Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Brumby said:

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I agree with the direction expounded by Prof. Bharat from the article which I quote "Experts like Prof. Bharat Karnad of New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research underscore the urgent need to rationalise the force structure, ideally to Su-30s, the indigenous Tejas Mk-1 for short-range air defence, Tejas Mk-II as MMRCA, and the Su-50 PAK FA as fifth-generation fighter to be developed with Russia."

Basically that means buy more Su-30; drop the MMRCA program; speed up production and induction of Tejas; and stop fiddling with the FGFA program and just ink the final contract. The Indian bureaucracy just seems to get into this habitual endless cycle of negotiations rather than just getting things done.

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aksha said:

one of the reasons india needs the AMCA is because they can't afford to have another MMCRA fiasco again,
pimping out money to foreign nations,keeping their aircraft industry alive,

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NEW DELHI — India's Defence Ministry has decided that South Korea and Russia must partner with Indian firms in order to take part in its helicopter competition, despite offers of complete technology transfer, according to an MoD source.

South Korea is offering its Surion light utility helicopter (LUH) and Russia its Ka-226 machine. Russian President Vladimir Putin made the offer during his Dec. 11 visit to India.

"MoD's decision to buy LUH only through competition from domestic vendors is a virtual rejection of any government-to-government helicopter production deal between India and Russia," said defense analyst Nitin Mehta.

The MoD source, however, said the decision not to enter a joint program with either South Korea or Russia is part of a policy to boost the domestic private sector defense industry, and that the MoD would like to see partnerships for weapons programs with overseas companies.

After coming to power, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi canceled two global tenders for light utility helicopter purchases and approached the domestic companies to participate in the procurement of unspecified numbers of helicopters, either alone or in partnership with an overseas company.

India needs 440 LUHs to replace its aging Cheetah and Chetak helicopters used for reconnaissance and logistics in the high altitude battlefields in the Himalayas.

After the summit talks with Putin, Modi said in a statement: "I am pleased that Russia has offered to fully manufacture in India one of its most advanced helicopters. It includes the possibility of exports from India. It can be used for both military and civilian use. We will follow up on this quickly."

South Korea has also offered India full tech transfer of the Surion helicopter, the MoD source said. A diplomat from the South Korean Embassy in New Delhi confirmed that a proposal was been made to India in December, but gave no details.

In August, MoD canceled the 2012 tender for the purchase of 56 naval utility helicopters, in which Airbus Helicopters and AgustaWestland were in the race.

In July, MoD canceled the 2008 global tender for the purchase of 197 light utility helicopters worth $1 billion, in which now Airbus Helicopters' AS550 was in competition with Russia's Ka-226T built by Kamov.

India's helicopter requirement is expected to grow to 600. In addition, the MoD also plans to procure 90 multirole helicopters worth $2.5 billion through the "Buy and Make (India)" route.

"Except for state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited [HAL], no private-sector defense major has ever produced a military helicopter," Mehta said. "But in the future, tie-ups are expected with overseas defense companies to tap the emerging helicopter market."

US-based Sikorsky and Tata Group already have an agreement, and in October, Airbus Helicopters also announced a tie-up with the Tata to jointly produce Avro transport aircraft.

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For the first time since January 31, 2012, when the French Rafale fighter was chosen as the future medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF), it has been officially admitted that there are serious problems in negotiating the purchase with the French vendor, Dassault.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday evening, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said there were “complications” in the negotiations, already on for almost three years, with the French side reluctant to meet commitments that IAF had specified in the tender. Parrikar did not reveal details.

Business Standard had reported on Dassault’s unwillingness to assume responsibility for the production of Rafales by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, which the tender mandated. HAL is to build 108 Rafales in India with technology transferred from Dassault and its sub-vendors.

Ominously for Dassault, Parrikar said additional Sukhoi-30MKI fighters, which HAL builds in Nashik, were adequate for the IAF in case it was decided not to procure the Rafale.

The IAF currently plans to have 272 Su-30MKI fighters by about 2018. HAL’s Nashik production line is building the fighter at Rs 358 crore each, less than half the estimated cost of buying the Rafale.

“The Su-30MKI is an adequate aircraft for meeting the air force’s needs,” said Parrikar.

Earlier this month, Parrikar had assured French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, during the latter’s visit to New Delhi on December 1, that Rafale negotiations would be placed on a “fast track”, according to ministry of defence (MoD) officials.

The minister revealed on Tuesday that the French minister “has (committed) to send an empowered person to negotiate after New Year.”

According to the terms of the MMRCA tender, 18 of the 126 fighters being bought would be supplied fully built abroad, with the remaining 108 manufactured by HAL. The cost of the project, originally sanctioned at Rs 42,000 crore, has crossed Rs 1,00,000 crore, according to expert estimates.

Border infrastructure

Signalling a major thrust on building roads along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China, the defence minister announced the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), plagued by infighting between its civil and military personnel, would come directly under MoD. “BRO is being delinked from the ministry of surface transport. It will be entirely defence controlled and defence financed. We are (also) considering transferring of 6,000-7,000 km of roads, which are not in sensitive areas, to the National Highways (Authority of India),” said Parrikar.

Weighing against the principle of “dual command”, the minister said: “Ministry of surface transport was their (BRO’s) administrative department and defence was their [operational department]. So obviously there was confusion; when you have two masters, you don’t get work output.”

Parrikar confirmed the proposal had been discussed with the minister for surface transport, Nitin Gadkari, and both had agreed that from the next Budget, BRO would come under MoD.

BRO was charged with building 61 Indo-China Border Roads (ICBRs), of 3,410 km, by 2012. Of these, it has completed only 17 roads, of 590 km, the defence minister told Parliament on December 12.

Parrikar explained that high technology, especially the practice of tunnelling with rock-boring machines, was essential for building roads in difficult terrain, for which the private sector needed to be involved. “The way it is being cut today, I don’t think we will complete (our target) even in 15 years. If the target is five years, we will have to use technology,” he said.

The defence minister also revealed he was working with the railway minister Suresh Prabhu, to expand connectivity across Arunachal Pradesh. “We have decided to improve the railway and road connectivity. We will finalise things in the days ahead,” he said.

The minister told Parliament on December 12 that four strategic railway lines had been prioritised for survey.

Arms agents permitted

Parrikar reiterated his intention to permit foreign arms companies to station “representatives or technical consultants” in India, reversing a ban on ‘agents’ that had been imposed after the Bofors gun scandal of 1987-88. This had been reported earlier by Business Standard (December 13, “Parrikar likely to allow arms agents, impose steep fines for wrongdoing”).

The defence minister downplayed reports of increased Pakistani firing on the Line of Control (LoC), stating, “Across the LoC, (firing) incidents have reduced during 2014. There were increasing incidents on the international border but they have also fallen during the last two months, compared to this time last year.”

Even so, Parrikar emphasised the army’s muscular posture, saying his orders were: “Don’t hesitate; react appropriately and without holding yourself back. We don’t (start firing). But if there is something going on from the other side we retaliate with double the energy.”

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A Bar Brother said:

Bharat Karnad's argument is not realistic. He believes the LCA Mk2 is better than the Rafale. He has not argued against the FGFA vocally. He has argued against Rafale for the "very-recently-designed-and-still-a-long-way-to-go" LCA Mk2.

He basically wants the IAF to buy more Su-30s and buy more LCA Mk2s, while also developing the FGFA and AMCA. The catch is the LCA Mk2 is yet to exist even in prototype form.

Buying more Su-30s is on the cards according to a reliable source. If the fiscal condition improves in the next year, a further order of 40 jets is likely.

Anyway, some LCA-MMRCA related stuff from Karnad and a rebuff from a retired Vice Air Marshal of the IAF.
Prof. Bharat Karnad:

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Vice Air Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (retd):

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You can judge for yourself.

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EW DELHI: State-owned BHEL has joined hands with Midhani and HSL to set up a consortium that will build submarines indigenously and bid for a Navy project.

"The consortium, comprising BHEL, Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd (Midhani) and Hindustan Shipyards Ltd (HSL), will jointly stake claim with the Ministry of Defence for being considered as a prospective bidder for a proposed project of the Indian Navy for building six submarines at an Indian shipyard," BHEL said in a statement.

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NEW DELHI — India will rely on domestic firms to develop and build its first unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), similar to the Predator drone built by US-based General Atomics.

The state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will fund 80 percent of the development and prototype cost for the Rustom-2 UCAV, with the remaining 20 percent paid by private Indian defense companies.

This is the first time DRDO has invited private companies to develop prototypes under their guidance.

In doing so, the Defence Ministry is reversing its decision to build Rustom-2 using only DRDO and state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), an MoD source said.

A MoD source said the Rustom-2 project was brought under the "Strategy India" category with funding by the government because the private companies had been lukewarm about building prototypes at their own expense and then have to compete for the project.

In the "Strategy India" category, the government funds up to 80 percent in the development of the prototype, while the remaining 20 percent is funded by the selected private development agency, the MoD source said.

"[The] 'Make Strategy' category is a suitable economic proposition to ensure greater involvement of private sector companies in developing defense projects, which is now being encouraged by the new government," said defense analyst Nitin Mehta.

An executive with domestic defense major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) said the MoD has agreed to commit to an unspecified number of Rustom-2 UCAVs, and L&T would like to participate in the project because the government would also fund the development of the prototype. "The financial commitment in the Rustom-2 looks promising now," the executive added.

India began its Rustom-1 UAV in 2006 and initially wanted participation by domestic defense companies. However, after the MoD failed to give firm commitments of orders to the selected company, none of the defense companies from the private sector participated. HAL then became the production agency.


Weighting 1,800 kilograms, Rustom-2 will have a payload of 350 kilograms, and a flight endurance of up to 48 hours. The two 100-horsepower engines will be capable of flying up to 36,000 feet with a range of 100 kilometers.

The development cost of Rustom-2 is estimated to be around $200 million.

India's domestic private sector defense companies including L&T, Tata Power SED, Mahindra Defence System, Data Patterns India Pvt. Ltd. and Bharat Forge Ltd. All are likely to be frontrunners to compete for the Rustom-2 project.

The MoD source added that Rustom-2 is a tri-service requirement with initial order of 75. The cost of each Rustom-2 would be around $5.83 million.

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Brumby said:

Aiming to have a totally indigenous aerospace industry that is self sustaining and competitive requires a nationalistic program and cannot be done in half measures. India needs to decide where to take the pain so that the national goal can be achieved. According to the link that you provide, Vice Air Marshal Manmohan Bahadur expressed the fact that the Tejas Mk I is unsuitable for IAF operational requirements. That is a significant statement given so much had been put into the program and after two decades of effort and this is what you end up with. If that is the track record, what realistic achievements can be expected from the AMCA program given that it is a far more challenging technologically than the LCA program?

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This is what I don't get. Why isn't the MKI a suitable alternative to the Rafale to address the perceived threat assessment? This will streamline the platforms for maintenance and reduce operational cost. Work on the Mk II rather than the AMCA as it is building on existing infrastructure and knowledge. The truly indigenous 5th gen program comes after the experience and knowledge gained from working on the FGFA program. You basically incrementally build up your aerospace industry rather than having some disjointed effort that doesn't go any where except in the minds of politician and technocrats.

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