India to Replace Russian-Made Missiles With Israeli Weapons?
- IndiaGlitz, [Monday,June 24 2019]
Reports that India is unhappy with its Russian-made missiles and will be opting for Israeli weapons are now doing the rounds. It is possible that in two years, the Indian Air Force's frontline Sukhoi-30 fighters may be substituted with Israeli Derby air-to-air missiles. This could be following the incident in February in which an Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-21 was shot down, supposedly by a U.S.-made AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile).
Sameer Joshi, a former Indian Air Force fighter pilot said: “The PAF surprised the IAF by launching air-to-air missiles from inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The AMRAAM effectively outranged the IAF air-to-air missiles which did not get a command to launch.” Pakistan was able to knock down the Indian jet from a long range. Apparently, the Russian R-77 missiles do not have the same range and cannot battle with targets more than 80 kms away.
India is now possibly looking to acquire the improved I-Derby which has a 100 kms range. Integrating an Israeli missile into a Russian airframe may pose a problem, however. Despite opting for Israeli missiles, it is also suggested that the Indian Air Force is ordering more Russian weapons.