Why Modi's Air india one is sitting duck of missiles!!

New Delhi,India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's
Boeing 747-400 aircraft flew over
Ukraine just minutes before
Malaysian Airlines' MH17 was shot
down over the northern rebel-held
part of the country, killing 298
people on board.
The Prime Minister was flying from
Frankfurt to New Delhi on a route
passing over southern Ukraine on
July 17. Air India has clarified that
the PM's aircraft was flying over 200
km south of where MH17 was shot
down and hence was in no danger.
However, Air India One, a Boeing
747-400 detached from Air India's
civilian fleet to fly the Prime
Minister, does not even have
rudimentary protection against
incoming missiles.The irony is that
the aircraft, equipped with self-
protection systems - the IAF's VVIP
Boeings - does not meet the Special
Protection Group's (SPG)
requirements for four engines.
In 2009, the IAF's Communications
Squadron inducted three specially-
equipped 46-seater Boeing Business
Jets (BBJs) for Rs 936.93 crore.
These aircrafts flown by Air Force
pilots from the IAF's communication
squadron are equipped with
Electronic Countermeasures that can
protect the planes from incoming
missiles.
The Rs 200-crore ECM suite has a
Missile Advanced Warning System
that sets off an alarm in the cockpit
when a radar locks onto the aircraft.
The aircraft can then launch chaff
and flares to decoy incoming
missiles.
The BBJs with a maximum range of
11,000 km and twin engine
configuration are deemed
insufficient for a long range VIP
aircraft.
The Comptroller and Auditor General
(CAG) questioned the rationale
behind the BBJ acquisition in 2008.
"Despite spending Rs 936.93 crore,
newly acquired VIP aircraft will not
be used for international travel
necessitating continued use of Air
India aircraft for international travel
with all its adverse consequences,"
noted a CAG report.
Air India One was one of two AI
aircrafts in the vicinity of MH17.
AI113, a 787 Dreamliner, flying from
New Delhi to Birmingham, was less
than 50 km away from MH17.
"The Ukrainian ATC requested AI113
to contact MH17 because it had
disappeared from their radar. It was
only after the AI pilot landed in
Birmingham did he realise his close
shave," an Air India official said.
Also read: Missile that downed
MH17 is Indian Navy's primary
defensive weapon
MH17 was given a different, more
direct, flight path by the Ukrainian
ATC, a common practice to save fuel
and time. Most international air
traffic now steers away from Ukraine.
They were earlier asked only to avoid
Simferopol on the Crimean
peninsula, a known hot spot.
Defence analysts say the incident
illustrates why India needs to
acquire four-engined aircraft such as
the Boeing 747-800 retrofitted with
self-protection suites.
Air Force One, a converted Boeing
VC-25A used by US President Barack
Obama, and Ilyushin IL-96 four-
engined jet, used by Russian
President Vladimir Putin, feature
missile protection systems and
special escape capsules.
"The fact is that Air India One is a
simple commercial airliner without
any self-protection systems. All it
can do is stay far away from conflict
zones," says Air Vice-Marshal
(retired) Manmohan Bahadur of the
Centre for Air Power Studies.
Military experts say that the capture
of military-grade weaponry by non-
state actors puts global security at
risk. "(Japanese) Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe has spoken of an arc of
peace and prosperity, but there is
also an emerging arc of asymmetry
that is developing which we need to
guard against," says Vice-Admiral
Anup Singh, a former eastern naval
commander.
All Israeli commercial airliners have
been equipped with directional
infrared countermeasures or DIRCM
pods that jam incoming missiles. The
pods were installed after an Israeli-
owned chartered airliner was
targeted by, but escaped, two
shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile
launched by Al Qaeda operatives
near Mombassa in Kenya in 2002.