Air Defense: Indian Army Defenseless From Air Attack

Archives

August 14, 2015: Since the 1990s the Indian Army has been seeking, without success, to replace several thousand Cold War era 23mm (from Russia) and 40mm (from Sweden) anti-aircraft gun systems. Many of the 23mm weapons are multi-barrel. Recently the army was finally given $5 million to buy about a thousand new anti-aircraft gun systems but only if they are made in India. The problem is that currently no Indian firm can manufacture such guns. Because of that in 2013 the army was allowed to seek foreign suppliers. But the government provided so little money that no foreign supplier (including the Russians) could afford to bid on the contract. At present it looks like the army will have to wait a few more years until an Indian firm can obtain a manufacturing license from a foreign firm. Add a few more years for the first Indian made anti-aircraft gun systems to arrive. Given the way this usually works it will be about ten years before the Indian Army has new anti-aircraft gun systems that work well enough to put into service.

 

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close