Indian Defense Acquisitions - Co- Developments and Production

[bengalraider]

And this gentlemen is why raytheon sponsored the FMBT seminar held at the Oberoi new delhi last year.

 

[sayareakd]

"The upgrade will increase the lethality of the T-72 tanks," Fritz Treyz, vice president, Raytheon (India operations), told Reuters.

Will these upgrade make it into modern take ??? or we better scrap this project and inducted more Arjun tank instead.

 

[F-14]

we should replace the Power pack of the T-72 with a new one Ideally the newest MTU Euro Pack

 

[Soham]

Could someone provide an insight into the "updated deadliness index" ? Exactly what does Raytheon plan to upgrade ?

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Will these upgrade make it into modern take ??? or we better scrap this project and inducted more Arjun tank instead.

I have a feeling that by the time this saga ends both Russians and Americans will be mad as hell and no upgrades will have arrived.

 

[sayareakd]

Could someone provide an insight into the "updated deadliness index" ? Exactly what does Raytheon plan to upgrade ?

probably IA want Combat Ajay standard.

but i will feel great if they surpass that standard and add few goodies.

 

[bengalraider]

Could someone provide an insight into the "updated deadliness index" ? Exactly what does Raytheon plan to upgrade ?

From what i could gather from the net this si what Raytheon and L&T plan to give us

According to the proposal submitted earlier this month, in which L&T is the lead contractor, Raytheon will provide infrared imaging sights and electronics to improve the tank’s target accuracy and overall system lethality, the company said in a statement.

Also, it will provide fire control system, sensors and will accomplish final integration along with customer support services.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/lt-teams-upraytheon-to-upgrade-t-72-tanks/385961/

what i would like however is the below

This gentlemen is the Slovakian T-72M1 Moderna turret incorporating the Sabca Vega thermal sight and the Sfim VS580 commanders sight as well as two 20mm Oerlikon Contraves KAA-001 cannon.

 

[Soham]

Hmmm... so all upgrades are mainly electronic. Thanks for that update.
And yes, a Moderna type upgrade can be awesome, although I'm not much aware about the lethality of its FCSs and imagers.

 

[bengalraider]

Hmmm... so all upgrades are mainly electronic. Thanks for that update.
And yes, a Moderna type upgrade can be awesome, although I'm not much aware about the lethality of its FCSs and imagers.

The moderna type upgrade would be awesome Urban combat situations

 

[Sridhar]

Pakistan, India troop strength, deployments

Pakistan, India troop strength, deployments

BY: MONEY CONTROL
The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet in New Delhi on Thursday, marking the resumption of official contacts which India broke off after militants attacked Mumbai in late 2008.
Following are estimates of the military strength of Pakistan and India, as well as some information about where troops are believed to be deployed:
Pakistan
Defence budget: Pakistan increased defence spending by more than 15% in June last year to Rs 343 billion (USD 4.2 billion) for the 2009-10 fiscal year ending on June 30.
Estimated nuclear warheads: >25 to 50
Troops: About 620,000 active, about 515,000 reserves, about 290,9000 paramilitary.
Equipment: about 2,460 tanks, about 2,000 artillery pieces, about 1,250 armoured personnel carriers. The air force has about 415 combat aircraft while the navy has 8 submarines, 7 surface combatants.
Pakistan’s air force this month inducted JF-17 Thunder, medium-technology jets produced with the help of China. The aircraft is equivalent to the Mirage but has better avionics and weapons.
In December, Pakistan acquired the first of four airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft from Sweden.
Missile types and ranges: Shaheen 1 (600 km/375 miles), Shaheen 2 (up to 2,000 km/1,200 miles), Ghauri 1 (1,500/940 miles) Ghauri 2 (2,300 km/1,440 miles), Hatf 1 (100 km/63 miles), Hatf 2 (180 km/110 miles), Hatf 3 (290 km/180 miles), Babur cruise missile (500 km/310 miles).
Deployment: The military does not publish information about the deployment of troops but it has said nearly 150,000 soldiers, from both the army and paramilitary forces, have been deployed in the border regions with Afghanistan fighting al Qaeda and Taliban militants.
The remainder are stationed at bases around the country, many of them near the so-called Line of Control that divides the Kashmir region, and near the international border with India that runs south to the Arabian Sea.
India
Defence budget: India increased defence spending by nearly a quarter in February last year to USD 28.9 billion for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
India plans to spend USD 30 billion to modernise its largely Soviet-era arms over the next four years.
Estimated nuclear warheads: 70-100
Troops: India’s military strength stands at 1.3 million, the fourth largest in the world and growing in strength with thousands recruited every year.
Equipment: The army has around 4,000 tanks, 4,500 artillery and 300 armored personnel carriers and a combat aircraft strength of around 700. The Indian Navy has one aircraft carrier, 16 submarines, eight destroyers and 16 frigates.
India plans to buy 126 air and ground attack fighters, which will elevate its air force to super-power status, with deployments planned near the borders with Pakistan and China, officials say. In May last year, India acquired the first of three AWACS from Israel.
Missile types and ranges: Agni 1 (2,500 km/1,560 miles), Agni 2 (3,000 km/1,875 miles; upgraded, up to 3,500 km/2,190 miles), Prithvi SS-150 (150 km/94 miles), Prithvi SS-250 (250 km/156 miles). India said this month it could test a new nuclear-capable missile with a 5,000-km (3,100-mile) range within a year.
Deployment:The Indian military does not give information about deployment of troops but has said its troops are on standby and presently stationed at bases around the country. India also has a huge military presence near the Line of Control.
India says it has made no new deployments since the Mumbai attacks.


http://idrw.org/?p=641

 

[Armand2REP]

India Expects 5-7% Increase in Defense Spending

India Expects 5-7% Increase in Defense Spending


By vivek raghuvanshi
Published: 25 Feb 2010 11:31

NEW DELHI - Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will announce the 2010-2011 defense spending proposal Feb. 26, with a 5 percent to 7 percent budget increase expected, Defence Ministry sources said.

The allocation for financial year 2009-10 is $28.9 billion.

The Defence Ministry again will surrender nearly $1 billion of unspent funds, ministry sources said. The Defence Ministry has returned money each of the last three years as delays in finalizing contracts have prevented all the funds from being spent.

In the current year, most of the unspent money is tied to delays in completing a program to acquire 155mm howitzer guns.

Funding levels are not a problem for the ministry, said Mahindra Singh, a retired major general, but procurement delays remain a bottleneck

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4514520&c=ASI&s=TOP

 

[bhramos]

anyway this is best pack as T-72 is 2nd in line of battle, as the frontline will be seen as T-90 or T-90+ Arjun Tanks, no need to waste more money, this package can make T-72 to survive atleast for another 10years, by the F-MBT or T-95 or Tank-X will be their to replace these Tanks.

 

[Rahul Singh]

Scrap T-72 upgrade plan buy Arjun instead.

Rather than buying more Arjun tanks, Indian Army to spend billions on refurbishing outdated T-72s


By Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 3rd Feb 2010

The Indian Army chief’s dismaying disclosure last month, that India’s tank fleet was largely incapable of fighting at night, highlighted only a part of the problem with the Russian T-72, the army’s main tank. In fact, the T-72 is in far worse shape than General Deepak Kapoor let on.

Another signal of the T-72’s obsolescence was its recent withdrawal, by the army’s Directorate General of Mechanised Forces (DGMF), from next month’s comparative trials with the indigenous Arjun tank. An embarrassed DGMF has realized that, without major refurbishing, the T-72 was not in the Arjun’s class.

But in the army’s long-term planning, the T-72 --- which the more advance T-90 will replace only gradually --- will continue to equip almost half of the army’s 59 tank regiments as far in the future as 2022.

Business Standard has accessed a sheaf of technical reports and funding requests that actually quantify the state of the T-72. Exactly 32 years have passed since the first T-72s arrived in India; army guidelines stipulate 32 years as the service life of a tank. The earliest tanks from the army’s 2418-strong T-72 inventory should have already been retired, making way for a more modern tank, such as the T-90 or the Arjun.

Instead, the DGMF --- longstanding advocates of Russian equipment --- plans to spend Rs 5 crores per T-72, hoping to add another 15-20 years to that tank’s service life by replacing crucial systems, such as its fire control system, main engine and night vision devices.

The military’s Annual Acquisition Plan for 2008-2010 (AAP 2008-10) lists out the cost of modernizing the T-72 fleet as follows:

• New 1000-horsepower engines (identical to the T-90 tank) to replace the T-72’s old 780 horsepower engines. The cost of each engine: Rs 3 crores.

• Thermal Imaging Fire Control Systems (TIFCS) that will allow the T-72 gunners to observe, and fight at night. Each TIFCS will cost Rs 1.4 crores.

• Thermal Imaging (TI) sights to provide T-72 tank commanders with night vision. Each TI sight costs Rs 0.4 crores.

• An auxillary power unit (APU) to generate power for the tank’s electrical systems. Each APU will cost Rs 0.16 crores.

The Rs 5 crore cost of upgrading each T-72 knocks out the argument that the T-72 --- at Rs 9 crores apiece --- is value-for-money. Retrofitting upgraded systems will escalate the cost of the T-72 to Rs 14 crores. In contrast, a brand new Arjun, with a 1500 horsepower engine, state-of-the-art integrated electronics, and the indigenous, widely praised Kanchan armour, can be had for a marginally more expensive Rs 16.8 crores.

“It is folly to stick with Russian tanks despite having developed the Arjun, and the design capability to continuously improve it?” says Lt Gen Ajai Singh, who headed the army’s Directorate of Combat Vehicles before becoming Governor of Assam. “India can tailor the Arjun to our specific requirements and continuously upgrade the tank to keep it state-of-the-art. Why upgrade old T-72s? It is time to bring in the Arjun.”

The T-72’s galloping obsolescence is magnified by the MoD’s failure to overhaul tanks on schedule: some 800 T-72s are years overdue for overhaul. Originally, each T-72 was to be overhauled twice during its service life of 32 years. But as the overhaul agencies --- the Heavy Vehicles Factory, Avadi; and 505 Army Base Workshop, Delhi --- failed to meet their overhaul targets of 70 and 50 tanks respectively, the army decided that one overhaul was good enough. And with even that schedule not implemented, a desperate MoD has approached Indian industry to play a role in overhauling the T-72 fleet.

The total expenditure on the T-72 tank, budgeted for AAP 2008-10, is over Rs 5000 crores. The cost of overhaul has not been accurately determined.

 

[ejazr]

Actually Fidayeen is not a "bad" word at all. And has been hijacked like so many of the other Islamic concepts and terminiology

Let me get into the actual meanings and semantics here.

The suicide bombings that Muslims extremists indulge in are purely suicide acts i.e. khud khus hamle. Their deviant ideologues try to equate it with Fidayeen acts because suicide is explicitly forbidden in Islam. However, that is wrong, because in Fidayeen, the person does not intentionally kill himself unlike a suicide bomber who does.

So the correct way to explain this would be to say that yes these police officers are Fidayeen who may become shaheed in their line of duty. Even Islamically, any person who gives his life in defending people, their honour or property is consider a martyr so a police officer or firefighter who dies in the line of duty is a martyr.

The terrorists are suicide bombers nothing else. Infact, nothing irks them more than calling them Khud khush hamlawar because you are equating them to committing a Major sin explicitly forbidden in Islam that will take them straight to hell.

 

[johnell]

India’s defence challenges. Courtesy John Elliot

Discussing Antony's role as a Defence Minister, and how Bofors scandal still shapes our defence acquisitions.​

---------

“It’s time to understand that the gun is innocent”. That has to be the prize quotation to come out of Delhi’s Defexpo recent defence show. It was made by Anand Mahindra who runs Mahindra & Mahindra, a Mumbai-based tractors-to-software group that is diversifying into defence equipment and is now tendering in India to sell the latest version of a Bofors gun that triggered a major mid-1980s corruption scandal here.

That scandal has hampered the development and equipping of the country’s armed forces for over 20 years. So Mahindra was presumably trying to joke his way out of the political embarrassment of M&M having a joint venture with UK-based BAE Systems, which now makes Bofors guns following a series of takeovers..............

for more go to my Riding the Elephant blog - ridingtheelephant.wordpress.com

john elliott


---

*DARK RED = EDITED by Singh

 

[Singh]

The gun that crippled the equipping of India’s armed forces is “innocent” « Riding th

Reproducing Mr. Elliot's blog post in full.

The gun that crippled the equipping of India’s armed forces is “innocent” « Riding the Elephant​

“It’s time to understand that the gun is innocent”. That has to be the prize quotation to come out of Delhi’s Defexpo defence show last week. It was made by Anand Mahindra who runs Mahindra & Mahindra, a Mumbai-based tractors-to-software group that is diversifying into defence equipment and is now tendering in India to sell the latest version of a Bofors gun that triggered a major mid-1980s corruption scandal here.

That scandal has hampered the development and equipping of the country’s armed forces for over 20 years. So Mahindra was presumably trying to joke his way out of the political embarrassment of M&M having a joint venture with UK-based BAE Systems, which now makes Bofors guns following a series of takeovers.

155mm Bofors howitzer on the Pakistan border in 1999 (pic The Hindu)

In 1986, the Indian government headed by prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, placed a $1.4bn contract with Bofors of Sweden that led to allegations of Rs64 crore (then about $50m) bribes.

That’s a pitifully small amount compared with today’s massive corruption levels, but the case has reverberated ever since through Indian’s political system and the courts. It contributed to the defeat of Gandhi’s government in 1989 and embarrassed the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty for years after – even though, as Mahindra also said, it has served India well (left, in use during the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan).

Defence ministers and bureaucrats have been scared to place large sensitive orders, fearing similar bribe scandals.

.

That fear has reached crisis proportions under the current defence minister, A.K.Antony, (right) a Congress politician who is so scared of losing his clean reputation (and damaging his Leftist image in his home state of Kerala) that he proverbially tilts at windmills every time there is a whiff of corruption, cancelling more big contracts than he has placed in the past six years and blacklisting potential suppliers.

Mahindra’s remark is specially relevant now because India urgently needs to shake off the Bofors legacy and modernise its armed forces, which are probably the worst equipped of any large country in the world.

Pallam Raju, the minister of state for defence, said at an army seminar last week that history shows there are hardly any examples internationally “wherein a higher technology military power has been overwhelmed by lower technology power in the long run.”

“Defences are obsolete”

Yet a background paper prepared by the Delhi-based PHD chamber of commerce for the army seminar said that “most of India’s ground based air defences are obsolete” and that upgrades of basic artillery equipment were “ten years behind schedule”. The generals attending the seminar didn’t metaphorically blink at such unpatriotic statements – they knew only too well they are true.

The chief of army staff said recently that 80% of India’s armoured tanks are night blind. “That means like the medieval times you fight morning to evening and take rest at night - Pakistan has 80% of tanks capable to fight at night,” says Rahul Bedi, a defence journalist. “Planning and strategic thinking of the Indian Army’s procurement program is in complete shambles. Bureaucrats and politicians are throttling the procurement
process.”

A more academic critique headlined “Arming without Aiming” will be coming soon from the America’s Brookings Institution. Co-authored by Stephen Cohen, a south Asia expert, it argues that India’s arms purchasing has “lacked political direction and has suffered from weak prospective planning, individual service-centred doctrines, and a disconnect between strategic objectives and the pursuit of new technology”.

And Ajai Shukla, a former army officer and now a defence journalist, writing in the Business Standard daily newspaper, this morning estimates that “Antony’s halo” is costing India 125% more than is necessary for half the equipment it buys because of price rises (during delayed contracts) and because tenders sometimes being abandoned in favour of more expensive negotiated deals.

70% bought abroad

India is the world’s largest buyer of defence equipment, with expenditure budgeted at least at $40bn over the next four years. Half of that is on capital expenditure and is likely to rise around 15% in the finance minister’s annual Budget speech this Friday, even though not all of it is ever spent.

At least 70% of purchases have been made abroad for decades, mainly because the generally inefficient and moribund public sector-dominated defence establishment cannot deliver even high technology night vision goggles and modern helmets, let alone fighter aircraft or guns. Until recently, the capable private sector was mostly kept out of doing more than supplying minor components because the defence establishment enjoyed the combined benefits of protected jobs, patronage, prestige, and foreign kickbacks – and because Antony instinctively supports public sector trade unions that do not want private sector competition.

As I wrote last October, the armed forces have been warning the Defence Ministry for years to accelerate orders for urgently needed new equipment that are mired in bureaucratic inertia, corruption, and the manipulations of competing suppliers who trip up each other’s potential orders. (The same applies to equipment needed for the Home Ministry’s internal security).

The latest 'Bofors' - BAE and M&M's FH77 B05

How Pakistan and China must enjoy watching the self-inflicted damage that India does to its own war readiness, relishing the thought that they themselves could not do more in a border war.

Some progress has been made in recent years on improving defence manufacturing, but this has been dismally slow since it was nominally opened up to the Indian private sector in 2002. With a few exceptions such as Tata and Larsen & Toubro obtaining rocket launcher contracts, and L&T building the hull of a nuclear submarine, there have been few major private sector orders.

This will gradually change following the introduction in the past year of a technology transfer-oriented “Buy and Make (Indian)” policy, and the (long drawn out and muddled) introduction of an offset programme, where foreign arms companies have to spend half the value of an order in India. This is pulling foreign defence companies into tie-ups with Indian business such as M&M’s with BAE, but offset contracts worth only Rs8,200 crore ($1.8m) have so far been signed, half with the Indian private sector.

Less progress has been made on speeding up urgently needed defence orders, often because potential losers lobby or bribe the government to change tack. Following intense US diplomatic pressure, a $550m a pending order with Europe’s Eurocopter for 197 modern light helicopters that are urgently needed by the Army was cancelled two years ago after America realised its Bell company was losing. Inexplicably, Bell failed to tender when the contract was offered again.

Europe complains

Last month, Germany’s ambassador to India, Thomas Matussek, complained publicly after a $1.5bn contract for Airbus A-330 multi-role refueling tanker aircraft, made by Europe’s EADS consortium and favoured by the Indian Air Force, was rejected because the finance ministry said the aircraft were too expensive. Matussek alleged ‘”political reasons”, and one does not have to be too much of a conspiracy theorist to sense America’s hand at work again though a Russian Ilyushin was the runner-up in the 2008 tender.

Matussek’s complaint had a wider significance at a time when the US, using clout provided by its nuclear supplies deal with India, is trying to supplant Russia as the country’s biggest arms supplier. India has begun negotiating some contracts through the US government instead of using tenders, partly to enable it to select specific equipment such as Boeing’s C-17 Globemaster heavy-lift aircraft where a $1.7bn order is being negotiated, and partly to avoid the risk of corruption scandals on competitive tendering. This sort of negotiated contract has happened for decades with Russia, but the use of America’s FMS (foreign military sales) procedure is new and is worrying European countries such as Germany, France, and the UK because they risk being squeezed out of key contracts.

So what does India need to begin to turn itself into a state of at least semi-war readiness to cope with potential border wars with China and Pakistan?

First, it needs a defence minister who can shake off the Bofors legacy and cope with kick-backs, whether or not he lines his own and his political party’s pockets. He also needs the political skills, standing and determination to push through quick decisions and play diplomatic games constructively with the US, Russia and Europe so that orders are placed, not cancelled.

Also needed are a prime minister and political leadership who can shake off some of the froth surrounding India’s peace-loving mantra and who are genuinely interested in building up the technological capability, and supporting the manpower, of the country’s fighting forces. Sadly the current dispensation, as it is called in India, does not meet that criteria.
A slightly shorter version of this post, without the pics, is on the FT.com India page at http://www.ft.com/world/asiapacific/india

http://ridingtheelephant.wordpress....ipping-of-india’s-armed-forces-is-“innocent”/

 

[Singh]

Aditi Phadnis: In defence of Antony​

His reputation for integrity is responsible for his bad administration

When AK Antony was appointed as the country’s defence minister, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh commented to a colleague in a flash of dry humour: “The finance minister should be happy. Now the defence ministry won’t spend a single rupee and the finance ministry will save lots of money.”

Known variously as St Antony and Mr Clean, this much is true: Although Antony has said time and again that procurement policies must demonstrate a positive bias in favour of Indian industry, defence purchases are down to a trickle and what little is being bought is through the government-to-government foreign military sales (FMS) route rather than directly from private sector arms manufacturers. That way, Antony manages to avoid controversy, although, typically, FMS is more expensive than direct negotiation and helps the private sector defence industry in the other countries country (mostly the US) rather than the Indian industry. It also sometimes creates piquant situations. There is the curious case of ultra-light howitzer, for instance: Only two firms in the world make the gun. The one that is Singapore-based is being pushed into a specious CBI enquiry and when the Army starts making a noise about shortages, the FMS route will be taken, with the order falling in the lap of its British/American rival. No one comments on the fairness or otherwise of this decision. But, at least there are no arms dealers lurking here, and Antony actually buys something with his reputation intact.

Here’s the thing: With his credibility and reputation for probity, modernisation plans for the three services could have moved much faster. But because of his reputation for integrity, Antony has chosen to be a bad administrator rather than being a good one. If you’re the sort who judges a book by its cover, you would ask yourself: What has India done to deserve such a loser as a defence minister? Antony has about as much charisma as a tortoise; he is not a particularly good speaker and if he has a personality, it doesn’t impress.

But nothing that he has done in his political life owes to his personality. It is just his work. He has almost never lost an election. He is the only person in Kerala who can stand from around 100 of Kerala’s 140 constituencies and be assured of a victory: He’s proved it in Cherthala, his hometown, which he didn’t visit for a quarter of a century after making his debut from there in the assembly in 1971. Then, he returned there for the 1996 Assembly elections, managing to defeat his Left front rival CK Chandrappan by a healthy margin proving all his critics utterly wrong.

So what gives Antony acceptability? Antony’s politics is always — and only — about doing the right thing.

When he became the chief minister of Kerala in 1996, he banned the sale and production of arrack (country liquor), stupefying voters. Not content with this, he opted to take a huge revenue hit but trebled the rates of excise on indian made foreign liquor (IMFL). Because arrack is a source of livelihood for thousands of families, the Left Front came out on the streets to demonstrate against him. The Congress party begged him to reverse the decision. He didn’t budge. This won him the eternal support of women and the church — the same bishops opposed him bitterly in 1974 for his stand that all church-(especially Catholic church) owned educational institutions should be nationalised as the state pays a major share of their expenses. After the arrack prohibition decision, Antony — who incidentally turned agnostic when he was very young, not an easy decision in the politics of religion in Kerala — was in an equable mood over this sudden enthusiasm of the church for his policies and advised the bishops that teetotalism was the right thing to do and that they should set an example by not drinking wine and suchlike in public.

Antony owns no property. His family lives in a tiny house bought by his wife. Kerala’s museums are full of mementos he’s donated to them — because they were presented, not to him but to the chief minister of Kerala. Today, if Congress President Sonia Gandhi is confused about a political decision, she will always ask the protagonists: “have you discussed this with Antonyji?”

But Antony loves power. There has been no occasion when he has refused to accept a post in either the party or the government. He recently said he would never return to Kerala politics. That can only mean his next job will be the President of India.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/aditi-phadnis-in-defenceantony/386253/

 

[Singh]

The cost of Antony's halo​

It is hard to determine what India pays to perpetuate AK Antony's reputation for honesty, but the monetary penalty alone is thousands of crores a year
Ajai Shukla / New Delhi February 23, 2010, 0:18 IST

Sarojini Naidu famously observed that it cost India millions to keep Gandhi in poverty. It is harder to determine what this country pays to perpetuate Defence Minister AK Antony’s reputation for honesty, but the monetary penalty alone is thousands of crores per year.

Here’s how it adds up. Antony’s obsessive quest for unblemished weapons procurement has delayed the acquisition of artillery and anti-aircraft guns, fighters, submarines, night fighting gear and a host of equipment upgrades. With arms inflation at 15 per cent per annum, a five-year delay means that India pays twice what it should have. And when that equipment is obtained through government-to-government purchases and other single-vendor contracts, the cost is about 25 per cent more than it would have been in competitive bidding. Conservatively estimating that delays afflict just half of the defence ministry’s Rs 50,000 crore procurement budget, India buys Rs 25,000 crore worth of weaponry for 125 per cent more than what it should have paid.

Over and above that figure is the cost to national prestige and the devaluation of India’s military deterrent when — as in the wake of the 26/11 terror strikes in Mumbai — India’s armed forces are unprepared for immediate strikes. That happened on Antony’s watch.

To inconvenient questions about procurement delays, Antony declares that “India is a democracy” and “we have to ensure full transparency”. Point out to him that many democracies manage timely procurement in a transparent manner, and you will get a patronising, “Don’t worry, we are doing all that is necessary to safeguard the security of the country.”

After five years of insensibility to Antony’s disastrous custodianship of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Congress party seems to be realising that in India’s deteriorating security environment, Antony’s functioning might leave the party with having to account for a military embarrassment. Last week, Congress party spokesperson Manish Tewari wrote an opinion piece in a national daily, arguing for all the changes that Antony has assiduously blocked during his five disastrous years in office.

Tewari called for “reforms that are visionary”; treating Indian private industry on a par with the public sector; and “drastically retooling” the Department of Defence Production. Though qualified as his personal views, the article represented growing opinion within the Congress party.

Is it fair, Antony’s defenders will ask, to pin the blame entirely on him? After all, George Fernandes had publicly declared that fear of the three C’s — the CAG, the CVC and the CBI — held back MoD bureaucrats from making decisions. But Antony, like no other defence minister before him, endangers national security by his otherwise laudable fetish for probity. The message that flows out of Antony’s office and seeps through the procurement department is: cancel an ongoing procurement at the first hint of irregularity. It does not matter whether the suspicion has been planted by a rival arms dealer; a paid-for Parliamentary question; or a letter from an MP which has clearly been dictated by someone who possesses every detail of the tender in question. Just put the process on indefinite hold.

One MoD official asked me: Point out one official who has been punished for delaying the procurement of even the most vitally needed equipment. But if I am seen to move a file quickly, the defence minister’s office will ask, “What is the hurry. It seems almost as if you have a stake in that deal.”

Then there is Antony’s obvious bewilderment about the technical issues of the military, a crashing ignorance that cannot be condoned in India’s top military decision-maker. Antony’s apologists cite his preoccupation with party matters; but that is hardly convincing. His predecessor, Pranab Mukherjee, who had an immeasurably larger role in the party and national affairs, handled the MoD with skill and knowledge.

At a lunch, three years ago, I asked the Australian defence minister why his air force was buying F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters when Australia was already in line for the futuristic F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which was nearing completion. His answer: Australia’s ageing F-111 fighters would be retiring in 2010; since the F-35 project was running a couple of years late, 24 new Super Hornets would be inducted to retain Australian capability. (The Super Hornets are reaching Australia next month.)

Contrast that urgency with Antony’s “we-will-consider” approach, even though India faces a greater chance of military confrontation with Pakistan or China than Australia does with New Zealand or Papua and New Guinea.

Antony’s personal image and goals are damaging national security and the image of his party. If electoral seat adjustment and managing state-level dissidence is his particular skill, let him move out of that crucial corner office in South Block and give him a place in the Congress party office.

After Neville Chamberlain had miserably failed to reign in Hitler in 1939, British MP Leo Amery echoed the words of Oliver Cromwell in calling for Chamberlain’s head at a memorable session of the British Parliament: “You have sat here too long for any good you are doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”

Mr Antony?

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ajai-shuklacostantony\s-halo/386534/

 

[Singh]

'I Am Not Fit To Be Defence Minister If I Reveal Inventory Of Armed Forces'--Antony​

Well Sir, you can do that if you knew what we had in our inventory!!

Last week I've interacted with a lot of Americans, Russians, Israelis, Swedes, during Defexpo (in evening parties after the exhibition), and they have just one grudge that the Minister just doesn't take decisions, which is very important even if they are wrong decisions. Not that I endorse that totally but I definitely saw a point in what they said.

Arakkaparambil Kurian Antony, who is more bothered about his spotless mundu and shirt, not getting soiled, than modernisation of the armed forces, said he could not reveal the inventory of his armed forces otherwise he was not fit to be Defence Minister. Sir, if I may ask, are you otherwise fit to be Defence Minister?? He faints at the NDA POP (something that has never happened ever before), even health-wise he doesn't appear fit to me !!

There was a joke doing the rounds in INS Hansa at the MiG-29K induction ceremony, that probably Antony doesn't know the full form of MiG and thinks MiG stands for--'Made in Goa or Made in Gujarat' !!!

Having cancelled more deals than materialised them, the Minister talks about equipping the armed forces with the best and latest, but has been instructed not to get into dirty deals , just to keep them hanging and complete his tenure.

In Defexpo Antony said that, 'Our armed forces are ready for any eventuality and we will protect every inch of our land'. Sure Sir, but you and your armed forces can protect every inch of the country's land when your army brass is not busy grabbing land for itself and hurling allegations and counter allegations at each other in the capital's courts and Tribunals in Sukna land scam !!

The Defence Minister promotes a senior officer, who misbehaves with a lady journalist, and sends him for Command, and talks of guarding the country while is unable to guard the honour of a woman in South Block. He doesnt know what happens in South Block, right under him.

There's a famous joke in South Block that Antony has been sent to MoD, not to protect the country but to guard the furniture-tables and chairs, of South Block, which is what he is doing. Well, I can see why he has been sent the second time by 10 Janpath !! To actually guard the furniture, which are safe, but the fighter planes have been going down, including the super safe Sukhoi. When the last Sukhoi goes down there will be total 'transparency' between both the warring neighbours--transparency, which Antony so much talks about !!!

About Indo-Pak talks, the Minister said in Goa that he was not an astrologer to know what was going to happen. Indeed Sir, you are not an astrologer, but do we need clairvoyance to arrive at the outcome of these talks, which have been going on ages without any outcome.

Is the Minister even aware of the fact the ISI Headquarters has a seperate 'Kashmir Liberation Cell' in it seperately which has 80 percent of the ISI strength directed towards it. The Minister smiles a lot, especially on outstation defence coverage trips, where he makes sure the media is well looked-after and well-fed, and enquires about the same from them, but doesnt digress from his rote lines and phrases like, 'indigenisation', 'protection of the country at all costs', we want cordial relations with our neighbours' etc, but has not issued even one single RFP under the 'Make' category since 2006.

Now the MoD is revising the 'Make' category, and ofcourse how cordial Pakistan was with us, we've seen that in 26/11, where the loss to the national economy in 60 hours was far more than what we could've had in a conventional war at the border. The enemy achieved its purpose by bleeding us through a 1000 cuts. We were a butt of ridicule in front of the international community, where Israelis made fun of the NSG and said they would've completed the operation successfully in 24 hours, while we took 60 hours and lost more than 200 people!!

The Minister ensures there are adequate Kerala media houses when he does something, so that back-home he gets enough publicity in the local language, whether he gets it in the national media is secondary, something I sensed when he went to pay homage to Bhagat Singh's memorial in 2008, in Punjab, where there was more Malyalam media than national. Back then the Left was part of the Central alliance, and dont we know that Bhagat Singh was a communist, and why Congress was trying to please the Left, that time.

http://chhindits.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-am-not-fit-to-be-defence-

 

[ajtr]

Tank Ex to be an Indian T-72 upgrade option

The Tank Ex tale has taken a new twist. Two Tank Ex have been sanctioned for Indian Army T-72 upgrade possibility. Some time back, Frontier India Wrote an article ” Tank Ex, ideal T-72 upgrades. ” The two prototypes are to be tested by the Indian Army for the T-72 upgrades. During DEFEXPO 2010, Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) and Raytheon Company announced teaming up in a L&T led proposal submitted this month to upgrade Indian Army T72 tanks.
Tank-Ex is a T-72 chassis with highly reliable Arjun Tank turret and 1000 HP engine. Tank-ex has a higher power to weight ratio of 21 as compared to 20 of a T-72. The weight is expected to be 47 tons against 40 tons of T-72. Tenk-Ex will have a higher firepower with low silhouette compared to the T-72.

Tank-Ex will be capable of 60 Kms speed. Tank-Ex is a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) made option which was first displayed in During DEFEXPO 2004.
Indian Army plans to upgrade upto 1000 T-72 tanks in the near future. The upgrades are expected to cost $100 million.