New Delhi, Jan 29 The US is offering India one of the world's most formidable shipboard missile systems that has the potential of being integrated with the country's indigenous missiles.There was 'some interest' in the Indian defence establishment in the Aegis system but neither has the US made an offer nor has India made any formal request for it, says Royce Caplinger, managing director of Lockheed Martin India, whose US parent manufactures the system.'I am sure though that if you ask for it, you will get it,' India Strategic defence magazine quotes him as saying.The feelers to sell the Aegis are obviously part of the US government's agenda to help India become what the State Department called in its May 2005 policy statement 'a global power.'Apparently, it is also part of the steps that are systematically being taken - like the civil nuclear deal - to draw New Delhi closer to Washington.Aegis is named after the shield of mythological Greek god Zeus. Its sale, like of most military systems, is governed through government-to-government deals under Foreign Military Sales (FMS) or other US programmes. It appears, though, that Lockheed Martin, the world's biggest military vendor, has informal clearance to showcase the system to India.The integrated combat system can track more than 100 missiles through its supercomputers and engage them according to priority, depending upon their velocity and height, including the sea-skimming attackers.It is designed for multi-pronged, simultaneous warfare to engage and strike targets in the air, on sea, on the surface, as also sub-surface. Aegis has also been successful in half a dozen tests to intercept ballistic missile targets outside the earth's atmosphere.Caplinger said Aegis had been successively modified and upgraded in technology over the years and that it was 'the most advanced shipboard system' in the world to counter a variety of threats, including from aircraft and ballistic missiles.Asked if it could be integrated with India's indigenous missiles, including the India-Russian BrahMos, he replied: 'Theoretically yes.' It could even be matched with the new anti-missile missile that India recently tested, 'but that would depend entirely on the Indian scientists and India's requirements.''The MK 41 Vertical Launching System (that is integrated into the Aegis system) is not currently configured to integrate the BrahMos or Agni, but it can be adapted,' Caplinger added.The fact that the Aegis system could manage vertical launch of missiles was important, particularly as the Indian Navy had a long-term plan to build several ships equipped with the facility to meet its projected requirements.
(c) Indo-Asian News Service
