The Mountain EW system “would be designed and developed by DRDO and manufactured by design-cum-production partner from the Indian (private) industry,” announced the MoD. This denial of a design and development role to the private industry comes even as a private firm, Tata Power (Strategic Engineering Division, or SED), is building two far more complex integrated Mountain EW systems, a global tender it won in 2013 for Rs 926 crore. An amended order was placed in July, which is on track to be delivered in 24 months. Meanwhile, a public sector partnership between DRDO and Bharat Electronics is floundering in developing two similar systems, for which they were ‘nominated’ by the MoD at twice the price bid by Tata Power (SED).
Invoking Tata Power (SED)’s strong, two-
Decade-old track record in developing EW systems, Ficci wrote: “Private sector companies were involved in developing the critical command and control software and platform engineering for the integrated EW system Samyukta (in the 1990s). This was even acknowledged by Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, then DRDO chief”. The MoD cites ‘security concerns’ to place orders for EW systems with the DRDO/DPSUs. This has been strongly protested by the private sector, which cites its own stringent security protocols. “Any security concerns raised to justify DPSU/PSU nomination be discouraged as all ‘A category’ licensed private Indian vendors are covered under the same security guidelines issued by the MoD, as are DPSUs,” wrote Ficci. Business Standard has reviewed Ficci’s letter to the defence minister.