India seeks to strengthen its air defense to match China amid growing tensions between the countries on the border in the Himalayas, writes the oldest Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post.
The publication notes that after the clashes in June 2020 between the military of the two countries in the disputed territories, New Delhi and Beijing are pulling reinforcements to the border. At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Defense of India, Rajnath Singh, against the background of aggravation of relations with China, arrived in Moscow to convince Russia to expedite the delivery of the S-400 Triumph air defense system. India should receive the complexes by December 2021, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their production slowed down. The contract value is $ 5,2 billion.
Russian systems will threaten us
- confident in SCMP.
According to analysts, the combination of the S-400 with the existing aircraft in India could pose a threat to China.
The last time a border dispute broke out between China and India in 2017, when Indian forces and the PLA staged a two-month confrontation in Doklam, claimed by both China and Bhutan, an ally of India. But the recent confrontation in the Galvan Valley, in Kashmir, has become the worst in recent decades. According to available information, at least 20 Indian soldiers died. How many Chinese have died is unknown.
China is actively strengthening its grouping at the border by sending Z-20 helicopters, modified J-10C and J-11B fighters, Wing Loong II multipurpose drones, 99A and Type 15 tanks, Dongfeng (DF) missiles and even J-20 invisible fighters .
The S-400 is unable to shoot down the Chinese DF-10 and Changjian-100 cruise missiles or the DF-17 hypersonic ballistic missiles. His biggest contribution could be to protect the area near the capital of New Delhi in the event of a war.
- Liang Guolyan, a military expert from Hong Kong believes.
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