(NDTV-India) Vishnu Som - In two years, the Indian Air Force's frontline Sukhoi-30 fighters may be re-armed with Israeli Derby air-to-air missiles after the jet's Russian-made R-77 missiles were found wanting in air combat operations on Feb. 27. Retaliating for the Indian Air Force strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed training facility in Balakot on Feb. 26, the Pakistan Air Force aggressively positioned 24 fighters near the Line of Control (LoC). A handful of these jets managed to cross the LoC to fire precision-guided glide bombs toward Indian military positions. The Pakistani planes surprised the Indian planes "by launching air-to-air missiles from inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," says Sameer Joshi. Pakistan's U.S.-made AMRAAM air-to-air missiles effectively outranged India's Russian R-77s. Indian Air Force sources told NDTV that the Russian missiles do not match their advertised range. To meet its requirements, India is looking at the I-Derby variant of the Israeli missile, though integrating the missile into the Russian fighter will be a challenge and will require Israeli expertise.
2019-07-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive