Bofors ghost stalls ammo shopping
New Delhi, July 13: The army's trials slated this month for a nearly Rs 15,000-crore order for towed long-range heavy artillery guns have been stalled because the new avatar of the Swedish gunmaker Bofors has emerged as the only competitor.
The Bofors FH77B05, now owned by BAE Land Systems, and the Singapore Technologies Kinetics (STK) iFH 2000, were the only two guns in the competition for the 155mm/52calibre howitzers.
This is the third time since last summer that the field trials have been deferred. "The trials are not taking place this month. Now we have to wait for the winter," an army source told The Telegraph.
The army has now asked the ministry of defence for directives on how to proceed with its artillery modernisation that is already six years behind schedule.
But the government has been tiptoeing around the issue because, while STK has been blacklisted following a CBI investigation, the whiff of Bofors in a Congress-led government after the row in the 1980s — when the Swedish firm was alleged to have paid Rs 64 crore in kickbacks — is enough to make A.K. Antony's defence ministry swoon.
Spokespersons from STK were not available for comment. BAE Land Systems spokesperson Guy Douglas said: "We are ready to participate in the trials as we have been from the beginning."
This is the second time this year that the trials for the towed guns have been stalled. The winter trials, scheduled to be held in Kargil in February, were deferred after the STK requested for a postponement because its gun was damaged during shipment.
Both the guns have to fire ammunition supplied by the Indian Army in trials in the Pokhran range in Rajasthan in peak summer and near Kargil in peak winter.
The Indian artillery guns' competition is one of the most keenly contested and is watched closely by global defence contractors. The artillery modernisation programme, which involves procuring a mix of towed, ultra-light and wheeled/ tracked guns, is estimated to run into Rs 70,000 crore over 10 years.
With the BAE gun now the only one in the fray, the defence establishment will need to decide whether to go for the Pentagon's FMS — foreign military sales — route (because BAE Land Systems is headquartered in the US) or ask for bids again. While FMS will make for faster acquisition, rival bidders allege that the system lacks transparency.
But while a re-bidding will get more competitors into the fray, it will mean starting all over again and even more delay in modernisation. India has not added a single new piece of heavy artillery to its arsenal in more than 20 years.
India and the US are also engaged in finalising an FMS transfer of 10 C-17 Globemaster III Boeing strategic airlifters for the Indian Air Force through FMS. The trials for the aircraft were concluded in Agra and in Ladakh last month.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100714/jsp/nation/story_12681695.jsp
