SAM Match-ups: India Vs. Pakistan

Outside of the United States and Western Europe, it is more common for national air defense to be based on surface to air missile (SAM) installations than on fighter aircraft. This is for the simple reason that these countries anticipate having their air space invaded by a sophisticated, well-trained Western opponent that their own air forces cannot hope to match. Assuming that their planes will be shot down, they invest heavily in SAM systems. This is not the case for India and Pakistan, who view each other and not the United States or Israel as a future rival. However, India has a vast air space to defend, and Pakistan knows that it cannot match both Indian numbers and Indian quality at the same time. Ergo, both are partly reliant on SAM systems to help defend their air space.

Pakistan

The main long range SAM of Pakistan is the Chinese-made HQ-9. Based on the excellent Russian S-300 system, this active radar missile has a range of over 125 km, a top speed of Mach 4.2, and a 180 kg warhead. The radar can track up to 100 targets and guide six missiles at a time. There are unconfirmed reports that the guidance system was improved using technology from the US Patriot system, which was scandalously shared with the Chinese by the Israelis.

India

India's latest medium range SAM is the Akash. It has a range of 30 km, a 60 kg warhead, and a speed of Mach 2.5. It uses a ramjet rocket engine, which allows the missile continuous thrust throughout it's flight (many missiles of this type coast to the target after several seconds of hard acceleration). The radar has the ability to track 64 targets, and guide eight missiles to 4 different targets at once. Tests show the Askash has a kill probability of 88% with one missile, and 98.5% with two.

Their older system is the Soviet SA-6, first introduced in the late 1960s. They have a range of 24 km and a 56 kg warhead. The top speed of the missile is Mach 2.8. The radar of this SAM system saw continuous upgrades into the 1980s, and scored a notable success in shooting down Scott O'Grady's F-16 over Serbia in 1995.

WINNER: PAKISTAN!

This is a comparison where the Pakistanis score a big win in long range SAMs, while India scores big in medium range SAMs. Both the Akash and HQ-9 are deadly SAM systems. However, with the stand-off capability of so many modern air to surface weapons, the Akash's usefulness in air defense is more limited because of its lack of reach. Simply put, if an enemy strike force doesn't want to get within 30 km of a target, it doesn't have to. The HQ-9, on the other hand, has serious reach and hitting power.

Sources: http://indianairforce.nic.in/; http://globalsecurity.com; http://www.paf.gov.pk/