 "Israel destroyed Iran's S-300, but here's why India need not worry about S-400 Russian systems")
In last week’s attack on Iran, Israel destroyed all of the most-advanced air defence systems and left the regime ’essentially naked’, according to officials.
US and Israeli officials have said that in two rounds of attacks this year, Israel has destroyed all four batteries of Russia-provided S-300 air defence systems in Iran : one was destroyed in April and three were destroyed last week.
In addition to destroying S-300 systems, Israel also struck other air defence systems and radar systems in Iran, which affect Iran’s ability to track or defend another wave of Israel attacks, essentially serving as a deterrence, according to Fox News.
The Israeli success against Russian air defence systems is not a warning sign for Iran and Russia, but also for other countries relying heavily on Russian military equipment, such as India.
For more than two years, in wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the Russian military equipment has been regularly battered. It has been struck repeatedly by Western weapon systems in the Ukraine War.
However, there are no immediate concerns in India even though “Israel’s strike on Iran is being noted in India”, according to Wall Street Journal.
Traditionally, India has been one of the largest importers of Russian weapons and military hardware, even though such imports have consistently fallen over the last decade as India has boosted relationships with Western nations and diversified supplies.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIndia has bought six S-400 air defence systems from Russia, which is a notch above the S-300 air defence systems that Israel destroyed in Iran.
The S-400 is Russia’s most-sophisticated air-defence equipment and is seen as the direct response to US Patriot air defence systems, which are partially defending Ukraine and Israel at the moment.
Western security analysts have been concerned for years that the development of S-400 significantly weakens the long-held air superiority of countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and their allies, note Daniel Michaels and Rajesh Roy of Wall Street Journal.
India does not yet appear to be worried about the poor performance of Russian air defence systems in Iran, according to the newspaper.
India has bought six S-400 air defence batteries intended to be deployed along the borders with China and Pakistan. While four of these batteries have been delivered, the final two are delayed and India is pressing for deliveries by the end of the next year.
India has a unique case where weapon systems of multiple countries are being used. For example, while India uses Russian S-400, it also uses Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM), which has been jointly developed with Israel, along with indigenous Akash system.
A second Indian official told the Wall Street Journal that India’s basket is quite diversified and India is not worried for now.
“But as far as India is concerned, it’s not dependent solely on Russian technology. Its basket is diversified,” said the official.
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