here is the link
Bolt from the Blue
but you guys can't use it as it's only for people who subscribe to the magazine, the article is from India's largest News magazine called the India Today. The entire article is reproduced below.
Cliff Notes:
USA going ahead with supply of P-3C Orion strik aircraft to Pakistan
US say that it is to help Pakistan keep a watch on Terrorists from Afghanistan
India is not happy as they believe that the deal is actually to help Pakistan strike Indian Naval base in a port called "Karwar" in case there is a possible war
Bolt From The Blue
The US decision to go ahead with the sale of the P-3C Orion strike aircraft to Pakistan on the pretext of helping the war on terror shocks India and undermines the country's naval superiority
By Sandeep Unnithan
In military jargon it is known as a force multiplier, an asset that enhances the combat value of a platform by making it more effective. The P-3C Orion aircraft with a 12-hour endurance, 7,000-km range and armed with missiles and torpedoes, fits the bill nicely. And in the next few years, India could be eyeballing a fleet of eight such aircraft with Pakistan, quantitatively and qualitatively far superior than anything in its own inventory.
PICTURE SPEAK
TIME TO ACT: India has few options to counter the Orion aircraft threat
Last week, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which handles all government-to-government military sales, informed the US Congress of a possible weapon package for Pakistan. It included not only TOW anti-tank missiles and Phalanx shipborne guns, but the sale of eight P-3C Orion long-range maritime-patrol strike (LRMPS) aircraft at a total cost of $971 million (Rs 4,370 crore). These aircraft, the DSCA noted, would improve Pakistan's ability to restrict the littoral movement of terrorists along its southern border and help it maintain the integrity of its territories.
The news came as something of a shock for India's foreign policy establishment which had been warming up to the improved Indo-US ties in the Bush Administration's second term and for the defence establishment which has enjoyed an unprecedented level of military ties with the US armed forces. Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran conveyed India's apprehension over the proposed sale to incoming US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice while navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash grimly termed it a "disturbing development". But despite their protestations, nothing short of a miracle can prevent the US Congress from passing the bill of sale.
Ironically, the Indian Navy has long wanted, but repeatedly been denied, these very aircraft. Three years ago it opened negotiations with the US for the purchase of 12 P-3C Orions to bolster its reconnaissance capabilities. "We want as many as we can afford," former navy chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh said last year. It was, instead, offered hand-me-downs of the older P-3B models from the US which it turned down. Clearly, the same rules do not apply for its Major Non-nato Ally, Pakistan.
P-3C ORION'S FEATURES
RANGE: 7,000 km
ENDURANCE: 12 hours
MAXIMUM MISSION RADIUS: 7,472 km
ARMAMENTS: Mines, depth bombs, torpedoes and Harpoon anti-ship missiles with a range of 120 km.
The P-3C Orion is a long-range maritime-patrol aircraft based on a commercial aircraft and propeller driven for fuel economy.
It is packed with a variety of sophisticated radars and submarine detection systems and armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles.
It not only detects and identifies ships and submarines but also neutralises them.
The Indian Navy is upgrading its surface fleet and moving it to a new bluewater base in Karwar in the Arabian Sea which is within the range of the P-3C Orion.
That this political arms sale was clubbed with previous sales linked to Pakistan's role in the war on terror, which primarily involves policing the lawless Afghan border and coastal patrols to cover seaborne infiltration and exfiltration routes, was adding insult to injury. "Transport aircraft, helicopter gunships, night-vision devices and sniper rifles are meant for securing borders," says a senior naval officer, speaking about previous military sales linked to the war on terror. "But the Orion with its missiles and torpedoes is an open ocean weapons platform, meant to hunt warships and submarines over long ranges. It has only limited overland applications."
So the prospect of the hulking four-engined Orion being used to chase rag-tag Al-Qaida and Taliban footsoldiers in the tribal areas seems remote. The actual application of the aircraft is far south in the Arabian Sea where the Indian Navy is adding a qualitative edge to its surface fleet and moving it to a new bluewater base in Karwar. Apart from submarines, the biggest threat to a surface fleet is a missile-armed, LRMPS aircraft. The Karwar fleet, indeed, the entire western seaboard, is easily within target range of the Orions. In these aircraft, defence officials see a definite US game plan to counter the Indian Navy's growing prowess, particularly the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
What then are India's options? Experts caution against the purchase of sanction-prone hardware of US origin in the light of previous experiences-the Indian Navy's entire twin-engined Sea King helicopter fleet was grounded because it had US components. "The warning against buying Orions from the US could be extended as well to the F-16 and any other major armament the Indian armed forces may be interested in," says Bharat Karnad of the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi. "Principally because US arms supply policies are extremely fickle and hostage to the whims and fancies of not just the White House but also to any number of committees and sub-committees in the US Congress, any of which could insert a rider to an Appropriations Bill negating at will a deal cut by the Executive."
The acquisition of three Orions by Pakistan nearly a decade ago led to the acquisition of a slew of shipborne defensive systems like the Israeli Barak missiles and early-warning helicopters like the Ka-31 Helix-B. The prospect of eight more Orions, coupled with the spares to reactivate the two older aircraft, means the worrisome prospect of 10 fully operational Orions in the next few years.
The Indian Navy, in sharp contrast, operates a fleet of 11 ageing unarmed LRMP aircraft, useless for strike missions. It is already pressing for more Barak missiles and urgently plugging the gap created by the loss of two of its fleet of five IL-38 aircraft in Goa two years ago. A naval spokesperson said the Orion was only one of the many options being looked at but the fact remains that the options are extremely limited. Used by over 20 countries, the Orion enjoys a virtual monopoly of nearly 85 per cent of the world's LRMPS aircraft fleet.
The production of Orion and all its nearest competitors, like the British Nimrod and the Russian Tu-142 and IL-38, has already stopped while the only comparable aircraft still rolling off the lines, the French Atlantique-3, was evaluated by the Indians but found to be prohibitively expensive. A section of the naval brass argues in favour of jet-powered maritime patrol aircraft and points out that the US itself is shedding its P-3C Orion fleet by the end of this decade and going in for the stratospherically priced Multimission Maritime Aircraft ($ 200 million each). The only interim solution may be to purchase and refurbish old Russian
Tu-142s and IL-38s and upgrade the maritime patrol aircraft in their mid-life.
Even this is not without its share of hurdles. While the IL-38s are being upgraded by Russia, their offer to improve the eight Tu-142s was rejected this year on cost and technical grounds. The Israeli bid to upgrade these aircraft has been stymied after Russia's insistence on a share of the contract.
In this scenario, the prospect of Pakistan getting the Orions from the US infuses urgency in the defence scenario. The Arabian Sea might soon become choppier for the Indian Navy.
Bolt from the Blue
but you guys can't use it as it's only for people who subscribe to the magazine, the article is from India's largest News magazine called the India Today. The entire article is reproduced below.
Cliff Notes:
USA going ahead with supply of P-3C Orion strik aircraft to Pakistan
US say that it is to help Pakistan keep a watch on Terrorists from Afghanistan
India is not happy as they believe that the deal is actually to help Pakistan strike Indian Naval base in a port called "Karwar" in case there is a possible war
Bolt From The Blue
The US decision to go ahead with the sale of the P-3C Orion strike aircraft to Pakistan on the pretext of helping the war on terror shocks India and undermines the country's naval superiority
By Sandeep Unnithan
In military jargon it is known as a force multiplier, an asset that enhances the combat value of a platform by making it more effective. The P-3C Orion aircraft with a 12-hour endurance, 7,000-km range and armed with missiles and torpedoes, fits the bill nicely. And in the next few years, India could be eyeballing a fleet of eight such aircraft with Pakistan, quantitatively and qualitatively far superior than anything in its own inventory.
PICTURE SPEAK
TIME TO ACT: India has few options to counter the Orion aircraft threat
Last week, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which handles all government-to-government military sales, informed the US Congress of a possible weapon package for Pakistan. It included not only TOW anti-tank missiles and Phalanx shipborne guns, but the sale of eight P-3C Orion long-range maritime-patrol strike (LRMPS) aircraft at a total cost of $971 million (Rs 4,370 crore). These aircraft, the DSCA noted, would improve Pakistan's ability to restrict the littoral movement of terrorists along its southern border and help it maintain the integrity of its territories.
The news came as something of a shock for India's foreign policy establishment which had been warming up to the improved Indo-US ties in the Bush Administration's second term and for the defence establishment which has enjoyed an unprecedented level of military ties with the US armed forces. Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran conveyed India's apprehension over the proposed sale to incoming US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice while navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash grimly termed it a "disturbing development". But despite their protestations, nothing short of a miracle can prevent the US Congress from passing the bill of sale.
Ironically, the Indian Navy has long wanted, but repeatedly been denied, these very aircraft. Three years ago it opened negotiations with the US for the purchase of 12 P-3C Orions to bolster its reconnaissance capabilities. "We want as many as we can afford," former navy chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh said last year. It was, instead, offered hand-me-downs of the older P-3B models from the US which it turned down. Clearly, the same rules do not apply for its Major Non-nato Ally, Pakistan.
P-3C ORION'S FEATURES
RANGE: 7,000 km
ENDURANCE: 12 hours
MAXIMUM MISSION RADIUS: 7,472 km
ARMAMENTS: Mines, depth bombs, torpedoes and Harpoon anti-ship missiles with a range of 120 km.
The P-3C Orion is a long-range maritime-patrol aircraft based on a commercial aircraft and propeller driven for fuel economy.
It is packed with a variety of sophisticated radars and submarine detection systems and armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles.
It not only detects and identifies ships and submarines but also neutralises them.
The Indian Navy is upgrading its surface fleet and moving it to a new bluewater base in Karwar in the Arabian Sea which is within the range of the P-3C Orion.
That this political arms sale was clubbed with previous sales linked to Pakistan's role in the war on terror, which primarily involves policing the lawless Afghan border and coastal patrols to cover seaborne infiltration and exfiltration routes, was adding insult to injury. "Transport aircraft, helicopter gunships, night-vision devices and sniper rifles are meant for securing borders," says a senior naval officer, speaking about previous military sales linked to the war on terror. "But the Orion with its missiles and torpedoes is an open ocean weapons platform, meant to hunt warships and submarines over long ranges. It has only limited overland applications."
So the prospect of the hulking four-engined Orion being used to chase rag-tag Al-Qaida and Taliban footsoldiers in the tribal areas seems remote. The actual application of the aircraft is far south in the Arabian Sea where the Indian Navy is adding a qualitative edge to its surface fleet and moving it to a new bluewater base in Karwar. Apart from submarines, the biggest threat to a surface fleet is a missile-armed, LRMPS aircraft. The Karwar fleet, indeed, the entire western seaboard, is easily within target range of the Orions. In these aircraft, defence officials see a definite US game plan to counter the Indian Navy's growing prowess, particularly the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
What then are India's options? Experts caution against the purchase of sanction-prone hardware of US origin in the light of previous experiences-the Indian Navy's entire twin-engined Sea King helicopter fleet was grounded because it had US components. "The warning against buying Orions from the US could be extended as well to the F-16 and any other major armament the Indian armed forces may be interested in," says Bharat Karnad of the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi. "Principally because US arms supply policies are extremely fickle and hostage to the whims and fancies of not just the White House but also to any number of committees and sub-committees in the US Congress, any of which could insert a rider to an Appropriations Bill negating at will a deal cut by the Executive."
The acquisition of three Orions by Pakistan nearly a decade ago led to the acquisition of a slew of shipborne defensive systems like the Israeli Barak missiles and early-warning helicopters like the Ka-31 Helix-B. The prospect of eight more Orions, coupled with the spares to reactivate the two older aircraft, means the worrisome prospect of 10 fully operational Orions in the next few years.
The Indian Navy, in sharp contrast, operates a fleet of 11 ageing unarmed LRMP aircraft, useless for strike missions. It is already pressing for more Barak missiles and urgently plugging the gap created by the loss of two of its fleet of five IL-38 aircraft in Goa two years ago. A naval spokesperson said the Orion was only one of the many options being looked at but the fact remains that the options are extremely limited. Used by over 20 countries, the Orion enjoys a virtual monopoly of nearly 85 per cent of the world's LRMPS aircraft fleet.
The production of Orion and all its nearest competitors, like the British Nimrod and the Russian Tu-142 and IL-38, has already stopped while the only comparable aircraft still rolling off the lines, the French Atlantique-3, was evaluated by the Indians but found to be prohibitively expensive. A section of the naval brass argues in favour of jet-powered maritime patrol aircraft and points out that the US itself is shedding its P-3C Orion fleet by the end of this decade and going in for the stratospherically priced Multimission Maritime Aircraft ($ 200 million each). The only interim solution may be to purchase and refurbish old Russian
Tu-142s and IL-38s and upgrade the maritime patrol aircraft in their mid-life.
Even this is not without its share of hurdles. While the IL-38s are being upgraded by Russia, their offer to improve the eight Tu-142s was rejected this year on cost and technical grounds. The Israeli bid to upgrade these aircraft has been stymied after Russia's insistence on a share of the contract.
In this scenario, the prospect of Pakistan getting the Orions from the US infuses urgency in the defence scenario. The Arabian Sea might soon become choppier for the Indian Navy.