Article Posted on : - Jul 21, 2010

The Patriot air defence system. A Raytheon photo

FARNBOROUGH (PTI): India is evaluating the advanced Patriot ground-based air defence system for its ballistic missile shield and the US has provided “classified” material to it on the weapon unit, which was successfully used during both Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Patriot's manufacturer Raytheon has said.

“A number of exchanges have taken place between the government of India and the US and information has been given to India at the classified level,” Joseph Garret, Vice President of the company's Patriot Programmes told PTI.

Replying to questions, he said tests by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation and other agencies of the Patriot system which has been procured by 12 countries worldwide had been “highly successful.”

On India developing its own missile defence shield, Garret said, “Patriot system gives a major boost to any country's defence capability. India may be developing its own system, but Patriot is a combat-proven weapon system.”

Another senior official of Raytheon, a defence and aerospace major, said Washington and New Delhi have also discussed the issue of India-specific end-user accords.

“If the US government gives a go-ahead, Raytheon will step in,” he said.

Since its production began in 1980, more than 170 Patriot fire units and over 9,000 have been delivered by the company. The countries which have acquired the weapon system are Germany, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Japan, Israel, Taiwan, Greece, Spain, South Korea and the UAE.

The weapon system's capabilities were demonstrated in 1990 following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

“Patriot's performance against Iraqi SCUD missile attacks was impressive, even though the SCUD missiles exceeded Patriot's design threat,” the Patriot official said.

Top company official Taylor W Lawrence, President of Raytheon’s Missile Systems, said India is also looking at the Javelin anti-tank and anti-armour missile and a ‘letter of intent’ is expected to be issued soon.

“Javelin has been fully tested by the Indian land forces. We expect a letter of intent from the Indian government,” he said.