India's foreign minister on Monday defended his country's right to buy a missile defense system from Russia despite the threat of sanctions from the United States.

On a visit to Washington, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said India was discussing the US concerns but declined to forecast the ultimate decision on the fate of the S-400 purchase from Russia.

"We have always maintained that what we buy -- the sourcing of military equipment -- is very much a sovereign right," he told reporters ahead of a meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"We would not like any state to tell us what to buy or not to buy from Russia any more than we would like any state to tell us to buy or not buy from America," he said.

"That freedom of choice is ours and we think it's in everybody's interest to recognize that," he said.

India, a Cold War ally of the Soviet Union, last year agreed to buy five S-400 systems for $5.2 billion, and Russia has said that delivery is on track.

Under a 2017 law, the United States imposes sanctions against countries over "major" arms purchases from Russia due to Moscow's military involvement in Ukraine and Syria and alleged meddling in US elections.

Turkey, a NATO ally, in June angered the United States by also going ahead with an S-400 purchase.

President Donald Trump responded by ending Turkey's involvement in the F-35 fighter jet program but has yet to announce other sanctions.

Jaishankar hailed warm relations overall with the United States but underlined India's differences with Trump's hawkish stance on Iran.

The United States has threatened sanctions to force all countries to stop buying oil from Iran as it seeks to curb the clerical regime's influence in the Middle East.

In May, the Trump administration ended waivers for countries including India, formerly a leading customer for Iranian oil

"We view Iran from the east, and from the east Iran has been a very stable, status quo power," Jaishankar said.

For India, "we've been repeatedly assured that the affordable and predictable access to energy will not change," he said, declining to comment further on discussions on Iran.

India has been teaming up to expand Iran's Chabahar port, a way to ensure a supply route to Afghanistan that bypasses Pakistan, New Delhi's rival and historic ally of the Taliban.

Missiles, drones and tanks: China shows off military prowess
Beijing (AFP) Oct 1, 2019 - China put its growing military might on full display Tuesday with a parade of new ballistic missiles, supersonic drones and next-generation battlefield tanks that highlighted Beijing's accelerating race to match the firepower of its US rival.

The tightly choreographed procession across Tiananmen Square underscored a level of material and technological innovation that is increasingly viewed by many as a threat to US dominance in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

President Xi Jinping, who reviewed the troops before the parade marking 70 years of Communist Party rule, has pushed for the People's Liberation Army to become a "world-class" military by mid-century.

China's rapid military modernisation comes as it faces rising diplomatic tensions with the United States, with Washington worried about Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea and its ambitions to reunify self-governed Taiwan with the mainland.

Some 15,000 PLA soldiers marched, while 580 pieces of military hardware rolled across the square and 160 aircraft buzzed overhead as Xi and other party leaders looked on.

One of the standout new additions on display was the intercontinental ballistic missile DF-41, which can possibly carry up to 10 nuclear warheads and reach any point in the United States.

According to state news agency Xinhua, the Dongfeng-41 missiles are "the mainstay of China's strategic nuclear strength".

Another star at the parade was the ballistic missile JL-2, which can be fired from a submarine and is equipped with a nuclear charge.

Its supposed range of 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) would allow it to reach Alaska and parts of the western United States, according to military information company Jane's.

A new cruise missile, the DF-100, is reputed to travel beyond the speed of sound and be able to neutralise aircraft carriers.

The short-to-medium-range DF-17 missile made its public debut. It is believed to be capable of releasing a "hypersonic glider" from the edge of space, with a tough-to-predict trajectory.

For the first time, Beijing showed off its WZ-8 drone, a supersonic reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle that could potentially be deployed by aircraft.

Anti-terrorist assault vehicles and armoured anti-riot vehicles from the Falcon Commando Unit also rolled through the square, which Xinhua said was "mainly used to crack down on terrorism and violence" and used for "dealing with emergencies and fighting riots".

The parade also featured new-generation main battlefield 99A tanks.

Xinhua said 40 percent of the weaponry displayed at the parade was new and all the armaments were made domestically.

- 'Closing the gap' -

Adam Ni, an expert on China's military modernisation at Macquarie University in Sydney, told AFP the parade showed a "substantial progress of China's nuclear forces".

"Its nuclear arms are increasingly more mobile, resilient, reliable, precise, and technologically advanced," he said.

"They are also more diversified: China is transitioning its nuclear force from a reliance on land-based to one that is also sea-based and air-based, using submarines and stealth bombers."

Xi said in a speech to kick off the parade that China only seeks "peaceful development" and that the two-million-strong PLA will "firmly uphold world peace".

"This display of nuclear weapons doesn't signal a change in China's nuclear strategy," said Cui Yiliang, editor-in-chief of industry magazine "Modern warships".

"It will continue to have a small but effective nuclear arsenal. The goal is to have a nuclear deterrent and be able to conduct a second strike in retaliation in case of an attack by a third country," Cui said.

In July Beijing outlined a national defence plan to build a modern, high-tech army.

China's defence spending is second only to the United States -- though it still lags far behind -- and it said earlier this year it planned to raise it by 7.5 percent in 2019, though the increase in expenditure has slowed as the economy has cooled in recent years.

In March Beijing said it would spend 1.19 trillion yuan ($177.6 billion) on defence in 2019, after it increased its outlay by 8.1 percent to 1.11 trillion yuan in 2018, according to a government report presented at the start of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC).

A report in April by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found China's military spending has risen 83 percent since 2009, bringing it up to second place, ahead of Saudi Arabia, India and France.

According to the report, the US figure alone of $649 billion in 2018 was as much as the next eight highest military budgets.

James Char, a military expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, warned there is still some way before China is as big a military technological power as the US.

"Actual martial prowess is not as easily showcased as displaying military hardware," he said.

"So showing off these weapons -- some of them probably still prototypes -- at the parade has to be the easiest method for the Chinese Communist Party regime to showcase the country's military might to the world," Char said.

Related Links
The Military Industrial Complex at SpaceWar.com
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Portugal's former defence minister in dock over arms theft
Lisbon (AFP) Sept 26, 2019
A former Portuguese defence minister will stand trial over his role in the alleged cover-up of an arms theft from a military depot, the ministry announced on Thursday. Jose Alberto Azeredo Lopes, who served as defence minister from November 2015 until October 2018, is under investigation for alleged denial of justice, favouritism and abuse of power, according to the prosecutors' summary of the indictments. Senior figures in the military and police forces have also been arrested over the theft of ... read more