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FEATURE/REPORT |
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Armour Busters |
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Indian market for anti tank guided missiles is growing exponentially |
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By Atul Chandra and Nitasha Chawla |
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The anti tank guided missile (ATGM) has become the primary weapon system for the foot soldiers designed to defeat the main battle tanks and the armoured fighting vehicles which are an integral part of combat arms world over. ATGM’s pose a significant threat to not only tanks but lightly armoured vehicles such as armoured reconnaissance and fighting vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles, armoured personnel carriers and can also be used by ground troops to engage enemy fortifications.
The Indian Army currently faces a serious shortfall in its holdings of ATGM’s with sources putting the shortage at more than 50 per cent of its authorised holding with majority of these being inadequate in the face of modern armour and increasingly sophisticated countermeasures. The inordinate delay in the design and development of the 3rd generation Nag ATGM has left the Indian Army with no option but to acquire a modern ATGM from abroad as soon as possible. The situation is expected to improve only over the next three to five years, as meaningful numbers would be acquired only by then. Plans are afoot to order 321 launchers, 8,356 missiles, plus 15 training simulators in a multi-phase arms package worth over USD 1 billion.
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The Contenders
One of the contenders for the 3rd generation Anti Tank missile contract is the Javelin 3rd generation ATGM developed jointly by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin which will be acquired through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route. Indian soldiers fired Javelin missiles for the first time in October 2009 when troops from the US Army’s 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, were deployed to India for the bilateral exercise Yudh Abhyas. Using the Javelin Weapon System, US and Indian gunners fired nine missiles with nine successful engagements. It is currently in service with the US Army and the US Marine Corps, but it has also been approved for foreign military sales to 12 nations, most recently, France.
The Javelin offers a heavy fire-and-forget missile that will reliably destroy enemy armoured vehicles, and fortifications. While armoured vehicles continue to pose a threat, the need to destroy fortified outposts and rooms in buildings during conflict situations remains. This was a lesson learnt by both sides during the 2006 war in Lebanon where Hezbollah militia used Anti Tank Guided Missiles for precision artillery fire against Israeli ground forces. While the Javelin’s high cost could preclude such use, it has been used that way in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Rafael Spike offers an ‘active-passive fire-and-forget guidance system’ while off-the-shelf third generation (3G) missiles employ passive sensors to obtain target lock before launch, and perform ‘fire and forget’ engagement. One of the main advantages of the Spike family of weapons is the Electro Optical guidance system and its ability to make mid-course corrections in flight. There is also interest in a longer range version of the Spike which will have the advantage in establishing a common footprint for maintenance, logistics and training if selected. The Spike was used extensively by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Infantry during conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon and has also seen combat with Dutch, Italian and Spanish forces in Afghanistan.
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January 2012
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