abingdonboy
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- Sep 13, 2010
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Sorry but I call BS. If given the orders any major company in India can and will scale up accordingly. PSU or private company.The deal is there for 150 guns so far .... as per reports.
Indian Army requires about 3000 guns which OFB and Bharat Forge (ATAGS) alone will not be able to supply for next 15 years..
By then the howitzers themselves may become extinct ......
This is not a chicken and egg situation. Orders HAVE to come before production capacity is invested in. Army wants 3000 guns but only orders 150 guns? Or 114 (Dhanush) and are then upset when induction rates are low?
This is the same nonsense being thrown around vis a vis the LCA when the reality is the IAF has ONLY committed to 40 (20+20) MK.1s, not a single unit more. Even so HAL has taken the decision to use their own funds to expand capacity to 8,12,16++ year in the *hope* that the great IAF/MOD babudom orders more in the near future. But imagine if they don’t- all that capital (physical and human) sat idle, it’s for that reason that these companies cannot simply expand production rates overnight.
Why does everyone think the US has the largest and most capable MIC in the world? Because it has the largest customers on their doorstep. When the US military has a requirement they don’t play these stupid games of the IAF/IN/IA- a handful here, a handful there, they lay out their total requirement and commit to them from day one. 100s of fighter jets ordered in one go, dozens of warships etc etc. Then the economies of scale become so enormous that foreign nations jump at the products.
This is why the Indian MIC will hasn’t taken off- because the Indian armed forces are just terrible customers- they mess around with inconsistent requirements, lengthy trails and then endless procedural hurdles that can very likely end in no orders anyway.
And before someone says it, ALL the three services are guilty of this crap- the IAF (other than their aforementioned LCA debacle, they have plenty of examples- RSH, MMRCA etc etc) IA(god, where to begin? Just endless list of small arms circuses- carbines, rifles, LMGs etc etc, arty, etc ) and the IN (ordering 3 P17s only for some god knows what reason then the follow on class 10+ years later, same story for P15A/B, same story go aircraft carriers, SSKs etc).
The world’s 2nd/3rd largest military should be the perfect catalyst to produce a world class competitive MIC but instead largely because of the 3 services and MOD this is far from the case.