India Offered Help in Missile Defence Technology by NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which is led by the U.S, has offered to share its missile defence technology with India. NATO has specified that the nature of threats faced by the 28-nation Group as well India is the same and hence, cooperation between the two can be of strategic significance. With this offer, India has become the second nation besides Russia with which the US-led military alliance is willing to work in the critical missile defence technology sector. According to NATO officials, since both NATO nations and India face missile threat, the ability to defend against it could be made more potent by cooperating with each other. In fact, NATO's security dialogue with India can be raised to the same level as that of the existing bilateral dialogue between the United States and India, officials added. NATO has stated that it wants a deeper engagement with India in fields ranging from counter-terrorism and anti-piracy to cyber-security and ballistic missile defence (BMD). NATO officials further indicated that while India’s strategic situation differs, the technology of identifying and intercepting missiles is the same.  NATO has stated that since it is seriously venturing into the Ballistic Missile Technology (BMD), India can also benefit if NATO and India can train together and have cooperation in the area. Besides, since India and other NATO countries share the same threats, an overall stability can be attained by cooperating with each other.  In fact, NATO was also forging a special partnership with Russia which is outside of the NATO. India has become the fourth country to have successfully tested the anti-missile system after the US, Russia and Israel. India's BMD programme, launched in the middle of the previous decade, is a two-tiered shield system consisting of two interceptor missiles, namely the Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile for high altitude interception and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile for lower altitude interception. However, the Indian BMD, mainly focusing to counter missiles with less than 5,000-km range, is still to become operational as further tests of the BMD system are being planned. The NATO missile defence project, launched in May 2001, aims to work with member-countries to meet the group's responsibility of defending itself from missile attacks. As of now, NATO is conducting three missiles defence-related activities including theatre ballistic missile defence capability for short- and medium-range ballistic missile threats, missile defence for the entire NATO territory and missile defence cooperation with Russia. The multiple-missile threat defence system called the National Missile Defence (NMD) of the US can shield an entire country against incoming missiles, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles of over 7,500-kilometer range and other shorter range ballistic missiles. NATO feels that India can benefit largely from these mega missile defence projects and can strengthen relations between them.