-assistance package (Rs 7000 crore)
provided apart from $100 million monthly (Rs 450 crore) as compensation
for its role in the war on terror.
The
US of course is more than willing, in turn, to compensate India and help
it reach perhaps just that rung higher by selling India matching military
hardware or better if India agrees to integrate military with the US. More arms
to Pakistan, even more to India! If India gets tempted, or threatened, or
blackmailed into accepting the US offers, then Raytheon who is the system
integrator of the PAC-3, Lockheed-Martin which makes the Patriot missiles
besides the F-16 fighters, Boeing which makes the F/A-18 Hornets and others in
the US military-industrial complex who are already rubbing their hands in glee
will be laughing all the way to the bank.