Deliberate capability degradation of P-8I meant for India and why it matters-a classic case of ‘Stri

[ptltejas]

STRINGS ATTACHED-DELIBERATE CAPABILITY DEGRADATION OF P-8I MEANT FOR INDIA
When it comes to the procurement of defense and allied hardware from the States the reason as to why the Indian military establishment have been so skeptical all along is well illustrated by the follow example.
As we all know, IN acquired 8 P-8I Poseidon from Boeing to serve in the capacity of medium MPA,ASuw ,to augment the existing fleet of Tu-142MK and IL-38SD in the light of increasing PLAN forays into the IOR and to shore up our maritime ISR capabilities in response to a marked increase in their tempo of operations in the Arabian sea particularly in the vicinity of Strait of Hormuz.
Now as with all other goodies from Uncle Sam’s stable,the P-8I also comes with ‘strings attached’.
The original Raytheon APY-10 has been modified to the I standard for us, I here standing for India to comply with Washington’s export restrictions.
The following modifications have been carried out over the baseline model.Modifications is too mild a term to use here,rather deliberate degradation is more of the correct term.
1.Modification of Radar navigator to remove accumulated carrier phase and revert to earlier, less sophisticated navigator
2.Removal of Precision Targeting capability
3.Removal of UHR ISAR capability
4.Removal of 1 and 3 foot SAR capability
5.Limiting the performance to meet 30 meter SAR geo-location accuracy.
Removal of precision Targetting means the poseidon woult neither be able to provide midcourse guidance cues to ashm launched by it or by other air or surface platforms and engage in over the horizon-OTH targetting wherein you provide track info of enough fidelity to a missile launched from over the horizon so assist it in acquiring its target in its terminal phase. Long range ashm shots would be all but impossible without OTHT info since the earth’s curvature limits the field of view and volume of air space/ground area scanned by any ground based radar.
Removal of ultra high inverse synthetic radar imagery mode translates to an incapability to positively ID amd discern platforms in a high clutter and target rich environment such as in littorals and to break out individual contacts in a densely packed formation.
Without sub metric SAR resolution,you simply wont be able to conduct IMINT from a long standoff range which is necessary to keep you outside the hostile Lrsam engagement zone or conversely you wont generate radar imagery of sufficient resolution and packing in enough details so as to satisfy the end user’s imint requirements since low to mid res IMINT can also be performed by non trad Istar assets such as Litening equipped jets. And this coupled with the 30 metre geo location condition renders you incapable of conducting man in the loop standoff precision strikes over land
On the other hand they have included an air to air detection and tracking capability, something which isnt that much of a value addition for a MPA.
To put things in perspective, this is like a car enthusiast with a thing for no nonsense high end performance who goes on to buy a F10 gen BMW M5 and finds out that the twin scroll Honeywell turbochargers are missing from the 4.4 Ltr
V8 powerplant thus putting a cap on the torque and no of horses generated resulting in a not so impressive acceleration and a reduced top speed. Not at all a desirable thing for a person who always puts a premium on performance. Instead the folks at BMW have decided to fit higher caliber Brembo discs to the front wheels and now the Beemer comes to n absolute standstill, from say 100 kmph at a considerable less distance than what it used to do earlier.And the irony being this reduction in breaking distance is now being highlighted by the OEM as a capability enhancement.
And this is where Russia has proved its mettle and proved time and again that they are indeed a time tested and strategic ally by providing us with state of the art equipments and other exotic technologies which conform to the same standards as their in service ones contrary to what America has been doing with us.

Article by-Purbayan Roy

Deliberate capability degradation of P-8I meant for India and why it matters-a classic case of ‘Strings Attached’ | Indian Aerospace/Defense News

 

[21 Dec 2012]

Nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything they don't want to buy. India very well knew what was being offered and decided it was worth it. You can't expect the US to sell you its top of the line stuff when you have a fledgling defence partnership with its recognized enemy. If you like Russian 'export versions' better, your choice. Its a free market economy