Defence and Security of India - Feb 2011 issue

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FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

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LETTER FROM THE editor

The induction ofthe LightCombat AircraftTejas, if not a historic landmark, is astep in the rightdirection. Itwould be churlish not toacknowledge theachievement ofall those whohave played avital role in thedevelopment ofthis ThirdGeneration aircraft.

Mannika ChopraEDITOR

Defence & Security of India

he biennial air show in Bangalore may not have achieved the iconic status ofFarnborough or Paris air shows as yet but it certainly stands as one of Asia’s highpoints and ranks up there along with the air shows of Singapore and Dubai. As theNew Year rolls in, this defence-specific event gives us occasion to reflect on thenation’s air defence capabilities.

Given the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) current strength and its increasinglydominant role not only as a tactical support to the Army but as a strategic partner

in its own right, DSI examines the efficacy of the air fleet. The conclusions unfortunately are notpositive. There is a woeful shortfall of combat aircraft. According to defence strategy experts , by 2020India will need a 50-55 strong squadron with an aircraft mix of multi-role, strike, defence andreconnaissance.

Seeing the recent activity in the neighbourhood, the need to reinforce the IAF’s ageing anddepleted fleet should assume even more urgency. A few hours before the American Secretary ofDefence was to meet China’s President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of People in Beijing on January 11,2011, an aircraft took off from the airfield from the southern city of Chendu. The flight, taking 15minutes,was of China’s Fifth Generation Aircraft, the J-20. The test run was a clear message to the worldgenerally and specifically to the region that what was happening was potentially a shift in thedominance of America in the air. Probably, India has the most to lose with this addition to China’sair defence capacity especially as the J-20 will be stationed in Tibet and Xingiang.

The eminent induction of the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas into the IAF, if not a historic landmark, iscertainly a step in the right direction. It would be churlish not to acknowledge the achievement ofthe aircraft’s designers, the scientists, the production engineers and flight test team who have playeda vital role in the development of this Third Generation aircraft. But the hard truth is that beset by hugecost overruns and assorted delays it has taken 28 years for the Tejas to get its Initial OperationClearance. And as useful as the Tejas will be in strengthening the IAF there is still a big question markwhether it will be produced quickly enough and in sufficient numbers.

DSI has also started an occasional series on the Subcontinent’s military history, perhaps a smallattempt to emphasise that old adage, that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.

As usual we look forward to your feedback. If you have any comments and suggestions email us [email protected]. Should you want to subscribe then contact us at [email protected] our marketing team will do the rest.

T

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CON

TEN

TS

COVER STORY 16

CLOUDY SKIESGiven the shifting dynamics of the region, the Indian Air Force has failed to live up to its mandate of being a powerful strategic force able to compete with its neighbours and may be ill-equipped to face the challenges of the 21st century.

AFP

2

Contents 2nd time:contents-feb-R.qxd 01/02/11 12:11 PM Page 2

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HISTORY 62

BENGAL’SFORGOTTENREGIMENT The 49th Bengalis was the onlyregiment of that era whererecruitment was not done on the basisof caste and creed instead an overallBengali identity pervaded.

SECURITY 50

KEEPING THECOAST CLEARAfter the 26/11 seaborne attack onMumbai, the Indian Navy is fast-tracking a robust Coastal SecurityNetwork to protect India’s seaboard.

MILITARY HELICOPTERS 32

BIRDS OF WARIndia’s military is preparing toexpand its helicopter fleet over thenext decade through imports and by inducting indigenously designedplatforms. By the end of the 13thFinance Plan in 2022 all threeServices plan on operating over1,000 advanced light utility, attack,heavy lift, ship-borne, anti-submarine warfare and attack helicopters.

COMBAT AIRCRAFT 26

RISING AIRPOWER The ubiquitous Tejas, the centre ofeveryone’s attention for nearlythree decades, finally gets itsInitial Operating Clearance. Itssuccess will not only pave the wayfor an adequate number of aircraftin the IAF’s inventory but will alsoserve as the launch pad for futurefighter programmes.

TECHNOLOGY 08

WAR IN THEFIFTHDOMAINNetwork-centric operations incontemporary conflicts arevital to a nation’s defence yetIndia still remains at a nascentstage of development and itwill be some years before it canbecome a truly networkedforce. War in the future can beprevented, fought, won or lostthrough information anddominance, making network-centricity the lynchpin of futureaerospace operations.

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

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CONTRIBUTORS

Ajai Shukla works in boththe visual and the print

media. He is consultingeditor (Strategic Affairs) forBusiness Standard . He was

also consulting editor (Strategic Affairs)

for NDTV, a reputed newsbroadcaster in India, forwhich he has anchored

prime time news and specialprogrammes. He is currently

working on a book on Sino-Indian frontier policy.

Ashok Nath, FRGS,is aprofessor of history of warand military culture, and a

former officer of ArmouredCorps, Indian Army. His

writings have appeared invarious journals. He is theauthor of Izzat, a book that

deals with the history ofIndian cavalry regiments. He

is currently working on theparticipation of Indian

regiments during the GreatWar of 1914-1918.

Dr Bidanda Chengappa is aVisiting Fellow at the Centre

for Land Warfare Studies,New Delhi and till recently

was a senior editor withDeccan Herald, Bangalore.

WithThe New Indian Express,New Delhi andThe Hindu

Businessline he specialisedin writing on defence. A PhD

in India-China relations, hehas authored two books, one

on India’s national securityand foreign policy towards

China and another onPakistan’s military and

foreign policies.

BIDANDA CHENGAPPA

B.K. PANDEY

B.K. Pandey, Air MarshalPVSM, AVSM, VM(retd), has

held a number of importantcommand, staff and

instructional appointmentsin the transport stream of the

Indian Air Force. As a youngofficer, he served as a flyinginstructor with the Republic

of Singapore Air Force andwas the Air Attache at theEmbassy of India in Kabulduring the war-torn yearsfrom 1989 to 1992. He was

also part of the Indian PeaceKeeping Force in Sri Lanka

between 1987 and 1988.

KAPIL KAK

Kapil Kak, Air Vice MarshalAVSM, VSM (retd), is a well-known defence and security

affairs analyst, who earlierserved as Deputy Director of

the Institute for DefenceStudies and Analyses, New

Delhi. A post-graduate inDefence and Strategic

Studies from theUniversities of Madras and

Allahabad, he has authoredmore than 40 major book

chapters and journal articleson a variety of strategic,

national security anddefence issues. He iscurrently Additional

Director, Centre for AirPower Studies, New Delhi.

Jayadeva Ranade, a formerAdditional Secretary,

Cabinet Secretariat,Government of India, is asecurity and intelligence

expert. A seasoned Chinaanalyst, his foreign

assignments have includedBejing and Hong Kong, the

last one as minister in theIndian Embassy in

Washington. He writes ondefence for many leading

publications.

AJAISHUKLA

ASHOKNATH

JAYADEVARANADE

CONTRIBUTORS 2nd time_contributors-aug.qxd 03/02/11 11:50 AM Page 1

DEFENCE and SECURITYof INDIA

FEBRUARY 2011 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 4

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFManeesha DubeEDITORMannika ChopraSENIOR SUB-EDITORSUrmila Marak, Suparna SenguptaCREATIVE DIRECTORBipin KumarDESIGNAjay Kumar (Sr Designer),Saurabh Mishra, Sujit SinghSENIOR MANAGER INTERNATIONAL MARKETINGVishal MehtaDEPUTY MANAGER MARKETINGTarun MalviyaCIRCULATION & DISTRIBUTIONSunil GujralPRODUCTION & PRE-PRESSSunil Dubey, Ritesh Roy, Devender PandeyMEDIA TRANSASIA INDIA LIMITED323, Udyog Vihar, Ph-IV, Gurgaon 122016Ph: +91 0124-4759500 Fax: +91 0124-4759550FINANCIAL CONTROLLERPuneet Nanda PRESIDENTXavier CollacoCHAIRMANJ. S. Uberoi

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Defence and Security of Indiais published and printed byXavier Collaco on behalf of Media Transasia India Limited.Published at 323, Udyog Vihar, Ph- IV, Gurgaon 122016 andprinted at Azure Press Services, A-28, Naraina Industrial Area,Phase I, New Delhi 110028. Entire contents Copyright © 2008.All rights reserved. Reproduction and translation in anylanguage in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Requests for permission should be directed to MediaTransasia India Limited. Opinions carried in the magazine arethose of the writers’ and do not necessarily reflect those of theeditors or publishers. While the editors do their utmost toverify information published they do not accept responsibilityfor its absolute accuracy.The publisher assumes no responsibility for the return ofunsolicited material or for material lost or damaged in transit.All correspondence should be addressed to Media TransasiaIndia Limited.

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www.mediatransasia.in/defence.htmlhttp://www.defencesecurityindia.com

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

Mrinal Suman, MajorGeneral (retd), is an expert

on various aspects of India’sdefence procurement regime

and offsets and has beenclosely associated with the

evolution of the new defenceprocurement mechanism. He

is often consulted by policymakers and the

Parliamentary Committee onDefence. He also heads the

Defence TechnicalAssessment and Advisory

Service of the Confederationof Indian Industry.

Rahul Bedi is the New Delhicorrespondent for Jane’sDefence Weekly, UK and

contributes to it on a diverserange of security and

military related matters. He is also the India

correspondent for the DailyTelegraph, London and

the Irish Times.

RAHUL BEDI

MRINAL SUMAN

CONTRIBUTORS 2nd time_contributors-aug.qxd 03/02/11 11:50 AM Page 2

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TECHNOLOGY

WAR IN THEFIFTH DOMAINNetwork-centric operations in contemporary conflicts are vital toa nation’s defence yet India remains at a nascent stage ofbecoming a networked force

Airforce Netcentric 2ND TIME_INDO-PAK.qxd 03/02/11 12:28 PM Page 8

! In September-December 2000, during twomissions in Afghanistan, a CIA reconnaissancePredator UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)tracked and obtained the precise location andimagery of Osama Bin Laden talking to ten ofhis supporters. But the UAV was unable tostrike, as it was not only unarmed but the shortfleeting opportunity precluded timely vectoringof a strike platform to the scene.! On November 6, 2002, a CIA Predator UAVarmed with a Hellfire air-to-ground missile,successfully attacked a vehicle carrying SalimAl-Harethi and five other Al Qaeda operativesnear Marid, 150km, east of Yemen’s capitalSana, killing them instantly. From the firstsighting by the Predator to it executing thestrike with information flowing back and forth tothe Combined Air Operations Centre at Tampa,Florida, for verification and authorisation ofthe strike by combined USAF-CIA-CENTCOMteams, the time span was 12 minutes.

Both these cases illustrate clearly therole of a highly effective network-centric operation in contemporary

conflicts. The unique and successful strike on Salim Al-Harethi, the suspectedterrorist-leader of the October 2000bombing of the US destroyer USS Cole,revealed dramatically the reduced sensor-shooter time-gap, a speed that was absentin the Afghanistan example. Hopefully,this lesson is not lost on the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The narrative of an effective aerospace

9

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

! A robustly networked force

improves information sharing andshared situational awareness. ! The IAF is in the process ofintroducing five Integrated AirCommand and Control Centres.! As the responsibility for ensuringthe security integrity of the nation’sairspace vests with the IAF defence ofspace assets should be theproprietary mission of that Service.

KEY POINTS

KAPILKAK

An Air Force MQ-1B PredatorUnmanned Aerial Vehicle

going out on patrol from Balad air base, Iraq

AFP

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TECHNOLOGY

power kill-chain having every sensor asshooter and every shooter as sensor istoday par for the course. This is also borneout by the palpable success of such UAVattacks on suspected terrorist hideoutsacross Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan.These have increased sharply from 5 in2007 to 117 in 2010 with correspondingterrorist casualties going up from 73 to 801.

Since the beginning of military forceapplication through air power, air forceplanners have always eagerly soughtaccurate and timely information forenhanced situational awareness.

In the Arthashastra, the Indian thinker and military strategist, Kautalyaextensively articulated the necessity for information management andnetworking. Gengiz Khan, the Mongolconqueror, too was the master ofemploying horse cavalry in outflankingforays against enemy dispositions togather information for networking hisforces prior to the main offensive. Theconcept of information dominance – thekey to network-centric applications – isthus centuries old. It has acquired fargreater relevance today thanks to the sheerpace of information technology mutationscompressing change cycles so dramatically.

The requirement to compress timeframes and expand space to exploit theactivity cycle of information, decision andaction in air operations has been broughthome to the Indian Air Force in almost allthe wars thrust on it since Independence.

By way of networking, the foremostobjective has been the linking of radar

and communication units, surface to air missile (SAM) sites and air bases for comprehensive operational picturegeneration and quick-response decision-making. As information technology didnot dominate society and war fightingthen, manual plotters responded to voiceinputs from radars and mobile observationposts (MOPs) to improve base air defence(AD) but these proved inadequate.Communications improved through thelaunch in the 1970s of the AD groundenvironment system (ADGES) that reliedon the troposcatter effect to networkoperational bases.

Early Networking ForaysThe IAF’s early radar networking foraysbegan with the setting up in the mid-1980sof a joint IAF-DRDO (Defence Researchand Development Organisation) low- levelradar networking group to enhancecapabilities to intercept airborne threatsthrough multi-radar input fusion. Foroptimal integration of assets and fasterdecision making, a public sector unit in theearly 1990s was launched in what wastermed as a futuristic automatic datahandling system. But, sadly, the lack of fast-processing computer systemsconstrained these well-intentioned andcreative initiatives though in the processthe IAF learned a range of techno-operational lessons in networking.

The IAF’s severe limitations insurveillance and reconnaissance capabilitiesfor information-acquisition and feed-in todiverse airborne platforms became exposed

during the Kargil conflict. It had to initiate a12-day long reconnaissance campaign toidentify Pakistan Army locations beforebattlefield air strikes could be undertaken.

Over a decade later, there is aheightened awareness that the fullcapability and potential of an advancedaerospace force, like the IAF, can only berealised if it transforms into a viablenetworked force.

There is no gainsaying that for the IAF the ability to speedily collect,collate, process and disseminateinformation will enhance mission spaceawareness: the higher this capability,the greater the level of information dominance relative to an adversary. Thus,networking widely dispersed ground-based sensors like radars, MOPs andaerostats with multispectral sensors onairborne platforms, UAVs and dedicatedairborne warning and control systems(AWACS), through a secure and robustcommunication system, and processingthe data generated to create acomprehensive air situation – termedinformation Integration – lies at the heartof the IAF’s contemporary air operations.

A robustly networked force improvesinformation sharing that translates intoenhanced quality and accuracy ofinformation and shared situationalawareness. The latter entails status anddisposition of friendly forces, enemyelements and clarity on other operationaldimensions generated by sensorsdeployed on satellites in space, mannedand unmanned airborne platforms, on

US attacks Iraq duringthe 1991 Gulf War

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TECHNOLOGY

ground and at sea. Transmission of voice,text and video data through robust andsecure digital networks to ‘edge entities’that conduct force application missionsand their feedback completes the networkcycle. Clearly, information dominanceleads onto decision superiority and, inturn, boosts capabilities.

A key attribute of networked aerospaceforces is that these remove the dividingline between strategic, operational and tactical levels. By leveraging theunique aerospace power attributes of long range penetration, precision,persistence and minimal blood-letting,net-centric operations allow prosecutionof operations in vast geographic spaces,non-linearly, at multiple levels andsimultaneously achieving political andstrategic effect, in what has been termedas parallel warfare.

The causal linkage between network-centric operations (NCO) and effects-basedoperations (EBO)warrants underscoring.The former translates informationaladvantage into combat power while thelatter constitutes a system for skillfulplanning and employment of selectedelements of national power to achievespecific military and politico-strategic effectsthat impact negatively on the adversary’scoherence,ability and the will to fight.

In this intricate dyad, surveillance andreconnaissance, intelligence and targetattack/acquisition (SARITA) technologiesprovide Air Force planners with startlingcapabilities to garner highly accuratesituational awareness for informationaldominance in EBO; these capabilities inconjunction with other dimensions serveas drivers of aerospace power.

Space, the Final Frontier Like other advanced Air Forces, the IAFtoo will have to increasingly rely onspace-based SARITA, communicationsand data transfer, navigation andguidance for net-centric and space-enabled force enhancement capabilities.We have witnessed how the US employedfifty satellites (under the armed forcescommand) during the 1991 Gulf War,with the number doubling for the 2003Iraq war and proportionate bandwidthgoing up 32 times from 99 to 3,200 mbps.Network infrastructure – a significantpart of which will be space enabled –is justifiably perceived as the ‘soft ribs’against which a determined adversarycan deliver a fatal punch with kinetic ornon-kinetic weapons. The need to guard

against the equivalent of a space PearlHarbour is thus obvious.

Further, while space is doubtless acommon asset to be shared, including bythree armed forces,defence of space assetsmust be assigned only to one service. Asthe responsibility for ensuring the securityintegrity of the nation’s airspace vests withthe Air Force, defence of space assetsshould be the proprietary mission of thatService. Nor must Command-and-Control(C2) aspects,more so for networking, getneglected. A tri-service space cell doesfunction at HQ Integrated Defence Staff.But given that future warfare will bedominated by space to an increasingextent, the need for a dedicated AerospaceCommand under the IAF hardly warrants emphasis.

Conceptually, Command-and-Controlspans the physical, information andcognitive domains. C2 sensors, platforms,systems and infrastructure – for battlespace monitoring – are components of thephysical domain. On the other hand,information collected, collated andprocessed, exits in the informationaldomain,while developing understanding,making sense of information andgenerating the command intent, form part

A Doppler Radar

The prospective launch of a dedicated Air Forcesatellite will go a long

way in up-scaling communication

capacities. Air Force Net will doubtless serve

as an effective force multiplier for

‘intelligence analysis,mission planning

and control, post-missionfeedback’ and in

maintenance, logistics

and administration.

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TECHNOLOGY

of the cognitive domain. Not withoutreason then is network-centric warfareperceived as a part of information-centricwarfare as the former occupies the keyspace within the intersection of threecircles of the physical, informational andcognitive domain.

There is need to anchor this conceptualmodel to a structure that ensures automaticdecision support capability which istranslated into increased informationvelocity and boosted combat power. Overthe years, the IAF has been unable to evolvean indigenous solution for a comprehensiveC2 network, integrating radars of differentkinds with aerostats, AWACS and ground-based radars under acquisition.

Consequently, the IAF is reported to be in the process of having in place five Integrated Air Command and ControlCentres (IACCs), on each of its fiveoperational commands that will beconnected to the apex rung of the commandchain, the National Command Post.

Close coupling of integratedcommunications with computationalcapabilities enhance network-centricity.The IAF has taken up the challenge to create and maintain a dedicated, secure and inter-operablecommunication network along withassociated services, to provide real time and instantaneous transfer ofinformation between ground-based andairborne sensors,AD weapon systems,C2nodes and shooters. Its core is therecently launched digital, fibre optics-linked Air Force Net (AFNET) that is partof the overall mission to network all three Services.

The prospective launch of a dedicatedAir Force satellite will go a long way in up-scaling satellite-based communicationcapacities. AFNET will doubtless serve as an effective force multiplier for‘intelligence analysis, mission planningand control, post-mission feedback’and in maintenance, logistics

and administration. But on-goingprogrammes need to get converted intoreal-time capabilities soon to enable theIAF to apply aerospace force at the timeand place of its choosing in consonancewith the politico-strategic effect sought.

As outlined, war in the future can beprevented, fought, won or lost throughinformation and dominance makingnetwork-centricity the lynchpin of futureaerospace operations. Unfortunately, theIAF is still at a nascent stage and it will besome years before it can become a trulynetworked force.

Space is of key importance and there isan urgent need for a dedicated IAF-ledAerospace Command.

To reiterate, network infrastructureconstitutes the ‘soft ribs’ of Indiandefence that can be dealt a fatal blow byan adversary. Multiple redundanciesensure survivability and assume criticalsalience in future planning for aneffective network-centric operations.

An IAF helicoptertakes off from Drassduring the Kargil conflict

AFP


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DEFENCE

B.K PANDEY

In the shifting dynamics of region, the Indian Air Force has failed to live up to itsmandate of being a powerful, strategic forceable to compete with its neighbours

CLOUDY

SKIES

Indian air force print 2nd time_INDO-PAK.qxd 03/02/11 12:39 PM Page 16

On the occasion of the 78th

anniversary of the Indian Air Force

(IAF) in October 2010, the Chief of

the Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal

P.V. Naik, in a press conference, candidly

stated that 50 percent of the assets of the

IAF were ‘obsolete.’While the disclosure

triggered a bout of frenzied excitement

in the media, the admission was

disconcerting to the nation at large

especially as the CAS also added that the

prevailing security situation in the

neighbourhood was ‘like a volcano.’ The

forthright statement by the CAS was

followed immediately by a damage control

exercise but it was too late.

To mitigate the level of public

consternation officials clarified that what

the CAS actually meant was the state of the

IAF’s assets which were being overtaken

by ‘obsolescence’; they were not, the

public was told, already ‘obsolete.’ For

close followers of the English language, the

subtle difference between the two terms

may have been hard to discern but

whatever the fine distinction it was

irrelevant considering both words reflect

the inadequacies of the state of our

national security.

Semantics apart, it would also have

been more appropriate for the CAS to

convey his concerns to the government in

confidence and not through the media

even though the state of the IAF’sinventory and its operational potential is

not a closely guarded secret.

Days of Yore Since the mid-1960s, the combat potential

of the IAF was built around aircraft and

weapon systems acquired from the

erstwhile USSR. Caught in the

superpower confrontation during the

Cold War, India was perceived by the West

as part of the Soviet camp despite its

17

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

KEY POINTS! To counter the security challengeswithin the country and the region,India needs to acquire the capabilityof swift military response bestprovided by air power. ! If there are no fresh inductions, bythe end of this decade, the IAF will beleft with a combat fleet of just under600 aircraft.! The IAF will require a combat fleetof 60 squadrons in the event of a full-scale war against Pakistan and China.

Indian Air Force IL-78 MKI tankeraircraft carries outmid-air refuelling

over Uttar Pradesh

AFP


avowed policy of Non-Alignment. In the three decades following the Sino-Indian conflict of 1962, the IAF reliedheavily on equipment procured from theUSSR acquired on favourable terms bothin terms of technology and cost. The IAFreceived the MiG series of combat aircraftin fairly large numbers as also the Su-7ground attack aircraft. The Indian combatfleet was augmented by aircraft procuredin limited numbers from the West againsthard currency – a scarce commodity in foreign exchange-strapped India. Inthose days, the force-mix was adequate for the IAF to defend India against threats emanating from across its western borders.

At that time, no serious threat fromacross its northern and eastern borderswas perceived from the Chinese People’sLiberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). Thenthe Chinese force was equipped withlargely poor-performing, vintage aircraftwhich operated from airfields located inhigh altitudes in Tibet without in-flightrefuelling capabilities. The PLAAF factor

had no or little influence in shaping thestrength of the IAF inventory.

It was the disintegration of the USSR inthe early 1990s and the consequentdisruption in the supply weapon’s chainfrom India’s principal source of militaryhardware which had a debilitating effecton the operational potential of the IAF. Atthe same time, a new world orderemerged, geo-political and geo-strategicequations changed, global economicintegration and China’s meteoric rise as aneconomic and military power, affordedIndia new perspectives and also newchallenges and opportunities.

Current geo-political and geo-strategiccompulsions in a uni-polar world haveIndia engaged in new strategic partnerships.Today, India’s role has changedsubstantially. Riding on a crest of aresurgent economy, India has emerged as aregional power and now assumes differentlevels of responsibility. Besides, India’ssecurity interests now transcend nationalboundaries and extend from the PersianGulf to the Strait of Malacca. To counter the

DEFENCE

18

Indian Air Force personnelextinguish a fire after thecrash of a Mig-29 aircraftin Ambala

Today, India’s role haschanged substantially.

Riding on a crest of aresurgent economy, India

has emerged as a regionalpower and now assumes

different levels ofresponsibility. Besides,

India’s security interestsnow transcend nationalboundaries and extend

from the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca.

”A

FP


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DEFENCE

security challenges within the country and

the region India needs to acquire the

capability of swift military response best

provided by air power. Shedding the

pervading, defensive politico-military

mindset, India needs to develop the

capability to project power and carry out

legitimate interventions in the region. “The

Indian Air Force must now move from a

threat-based approach to a capability-based

approach,” said the CAS. In short, the IAF

must transform itself from a tactical to a

powerful strategic force.

The Competition Certainly, the aerial threat scenario today is

under transition. The Pakistan Air Force

(PAF) is in the process of fleet renewal and

augmentation (see box). Only consider,after a

period of suspension, the supply of the US

F-16 combat aircraft has been resumed and

32 of the Block 52, the combat aircraft’s latest

version,have been delivered in the last two

years. With an option to acquire another 18,the PAF will have a total of 81 F-16s.

Meanwhile, JF-17 Thunder, the 12.7-tonne

Multi-Role Combat Aircraft powered by the

Russian RD93 engine, of which 300 are on

order, have begun arriving from China. By

2014,China is to supply 36 of the total of 150,20-tonne J-10 Multi-Role Combat Aircraft

powered by the Russian AL-31 engine : the

J-10 is possibly a clone of the cancelled

Israel’s Lavi programme. Apart from the

latest acquisitions, the PAF operates 414

older generation combat aircraft of French

and Chinese origin, albeit with lower

combat potential, and is also known to

possess nuclear weapon delivery capability.

Earlier dismissed nonchalantly as being

inconsequential, the People’s Liberation

Army Air Force (PLAAF) has also acquired

formidable strength with the induction of

modern combat aircraft from Russia and

from the indigenous aerospace industry

(see box). The combat fleet consists of

69 Su-27, 100 Su-30 and 364 J-10 as also over

1,100 older generation aircraft. Along the

border with India, China has also created

the required airfield infrastructure in Tibet

for sustained air operations. The PLAAF’searlier limitations of range and payload

have been offset by in-flight refuelling

capability. The reach of the Chinese

Apart from theinadequacies of the

indigenous aerospaceindustry, what often

frustrates the IAF is theexcruciatingly tardy pace of

procurement of urgentlyrequired weapons systems.

In 2001, an exercise to induct126 Medium Multi-Role

Combat Aircraft (MMRCA)was initiated by Air

Headquarters to replace theageing MiG21s.

”

Suryakiran trainingaircraft fly past anIAF flag

AFP


21

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

combat aircraft now extends with ease tolarge areas of the northern and easternparts of India. China also possesses nuclearweapons delivery capability.

Since its inception, the IAF has beenalmost completely Pakistan-centric forwhich the currently authorised combatfleet of 39.5 squadrons was considered tobe adequate. However, in the event of afull-scale war against Pakistan and Chinasimultaneously, the IAF will require acombat fleet of 60 squadrons. So far, thepossibility of a two-front war has not been considered to be within the realm of possibility.

As is evident, diplomatic effort sans thebacking of military might, is unlikely tohelp normalise relations with either one orboth of the neighbours. The worst casescenario visualised so far is that the IAFmay have to wage a full-scale war on thewestern front while holding action againstChina. However, in the context of thegrowing nexus between the two hostileneighbours, it may be imprudent to ruleout the possibility of a two-front war. Asthe CAS admitted, “The IAF is one-third of

the size of its rival PLAAF and far short ofwhat is needed to meet the securitychallenges facing the country.” The needfor a revamp of the IAF is indeedimperative and overdue.

Erosion in the Combat Fleet In recent years, there has been a significanterosion in the combat fleet which nowstands at 75 percent of its authorisedstrength. The single engine MiG-21, whichcomprised the bulk of the fleet of MiGvariants in the IAF, has had a safety recordso notorious that it is often described asthe ‘Flying Coffin.’ Of the 800 aircraftprocured by the IAF since the early 1960s,340 have been lost in accidents in whichover 200 fighter pilots have perished.

On completion of their technical life, theolder fleets of Soviet origin such as the MiGBison will have to be scrapped leading tofurther erosion of combat potential. Evenat a phenomenal cost, a mid-life upgradeof the residual strength of MiG-27,MiG-29, Jaguar and Mirage 2000 aircraft willprovide a lease of life to a total fleet ofaround only 300 Third Generation combat

In recent years, there has been significant

erosion in the combat fleet which now stands

at 75 percent of itsauthorised strength.

The single engine MiG-21 which comprised

bulk of the fleet of MiGvariants in the IAF had a

safety record so notorious as to

be described as the ‘Flying Coffin’.

”

Indian Air Forcepersonnel in a march

past at Air ForceTechnical College,

Bangalore

AFP


22

DEFENCE

platforms. This may be just enough toassure the minimum level of defensivecapability over the next decade. The onlytrue frontline combat fleet and themainstay of the IAF will be the FourthGeneration Su-30 MKI air dominancefighters. Of the 270 ordered, 100 have so farbeen delivered; and the remaining willarrive by 2013-2014.

The LCA has received an InitialOperational Clearance (IOC) but may take over a decade to be operationallydeployable and hence ought to be kept outof the reckoning for the time being (see thefollowing story). While the nation celebratesthis momentous event, ironically, the trackrecord of the LCA programme is symbolicof the near total lack of capability of theindigenous aerospace industry to support amodernisation programme of the IAF.

If there are no fresh inductions by theend of this decade, the IAF will be left towith a combat fleet of just under 600aircraft, a mix of Third and FourthGeneration machines, to confront the PAFof similar size or a much larger PLAAF. TheIAF is clearly not in any state ofpreparedness to support even a defensiveposture with any degree of confidencewith one or both is adversaries.Spearheading offensive action is out of thequestion. For the IAF, there appears to be acrisis looming on the horizon that calls forurgent action.

Aware of these shortcomings, India hascurrently embarked on the acquisition ofcombat aircraft in sizeable numbers toensure timely replacement of its fleets thatare either already phased out, obsolete orare seriously threatened by ‘obsolescence’.

According to the Defence Minister A.K. Antony, the combat fleet of the IAF will not only be restored to its original strength but will be increased to 42 squadrons.

Tardy PaceApart from the inadequacies of theindigenous aerospace industry,what oftenfrustrates the IAF is the excruciatingly tardypace of procurement of urgently requiredweapons systems. In 2001, an exercise toinduct 126 Medium Multi-Role CombatAircraft (MMRCA) was initiated by AirHeadquarters to replace the ageing MiG-21s acquired in the sixties. With the LCA,meant to replace the MiG-21 fleet,no wherenear completion, the case for procuring theMMRCA has become all the more urgent.

However, a decade has gone by since

AIRCRAFT TYPE YEAR OF ENTRY NUMBERS REMARKS

JF-17 Thunder 2008 82009 6 Total order for 300

by 2017

Chengdu J-10 (FC-20) 2014 36 Total order for 150

F-16 A/B Block 15 1983 402009 14 Of the total 54, 9

lost in crashes, F-16 C/D Block 52 2010 18 Option for addl 18

Mirage III 1968 – 1990 121Mirage V 1973 – 2000 60Chengdu F-7 1988-2002 192Nanchang A-5 1983 41

AIRCRAFT TYPE NUMBERS REMARKS

Su-27 SK & UBK 69Su-30 MKK & MKK2 100Chengdu J-7, J-7 II, JJ-7 471Chengdu J-10A, J-10/S/B 364Chengdu J-20 2 Fifth Generation Aircraft

(under development) Shenyang J-8D, J-8H, J-8F 180Shenyang J-11A, J-11B/BS 124Xian JH-7 192Nanchang Q-5 500Xian H-6 120 Strategic Bomber

T H E I N V E N T O R Y

PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ARMY AIR FORCE (PLAAF)

PAKISTAN AIR FORCE (PAF)

AFP


the initiation of the $10 billion proposal but

the final green signal has still not been

given. Even though the IAF has completed

the various procedures required on its part

the ultimate decision is still lying with the

government. For good reason. All major

defence acquisitions are subjected to

intense scrutiny at different levels by the

Ministries of Defence and Finance before

receiving an approval from the Cabinet.

Besides, the threat of post-acquisition

scrutiny by government watchdogs such

as the Central Vigilance Commission,Comptroller & Auditor General and the

Central Bureau of Investigation and,most

recently, the Right to Information Act

inhibits quick decision-making. But even

with the presence of these legitimate

speed-breakers the acquisition process in

India has been tedious.

Routed through the Open Tender

System, ostensibly, to obtain the best value

for money, the acquisition process was

regulated by the Defence Procurement

Procedure (DPP) promulgated by the

Ministry of Defence for the first time in

2006. The original procedure has been

subjected to revision practically every year

after the initial issue. Intended to enhance

transparency, with every ‘annual’refinement the DPP has been made more

complicated further adding to delay.

Besides, the offset obligation under the

DPP requires the selected vendor to invest

in the Indian aerospace industry a certain

percentage of the total value of the

contract, if it is in excess of Rs 300 crore.

Normally pegged at 30 percent, the

offset obligation in the case of the MMRCA

tender has been enhanced to 50 percent.

While vendors consider this level of offset

as somewhat arbitrary and excessive the

fact of the matter is that the Indian

aerospace industry may not have the

capability to absorb such high volumes of

business thus generated.

Quite recently, the government has

introduced a modicum of flexibility

permitting offsets to be spread over sectors

other than the military aerospace industry.

23

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

A worker wipes the cockpit of a MiG-21fighter jet on display at the DefencePavilion of the International Trade FairA

FP


24

DEFENCE

Two weeks after it was seen performing taxi trials at the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute airstrip in central China, the new ChineseFifth Generation Combat Aircraft, designated as the Chengdu J-20, undertook its 15-minute maiden flight on January 11, 2011.Strikingly similar to the existing Fifth Generation fighters, such as the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II from the US as also theRussian T-50, the J-20 is somewhat larger in size, a few tonnes heavier and has a higher payload capacity. The aircraft is reported tohave performance and stealth characteristics similar to the American and Russian Fifth Generation fighters through the use of arange of advanced technologies and materials. The aircraft employs a mix of Chinese and Russian technology and is powered by twoRussian 117S engines each delivering a 32,000-pound thrust. After the US and Russia, China is the third country to develop its ownFifth Generation combat aircraft. Although China plans to induct the J-20 into service by the end of the decade, it would have toequip the aircraft with the AESA radar and other contemporary avionics. Reports indicate that the Chinese are embarked on this effortby either developing their own or through cloning. Whatever the case, the Chinese are definitely ahead of the Indian Fifth GenerationFighter Aircraft programme, the PAK FA, being developed in collaboration with Russia. The J-20 will undoubtedly be a potentialthreat – one that the IAF cannot afford to ignore.

Although better than before there is stillconsiderable scope for the rationalisationof this aspect of the DPP. In case thevendors competing for the ongoingMMRCA tender opt to revise theirrespective offset proposals in conformitywith the new guidelines, the tenderingprocess may suffer further delay.

There are many other reasons for theinordinate delay in the finalisation of theMMRCA tender. In an organisationfunctioning on the principle of collectivedecision-making, it is difficult to fixresponsibility for lapses. Besides, thedecision-making bureaucracy is underintense pressure of financial accountabilityrelated to tenders. As the decision-makercan be brought to task even years later foralleged misdemeanour while processingtenders, self-preservation and individualsecurity, rather than that of the nation’ssecurity, are of immediate concern.

Ultimately, these delayed decisionshave serious implications for the IAF.Apart from the continued decline incombat capability, an interminable delayin the finalisation of the MMRCA tendercould render obsolete the selected aircraftor its systems necessitating upgrade with

attendant implications for cost and aninduction timeframe. If at all the IndianAir Force finally inducts the MMRCA, itcould lag by a generation and could well be outclassed by one or both the potential adversaries in the event of afuture conflict.

Indo-Russian FGFAThe other major effort at elevating thecombat potential of the IAF is thecollaboration with Russia for a $30 billionproject to produce the Fifth GenerationFighter Aircraft (FGFA). Incorporatingfuturistic technologies, the aircraft is to be manufactured by HAL and provide the IAF with unprecedented capabilitysurpassing that of the Su-30. Expected tobe operational in the IAF only by the end ofthis decade, at this point in time the FGFAproject appears to more of a reality thanthe MMRCA. If inducted successfully andin time, the FGFA could even render theMMRCA project irrelevant.‘Obsolete’ or ‘obsolescence’, even

with the induction of the FGFA, theground reality is that the Indian Air Forceis ill- equipped to face the challenges ofthe 21st century.

A major effort atelevating the combat

potential of the IAF is the collaboration with

Russia for a $30 billionproject to produce the FifthGeneration Fighter Aircraft

(FGFA). Incorporatingfuturistic technologies,

the aircraft is to bemanufactured by HAL and

provide the IAF with unprecedented

capability surpassing that of the Su-30.

”

Crouching Dragon, Hidden Agenda

AFP


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216X276.indd 1216X276.indd 1 1/28/11 9:35:45 AM1/28/11 9:35:45 AM

26

COMBAT AIRCRAFT

India’s first Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas,during an Initial Operational Clearanceprocedure before induction into the IndianAir Force at Hindustan AeronauticalLimited airport, Bangalore

RISING AIR

Tejas 2ND TIME_INDO-PAK.qxd 03/02/11 12:36 PM Page 26

Some would say that the Indian AirForce (IAF) has an onerous task: thestrategic job of safe guarding India’s

vast borders in times of war and peace.From the Siachen Glacier and the mightyHimalayas to the ‘shifting’ borders withChina to the deserts of Rajasthan andvolatile borders with Pakistan in the Westto the coastline of the South, it is a land ofmany challenges. Enabling the IAF toeffectively undertake this job are its menand machines, none more important thanits frontline fighter aircraft.

The Air Force has had and still has a fairmix of Western and Russian origin fighteraircraft but what it has always lacked is anindigenously designed and developedfighter which can be produced by theIndian defence industry and in largenumbers. No wonder the Light CombatAircraft (LCA), the ubiquitous Tejas, hasbeen the centre of everyone’s attention fornearly three decades now.

Launched by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in conjunction with the Aeronautical

The ubiquitous Tejas, thecentre of everyone’sattention for nearly threedecades, finally gets itsInitial OperatingClearance

27

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

! The IAF has always lacked

a highly maneuverable indigenously

developed fighter.

! Beset by time and cost overruns, the

Light Combat Aircraft has finally been

given its Initial Operating Clearance

this January.

! If produced quickly enough and in

adequate numbers, the indigenously

designed and developed LCA Tejas

can fill in the IAF’s gap.

KEY POINTS

BIDANDA CHENGAPPA

POWER

AFP


28

COMBAT AIRCRAFT

Development Agency (ADA), the nodalagency, the LCA programme was initiatedin 1983. Perennially characterised by timeand cost overruns, the LCA was seen as apossible replacement for the Russianworkhorse the MiG-21, which hassignificantly numbered the IAF. The LCAundertook its maiden flight in January 2001and should have, according to the originalschedule, been inducted into the IAF by2006. But the Tejas, which notched a speed of over 1,350km per hour, thusbecoming the second supersonic fightermanufactured indigenously by HindustanAeronautics Limited (HAL) after the HF-24Marut, was awarded its Initial OperatingClearance (IOC) only this January.

Friction between DRDO and IAFThe DRDO claims that US sanctionsagainst laboratories like theirs afterPokhran-2; inefficient production by HAL;the IAF’s frequent specification changesand the fact that government funding forthe prototype of the LCA was onlysanctioned in 1993 were the primaryreasons behind this delay. But perhaps themajor reason is that the programmesuffered badly from poor managementskills and implementation.

The hold-up resulted in a love-haterelationship between the IAF top brass and DRDO’s leadership. The DRDO wasreluctant to let the IAF enter into thedecision-making process and to have a sayin the LCA’s development programme sothat knotty issues could have beenidentified and resolved. Thankfully, thatattitude changed in 2007 when the IAFappointed a senior officer who becamepart of the LCA programme, bringing tothe DRDO and ADA’s notice the IAF’sconcerns over problems like missingdeadlines and technical issues. Today,DRDO officials concede that thiscoordination has paid off with the IAF

actively now supporting the programme,something which should have been donedecades ago.

Over the last two years, much of the bad blood between the IAF and the DRDO seems to have reducedconsiderably especially with the recenthanding over to the IAF the LCA’sRelease to Service Document. And nowwith the LCA having received its IOC anew chapter has started ending the earlierperiod of misunderstandings.

The IOC signals the first step towardsthe induction of the LCA into the IAFsquadron service enabling the Service tobuild and train teams on the aircraft by thetime all its systems are completelyfunctional for offensive air operations.

An IOC implies that the basic aircraft is airworthy but the various systemcapabilities like weapons, radars, computerhardware and integrated software thatdrive these capabilities as a combatplatform are yet to be integrated.

As P.S. Subramanyam, Director ADA,reportedly said, “During the design andproduction of every aircraft across theworld, designers reach a stage when theyestablish its safety and reliability andreceive a certificate from an independentorganisation that it is ready to be handedover to the users: the Tejas LCA has nowreached that stage.” For the LCA, the next milestone is the Final OperationalClearance (FOC), a successful completionof which will result in the IAF receiving acombat-ready LCA.

On paper, the Tejas is a sophisticatedaircraft considering it is an ‘unstable’platform. It is highly manoeuvrable andaccording to aviation analysts comparesfavourably with the Swedish JAS 39Grippen NG’s Light Combat Aircraft. Themulti-role Tejas has a 200km combat radiusof action that can supplement missions ofthe IAF’s Sukhoi-30 MKI fleet. As a LCA it is

Finally, Ready For Take-Off ! Twenty eight years after its development India’s firstLight Combat Aircraft, Tejas, gets its Initial OfficialClearance

CARBONCOMPOSITE

KEVLARCOMPOSITE

ALUMINIUMINDUCTION

Target:200-plus aircraft inservice over the next decadeStatus: Has been given Initial Operational ClearanceOrders: 40

BACKGROUND

Sanction : In 1983Project Cost: ` 560 crore(1983), ̀ 13,000 crore (2011)Goal: To replace the MiG-21s

PERFORMANCE

Maximum Speed :Mach 1.8 at 15,000 mRange: 3,000 km (without refueling)Service Ceiling: 16,500 m

GLASSCOMPOSITE


29

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground

attack capabilities.

As a Fourth Generation aircraft, the LCA

is endowed with fly-by-wire (FBW)

systems. The aircraft’s Control Law

(CLAW) is a software programme and the

‘brain’ of the FBW system, defining the

movement of aerodynamic controls in the

aircraft, ensuring better manoeuvrability

and an effective combat platform, even

while making sure that the aircraft does not

exceed its structural limits. The CLAW,which is a highly complex software

programme and has proven to be a major

challenge for the ADA also has to factor in

changes in the centre of gravity arising

from reducing fuel levels, fitment/release

of weapons and various angles of attack.

Between the IOC and the final

operational flight the FBW/CLAW will

undergo a number of modifications during

the integration of various systems like loads

and fitments all of which alter the centre of

gravity. The Tejas’ FBW capability which is

presently at the IOC-level will also have to

be extended to its intended design limit if

the aircraft’s maximum manoeuvrability

and ‘sting’ are to be realised.

Yes, but is it Indian? The LCA programme strides the three

components of India’s armament policy,namely: imports, transfer of technology

and indigenous design and development.

While the Tejas’ airframe and CLAW are

indigenous, the engine, weaponry and

radars are all imported,giving the aircraft’scritics an opportunity to counter the claim

that the combat aircraft is ‘indigenously

designed and built’. Skeptics might have a

valid point but what needs to be

understood that by mastering airframe

design and FBW/CLAW technologies,Indian aircraft designers are now

equipped to embark on future

fighter aircraft projects like the Fifth

Tejas’flying team

CO

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H C

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3 HARDPOINTS(under left wing)

3 HARDPOINTS(under right wing)

COCKPIT>Fly-by-wire flight control system to makehandling easier>Night vision goggles>’Get-you-home’ panel (providing the pilotwith essential flight information in case ofemergency)

LENGHT : 13.2 M

Tailess, compounddelta-wing platform

Singleengine

GENERAL SPECS

LENGHT : 13.20 mWINGS SPAN : 8.20 mHEIGHT : 4.40 mWING AREA : 38.4 sq mEMPTY WEIGHT : 5,680 kg

ENGINE/FUEL

Powerplant: 1xGeneralElectric F404-GE-IN20turbofan.Target – todevelop this,indigenouslyInternal fuel capacity:

3,000 litresExternal fuel capacity:

5x800-litre tanks or3x1200-litre tanks, total4,000/3600 litres


30

COMBAT AIRCRAFT

Generation, twin-engine medium combat

aircraft programme.

Another major spin-off from the LCA

programme is that it gives the Indian

aeronautics community a boost to

undertake midlife upgrades of other

fighter and transport aircraft in the IAF’sinventory. And with India acquiring

potentially the technological capability to

design and develop a Fourth Generation

Fighter Aircraft the country joins an

exclusive club of industrially advanced

countries that have successfully built this

class of fighter aircraft.

A fully operational LCA in the coming

two decades and beyond will strength

substantially the force’s airpower

capabilities. Besides, the LCA will prove

useful in training pilots to this

sophisticated level of technology before

they can progress onto other types of

fighter aircraft. The LCA has immense

implications for both the IAF and the

Indian aeronautics sector.

Considering the shrinking size of the IAF

fighter fleet – with the bulk of the aircraft

due to be phased out by the end of the

decade – a functioning LCA is an invaluable

replacement. The IAF has so far placed

an order for 40 aircraft but they will

need at least another 200 if the Tejas is to fill

in the numbers being vacated by the

aging MiG-21s.

Even, if and when, the Ministry of

Defence makes its decision on inducting the

long-pending 126 Medium Multi-Role

Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) and the 280

Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft that are to be licence-

produced into the IAF’s inventory, they will

account for only around 13-14 fighter

squadrons – far short of the Air Force’sauthorised squadron strength of 39.5

squadrons or around 790 aircraft.

For all its obvious attributes the Tejas will

only be useful to the IAF if it is produced

quickly and in numbers. Recently, the

chairperson and managing director of HAL,Ashok Nayak announced that the

company could roll out ten LCAs per year.

But that figure is not good enough.

It has been reported that the IAF needs

200 single-seat and 20 two-seat conversion

trainers,while the Indian Navy may order

up to 40 single-seaters to replace their aging

Sea Jump Jet Harrier fleet. HAL’s past

record, if the assembling of the Hawk

trainers is anything to go by, has not

been inspiring. According to aeronautics

experts, HAL will have to dramatically

upgrade and add on more assembly lines

and more importantly seek the help of

consultants in production facilities if it has to

achieve its targets. If the figures are not

achieved the IAF may be compelled to

acquire other options like the Swedish-

designed JAS-39 Gripen NG which is in

the heavy light category.

Why the IAF needs the LCA?As with any combat Air Force, the IAF

too needs to be equipped with at least

three broad categories of fighter aircraft -

the heavy deep strike, the medium multi-

role and the light, quick reaction, easy to

maintain aerial platform. While the IAF has

in the Sukhoi Su-30MKI a deep penetration

fighter; it has in the Mirage 2000s the lower

end of the medium-role category. And with

the eventual acquisition of the $10 billion-

126 MMRCAs India will fill its medium

fighter requirement.

But the Air Force lacks aircraft in the

light category, a gap which can effectively

be filled in by the indigenously designed

and developed LCA Tejas. Since the 1960s,the Russian-designed MiG-21s have filled

in the slot. But with the MiG-21s reaching

the end of their service life the IAF badly

needs a replacement.

The LCA – an aircraft which is light,

8th HARDPOINT(beneath the port-side intake trunk)

7th HARDPOINT(under fuselage)

GUNS

1 mounted 23mmtwin-barrel GSh-23 cannon, 220rounds.

BOMBS

KAB-1500L laser-guidedbombs, FAB-500T dumbbombs, OFAB-250-270dumb bombs, OFAB-100-120 dumb bombs, RBK-500 cluster bombs

MISSILES

Air-to-air: Python 5, Derby, AstraBVRAAM, Vympel R-77, Vympel R-73Air-to-surface: Kh-59ME TV guidedstandoff missile, Kh-59MK laser-guidedstandoff missileAnti-ship: Kh-35, Kh-31

In the cockpit of Tejas

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31

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

simple to operate, maintain and turn around, but also technologicallysophisticated – needs to be quickly inductedinto squadron service.

There are those who argue that evenone deep strike aircraft like the Su-30MKIcan perform the role of as many as four oreven five light fighters. But the argumentof ‘force multipliers,’ like the Su-30MKIbeing a substitute for numbers, is a limitedone. Long distance, long mission fightersare more complex, they are expensive,need more maintenance, human resources andinfrastructure, such as longer runways, tooperate. These twin engine fighters also,onan average, need two-and-a-half morepilots per aircraft as compared to the LCA.

The tailess, compound delta wing Tejas, presently powered by the US-designed GE F-404 IN20 engine, perfectlycaters to the IAF’s needs.

Today, the completion of the LCAprogramme has assumed top priority. TheIAF,which is the primary agency to securethe country’s airspace from hostile threats,has to be operationally effective on anumber of fronts. The ‘hot’ war at Kargilover a decade ago and the continuedtensions that plague the India-Chinaboundary over Arunachal Pradesh haveprompted the IAF to activate advancedlanding grounds in the northern andeastern sectors and also re-designatefighter bases.

The development of the LCAprogramme also has another significantspin-off: co-ordination between a numberof DRDO and non-DRDO laboratories andthe ability and confidence to take on aircraftdesign capabilities which will result inimport substitution industrialisationensuring operational readiness of as manyaircraft as possible.

Once this happens, the IAF will not beheld hostage to ‘spare parts’ diplomacy,

through which foreign vendors withholdspares to make their aircraft in the IAF’sinventory unserviceable. This strategy wascommon in the Cold War and the post-ColdWar periods when foreign governmentsmade their aircraft vendors/manufacturerscut-off supplies depending on the twistsand turns of international politics.

Ancillary IndustriesThe IAF as a combat force derives itsstrength from the country’s airpowercapabilities which encompasses both civiland military aviation, besides theaeronautical engineering infrastructure. Inthe Indian context, the state-ownedaeronautical sector, represented by HALand a dozen DRDO organisation based inBangalore, have evolved to some extent,unlike the ancillary sector which is still inan embryonic stage.

Private players comprising the ancillarysector, however, are yet to integrate with

the state-owned defence sector. To reach this objective they have tocomprehend the exact manufacturingspecifications of the aeronautics industryafter constantly dialoguing with the nodalagency, namely HAL, in order to cater torequirements. Only after this stage isaccomplished will the Indian private sectoraeronautics industry reach maturity andbe able to partner HAL in the productionof the LCA.

As has been seen from the LCAprogramme integration of the ancillarysector in the private industry with thestate-owned defence industry is crucial if indigenously developed programmeslike the LCA are able to meet its productiontargets. The ancillary sector whichinvariably comprises start-ups of smallprivate players or former defencetechnologists-turned-entrepreneurs needsto be nurtured and not harassed byofficials, if the LCA has to fly in the IAF’sfighter squadrons.

The LCA Tejas plays a major role if thecountry and the IAF want to eventuallyhave a 45-strong squadron Air Force, a forcethat can fly across diverse terrain like plains,mountains and seas. The IAF has never everhad 45 squadrons, it has not even exceeded35 squadrons. Unfortunately, over the lastfew years, this figure has further droppeddown to an abysmal 29 or so squadrons,chiefly due to the ‘number plating’ of theold Russian MiGs and the numerouscrashes that have beleaguered the Service.

The Tejas is also emblematic of aresurgence in the Indian aeronautics sectorwhich has lost out over the past decadeafter the crash in 1974 of the still-bornHindustan Fighter-24 aircraft project. Itssuccess will not only pave the way for anadequate number of aircraft in the IAF’sinventory but will also serve as the launchpad for future fighter programmes.

SUKHOI 30MKI18,400 kg

MIRAGE 20007,500 kg

TEJAS5,680 kg

LIGHTWEIGHTAND LETHAL

The ancillary sector whichinvariably comprises

start-ups of small privateplayers or former defence

technologists-turned-entrepreneurs needs to benurtured and not harassed

by officials if the LCA has tofly in the IAF’s fighter

squadrons.

”


32

MILITARY HELICOPTERS

India is preparing to expand its helicopter fleet over the next decade throughimports and by inducting indigenously designed platforms

BIRDS OF WAR

Helicopters 7 pages 2nd time_INDO-PAK.qxd 03/02/11 12:43 PM Page 32

India’s military is preparing to expand its helicopter fleet over thenext decade through imports and

by inducting indigenously designedplatforms but with imported technologyand components for enhanced tactical andbroader strategic deployment.

By the end of the 13th Finance Plan in 2022 all three Services plan on operating over 1,000 advanced lightutility, attack, heavy lift, ship-borne, anti-submarine warfare and attack helicopters todischarge operational requirements dictatedby revised military doctrines, emergingcontingencies in a disturbed neighbourhoodand to conduct rescue and relief operationsfollowing ever-increasing natural disasters.

Rotary assets are also projected to play a vital role in India’s hotly debated‘Cold Start’ doctrine of swiftly launchingdivision-sized, all-arms integrated, pivotbattle groups in a nuclear weaponsenvironment to depreciate the adversary’sholding formations,capture and temporarilyhold territory ahead of negotiating afavourable settlement. Additionally, theywill also perform air missions in support ofground forces, sustain burgeoning network-centric warfare capabilities and battlemanagement systems.“Army aviation expands battle space

at each echelon to which it is assigned,providing a capability where nonepreviously existed,” former Vice Chief ofArmy Staff Lt. Gen. Vijay Oberoi has saidat a recent seminar on the Army Aviation

Corps (AAC), adding that it allowscommanders to achieve the effects of masswithout amassing weapon systems.

Obstructive ProceduresMilitary officials, however, admit that theproposed helicopter fleet expansion, alongwith accompanying offensive assets,continue to be plagued by bureaucraticprocurement procedures and the absenceof ‘jointness’ between the Services toformulate a cohesive approach to overallcapability development.

Their collective inability in formulatingrealistic request for proposals (RfPs),manyof which are trapped in a cycle of repeatedmodification, withdrawal and then re-issuance by the Ministry of Defence (MoD)too has contributed to the problem.

They also acknowledge that despitenew procurement procedures, highlypublicised but hesitatingly executedprivate sector involvement in India’s vastbut inefficient military-industrial complexand relaxed rules for foreign investment in the defence sector, the military will forlong remain import dependent for itshelicopter requirements.

Even Dhruv, the locally designedadvanced light helicopter (ALH), andupgrades of various other existingplatforms, depend almost exclusively onimported engines, avionics, ordnance,armaments and varied technologies.

In a recent report tabled in Parliament last August, the government watchdog, theComptroller and Auditor General (CAG), forinstance,has claimed that around 90 percentof the value of material used in Dhruv hasbeen imported and castigated HindustanAeronautics Limited (HAL), its designersand builders, for its inability in identifyingalternative, indigenous suppliers.

The Army, however, privately claimsthat around 67 percent of Dhruv’scomponents have been imported and eventhen the helicopter is being disqualifed asan indigenous product. SuccessiveDefence Procurement Procedure (DPP)editions mandate a 50 percent ceiling inthe value of all imported equipment fittedonto locally developed military platformsfailing which it ceases to be home-grown.“Not only is the MoD’s entire acquisition

process laborious but all three armed forcesare confused over their rotary aircraftrequirements to execute the full spectrum ofconflict they confront from insurgencies toregional battles, out-of-area contingenciesand even nuclear war,” former MajorGeneral Sheru Thapliyal says. This situation,

33

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

RAHUL BEDI

! By the end of the 13th FinancePlan in 2022 all three Services aim tooperate over 1,000 advanced lightutility, attack, heavy lift, ship-borne,anti-submarine warfare and attackhelicopters. ! Rotary assets will play a vital rolein India’s hotly debated ‘Cold Start’doctrine. ! There remains a lack of clarity andconsensus among force planners andthe MoD about the Army AviationCorps’ exact role and its desiredacquisitions.

KEY POINTS

A soldier stands guard as aweaponised combat Dhruv

helicopter flies past in Bangalore

AFP


34


the retired artillery officer adds, is furthercompounded by the MoD’s vacillation in thedecision making process for timely platforminduction for operational efficiency.

ACC’s HistoryThe most significant helicopter expansioninvolves the AAC whose role isincreasingly gaining importance in theArmy’s ‘Cold Start’ doctrine that alsostresses enhanced ‘jointmanship’ and‘synergy’with the two other Services.

The 24-year-old AAC’s projectedrequirements over the next decadeenvisages a squadron of 15 utility andlight-armed observation helicopters foreach of the 13 corps or around 195 to 200helicopters and an observation flight witheach of the Army’s 37 divisions or some185 to 200 units, making it a total of over400 rotary assets for its proposed CombatAviation Brigades.

In an attempt at duplicating the USArmy’s heli-borne units as part of itsoverall makeover and expanding its areaof influence and concentration, the AACalso plans on acquiring an unspecifiednumber of attack helicopters of varyingtonnage to replace and augment themilitary’s 30-odd Mi-35s/Mi-25s to achieveoperational autonomy and provideflexibility to ground force commanders.

Presently, the Indian Air Force (IAF)operates the attack helicopter fleet for useby the Army; but this arrangement has in-built friction and is plagued by inter-Service,doctrinal and operational rivalriesover multi-faceted tasks like armedreconnaissance and ground attackoperations over which the AAC claimsgreater competence than the Air Force.

This antagonism which frequentlysurfaces,particularly in the field has roots inthe IAF’s opposition to the AAC’sformation on November 2, 1987 and itsblatant inconsideration in allotting assetsto the Army’s nascent air wing. Like theworld’s other Air Forces, the IAF tooargued, somewhat disingenuously, that itwas better suited to operate and maintainair rotary assets of the utility and attackvariety which, it claimed,will be availableto the Army whenever necessary.

Consequently, only light observationhelicopters – like the Cheetah’s-licencebuilt French Aerospatiale SA-315B Lamasby HAL and Chetak’s-Aerospatiale SA-316Alouette IIIs, similarly, constructed locallyand capable of light reconnaissance,observation and evacuation of casualties –were handed over to the AAC.

Over decades these redoubtablehelicopters have laudably serviced Armyunits stationed at heights above 21,000 feet along the Siachen Glacier and the snow-bound Pakistani and Chinesefrontiers, surprising even their Frenchmanufacturers by their arduous, continuingand efficient employability.

The AAC’s founding, however, wasdriven not entirely by operational reasonsbut also by compulsions to match rivalPakistan Army’s Aviation (PAA) wing thatgained autonomy from the country’s AirForce in 1958 and got full corps status 19 years later – a decade before theformation of India’s AAC. The AAC has yetto attain that grade headed as it is by anAdditional Director General of the rank ofMajor General and according to insiders,treated ‘shabbily’.

PAA More RobustPresently, Pakistan Army Aviation has 21 squadrons or around 400 airworthyassets that include a mix of AH-1F/SCobraattack helicopters, Puma and Bell LUHvariants and Mi-17 and Eurocopter AS350LUH/ Observation platforms which becamea lifeline to tens of thousands of Pakistanis

marooned during floods that ravaged theircountry last year. The AAC officials admitdiscreetly that PAA’s platforms are‘younger and operationally more robust’compared to their obsolete assets.

During the Kargil conflict, helicopterswere employed effectively by the AAC andsomewhat less efficiently by the IAF whichlost one Mi-17 gunship in the early days ofthe border war. Subsequently, the Armyhas argued, albeit with limited success atvarious MoDs and inter-service fora, thatits air wings needs greater autonomy toperform varied roles.

These include special heli-borneoperations, battlefield logistics, includingcarriage of under-slung loads, casualtyevacuation, aerial surveillance, air-bornecommand post and electronic warfare andcombat, search and rescue missions. It hasdeclared its armed roles to include anti-tank and armed reconnaissance ofwhich it claims the IAF has limitedunderstanding, orientation or training.

For now,however, there remains a lackof clarity and consensus among forceplanners and the MoD about the AAC’sexact role and its desired acquisitions.There is also no separate budgetaryallocation for the AAC,with money for itsimminent acquisitions,which includes theoutright purchase of 133 light utilityhelicopters (LUHs) weighing between 2.2 and 3 tonnes, being debited to theArmy’s capital budget allocation.

Presently, a total of 197 LUHs – including 64 for the IAF – in a contractestimated at around $750 million areunder acquisition. Eurocopter’s AS 550C3Fennec and rival Russian Ka-226T haveconcluded field trials last year, bothlocally and overseas. Intended asreplacements for the outdated Cheetahsand Chetaks, the two rival models arepresently under evaluation ahead oflaunching price negotiations.

But the AAC does not anticipate theLUHs, that entail a 50 percent offsetobligation of the contract value – up fromthe stipulated 30 percent required for all Indian military purchases over Rs 300crore under the Defence ProcurementProcedure (DPP) – to begin arriving by2014 to 2015 at the earliest.

Alongside, another 187 LUHs will bebuilt by HAL for both the IAF and the AACbased broadly on the 5.5 tonne, twin-engine Dhruv of which around 90-odd arein service with the AAC, IAF, the IndianCoast Guard and the Border SecurityForce. Their development by HAL’s

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Rotary Wing Research and DevelopmentCentre (RWRDC) in Bangalore is beingfunded by the MoD to reduce materielimport dependency currently hoveringaround 80 percent. This will consist offirming up joint ventures with overseasmanufacturers, outsourcing design anddevelopment and involving private Indiancompanies. The first RWRDC prototype ofthe locally designed LUH is projected to beready by 2013-14.

IAF’s Rotary AssetsMore imminently, the IAF will by March 2011 onwards begin receiving its 80Russian medium-lift Mi-17IV weaponisedhelicopters acquired in 2008 for $1.345billion. The deal with India’s largestweapon’s provider includes spare partsand the mandated offset obligation of $400million for employment in the domesticdefence and the recently opened upaviation and internal security sectorsunder the updated DPP 2011 edition.

Delivery of the Mi-17IVs, with anoperational ceiling of six kilometres to augment the Indian military’s logisticalsupport, deployment on disaster manage-ment,medical evacuation, search and rescuemissions and possibly even counter-insurgency operations, is likely to becompleted by 2015. The 80 Mi-17 IVs will supplement around 175 to 180 Mi-8s andMi-17s already in the IAF service including 40Mi-17IVs acquired eight years ago.

The IAF’s latest rotary acquisition in

March 2010, which has contributednothing to enhancing its operationalcapabilities, is the fast-forwarded Euro 560million-deal for 12 AugustaWestlandmedium-lift AW101 helicopters totransport VVIPs like the president andprime minister. With state-of-the-artsensors and jammers as defence againstincoming missiles and provided nuclear,biological and chemical protection theAW101s will replace the IAF’s Russian Mi-8helicopters, acquired in the early 1980s and converted some years later for VIP transportation.

The contract, delayed by over 12 to 14months following objections from theFinance Ministry over their cost , requiresthe first two helicopters to be delivered byMarch 2012 and the remaining ten withinthe next year. The agreement also includesa five-year logistic support service andinitial aircrew and technician training.

Eight of the AW101s with state-of-the-art, open-architecture communicationssuites will be utilised exclusively for VVIPuse with a maximum load of ten passengerseach; the remaining four helicopters willferry Special Protection Group commandosas escort and carry up to 30 passengers.

The IAF is also evaluating trial reports insupport of its demand for 22 attack and 15 heavy lift helicopters to replace the Soviet-era M-24/Mi-35s and Mi-26s. The attackhelicopter procurement had Boeing’sApache AH-64D Longbow ranged againstRussia’s Mil Mi 28N Havoc while Boeing’s

Chinook CH 47F and Mi26s are vying for theheavy lift helicopter tender.

Dhruv In DemandMeanwhile, HAL presently has orders to supply 105 to 159 Dhruvs to the AACand 54 to the IAF for ` 140 billion of which 66 will be the light combathelicopter (LCH)/ALH Weapons SystemsIntegrated (ALHWSI) version configuredto carry air-to-air and air-to-groundmissiles, hopefully circumscribing theneed to import large numbers of attack helicopters for the Army’sexpanded air wing.

Powered by the French Turbomeca-Safran TM 333-2B2 engine, Dhruv has a640km operating range, an optimum of 3.7 hour endurance, maximum cruisingspeed of 250km at sea level and thecapability to operate at heights up to 6km. It can also transport a 14-membercomplement, a 1,500 kg under-slung loadand land on small and restricted helipadswith a ten degree gradient.

Dhruv’s Israel Aerospace Industries(IAI)-supplied avionics package,MarconiDoppler GPS navigation system,US-builtweather radar and high frequency trans-receivers and a French automatic flightcontrol system, all detract from its claimsof being an indigenous product but HALclaims to be working on reducing Dhruv’simport content of the helicopter andthough AAC officers have expressed anoverall approval of Dhruv they stillmaintain that it requires ‘stabilising’ andreduced ‘down time’ presently needingservicing between 500 and 700 hours track record.

The IAI has also supplied the glasscockpit for Dhruv’s export model of whichseven were sold to the Ecuador Air Forcein early 2009 for $50.7 million in India’sfirst-ever major export of a locally designedplatform. One Dhruv, however, crashedduring a military parade in the Ecuadoriancapital Quito in October 2009 reportedlydue to pilot error while locally five havebeen lost in accidents since 2003.

Two Dhruvs were also transferred to Nepal – one of which was damaged in a hard landing in 2004 – and onetemporarily to Israel for VIP transportationat an ‘undisclosed, friendly price.’ Otherpotential Dhruv orders from Peru – for twoheli-ambulance versions – Turkey, Bolivia,Mauritius and Maldives are at various stagesof closure and negotiation.

Later, the ALH and LCH/ALHWSIversions will, however, be powered

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by the new PM33B Shakti engine, jointly

developed by France’s Turbomeca-Safran

and the HAL, replacing its current

Turbomeca TM 333-2B2 power pack. The

joint venture to develop Shakti was agreed

in January 2003 and permited Turbomeca to

licence produce the engine in France where it

will be called the Ardiden1H.

HAL officials claim Shakti provides

around 30 percent more power than the

TM 333-2B2 engine which, in turn,translates into a ‘150 percent increase’ in

payload capability. The civilian ALH

version for use by state governments will

continue to be fitted with the TM 333 2B2

power pack of which Turbomeca has

contracted to supply the HAL 318 units.

In August 2007, the HAL successfully test

flew Dhruv with the Shakti engine and in

March 2010 conducted the LCH technology

demonstrator-1s (TD-1s) maiden test flight

over a year behind schedule with the same

power pack but without resolving its

excessive weight problem.

The LCH weighs 580 kg more than

its mandated 2.5 tonne, seriously

compromising its weapon and ordnance

carrying capacity at over 20,000 feet but

the HAL engineers are confident about

progressively reducing this between

345 kg and 375 kg in the first three

technology demonstrators. Eventually, the

LCH/ALHWSI is envisaged being around

200 kg heavier than planned, a weight the

military has reportedly accepted in its

revised qualitative requirements.

Developed to perform an anti-tank role,provide close air support to ground forces,deployment in air-to-air combat, as a

battlefield scout and for anti-submarine and

anti-surface vessel warfare the

LCH/ALHWSI’s 700 kg weapon suite will

include a 20mm M-621turret gun from

France’s GIAT-Nexter, four 70 mm

and 68 mm anti-tank guided missiles

supplied by Forges de Zeebrugge (FZ)

of Belgium and French Matra BAE Dynamics

Alenia (MBDA) Mistral 2 air defence missiles.

Expected to enter service by 2016-18

the LCH will also be fitted with Helina, aderivative of the locally designed Nag

anti-tank missile with an extended seven

kilometre range. Lockheed Martin is also

in talks with the Army to provide it

Hellfire II modular missile systems for

aerial platforms like the LCH. The LCH

will also be equipped with Forward

Looking Infrared (FLIR),Charge Coupled

Device (CCD) cameras, helmet pointing

systems and data links duplicating those

fitted onto Dhruv.

Enter the NavyThe MoD has also appointed HAL the

prime contractor to design and build 80 to

100 medium-lift 11 tonne to 13 tonne

Indian Multi-Role Helicopters (IMRHs)

for all three Services and the Coast Guard

but with overseas collaboration. The Joint

Service Qualitative Requirements (JSQRs)

for the IMRH, intended to prosecute

troop, cargo and equipment, including

light weight howitzers to high altitudes,are awaiting closure, victim to bitter

AAC-IAF rivalries over its eventual

employment and ownership. Discussions

have also been initiated with overseas

helicopter makers like AugustaWestland,Eurocopter, Kazan, Mil and Sikorsky but

are on hold for the moment.

The Indian Navy (IN) is also evaluating

three rival ten-tonne ship-borne twin-engine

helicopters ahead of procuring 16 armed with

cruise missiles and lightweight torpedoes

for advanced anti-ship and anti-submarine

warfare for around $550 million to

$650 million.

Further, Europe’s NH Industries NH 90,Sikorsky’s S-70B Sea Hawk and Sikorsky/

Lockheed Martin’s MH-60R Romeo multi-

mission models are competing for the

contract to replace a similar number of Sea

King Mk42Bs and Sea King MK42Cs that

are nearing retirement. The Navy is also

mulling a tender for twin-engine LUHs to

replace its ageing fleet of around 66 partially

upgraded Chetaks.

The Indian Navy will also soon take

delivery of five additional Kamov Ka-31

Helix-B airborne early warning, surface

reconnaissance helicopters in a deal agreed

in August 2009 for around $20 million. The

Ka-31s with the belly-mounted electronic

warfare radar capable of tracking 30 to 40 air

and ground targets will supplement the nine

Ka-31s already in service with the Navy.

An Air Force technicianattaches a missile pod toan Mi-35 attack helicopterat Suratgarh Air Forcebase, Rajasthan

AFP


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Offsets are formal arrangements

through which a foreign vendor

undertakes specified programmes

with a view to compensate the buyer as

regards his procurement expenditure and

outflow of resources. India’s tryst with

offsets in defence purchases began in 2005

primarily to boost exports from the defence

public sector undertakings (DPSUs) and

the ordnance factories which were

stagnating at a paltry $50 million per

annum. The scope was subsequently

enlarged to accommodate the private

sector. As India has no national offset

policy, the Defence Offset Policy continues

to be the exclusive initiative of the Ministry

of Defence (MoD).

The scope of the newOffset Defence Policymay have been enlargedbut the basic structureremains the same

40

POLICY

! The Defence Offset Policy was

recently subjected to a review as part

of a biennial revision of the defence

procurement procedure but the basic

structure remains unchanged.

! The new policy not only safeguards

the interests of the public sector but

strengthens its primacy further.

! The MoD does not possess an

effective monitoring mechanism to

oversee diligent implementation of all

offset programmes.

KEY POINTS

MRINAL SUMAN

NEW PROBLEMS,

Defence Offset Policy 2ND TIME_INDO-PAK.qxd 03/02/11 12:45 PM Page 40

41

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

Indian ArmyT-72 tanks

AFP

OLD POLICIES


42

POLICY

But the truth is that although India hassigned offset contracts worth ̀ 9,943 crorenot a single contract has been fullycompleted so far. To that extent, the efficacyof the MoD’s policy remains untested andunproven as yet.

The policy has undergone severalreviews but the basic structure remainsunchanged – for all import contracts withan indicative value of over ̀ 300 crore Indiademands offsets equal to 30 percent of thecontract value.

Foreign vendors are at liberty to chooseIndian partners and can opt to fulfill theirobligations through one or more of thefollowing routes: First, direct purchase ofor executing export orders for defenceproducts and services provided by Indiandefence industries; second, Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI) in Indian defenceindustries and third, FDI in Indianorganisations engaged in research indefence research and development (R&D).

The Defence Offset Policy was recentlysubjected to a review as part of a biennialrevision of the defence procurementprocedure. Responding to the MoD’s callfor inputs, major stakeholders submittedsome recommendations.

To maximise the flow of offset benefitsinto the country, it was suggested that the offset threshold be reduced from ` 300crore to ̀ 100 crore and offset value be fixedat 100 percent instead of 30 percent.Highlighting the importance of infusion oftechnology for achieving self-reliance, theacceptance of technology transfer againstoffsets was also strongly advocated.

Additionally, the private sector soughta level playing field. It demanded theresurrection of the Raksha Udyog Ratnasconcept through which select privatesector defence companies were to beconsidered at par with DPSUs as regardsdefence business.

Foreign Vendors’ Wish ListSix leading defence-aerospace tradeassociations, representing the interests of almost all the defence companies of theUnited States, Britain, Canada, France and Germany, submitted a jointcommunication to the MoD in August2010. It suggested the creation of a singlestanding offset authority with decisio-making powers for an efficientmanagement of the whole process. Itwanted that the process should approve,validate, discharge and measure offsetcontracts and also be free of all ambiguities.

Apprehending an inability of theAFP

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POLICY

Indian industry to absorb billions of

dollars worth of offsets in the nascent

defence sector, the missive sought the

expansion of the scope of activities to

be counted against offsets. Further, anintroduction of multipliers was advocated

to steer offsets in ‘critical economic areas

and technologies which have higher

national security priorities’. The memo

also wanted the validity period of banked

offsets to be increased from five to seven

years and financial penalties in case of

defaults to be capped.

Citing the potential of offsets to kick-

start the development of the indigenous

defence industry, the Defence Research

and Development Organisation (DRDO)

wanted India to make technology transfer

the preferred methodology for offset

fulfillment. The organisation felt that the

highly compelling leverage of offsets

should be exploited in order to force

foreign vendors to part with cutting-edge

technology which they would not be

willing to sell otherwise.

Wider ScopeThe scope of the offset policy guidelines

has been expanded to include civil

aerospace, internal security and training

fields. Earlier, the fulfillment of offsets was

restricted to the export of defence products

and services and FDI in defence industry

and defence R&D. Now, the term ‘defence

products and services’ has been replaced

by ‘eligible products and services’. It isclaimed that the expanded scope will

offer foreign vendors a wider choice of

programmes to fulfill their offset

obligations, thereby meeting their long

standing demand.

In addition to existing defence

products, the new list of ‘eligible

products’ contains products for internal

security like arms and ammunition;protective equipment and vehicles;surveillance and night fighting devices;counter-insurgency equipment and gears;and training aids.

Civil aerospace products included

are air frames, aero engines, aircraft

components, avionics, raw material and

semi-finished goods.

For the discharge of offset obligations,‘services’ means maintenance, overhaul,upgradation, life extension, engineering,design, testing of eligible products and

related software or quality assurance

services. As regards training, it includes

training services and training equipment

but excludes civil infrastructure.

The scope of FDI in Indian industries

for industrial infrastructure for services,co-development, joint ventures and co-

production has also been enlarged from

‘defence products and components’ to

‘eligible products and components’.Similarly, FDI is now being allowed

in Indian organisations engaged in R&D

and not restricted to ‘defence R&D’ as itwas previously.

To ensure that civil infrastructure and

technologies easily available in the open

market remain excluded the requirement

of obtaining necessary certification from

Defence Offset Facilitation Agency has

been retained.

The various stakeholders’ response to

the above changes have been mixed.

Foreign companies are happy to have

additional opportunities to fulfill their

obligations but are disappointed at the

rejection of their other suggestions. They

wonder as to how the Indian government

will be able to manage offsets without

putting in to place an effective mechanism

to oversee them.

On the other hand, major Indian

private sector defence companies too

are apprehensive. They have invested

considerable resources in defence

products and services in the hopes of

getting offset business. They fear that the

opening of the aerospace and internal

security sectors will reduce their

opportunities as many foreign vendors

may opt for non-defence offset

Offsets worth $21 billion are expected to flow intoIndia during the next tenyears. It is an enormousamount by all accounts.

India must ensure that itdraws maximum benefits

from it. India cannot affordto continue with its current

directionless policy. Toachieve the often repeated

goal of achieving self-reliance in defence

production, India mustaccept technology

against offsets.

”


45

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

programmes. Further, they find nothing inthe new offset policy enabling them tocompete with the public sector on an equalfooting.

A close look at the ‘new’ policy changesreveals that they are of peripheralimportance and will have no major impacton the ground situation. Therefore, theeuphoria by foreign vendors is totallymisplaced. Similarly, Indian companieshave no reason to feel dejected. There isgoing to be no change in their businessprospects – they were minor players earlierand will continue to languish at the samelevel. Consequently, their struggle forequal treatment, fairness and justnesssimply continues.

Extending of offsets to the internal

security sector is of no consequencewhatsoever. Every single item mentionedunder internal security products is alreadyappearing as a defence product. Evenearlier, all activities that are evenmoderately related to defencegoods/services were allowed. Thus alldual-use programmes already stoodincluded. For example, software andelectronics developed for militarytransport aircraft were equally applicableto civilian carriers as well.

Here, it is worth recalling thataccording to the policy guidelines of theDepartment of Industrial Policy andPromotion of January 2002, licences for theproduction of arms and ammunition areto be issued in consultation with the MoD.

Further, the MoD has the final say as regardto their procurements, sales and exports(even for non-lethal items). Thus, clearly aninclusion of the internal security productsmentioned in the list is a cosmetic changewith a negligible impact. Interestingly,most of these products are manufacturedby the ordnance factories who havereasons to be happy with the amendments.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)should also be pleased. The behemothstraddles the Indian aerospace industrylike a colossus. While the private sectorpossesses insignificant productioncapabilities in the area of air frames,aero engines and avionics, it also hasnegligible competence in aircraft design and engineering services. With burgeoning offset obligations worth billions of dollars, it is almostimpossible for foreign vendors not to partner HAL. Clearly, HAL is going to be the main beneficiary as itfaces no challenge whatsoever.

So, changes in the offset policy meanslittle. The MoD has cleverly expanded theambit to include only those sectors whichhelp its own public sector. Other sectorslike power and energy have beendeliberately kept out, lest they prove moreattractive to foreign vendors. The recentchanges are merely a cover to appearprogressive and liberal. The new policynot only safeguards the interests of thepublic sector but strengthens its primacyfurther. The public sector has reasons toremain smug bolstered by the confidencethat their position of predominanceremains unchallenged. As usual, theprivate sector will remain relegated toplaying second fiddle.

The Way Forward Every country seeks offsets that are inconsonance with its national economicobjectives in order to fill an importanttechnological or economic void. It is acrucial decision and demands carefulconsideration as it is not the type of offsetbut its relevance that should dictate theselection. Buyer nations allocate prioritiesto all desired offset programmes byassigning ‘multiplier value’ to each one ofthem. The offset programme value (usually referred to as credit value) is determined by multiplying theprogramme base value by its multipliervalue. It is a methodology of assigningweightage to different offset programmesto provide vendors with incentives to offeroffsets in areas of the buyer-nation’s choice.

A multi-barrel rocket launcher;(left) official symbol of the DRDO

AFP


46

POLICY

Inexplicably, India’s defence offsetpolicy spells out no objectives at all. It is notclear what India aims to achieve throughoffsets. It grants total freedom to foreignvendors to select Indian partners andoffset programmes. Needless to say,foreign vendors will always chooseprogrammes that are easy to implementand cost the least. Under this policy,India’s technological and economic needsget no importance.

Further, offsets carry a cost penalty andall sellers amortise the additionalexpenditure by suitably factoring it in the price quote. By abdicating its right toselect offset fields, India has trivialised thehighly potent leverage of offsets into somesort of largesse being offered by amagnanimous seller. It is time thisinfirmity was corrected.

Offsets worth $21 billion are expectedto flow into India during the next ten years. By all accounts, it is an enormous amount and India mustensure that it draws maximum benefitsfrom it. We cannot afford to continue with this current directionless policy.

To achieve the oft repeated goal of

achieving self-reliance in defenceproduction, India must accept technologyagainst offsets. The DRDO should be asked to identify technologies that it wants to receive; technologies on which it has been working withoutsatisfactory progress and in which import of know-how will hastendevelopment. Multipliers can thereafterbe applied according to the prioritiesindicated by DRDO.

Offsets are prone to corruption as theygo out of focus once an offset contract hasbeen signed. Transparency International,in fact, has repeatedly sounded alarm bells in this area. Presently, the Ministryof Defence does not possess an effectivemonitoring mechanism to oversee thediligent implementation of all offsetprogrammes. It is totally dependent onperiodic progress reports submitted bythe vendors.

Collusion between insincere foreignvendors and their scheming Indianpartners can rob India of envisagedbenefits, and worse, needlessly embroil the Ministry of Defence in scams ofmassive proportions.

Offsets are highly prone to corruption as

they go out of focus once a contract

has been signed.Transparency International,

in fact, has repeatedlysounded alarm bells.

Presently, the Ministry ofDefence does not possess

an effective monitoring mechanism to oversee the diligentimplementation of all

offset programmes.

”

INS Mysore, India’s secondmissile guided destroyer,

moored at the Mazagon docksin Mumbai

AFP

Defence Offset Policy 2ND TIME.qxd:INDO-PAK.qxd 01/02/11 11:32 AM Page 46

AF_An_DefesaSeguran_21.6x27,6_DSI_INGLES.pdf 1 14/01/2011 15:05:43

DURING THE visit of D.A. Medvedev,President of the Russian Federation, toIndia, FSUE “Rosoborone!port”, thecompany included in State Corporation

“Russian Technologies”, and HAL Corporation(India) signed a contract on the development of afifth-generation jet fighter technical design. A.P.Isaikin, Director General of “Rosoborone!port”FSUE, and M.A. Pogosyan, Director General of“Sukhoi Aviation Holding Company” JSC and“MiG Russian Aircraft Corporation” JSCput their signatures in the contractfrom the Russian side.

This advanced jet fighter will be a joint projectof the Unified Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and theIndian State Aircraft Corporation. According toexperts and specialists, 70 to 80% of innovativedevelopments applied for the design of the fifth-generation jet fighter belong to variouscompanies within “Russian Technologies” StateCorporation. These include propulsion units,advanced equipment, up-to-date fighterarmament having no analogues in the world, aswell as jet fighter hull made of state-of-the-artcomposites under Stealth technology.

Thus, the Russian-Indian cooperation inaircraft building industry will rise to a new level.

Before, A. K. Antony, Minister of Defence ofIndia, during his meeting with A.E. Serdyukov,Minister of Defence of Russia, declared that India

will purchase 250-300 Russian-Indian joint-produced fifth-generation jet fighters. TheGovernment of India plans to allocate a hugeamount of money – about USD30 billion - toimplement this project. The government alsoexpects to get first fighters ready in 2017-2018.“The multirole transport aircraft and “fifth-generation” jet fighter shall be excellent examplesof Indian-Russian cooperation in the field ofdefence during the upcoming decade. These twoprojects shall become the leading ones”, - said theMinister of Defence of India.

This was confirmed by a similar statement ofPradeep Naik, Chief of the Air Staff of the IndianAir Force and Air Chief Marshal, who underlinedthat Indian Air Force plans to purchase 200-250fifth-generation jet fighters staring from 2017.Though FGFA Indian fighter will be based on T-50Russian fighter, this new jet will be constructedwith account of the requirements set by theIndian Air Force. At present, the list ofrequirements is being worked out by the latter.These 250 jet fighters will cost USD25 billion tothe Indian Air Force, that is USD100 million perfighter.

“Signing a contract with India for theconstruction of the fifth-generation jet fightersshall not prevent Russia from participation in atender for the supply of 126 jet fighters within theframeworks of the Indian Air Force modernizationprogram. We will compete with the leading aircraftbuilding companies of the world for this mostmajor project over the last 15 years”, - said SergeyChemezov, Director General of “Rostekhnologii”State Corporation which comprises“Rosoboroneksport”, chief Russian specialexporter of armament and military equipment.

COMMERCIAL JET FIGHTER PROVEDTHE BESTHeavy class multirole jet fighter Sukhoi Su30MKI(upgraded commercial Indian) was the first fighterworked out in Russia specially for India. Thecontract for the construction of this jet fighter wassigned in 1996. It was followed by a number ofnew contracts in 2000, 2004 and 2007 signed forthe extension of this project.

Sukhoi Su30MKI was the first serial air-superiority jet fighter and also first export combataircraft equipped with phased antenna arrayradars in the world. In fact, Sukhoi Su30MKI wasthe highest point of the fourth-class heavyfighters development (among serial fighters). Theappearance of Sukhoi Su30MKI was defined to agreat extent by Indian specialists.

At present, these jet fighters produced at theIrkutsk Aircraft Plant as well as sets for SukhoiSu30MKI assembly at the licensed companieswithin Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)Indian SC are supplied to India. On completion of

the current contracts there will be 230 SukhoiSu30MKI jet fighters in the Indian Air Force.Sukhoi Su30MKI jet fighters formed a basis forthe Indian Air Force. They are deployed on themost important directions and make Indian AirForce superior to the air force of potential rivals.As a rule, Indian Air Force pilots operating SukhoiSu30MKI jet fighters defeat modern foreign jetfighters, including American fighters, duringtraining air combats.

In November, 2009, the president of IndiaPratibha Patil took a flight aboard SukhoiSu30MKI. The ex-president Abdul Kalam alsotook a flight aboard Sukhoi Su30MKI in 2006.

This Sukhoi Su30MKI program opened a newstage of the Russian-Indian cooperation in theaircraft building industry. Russia proceeded fromdirect supply of equipment to scientific andproduction cooperation and production of jetfighters at HAL corporation plant in India. Specialattention shall be paid to the equipment of thesejet fighters with Russian –Indian BrahMosmissiles.

According to foreign experts, this weaponcomplex Sukhoi Su30MKI + BrahMos is inferiorto none in terms of efficiency.

“MiG” FOR INDIAN NAVYAnother jet fighter specially designed for India isMiG-29K shipborne aircraft. The contract for thesupply of these jet fighters was signed onJanuary 20, 2004. It involves the supply of 12single-seater MiG-29K fighters and 4 twin-seaterMiG-29K/KUB fighters, as well as training of thecustomer's pilots and maintenance personnel,supply of flight simulators, spare parts,arrangement of aftersale support of the suppliedfighters at the customer’s premises.

On February 19, 2020, an official ceremony ofacceptance of the first batch of MiG-29K/KUBshipborne fighters took place at Hansa air base inIndia. The fighters entered into service of BlackPanthers squadron.

Arakkaparambil Kurian Anthony, Minister ofDefense of India, noted: "Introduction of RussianMiG-29K/KUB jet fighters to the service of India'sNavy shall provide for strengthening of ourcountry’s defense power and furtherimprovement of strategic partnership betweenour countries".

The fighters received high appraisals fromIndian pilots and in March 2010 a contract forsupply of another 29 MiG-29/KUB jet fighters tothe Indian Navy was signed. Currently MiG-29K/KUB is one of the best airborne combataircrafts in the world as for “efficiency/cost” ratio.The Russian Navy authorities resolved topurchase these jet fighters. MiG-29K/KUBbecame the basis for designing land-basedcombat aircrafts of “4++” generation, among

Indian-Russian Cooperation

S.V. ChemezovDirector General of “RussianTechnologies” State Corporation.According to experts and specialists,70 to 80 % of innovative developmentsapplied for the design of thefifth-generation jet fighter belong tovarious companies within RussianTechnologies State Corporation.

ROT Feb_contributors-aug.qxd 03/02/11 12:08 PM Page 1

which MiG-35 multirole jet fighter hold a specialplace.

This aircraft combines excellent performance,advanced combat capacities and improvedoperation properties. MiG-35 fighter avionics weresupplemented with new generation information-guidance systems. These include side-lookingairborne radar with active phased antenna arrayand multi-channel optoelectronic systemsdesigned at “Rostekhnologii” State Corporation.

AIR CARRIERS FLEET TO BE UPGRADED

Works within the framework of MTA (MultiroleTransport Aircraft) project have intensified. Thisaircraft with 20 tons loadlifting capacity isnecessary both for Russia and India's Air Forces toreplace numerous medium military transportaircrafts, such as Antonov An-12, Antonov An-32etc. On September 09, 2010, HAL and UACCorporations signed an agreement for designingMTA. According to the terms of the agreement, theparties shall invest USD300 million each into thisjoint venture. Manufacturing facilities shall belocated both in Russia and in India. Pre-orderof the Ministry of Defense of India amounts

to 45 MTAs. Russian Air Force is expected topurchase about 100 aircrafts.

According to Ashok Nayak, Head of HALCorporation, 205 fighters are to be produced atthe initial stage, about 30% of which shall be soldat the world market. The Head of HAL expectsMTA to make the maiden flight in 2016-2018. Inorder to fulfill the agreement, a joint venture wasregistered in November in India that shallundertake the program implementation.

Joint venture participation shares shall bedistributed as follows: HAL - 50% of shares,Russian Corporate Group “UAC-TransportAircraft” - 25% of shares and “Rosoboroneksport”- 25% of shares.

DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS

According to leading experts in military technicalcooperation, at present the prospect of Russian-Indian cooperation in combat aviation productionhas been clearly defined. It includes the followingaspects:n production cooperation under Sukhoi Su30MKI program that shall expand due to thecreation of a complex “Su30 MKI + BrahMos

Russian-Indian missile”;n delivery and production cooperation in respectof MiG-29K/KUB; n upgrading of MiG-29 fighters of Indian Navy tobe performed in cooperation between Russianand Indian enterprises; n possible purchase and production cooperationunder MMRCA program (MiG-35/MiG-35Daircraft); n Russian-Indian program for the development ofa fifth-generation jet fighter.

The well-coordinated implementation of theseprograms shall provide for:n maintenance and development of unifiedaviation fleet that shall enable the Indian AirForce and Navy to establish integratedcombat systems; n creation of a unified infrastructure of aftersalesupport for the most of aircraft within the aviationfleet of India’s Military Forces;n steady development of Indian aviation andelectronic industry.

It is obvious that Indian-Russian cooperationin the aircraft industry will progress in alldirections.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Dmitry A. Medvedev, at the Joint PressConference, in New Delhi on December 21, 2010

in the Aviation IndustryProceeds in All Areas

ROT Feb_contributors-aug.qxd 03/02/11 12:08 PM Page 2

Two years after an ISI-coordinated

terrorist plot in which ten Lashkar-e-

Toiba fidayeen sailed out from

Karachi, hijacked an Indian fishing boat

and sailed into the heart of Mumbai,undetected, New Delhi has done a great

deal to boost the security of its coastline.

After having long regarded its northern

land borders as the key security challenge,New Delhi has made a significant mind

shift in devising and implementing a new,robust Coastal Security Network (CSN).

With the CSN eventually imposing a

physical and digital presence across the

length of India’s 7,600km coastline, these

will be amongst the most carefully

watched waters in the world. Physical

monitoring will be done by a brand new

network of coastal police stations, funded

by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA).

Supplementing this will be an electronic

network based on a chain of electro-optic

sensors, including radars and day and

night cameras housed on the lighthouses

and towers that stare out at the Arabian

Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

Physical SecurityA new coastal police station at Fort Kochi

isone of the 73 new outposts that will come

up in a five-year timeframe as the new

frontline against sea-borne terror. Carrying

a distinctive blue-and-white maritime

motif to differentiate it from the traditional

police thana, the chairs inside still bear their

original plastic protective covering. Parked

on the waterfront outside are three Fast

Interceptor Boats, part of a fleet of 204

boats, specially built for the coastal police

by defence shipyards – by Goa Shipyard

Limited for the Arabian Seaboard and by

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers,Kolkata, for states and Union Territories on

the Bay of Bengal.

Capable of cleaving through the water

at 70km per hour, these boats are manned

and operated by coastal policemen. The

inspector-in-charge of the Kochi police

station says a police patrol spends three

hours each day sailing out to the seaward

approaches to Kochi and checking fishing

boats for registration papers and identity

documents. For this, the policemen draw

a sea-going allowance of 50 percent of

their basic pay.

Besides regular patrolling, security

50

SECURITY

KEY POINTS! A new coastal security network isimposing a physical and digitalpresence to secure India’s seaboard.! Awareness about security is beingdrilled into the coastal populace as wellby the Navy and Coast Guard. ! Despite the urgency, difficulties inimplementing the new scheme arestaggering as it involves monitoring3,331 villages, thousands of fishingboats and securing ports and harbours.

KEEPING THE COASTCLEAR

AJAI SHUKLA

After the 26/11 seaborne attacks on Mumbai, the IndianNavy is fast-tracking a robust Coastal Security Network

COASTAL7 2nd time_INDO-PAK.qxd 03/02/11 12:06 PM Page 50

consciousness is being drilled into the

coastal populace through a citizens’watch,a Kadalora Jagratha Samithi (Coastal

Awareness Committee) in Kerala. Created

by the Navy and the Coast Guard in each

coastal district, this uses the dynamic

fisherfolk networks to keep an eye on

activities across the country’s sprawling

fishing grounds.

Even though policing is a state subject,all this is paid for by New Delhi. A lump

sum of `400 crore has been allocated for

setting up the coastal police network, and

`150 crore is remitted each year for

running expenses, including fuel and

maintenance for the boats.

India’s maritime border runs through

nine states – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa,Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra

Pradesh,Orissa and West Bengal and four

Union Territories, that is Daman & Diu,Lakshadweep, Puducherry and the

Andaman & Nicobar Islands. After the

Mumbai terror attack of 26/11,New Delhi

decided that coastal security could not be

held hostage to the precarious financial

situation of many states.

Besides funding, New Delhi has also

allocated clear responsibilities for coastal

security. At a seminal meeting held in the

wake of 26/11, the Cabinet Committee for

Security issued detailed orders and allocated

the funding needed to ensure an year-round

24x7 vigilance. The Indian Navy was charged

with overall responsibility for maritime

security and for coordinating with the

multiplicity of agencies – including the coastal

state and Union Territory governments, the

fisheries department, the department of

lighthouses and lightships, and port

authorities, amongst others – that hold

various forms of authority along the coastline.

Operating under the Navy, the Coast

Guard was made responsible for security

within India’s territorial waters, which

extend 12 nautical miles (about 22km) from

the shore. The third line of security, the

coastal police station network,monitors up

to five nautical miles (about nine

kilometre) from the coast and also

maintains order on the shore.

51

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

AFP

An Indian Coast Guardhelicopter and ship take part in

an exercise off the coast ofPorbandar in the Arabian Sea


52

Fourth ServiceAlthough the Navy is overall in-charge, theCoast Guard – which also safeguards India’stwo million square kilometres ExclusiveEconomic Zone and responds toemergencies in the four million squarekilometres Indian Search and RescueRegion – is being rapidly expanded into amaritime force that will be larger than manycountries’ Navies. The Coast Guard’scurrent fleet of 93 surface ships and 46 aircraft is being more than doubled.

Growing as fast as shipyards can buildand deliver, the current fleet includes 10 offshore patrol vessels (OPVs);6 advanced OPVs; 15 fast patrol vessels(FPVs); 13 inshore patrol vessels (IPVs);19 interceptor boats and other craft. Theaircraft include 18 Chetak helicopters;4 Dhruv helicopters and 24 Dornier coastalsurveillance aircraft. Another six twin-engine, multi-role maritime surveillanceaircraft are under fast-track procurement.“We are implementing a five-year CoastGuard Development Plan,” says a top CoastGuard official. “Eventually the Coast Guardwill have a fleet strength of around 200 shipsand small craft and around 90 aircraft.”

To man this expanded fleet, the CoastGuard is recruiting fast. On October 25, 2010, Defence Minister A.K. Antonyannounced that the Coast Guard has beensanctioned an additional 4,026 personnel, anincrease of more than 30 percent. This willbring the strength of the ‘fourth service’ upto 12,043, including 1,659 officers.

A significant expansion of the shoreestablishments is taking place – contrastingwith the leisurely pace before 26/11. After the1993 Mumbai blasts, the Coast Guard hadset up four stations along the coastline.Immediately after 26/11, the MoHAprovided ̀ 380 crore for boosting the CoastalSecurity Network. By last October, five newCoast Guard stations namely, Karwar,Gandhinagar, Veraval, Hutbay and Murud-Janjira were set up. Another five areplanned for 2011 at Ratnagiri, Minicoy,Mundra, Kolkata and Dahanu. Next on theagenda are nine more stations at Pipavav,Androth, Karaikkal, Krishnapatnam,Nizampatnam, Gopalpur, Frazergunj,Kamorta and Mayabunder. According tothe defence minister, 42 Coast Guardstations will function along the coast by theend of the current 11th Plan.

Despite this new urgency, the difficultiesin implementing the Coastal SecurityScheme are staggering. It involvesmonitoring 3,331 designated coastal villages,tens of thousands of fishing boats, and

securing dozens of major and non-majorports and harbours. Then there are thepeculiar problems of the two major islandterritories – the Andaman & NicobarIslands in the Bay of Bengal and theLakshadweep chain in the Arabian Sea,both potential staging posts or havens fortrouble-makers.

Three InitiativesAll this will be achieved, senior MoHAofficials say, with the help of three ongoinginitiatives: Firstly, the issue of biometricidentity cards to all fishermen,a project that isbeing handled by state governments with thedepartment of fisheries in New Delhi as thenodal agency. A consortium of PSUs led byBEL (Bharat Electronics Ltd)has been asked tocapture biometric details, take photographs,digitise the data and design and manufacturebiometric ID cards for fisherfolk. In Kerala, forexample, ITT Palakkad has already beguncollecting biometric data from the fisherfolkcommunity. The MoHA is funding thisinitiative with ̀ 25-30 crore as start-up money.

Secondly, the Registrar General of India(RGI), which functions under the MoHA,is implementing a project to issueMultipurpose National Identity Cards tothe coastal population ahead of the 2011Census. The National Population Register,being compiled by the RGI for the census,has been fast-tracked for coastal regions.This process will be linked with the smartcard initiative mentioned above.

The third initiative requires theregistration of all sailing vessels under auniform system under the department offisheries. Earlier, vessels above 300 tonnesneeded to have an Automatic IdentificationSystem which identified them as friendlyvessels. After 26/11, a new electronic trackingdevice was identified for all fishing boatslarger than 20 feet. And now the Ministry ofShipping is studying a Ministry of Defencerequest to make this compulsory even forboats that fall below 20 feet.

New Delhi is keeping a sharp eye on theimplementation of all these measures. ANational Committee for Strengthening

SECURITY

Boats setting out fromColaba fishing village,Mumbai


53

Maritime and Coastal Security (NCSMCS)against threats from the sea, chaired by theCabinet Secretary, is the apex committee formonitoring progress. The NCSMCS includesrepresentatives from all the concernedministries/departments/organisations in the government as well as the chiefsecretaries/administrators of the coastalstates/UTs. In addition, Defence Minister A. K. Antony,keenly aware that the buck stopswith the Navy, is holding regular meetings to personally monitor coastal security.

The Digital NetworkThe physical policing of the coastline andterritorial waters is just one, albeit crucial,dimension of the CSN. Those human eyesand ears are now being supplemented by ahigh-tech digital surveillance network, theCoastal Surveillance Scheme (CSS), whichwill keep a watch over anyone approachingIndia’s coastline.

Physically installing visual, infrared andradar sensors all along the coastline is justone challenge. Equally important is the

transmission of sensor data to surveillancecentres located in the interior, where thatinformation must be integrated into acoherent operational picture.

That challenge has been met, says BEL,which has led a ̀ 700 crore project to developthe software for the CSS. Visit BEL,Bangalore and you can see how the systemwill function in a Remote Operating Station(ROS), the name for the forward layer ofCoast Guard surveillance centres, whichreceives data from the chain of lighthousesand towers along the coastline.

“Data fusion is a key design challenge,”affirms BEL’s R&D chief, I. V. Sarma. “Iftwo adjoining radars pick up a single boat,which often happens, the software mustrecognise that and combine those twoimages into that of a single boat.Fortunately, BEL has built up enormousexperience in data fusion while developingthe Navy’s Combat Management Systems,which also integrates the inputs frommultiple radars on board a warship andalso while building an Integrated Air

Command and Control System for theIndian Air Force.”

Besides, creating a clear operationalpicture, BEL’s software allows the ROS toremotely manipulate its coastal radars andcameras – through a Camera ManagementSystem – to observe suspicious objects ingreater detail. In a staged demonstration,an oil tanker, which a thermal-imagingnight vision camera had detected when itwas 36km from the coast, was declared asuspicious vessel. A click by the operatoron the oil tanker’s screen imageautomatically fed its coordinates to thecamera on a lighthouse, which zoomed inquickly, allowing the operator in the ROS adetailed look.

The software also performs other tasksthat include monitoring the health of theremote systems, acting as an alarm systemthat alerts the operators when a vesselenters a designated ‘sensitive zone’.

“The hardware for the surveillancesystems is still imported,” admits BEL, “butwe are working on developing thatindigenously.” The IR camera is Israeli and the day-cum-low-light camera isCanadian. The coastal surveillance radarthat scans the coastline is from Danishcompany, Terma.

In Phase-1 of the CSS, the Coast Guardwill set up 46 electro-optic sensor stations inhigh-threat areas and 12 ROSs. Phase-II willsee this expanded to the entire coastline overthree years. The most recent installations areradar stations in Dwarka and Navodra,which feed into a ROS at Porbandar, about100km away. Distance is irrelevant, withdata being transmitted through twodedicated lines of 2 MBPS each.

The 12 ROSs feed into one of fourRegional Operating Centres (ROCs) locatedat places like Mumbai, Kochi, Chennai andVisakhapatanam. Finally, all this informationis fed in real time to the apex Control Centre atNew Delhi, where it is integrated into asingle national-level picture.

The structure of the Coastal SecurityNetwork is regularly tweaked, based onVulnerability Gap Analyses carried out bycoastal states and UTs. Phase-II of theCoastal Security Scheme has already beendrawn up. This will see the number ofcoastal police stations boosted, evendoubled, along with the resourcesallocated to each. Home ministry officialsemphasise that all this is just the start of atruly comprehensive coastal securitynetwork that will provide a much-neededMaritime Domain Awareness to deterpotential intruders.

India’s maritime borderruns through nine states– Gujarat, Maharashtra,Goa, Karnataka, Kerala,

Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh, Orissa,

West Bengal – and fourUnion Territories –

Daman & Diu,Lakshwadeep,

Puducherry and theAndaman & Nicobar

Islands. After the Mumbaiattack, New Delhi

decided that coastalsecurity cannot be held

hostage to the precariousfinancial situation in

many states.

”

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

AFP


n UOMZ is one of Russia’s largest defense

enterprises, the flagship of the Optical Systems

and Technologies holding being created by the

Russian Technologies State Corporation. Tell us

about the Plant and

its products.

UOMZ is a modern high-tech enterprise developing

and producing optical and electro-optical (EO)

systems for military and civilian applications, optical

surveillance systems. In addition, we manufacture

medical equipment, geodetic instruments, lighting

equipment, undertake extensive research and

development efforts.

The Urals Optical and Mechanical Plant is one of

the oldest enterprises in the industry – it recently

marked its 160th anniversary. UOMZ is known as a

leading developer and manufacturer of optical

sighting stations and EO systems for combat aircraft

and helicopters. Our products are part of the onboard

equipment installed on Sukhoi, MiG, Tupolev aircraft

and Mil and Kamov helicopters. Recently, we have

developed or heavily upgraded more than a dozen EO

systems for such modern aircraft as the Sukhoi Su-

27, Su-27SM2, Su-30, Su-30MKI, Su-30MKK, Su-

30MKM, Su-34, MiG-29 and some others.

Among our latest projects I’d like to note the

optical sighting system for the Kamov Ka-52 Alligator

attack helicopter. In 2010, the system successfully

completed its one more stage of testing. According to

pilots and experts, this is one of the world’s best

helicopters.

Similar work is under way with the Mil Company,

for which we have developed and are manufacturing a

variety of systems. Some of them are exported as part

of helicopters.

n By the way, UOMZ is one of the few

Russian defense enterprises granted the

right to engage in independent foreign economic

activity. What advantages does

the right give the Plant?

Since 2003 UOMZ has been authorized to engage in

independent foreign economic activity regarding

spare part supply, repair and maintenance of

previously supplied military equipment. UOMZ

products are delivered to a total of 75 countries. The

right to independently operate in the external markets

offers great opportunities for participation in

establishing service centers in the countries that

operate aircraft and helicopters equipped with our EO

systems. The independent export activity involves a

particular responsibility to the partners, accurate

fulfillment of contractual obligations. UOMZ sees its

main objective in ensuring speedy delivery of spare

parts and service. We are guided by the principle of "3

+3". This means that spare parts should be supplied

within a period not exceeding three months from the

date of signing the contract, while repair should be

done within three months from the date of delivery of

equipment to the Plant’s service center. The benefit is

obvious both for us and customers.

n As is known, President Dmitry Medvedev is

pursuing a hard line on upgrading Russian

industry and making it more innovative.

Nevertheless, the process is not going smoothly

everywhere. What is the role of innovative

developments and re-equipment

at UOMZ?

We are paying close attention to improving the

production of EO systems for all types of aircraft,

ships and ground vehicles. We have set up special

production sections for specific types of equipment -

aircraft, helicopters, etc.

Our current research and development efforts are

literally cutting edge science, the synthesis and

development of the newest achievements of applied

optics, laser, television, and thermal imaging

technologies, precision electromechanics, control

systems theory and methods, microelectronics and

information technology.

We are also building the relationships with our

partners with emphasis on specialization. For us, it is

of critical importance that research centers should

appear which would specialize in one area or another.

It is simply economically impractical to develop all

technologies at one enterprise at once. We invite all

who share this approach to cooperate. Dozens of

delegations visit UOMZ every year, we share

experience with them and offer diverse options for

joint technology development.

Widespread implementation of information

technologies and computer-aided design has

speeded up the pace of development almost five

times. Today, we are able to design a new system

within an average year and a half! Since 2001 the

Plant has been implementing a common corporate

information system based on enterprise resource

management and engineering data systems, the

geography of the single network infrastructure is also

expanding.

Currently, the information technologies

encompass every aspect of our activities

(development, manufacturing, finance, marketing,

logistics, etc). More than 2000 people work in the

corporate information system every day, the amount

of stored electronic information is 8 Tb.

Information technology implementation is a

continuous process. Our IT service launches

approximately 140 new software products into

operation a year. This activity involves dozens of our

Leader Of Russian OpticalInstrument IndustryInterview with Sergey Maksin, Director General of the Urals Optical and

Mechanical Plant, head of the Optical Systems and Technologies holding

Director General S.V.Maksin demonstratesthe UOMS products to the Prime-Minister ofRussia V.V.Putin at the Forum “EngineeringTechnologies”, July 2010

Sergey Maksin, Director General of the Urals Optical and Mechanical Plant, head of theOptical Systems and Technologies Holding

ROT 2_contributors-aug.qxd 03/02/11 12:04 PM Page 1

DSI Marketing Promotion

units. Such a pace helps us not only improve thecorporate information system, but also, which is themain thing, cut production costs. The payback periodof our investment in IT technologies was about 7months.

n Quite recently India has overtaken Chinaas the major customer of Russian defenseand dual-use products. Is this market interestingfor you?Of course, it is of interest. And we are activelyoperating on it. In December 2010, during the visit byRussian President Dmitry Medvedev to India, anunprecedented contract was signed to perform thefront-end engineering design for a fifth-generationfighter, which will be based on the Russian T-50 (PAKFA) aircraft. The aircraft will feature a high level ofboard intellectualization, will be able to take off andland on shortened runways, will be supermaneuverable and able to perform combat missionsin any weather and any time of day.

According to experts, the totalestimated value of the joint project will beUS$ 8 to 10 billion. As expected, the firstprototype fighter will take off in five years.Indian Air Force Chief Marshal PradeepVasant Naik said that the Air Force wouldacquire 200 to 250 fifth-generation fighters.

Our company won the tender to developa multifunctional EO system for the T-50.This is a great honor and responsibility forus. With the recent Russian-Indianagreements, it is not impossible that we willwork jointly with Indian colleagues on thisproject.

Helicopter equipment, too, occupies aprominent place in cooperation with India.UOMZ has prepared a very interestingproposal for Mi-171 helicopters to besupplied to India under a big contract signed byRosoboronexport and the Indian Air Force inDecember 2008.

n How was UOMZ successful on other worldmarkets in recent years? What markets are mostinteresting to you? The last two years were successful for the UralsOptical and Mechanical Plant. More than 100 newequipment models were launched into production in2010 alone. The share of independent military-technical cooperation grew significantly. The Plantfulfilled all its obligations to foreign partnersconcerning spare parts supply, warranty and servicesupport accurately and timely.

A lot of work has been done to promote newproducts, primarily related to helicopters, in theexternal market. The heliborne systems havesubstantially diversified UOMZ product line and havegrown today into an independent area of activities.The current situation on world markets confirms thatthe development strategy chosen in the 1990s wasright. This is the niche where we went in at a propertime and where we have been developing in line withthe global trend.

Gradual geographical diversification of specialproduct deliveries is also taking place. China andIndia are our major foreign partners as before. At thesame time the implementation of ever-growing MTCplans requires expanding our markets. Greatadvances have been made in this area recently. Firstof all, our cooperation with Malaysia is reaching an

unprecedented level. In late 2009, UOMZ signed amajor contract with the Ministry of Defense of thiscountry. We attach great importance to developingrelations our European partners, primarily with theRepublic of Poland.

Deliveries of the Mi-35 helicopters to LatinAmerica took place. This helicopter was selected interalia for its UOMZ-made EO systems. Foreigncustomers were presented a modern machine,competitive not only in flight performance, but inavionics as well.

It is worth saying few words about EO systems forcivilian platforms of various types. Contracts wereconcluded to develop and deliver the SON 730, SON820 and SON-M civilian optical surveillance systems.Their first production models have attracted theattention of specialists at international exhibitions,particularly at Le Bourget and MAKS.

I’d like to specially emphasize that UOMZ isclosely cooperating with the European partners in the

civilian system area. This relates both to the SON-Mmodular system, whose design provides for theinstallation of any channels on customer request, andthe SON 820 "ball" designed for light aircraft,including UAVs.

We have consciously put emphasis on theEuropean continent, because this is a very largemarket, which, on a par with the US, sets the maintrend of development for the entire industry. At thesame time the cooperation with the Europeansinvolves extensive preparatory work in the legalframework area, harmonization of the Russian andWestern standards. Entering the European market is,above all, the indicator of the enterprise's capacity tomeet the most up-to-date requirements.

n As is known, today product diversification iskey to sustainable economic development of anydefense enterprise. What type ofyour civilian products offers the greatest exportpotential?Our goal is to become a global supplier of high-techcivilian products. These include sophisticated medicalequipment, energy-efficient lighting systems, moderngeodetic instruments, security systems and muchmore - everything that is in demand on the markettoday. We have formed a separate developmentprogram and a detailed marketing plan for each typeof products. Up to 4 business plans in the field ofcivilian instrument-making are reviewed monthly.

For example, we have formed and aresuccessfully implementing the Medical

Instrumentation Program 2020, which provides for thedevelopment and batch production of more than fortyhigh-tech medical devices.

UOMZ products are well known to consumersboth in Russia and abroad. Our newest developmentproduct is the BONO incubator-transformershowcased at the Medica 2010 InternationalHealthcare Exhibition has gained the most positiveresponses from health professionals. The devicefeatures a unique concept allowing an open intensivecare system, a neonatal table and an incubator with amonitor support to be implemented on a singleplatform.

Recently, our developers have made muchprogress in the area of intensive care and anesthesiaand respiratory equipment. A unique artificial lungventilation system based on a turbine type flowgenerator is being launched into production. Suchdevices are now available from the world's leadingmanufacturers VersaMed, Hamilton Medical,

ImtMedical. The development and production of

lighting equipment is another key area wherewe have gained considerable expertise. Since2005 UOMZ has been mass producinglighting devices based on semiconductorsources. Approximately 100 items, includingroad and rail traffic lights, street and industriallamps and other products, have beenassimilated over this time. About sevendifferent energy-saving lamps are launchedinto production every month.

n UOMZ is one of the largest enterprisesof the Optical Systems and Technologiesholding being formed, which you willlead. What are the tasks set for theholding company? What will theenterprises, in particular UOMZ, get from participation in it?

The Research and Production Concern “OpticalSystems and Technologies” is being formed in linewith the government’s defense industry developmentand reform policy.

Its mission is to enhance the competitiveness ofthe Russian EO industry in the global market. Itincludes 20 high-tech organizations – the developersand manufacturers of military and civilian EOsystems, optical technologies and materials, high-tech medical equipment and high-tech civilianproducts. The holding will employ a total of more than24,000 people.

The formation of the holding will promote both theintegration of its affiliated enterprises and globaldevelopment of cross-sectoral linkages. For example,there is already a cross-sectoral program for EO andlaser technology development through 2020 signedby our holding, Rosatom and Roskosmos.

To win steady positions in the Russian andinternational markets, Optical Systems andTechnologies is forming joint work programs with keyRussian integrated entities like the United AircraftCorporation, Aircraft Engineering Concern, VEGARadio Engineering Concern, Armored Holding,Ammunition Holding and others.

The strategic goal of the entity beingcreation is a steady growth and innovative businessdevelopment.

In conclusion I’d like to invite our Indian partnersand all visitors to the air show in Bangalore to getacquainted with UOMZ display.

Industry and Trade Minister of Russia V.B. Khristenkoinspects the Urals Optical and Mechanical Plant

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NEIGHBOURS

For the past three years, China hasadopted an overtly assertive postureand this has triggered an alarm in most

world capitals, especially in China’sneighbourhood. Particular notice has beentaken of the strong suggestion of militarymuscle in China’s diplomacy and Beijing’sdemonstrated willingness to use force. This

trend reflects the Chinese leadership’sassessment that China is now in a positionto overtly push on issues benefiting itsnational self-interest. It also reveals thatChina’s leaders have decided to discard theformulation,enunciated in 1979 of ‘taoguangyanghui’,or ‘lie low,bide your time’.

The assertiveness now seen in China’spolicies is a result of the newfoundconfidence of the Chinese leadership andpeople. It is a consequence of a combinationof factors including China’s steadilyburgeoning economy, growing militarymight and increasing diplomatic heft. At thesame time,Chinese analysts assess that theUS military is over-stretched because of itsinvolvement in the wars in Iraq andAfghanistan and that the world’s majoreconomies, especially the US, have beenconsiderably weakened because of thedeleterious effects of the internationaleconomic crisis.

Beijing’s success in compelling Europeancountries to retract long-held positions oncontentious issues, like Human Rights and

KEY POINTS! The assertiveness now seen inChina’s policies is a result of the new-found confidence of the Chineseleadership and people.! The US is willing to let Chinaexercise the role of regional hegemonwhile retaining for itself the mantle ofglobal superpower.! Although border negotiations andofficial-level contacts between Indiaand China continue military pressurealong the disputed Indo-China bordercontinues as do incursions.

JAYADEVARANADE

HOW DO YOU SOLV

As the Year of the Rabbit draws in, the world will see amore agressive China, conscious of its growingeconomic clout and displaying new-found confidence

CHINA?

CHINA ASSERTIVE 7 2nd time_INDO-PAK.qxd 03/02/11 11:39 AM Page 56

57

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

AFP

E A PROBLEM LIKE

Chinese soldierssalute the Army flagduring a ceremony in

Chengdu SichuanProvince, China


Tibet, have given further encouragement.China’s assessment seemed to have beensubstantiated when Hillary Clinton,duringher first visit to Beijing as US Secretary ofState, too, failed to mention these issues oreven talk of democracy in meetings withChinese leaders. US President Obamadeclining to meet the Dalai Lama during the latter’s visit to Washington providedadditional confirmation of apparentAmerican weakness.

Against this backdrop, the jointstatements issued after the two summitmeetings between Hu Jintao and Obama,in September and November 2009respectively took on greater significance forthe Chinese. They assumed that the US waswilling to let China exercise the role ofregional hegemon while retaining for itselfthe mantle of global superpower. China’sleaders, therefore, perceived the currenttime as opportune for China to make its bid for pre-eminence in the broader Asia-Pacific region.

Maritime SphereIn the Asia-Pacific region, the maritimesphere has dominated Chinese strategicthought. That a large role was envisagedfor the People’s Liberation Army Navy(PLAN) became evident as far back as in1982 when Admiral Liu Huaqing, with

Deng Xiaoping’s approval, defined theterm ‘coastal waters’. With DengXiaoping’s approval he defined this toinclude, “The Yellow Sea,Eastern Sea (EastChina Sea), the Southern Sea (South ChinaSea), the Nansha Archipelago and Taiwan,the seas on this side and that side ofOkinawa as well as the Northern Regionof the Pacific.”

It was evident that the PLA Navy wouldplay a major role in the future.Consequently, ever since China adoptedits assertive policy in 2008, the number ofstand-offs between China and the US andother countries increased noticeably. A demonstration of Chinese assertivenesswas the manner in which PLA Navyvessels confronted the US survey ship,USNS Impeccable in March 2009,describedby US officials as the ‘most serious’incident since that involving the EP-3aircraft in 2001.

Another incident occurred in June 2009,when a Chinese submarine hit anunderwater sonar array being towed bythe destroyer USS John McCain. Thisoccurred in Subic Bay, off the Philippinescoast. The confrontations demonstratedthe PLA Navy’s capacity to defend China’sterritorial waters and willingness toconfront the USA, if necessary, tosafeguard its interests. They were also a

An Indian soldier gestures as hechats with his Chinese counterpartat Bumla on the India-China border,in Arunachal Pradesh

China re-opened thehitherto settled issue of

Sikkim and enhanced theprofile of its territorial claim

on Arunachal Pradesh. It initiated a policy of

declining visas to residentsof Arunachal Pradesh – very

recently altered to issuing stapled visas – and

compelled internationalinstitutions not to extend

loans for developmentprojects in that state. More

recently, it raised the ante inKashmir when it began

issuing loose-leaf visas.

”

NEIGHBOURS

58

AFP


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60

NEIGHBOURS

clear signal to Taiwan and other countries inthe region, who have off-shore disputeswith China, that reliance on US assistancewould be inadequate.

Coinciding with these incidents were theunpublicised clashes taking place betweenChinese Navy vessels and Vietnamese craftsince late 2007. Clear indications of China’s intention to pursue its maritimeterritorial ambitions include the submarinemanufacturing base in Sanya on HainanIsland and the aircraft carriers beingconstructed in the shipyards at the Dalianand Shanghai ports. The PLA Navy hasplans to deploy three aircraft carriers by 2020.China has simultaneously begun to preparethe legal basis for enforcing its maritimeterritorial claims in the South China Sea.

The India ChapterIt is during this period that China adoptedan assertive posture with India too. Whileat the political level border negotiations andofficial-level contacts between India andChina continue military pressure along the4,057km-long disputed India-China borderincreased as did the number of intrusions.China has re-opened the hitherto settledissue of Sikkim and enhanced the profile ofits territorial claim on Arunachal Pradesh. Itinitiated a policy of declining visas toresidents of Arunachal Pradesh – veryrecently altered to issuing stapled visas –and compelled international institutionsnot to extend loans for developmentprojects in that state. More recently, it raisedthe ante in Kashmir when it began issuingloose-leaf visas – also replaced by thegranting of stapled visas – to residents of the state and later declined a visa to theNorthern Army Commander on the pleathat he commands troops in the ‘disputedterritory of J&K’.

China has additionally injected amilitary component to stiffen its actions. Inaddition to the major military exercisesconducted by the Chengdu MilitaryRegion inside Tibet across India’s borders,defences and road and rail networks havebeen upgraded. Plans envisage a railwayrunning along China’s border with Indiafrom east to west. Interestingly, thenumber of Lieutenant Generals and MajorGenerals in the PLA and Pan-AmericanPowerlifting Federation (PAPF) in theChengdu Military Region have registeredan increase. By mid-2010, there were 80 officers of the rank of Major General andabove in the Chengdu Military Region ofwhich 13 were deployed in the TibetMilitary District.

Air Force StrengthenedThe PLA Air Force (PLAAF) has beenaugmented in Tibet with additional typesof fighter aircraft being deployed in 2010for the first time at Gonggar airfield. Chinahas also operationalised seven modernairfields in Tibet and announced plans forconstructing 59 airfields in and aroundTibet. Today, the PLAAF has 400,000personnel, 1,000 bombers and closesupport aircraft and 650 transport aircraft.These numbers are spread over 33 divisions, including 27 fighter, 4 bomberand 2 transport divisions. The PLAAF isassessed to be now capable of waginghigh-level, long-distance combat, rapidmanouvreability and air defence and isable to assist the navy and ground forces.

Senior PLAAF officers believe theirmobility and attack capabilities will enablethem to react appropriately to anysituation, including gaining air superiority,supporting ground forces and conductingcounter- attacks inside enemy borders. Theacquisition and deployment of strategicbombers,mid-air refueling of aircraft and

AWACS has enhanced the PLAAF’s deepstrike capability. Modernisation of thefighter force is continuing as evidenced bythe unveiling recently of the J-20 StealthFighter aircraft built at the ChengduAircraft Industries Companies facilities.The PLAAF is currently also acceleratingdevelopment of its indigenous TheatreMissile Defence System.

The missiles being developed for theSecond Artillery accentuate the militarythreat to India. Once extension of theQinghai-Lhasa Railway, which linksDelingha with Lhasa, with Shigatse iscompleted by 2011, it will be possible forthe PLA and Second Artillery to bring theirmissiles up to the borders with ArunachalPradesh, or what the Chinese call

The assertiveness nowseen in China’s policies is a

result of the new-foundconfidence of the Chinese

leadership and people. It is aconsequence of a

combination of factorsincluding China’s steadily

burgeoning economy,growing military might andincreasing diplomatic heft.At the same time, Chinese

analysts assess that the USmilitary is over-stretched

because of its involvementin the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

”


‘southern Tibet’. The Chinese,whohave been acutely conscious of theneed to ensure a second retaliatorystrike capability and conceal theirmissiles and missile sites, have alsodeveloped rail and road mobile,capable missiles. The Transporter ErectorLauncher (TEL) for the DF-21 can now bepositioned at a pre-selected place, whichmeans that a DF-21 launched from aroundor south of Lhasa can reach Chennai.Other missiles such as the DF-15, a solid-fuel short-range ballistic missile with a 200-600km-range, can similarly bedeployed in a short time.

There are other instances where Chinahas assertively pushed its self-interestdisregarding the articulated valid concerns

of other nations. One example isthat of Japan, where rare earthexports were used as aneconomic weapon. China wasalso unrelenting in its stance onthe capture by Japanese forces of a

Chinese fishing vessel.A more serious issue that impacts on the

livelihoods of millions of people relates tothe construction of dams on the upperMekong River thereby reducing waterflows downstream. The proposed diversionof the Brahmaputra river waters to China’sarid, but populated, north will adverselyimpact India.

Taken aback by the widespread alarm atChinese actions though a debate has beengenerated inside China as to whether

discarding the policy of taoguang yanghuihas been premature. Some articles thatoccasionally appear in the People’s Dailyand Guangming Daily explore thepossibility of Beijing reverting to its earlierpolicy. A few Chinese commentators havecandidly acknowledged that China’spolicy of ‘peaceful rise’, modified to‘peaceful development’, has apparentlynot found many takers. They haverecommended that Beijing reverts to itsearlier policy and bides its time.

Whether and how China’s leadershipwill try to retrieve its position andrefurbish the image it had so assiduouslycultivated earlier is unclear. But it will be impossible to put this genie back intothe bottle.

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

Chineseparamilitarysoldiers beingtrained inShanghai

61

AFP


It used to be said, ‘What Bengal thinks

today, India will think tomorrow.’ At

the outbreak of the First World War, the

anxious question arose, how will Bengal

react to Britain’s call for help?

Undoubtedly, the winds of change,brought about by the 1905-11 partition of

the province had effectively sown the seeds

of nationalism, communalism and dissent.

Bengal’s positive response, surprising

many in the establishment, came in the

form of a field ambulance corps, a signal

company and an infantry regiment – the

49th Bengalis. The latter especially attracted

the elite among young men evoking a

special sense of Bengali pride. Here was an

opportunity to prove themselves; earlier,Bengalis were excluded by the British

Indian Army for recruitment into their

‘fighting arms’.

War was declared on August 4, 1914

and India rallied to Britain’s call. Indian

political leaders believed the cause for

India’s Independence might best be served

by assisting Britain. Scions of numerous

Indian Princely states, on the other hand,

felt a show of loyalty to the King Emperor

would enhance and strengthen their

individual positions within the hierarchy

and offers of financial and military help

came pouring in from across the country.

But clearly, raising a Bengali ‘fighting

62

HISTORY

KEY POINTS

! On July 1, 1917 the 49th Bengal

Infantry was officially raised at Karachi.

! It took some convincing and political

lobbying to raise a Bengali infantry

regiment since the community was

considered ‘non-martial’.

! Unlike other Indian regiments of that

era, recruitment was not based along

religious, caste or community lines.

Instead, an overall Bengali identity

pervaded the regiment.

BENGAL’S FORGOT

ASHOK NATH

Raised before World War I, the 49th Bengalis was the only regiment where recruitment

Military History 7 copy_INDO-PAK.qxd 03/02/11 12:01 PM Page 62

unit’ was not a top priority with the

government. It was argued, Bengal had

produced armed revolutionaries dubbed

‘terrorists’; besides, Indian troops should

not be made to fight Europeans as this

would undermine the concept of ‘white

supremacy’ that prevailed in the British

Empire at that time.

Formative YearsInitially then only the formation of

medical, signal and transport units from

Bengal was permitted and it took a certain

amount of convincing and political

lobbying before consent was given for

raising an infantry regiment.

A civilian committee, dubbed the

Bengali Regiment Committee, was formed

at Calcutta, now Kolkata, to motivate and

create awareness among the Bengali youth.

It was headed by Maharaja Bijoy Chand, a

confirmed Raj loyalist who earlier had

risked his own life, saving Sir Andrew

Fraser, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal,from an assassination attempt. Permission

was granted in August 1916 to raise two

infantry companies, known as the Bengali

Double Company. Recruitment was open

to all Bengalis regardless of caste or religion.

There was no dearth of volunteers; indeed

many had to be turned away, amongst

them, Subhash Chandra Bose who was

rejected on grounds of poor eyesight.

By September 1916, the Bengali

Company was relocated to Naushera in

Punjab for training. After their first phase of

training was complete, the men went to

Karachi for the second phase and the

government decided to upgrade the unit

into a full-fledged infantry regiment. On

July 1, 1917, the 49th Bengal Infantry was

officially raised at Karachi. The title soon

changed to 49th Bengalis. Lieutenant

Colonel A. L. Barrett was appointed its

commandant with Major V. V. V. Sandiford

as the second-in-command.

All officers posted in the unit were British,many of the junior lot coming from the

Indian Army Reserve of officers, mainly

civilians, who had hastily been given

wartime commissions. But not everyone was

happy. A Commandant – a soldier of the ‘old

school’ from an ‘up country regiment’recruiting the so-called ‘martial races’, made

no bones about his resentment in being

posted to a ‘non-martial unit.’

Cultural prejudice sometimes bordering

in outright racism was not uncommon

among British officers of the Indian Army.

‘Martial races’ was a designation coined by

officials in British India, and increasingly in

vogue after the Second Afghan War of 1878-

80. It represented a collective expression of

beliefs prevalent among the British Indian

Army officer corps which had gained wide

currency under Field Marshal Lord Roberts

of Kandahar (Kipling’s ‘Bobs Bahadur’), a

popular Victorian military hero. This

policy, which received its ideological

justification through a racist ideology,influenced by both the Indian caste system

and Social Darwinism, was referred to as

‘scientific racism.’ In addition and closely

linked to it, there were military and

environmental (climatic) perspectives. All

three combined as criteria for purposes of

evaluation and recruitment.

It must be underlined, however, that

the classification of the Indian people into

the ‘martial’ races and ‘non-martial’ races

was not only an invention of the British; it

was also the recognition of something

already implicit in the Indian social system.

In August 1914, India’s Army comprised

77,000 British and 1,60,000 Indian soldiers

trained and commanded by British

officers. India’s armed forces were

organised basically for the maintenance of

internal order and to defend the

subcontinent against external aggression.

Small contingents of Indian troops had

occasionally been dispatched to other

British protectorates but India’s Army was

neither designed nor equipped to provide a

substantial expeditionary force for

overseas service. Yet, in spite of its

inherent deficiencies, this was outside

Britain, the most suitable standing Army

immediately available.

The heavy demand for manpower and

the significant losses suffered in the early

stages of the First World War led to a

change in recruiting policy and the so-

called martial race theory was hastily

abandoned in order to tap other sections

of the Indian community for recruitment.

63

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

TEN REGIMENT

Illustrations of soldiers belonging to theBengal Native Infantry Regiment, which

was part of the Indian Army; (Top right) The insignia of 49 Bengalis

was not based on caste or religion: First, in an occasional series on India’s military history


Indian officers at that time held alimited position within a regiment knownas the Viceroy’s Commissioned Officers(VCO). The VCO, a junior commissionedofficer (JCO), wore a distinct officer’suniform and was entitled to receive asalute from any Indian soldier or non-commissioned officer (NCO). Thisindividual functioned either as a platoonleader or company commander, andindeed, most of the platoons andcompanies of Indian regiments were ledby such soldiers. They had no authorityover the white enlisted men of Britishregiments or even over British officers whomight be junior to them. In fact, they wereoutranked by any holder of the King’sCommission, and thus by all British orwhite colonial officers.

The VCOs of the 49th Bengaliscomprised a motley collection,many wereformer civilians holding some position ofauthority or scions of prominent Bengalifamilies while others had been postedfrom non-combat arms. None had actualcombat experience or service with aninfantry regiment.

The most respected among them,Subedar Major Shalindranath Basu, hadbeen awarded the Indian DistinguishedService Medal for bravery and a Mentionedin Dispatches. From a prominent Bengalifamily,he had been serving with the Supplyand Transport Corps. Earlier, as the muchadmired secretary of the Mohan BaganFootball Club he had lifted the club’sreputation from obscurity by winning themost prestigious football title of the country,the IFA Challenge Shield. The next inseniority was a lawyer of the Calcutta HighCourt. Other prominent personagesincluded the Nawab of Dhaka.

Seige of Kut-al-Amara Turkey’s entry into the war promptedBritain to open a new military front in theremote Ottoman province of Mesopotamia(present-day Iraq). Mainly Indian, withsome British troops,were sent to the PersianGulf to protect British oil interests, maderapid progress inland against weak Turkishresistance. Despite the unforgiving climate,the British Indian forces under theleadership of General Charles Townshendprogressed steadily up the river Tigristaking the town of Kut-al-Amara just southof Mesopotamia’s major city,Baghdad.

The tide turned quickly,however, at theBattle of Ctesiphon,a bloody affair in whichTurkish troops defeated Townshend’sattacking forces. More than half of the 8,500

Indian troops who fought at Ctesiphonwere killed or wounded. The survivorsendured a dangerous and exhaustingretreat to Kut-al-Amara without decentmedical or transport facilities.

Bolstered by 30,000 reinforcements,Turkish troops besieged Townshend’sforces in Kut-al-Amara before the Alliedtroops could act on the British WarCabinet’s advice to withdraw furtherdown the Tigris. The siege of Kut-al-Amaralasted 147 days before the 11,800 Indian

troops inside the garrison town finallysurrendered in April 1916.

Conditions during the siege wereappalling. In bitterly cold weather and withlittle medical treatment,many of the soldiersdid not survive the winter. Several attemptswere made to relieve the besieged town but they encountered stubborn Turkishresistance and all ended in failure.

The surrender of Townshend’s Army inlate April 1916 shocked people in Britain andIndia, for whom the Mesopotamiacampaign had previously been a distant andlargely successful venture. Meanwhile,horrific repercussions were taking place onthe ground. Captured Indian soldiers werebrutally treated on their march to Turkishprisoner-of-war camps in Anatolia. Of the11,800 men who left Kut-al-Amara with theircaptors in May 1916, 4,250 died either ontheir way to captivity or in the camps thatawaited them at the journey’s end.

Despite the setback, the British positionin Mesopotamia was far from hopeless.Indeed, with reinforced troop divisionsand a new leader, the force mainlycomprising Indian troops, again advancedrapidly up the Tigris in early 1917.

Kut-al-Amara was recaptured and on March11, 1917, British and Indian troopsfinally entered Baghdad. The path wascleared for an advance into northernMesopotamia, towards the heart of theOttoman Empire in Anatolia.

Limited to Garrison Reinforcements were desperately needed to guard the overstretched lines ofcommunications, the 49th Bengalisundergoing training in Karachi was orderedto mobilise for immediate departure.Reaching Baghdad towards the end ofSeptember, 1917 they were assigned togarrison duties along the lines ofcommunications. The unhealthy climate didnot suit the men and there were several casesof sickness within the battalion.

An interesting observation confirmsthis fact in a book by General Sir WilliamMarshal, Commander-in-Chief of theBritish Forces in Mesopotamia, and bestdescribed in his own words: “Shortly aftertaking over command, I went to inspectthis unit [49th Bengalis] and met byLieutenant Colonel Barrett [known as]‘The Boomer’ on account of the quality ofhis voice, I was taken round the battalion,which was not drawn up in the ordinaryway but dotted about in squads, somelarge, some small. On arrival at the firstsquad Barrett announced; ‘The Measles

HISTORY

64

Maharaja Bijoy Chand

A civilian body, the BengaliRegiment Committee, was

formed in Kolkata tomotivate and create

awareness among theBengali youth. It was

headed by Maharaja BijoyChand, a Raj loyalist. This

body was graduallydeveloped into a full-

fledged infantry regiment.

”


65

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI

Squad’; at the second, ‘The WhoopingCough Squad’, at the third, ‘The ScarletFever Squad’, and so on, through the mostknown diseases. The crème-de-la crème ofthe battalion, those not convalescing fromany particular disease, numbered some 65, but the only men I saw was the seniorIndian officer, a brother of a prominentBengali politician”.

On June 9, 1918, a shocking incidentoccurred within the unit lines. The popularSubedar Major Basu, along with JemadarMukerjee and Subedar Mittra was shotwhile he lay asleep in the tent. The twowere seriously injured, Subedar Mittrasuccumbing to his injuries shortlyafterwards. A naik (NCO) and a sepoy fromthe regiment purported to have carried outthe crime were arrested.

A court of enquiry subsequently foundthat the affair was caused by jealousy, andthe crime was an outcome of private spiteprompted by alleged ill-treatment of theother ranks by the Indian officers.’The naikand sepoy confessed to the firing and theCourt considered a third person, SubedarD. K. Sen, also responsible although therewas no evidence against him. Sen wasgreatly disliked in the regiment and onunfriendly terms with Subedar Major Basu.It appeared that Jemadar Mukerjee hadbeen shot by mistake for another, Subedar D. P. Banerjee. The court also concluded that‘there was no reason to believe that politicalmotives inspired the crime.’

The incident was downplayed. No onewas really interested in publicising thisunfortunate episode especially in Bengal.

The war ended with the defeat of theTurkish armies. During the entire durationof the war, the 49th Bengalis did not see combat, being assigned garrison orguard duties. The closest chance for actioncame during mid-1919 when Kurdistandeclared Independence and some soldiersfrom the 49th Bengalis took part in this punitive expedition.

The Mesopotamian campaign waslargely an Indian Army campaign. Duringits four years of fighting, over 31,000officers and men mostly Indians, died incombat or from disease.

Ahead of its TimesThe 49th Bengalis were to remain inMesopotamia until July 1920. The post-warstringent economic measures imposedrequired a drastic reduction of the Army.Those units considered unsuitable forretention were the first to be axed – amongthem the 49th Bengalis.

The 49th Bengalis in many respects werepioneers well before their time comprisingeducated men mainly from urbanbackgrounds. Unlike other Indian regimentsof that era which recruited from the illiteraterural peasantry, compartmentalised intocaste or religious-based sub-units orregiments, they were not based alongreligious, caste or community lines, insteadan overall Bengali identity pervaded. But,the regiment appears to have lacked an effective and inspiring leadership,

essential for creating the necessary espiritde corps. The manner in which the regimentwas presented by its British commandingofficer to the Commander-in-Chief of theAllied Forces in Mesopotamia gives animpression that the Commandant did notquite take his own men seriously.

The majority of officers posted to the regiment appear to have beeninexperienced. The more senior officersdid not wish to serve in the regimentwhich they deemed ‘un-martial’. TheIndian officer cadre, all from non-combatarms, failed to inspire their men who wereeducated and required careful handling.In fact, one of the causes of the shooting,it was alleged, had been on account of theill- treatment meted out to the other ranksby the VCO cadre.

At the time of recruiting it was believed anoverall Bengali identity would cement theunit. To the extent of fostering communalharmony among Hindus and Muslims, theexperiment was successful. However, at amicro-social level it created problemsbetween the Brahmans and Kayasthas, thetwo dominant Hindu communities in theregiment, as rivalries among them overpromotions soon broke out.

On a more positive note, exposure tooverseas service created a broad mentalityand political awareness influencing manywho served within its ranks: Among themNazrul Islam, one day to become thenational poet of Bangladesh,whose earliestpoems were composed while serving withthis regiment.

From a point of view of historiography,hardly any books written by Indiansoldiers documenting their experiences inthe First World are known to exist, excepttwo in Bengali, and both were written bymen who had served with the regiment.

The 49th Bengalis were a unique Indianregiment, the only one to have among itsranks an educated elite, and therefore,possibly, also a reason for its failure in theconventional military sense.

Readings include! British Library, India Office Papers, (printedarchive. L/MIL/7/7279)! The Quarterly Indian Army List, (January1919,Army Headquarters, India, SuperintendentGovernment Printing,Calcutta 1919)! Marshall, Lieutenant General Sir William,Memories of Four Fronts. (London: Ernest BennLtd, 1929)! Singh,M.B, Subedar, Sainik Bangali, circa 1939 (Photostat copy examined in the Rajshahi College Library)

Bengal’s famous rebelpoet Kazi Nazrul Islam

Exposure to overseasservice created a broad

mentality and politicalawareness influencing manywho served within its ranks.Among them Nazrul Islam,

one day to become thenational poet of Bangladesh,

whose earliest poems werecomposed while serving

in this regiment.

”


66

DEFENCE BUZZ

RAHUL BEDI

Hype, Hype But No Hurray!

A soldier from the Rashtriya Rifles near the Line of Control in Kashmir

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THE widely publicised Ministry of Defence (MoD)goal to augment private sector participation in thecountry’s moribund military-industrial sectorunder the recently revised Defence ProductionPolicy, remains a little more than hype going by oneof its more recent tenders for 5.56 mm carbinesestimated at over ̀ 2,000 crore.

The MoD’s request for proposal (RfP) to 39 overseas vendors dispatched in late lastDecember for 44,618 5.56 mm close quarter battle(CBQ) carbines – and over 33 million rounds ofammunition – mandates a transfer of technology(ToT) exclusively to the state-owned OrdnanceFactory Board (OFB) to locally build some 380,000 to400,000 carbines.

The 5.56 mm carbines will replace the outmoded 9 mm model presently in Army service and eventuallybe issued to India’s sizeable paramilitaries and statepolice forces.

Earlier, attempts by the inept Defence Researchand Development Organisation (DRDO) through the1990s to locally design a 5.56 mm carbine under theIndian Small Arms System (INSAS) failed despitetall claims and equally ambitious aspirations.

But the exclusion of the private sector from thisforthcoming procurement – several defencecontractors in anticipation of such a requirementhave acquired licences to build them – has convinced

it that the MoD merely wants to perpetuate themonopolistic state-run military-industrial behemothwhich,over decades,has produced little of worth.

This conglomerate that includes 39 OFBentities and eight Defence Public Sector Units(DPSUs) remains constrained by inherentinefficiencies resulting in long delays andinordinately high costs to largely produce low tomedium-technology materiel confined primarily tolicensed production.

Consequently, nearly 75 percent of India’smilitary hardware is imported and Service officersconcede that this overseas dependency is unlikelyto decrease over the next two decades, as majorobsolete platforms and systems are replaced.

The MoD,anxious to protect its turf,continues todisregard the private sector and opts, like in the proposed 5.56 mm carbine contract, foreconomically unsound OFB plants and DPSUs,having long abandoned the government’s fantasticalaim of attaining 70 percent self-reliance in itsdefence needs by 2005. The Defence Ministry seems willing to participate in the collective OFBand DPSU falsehood that specialises in passing offlargely assembled equipment having, over years,merely absorbed mediocre engineering but notechnological skills.

Meanwhile, another imminent MoD RfP long

AFP

Defence Buzz_7 pages.qxd:DSI Defence Talk-May09.qxd 30/01/11 12:50 PM Page 66

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68

under formulation, in what is anticipated tobe one of the world’s largest small armscontracts valued at over ` 4,000 crore andwhich too could well go to the OFB, is for 5.56 mm assault rifles (AR). They are toreplace the operationally incompetentINSAS 5.56 mm ARs the Army has grudginglyemployed since the mid-1990s. Other than thecarbine and AR the INSAS family of weaponsalso included a light machine gun which toowas abandoned resulting in the obvious fallback import option.

Alarmingly, the shortfall in the Army’s359 infantry battalions and associated 66 Rashtriya Rifles units is desperately inarrears. Other than 200,000 CQB carbinesand ARs they require some 15,000 generalpurpose machine guns, 1,100 light-weightanti-materiel rifles, 225 mine-protectedvehicles and 64 snow scooters foremployment in Siachen.

There is also a requirement for390,000 ballistic helmets, over 30,000third-generation night-vision devices and180,000 lightweight bullet-proof jackets.Ordnance like grenades and 84 mm rocketlauncher ammunition too are in short supply,all pending procurement for an average ofover five years.

Complex RiddleWithin A ConundrumWITH the end of financial year (FY) 2010-11approaching, comes the prospect of unspentMinistry of Defence (MoD) funds eitherreverting to the federal fund or being ‘parked’at Defence Public Sector Units (DPSUs) andthe Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) tocircumvent that alternative.

In FY 2009-10, for instance, the MoD wasunable to spend ` 70 billion for new militaryacquisitions from an allocation of ` 191.18billion due to collective delays by the ministryand the three Services in confirming equipmentacquisitions and modernisation programmes.

Earlier in FY 2008-09, the MoD returned` 70 billion earmarked out of ` 480 billionassigned for procurements for similarreasons while between 2002 and 2008, theamount it gave back was ` 225.17 billioncausing Defence Minister A. K. Antony todeclare that despite his ministry’s ‘pocketsbeing full’ it was often unable to buy themuch-needed materiel.

“Even though our government isearmarking huge budgets, it is not being fullyreflected in our modernisation efforts.Allocation of money has never been aproblem; the issue has been its timely and

judicious utilisation,” Antony told a DefenceResearch Development Organisation seminarin New Delhi in early 2009 and not much hassince been changed. Other military officerssaid these delays adversely affected India’soperational preparedness leaving it not onlyshort of crucial equipment but also ‘helpless’when emergencies arose like the 1999 Kargilcrisis and later when India was helplesslymulling a military riposte to the 26/11 strike onMumbai by ten gunmen from Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the Army and to a lesserextent the Indian Navy and the Indian AirForce has ‘parked’ large portions of theseunspent funds with the OFB and the DPSUseffecting a ‘book keeping’ exercise, therebyensuring it receives equal if not additionalfunding the following year.

Despite talk of transparency in defence acquisitions and moderinsationprogrammes, most aspects of defenceplanning and spending in India remainshrouded in mystery – a complex riddlewithin a conundrum – with little or no efforton the MoD’s part to demystify its activitiesto the public that finances its operations.

The common perception is that theMoD’s task is essentially one of harnessingresources – financial, technological andhuman – to create,over time,desired militarycapabilities which are in concert withnational defence and security strategy toprotect and enhance domestic interests. But unfortunately, over time, India’s forcecapabilities have not seen any major jump inefficiency or capacity.

On the contrary, this pervasive all-round

indecisiveness has led to an increasedqualitative and technological gap withChina’s military capabilities and nearsymmetrical conventional parity withPakistan. In terms of military modernisation,China is speeding ahead and is on thethreshold of emerging as a first worldtechnologically-savvy military, dramaticallychanging threat levels for India. In the case ofPakistan, the relative military advantage thathas favoured India both operationally and inforce ratios, for decades is fast diminishing.

It’s All About theMoney, ChérieTHE upgrade of the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) 51Mirage 2000H fighters to Mirage 2000-5standards was deferred following severe pricedifferences with Thales-Dassault Aviationahead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’sfour-day visit to India last December.

Official sources say that the IAF and theMinistry of Defence have dismissedThales-Dassault’s demand of `100 billion-` 150 billion or ` 2.2 billion-` 2.9 billion peraircraft to retrofit the Mirage 2000H fleet as‘exorbitant’ and ‘unacceptable.’ Both haveconcurred that each upgrade which includedequipping the fighters with new avionics,advanced navigation systems, missioncomputers and a pulse doppler radarcapable of identifying objects up to adistance of 70 nm, is equivalent to the price ofa new fighter. In comparison, upgrading theIAF’s 63 MiG-29 fighters presently underway

Mirage 2000H

DEFENCE BUZZ FEBRUARY 2011 DSI


!"#$%"&$'()*+,$'",,)-.)/.+

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70

in Russia is costing $964 million or anaffordable $15.3 million each.

Thales officials, however, recently haverationalised this expense claiming that the upgraded fighters will provide IAFcommanders the operational flexibility tocommit fewer aircraft on combat missionsfor higher success rates, thereby renderingthe upgrade cost effective. Additionally,the upgraded electronic warfare systems,including radar warning receivers withinstantaneous wide-bank receivers,electronic jammers and counter-measuresystems and enhanced fuel capacity willkeep the Mirage 2000Hs operationallyrelevant for over two decades. Glasscockpits and helmet-mounted displays willcomplete the upgrade.

The retrofitted Mirage 2000Hs will also be armed with Rafael ArmamentDevelopment Authority’s medium-rangestand-off AGM-142 Raptor/Have Nap/Popeyeair-to-surface launched cruise missilespecially configured for the IAF andcodenamed Crystal Maze with an 80-100kmrange. They will also be armed with MBDA’sInterception and Aerial Combat Missile(MICA) the anti-air multi-target, all weather,fire-and-forget short and medium-rangemissile systems.

India, meanwhile, is also in talks withMatra BAE Dynamics Alenia (MBDA) to re-start the Maitri low-level quick reactionmissile programme for joint developmentwith the state-owned DRDO to augment theIAF’s obsolete air defence capability.

Alongside, the Indian Navy (IN) is holding

exploratory talks with France’s Direction desConstructions Navales (DCNS) to equip twoof its six Project 75 Scorpene submarinesunder construction at Mumbai’s MazagaonDockyard Limited (MDL) with an airindependent prolusion (AIP) system that willenable them to remain underwater for up tothree weeks without surfacing.

DCNS’s chief Patrick Boissier,accompanying Sarkozy to India, says hiscompany is in consultation with the IN for the AIP system which will be fitted onto thefifth and sixth MDL-built Scorpene. LastDecember, IN Chief Admiral Nirmal Vermasaid that the first of the long-delayedScorpene submarines will be inducted intoservice in 2015, three years behind scheduleand the sixth by 2018.

American ConnectionsTHE US is swiftly climbing up the Indianmilitary’s supply chain with Boeing’s ApacheAH-64D Block III Apache helicoptersupgraded to Longbow standard rangedagainst Russia’s Mil Mi-28N Havoc in supportof the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) requirementfor 22 attack helicopters. Alongside, BoeingCH-47F Chinook and Russian Mi 26s werecompeting for the IAF’s tender for 15 heavylift to replace its Soviet-era Mi24 (Hind)/Mi35s and Mi 26 (Halo) models respectively.

The initial tender for the attackhelicopters floated in May 2008 waswithdrawn after Bell-Textron and Boeingpulled out, claiming that the enhancedoffset obligation of 50 percent for the over

$1 billion contract was ‘commerciallyunviable’. They also declared theirpreference for routing the helicoptersthrough the Foreign Military Sales (FMS)programme an option not included in the Ministry of Defence’s RfP whichstipulated the participation of only original equipment manufacturers.

The RfP, re-issued in May 2009, reducedthe offset obligation for attack helicoptersto 30 percent of the contract value andpermitted the FMS route, resulting in Boeingre-entering the competition and along withthe MI 28N recently completing trials in Indiaand abroad. Trials for the rival heavy lifthelicopters too have concluded.

Meanwhile, in late December 2010, aconfident Pentagon notified the USCongress regarding the possible sale to India of 22 Apache helicopters for $1.4 billion. “This notification is being made inadvance so that, in the event that theBoeing-US Army proposal is selected, theUS might move as quickly as possible toimplement the sale,” the US DefenseDepartment has declared.

The accompanying notification was forthe $200 million sale of 21 AGM-84L HarpoonBlock II missiles and associated equipment,parts and logistical support for fitment on theIAF’s fleet of Jaguar/IM based at Jamanagarto enhance their maritime warfare capabilityby providing them the capacity to strike landtargets and littoral areas.

“These proposed sales will contribute tothe foreign policy and national security of theUS by helping to strengthen the US-Indiastrategic relationship and to improve thesecurity of an important partner whichcontinues to be an important force forpolitical stability, peace, and economicprogress in South Asia,” the DefenseSecurity Cooperation Agency said in astatement last December.

If India selects the Boeing-US Armyproposal for the AH-64 platform, India isexpected to request a possible sale of 50 T700-GE-701D engines, 12 AN/APG-78 firecontrol radar, 12 AN/APR-48A radarfrequency interferometers, 812 AGM-114L-3Hellfire Longbow missiles, 542 AGM-114R-3Hellfire II missiles, 245 Stinger Block I-92Hmissiles and 23 Modernised TargetAcquisition Designation sight/pilot nightvision sensors, rockets, training and dummy missiles.

Since 2002, India, which has emerged asWashington’s close strategic and militaryally after decades of hostile relations duringthe Cold War years when it was a close Sovietpartner, has either acquired or is in the

Admiral Nirmal Verma

DEFENCE BUZZ FEBRUARY 2011 DSI


72

DEFENCE BUZZ

process of procuring US materiel worthbetween $12 and $13 billion via the FMS route.

All Thanks to FMSLOCKHEED Martin has handed over thefirst of six C-130J Super Hercules transportaircraft to the US Air Force on behalf of theIndian Air Force (IAF) at Marietta, Georgialast December. The transporters acquired inearly 2008 via the Foreign Military Sales(FMS) programme for $1.2 billion have beenspecially configured for use by India’sSpecial Forces and equipped withAN/AAR-47 Missile Approach WarningSystems and radar-warning receivers.

They are capable of precision low-levelflying, airdrops and landing in blackoutconditions and equipped with air-to-airrefueling capability for extended rangeoperations. A team of technical specialistswill be based in India for three-years toinitiate the IAF into operating the C-130J’s.

The first two C-130Js will be flown out toIndia in early 2011 in time for the Aero Indiashow at Bangalore scheduled in Februaryand the entire Super Hercules Fleet,expected to eventually increase to 12aircraft,will be based at Hindon near Delhi.

The IAF will supplement the C-130Jswith ten Boeing C-17 Globemaster III VeryHeavy Lift Transport Aircraft (VHLTA) – withthe option of acquiring six more – under theFMS programme for an estimated $5.8billion, registering India’s most expensiveUS military equipment purchase.

The C-17s will replace the IAF’s fleet ofaround 12 Russian Ilushin IL76 Gajrajtransporters and complement around 104 medium-lift Russian-built Antonov-32twin-engine turboprop models presentlyundergoing an upgrade in Ukraine for $400million. The IAF is also finalising itsrequirement for 16 medium-lift transportaircraft for which Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica’sC27J Spartan and EADS’CASA C 295 wereunder evaluation.

Smart ‘Cluster’ Bombs THE US government has recently approved the sale of cluster bombs to India, via theForeign Military Sales route, fulfilling arequest outstanding since 2008.

The sale of 512 Textron Systems-designedcluster bombs and 41 training units for$257.73 million to the Indian Air Force (IAF)will make it the first overseas user of theUS-designed cluster bomb with active lasersensors on each warhead capable ofsimultaneously detecting and engaging

multiple stationary and moving targets onthe ground within a specific area.

The CBU-105 sensor fused weapons tobe fitted onto fighters like the multi-roleSu-30MKIs will significantly boost theirstrike capability against ground armour andother crucial land-based targets.

The guidance systems on each of theCBU-105’s ten bomblets cause it to selfdestruct if there are no targets to engageeither in the air or almost immediately uponhitting the ground. This neutralises anydanger to either the civilian population oradvancing troops from the attacking side.

Considerable controversy surroundscluster munitions which stand eitherbanned or their use severely restricted by aninternational convention to which neitherIndia nor the US are signatories. Butaccording to Indian officials, the CBU-105sare not deemed illegal by most militaries asalmost all of its bomblets exploded oncontact with the battlefield. In sanctioningthe IAF’s demands for these deadly clusterbombs, the US Congress declared that theCBU-105 induction will ‘assist the (two) airforces develop and enhance standardisationand operational ability.’

Ships Ahoy!THE Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) DefenceAcquisition Council recently approved the acquisition of four additional Boeing P-8I Poseidon multi-mission maritimereconnaissance aircraft (MMMRA) and fourlanding dock platforms (LPDs) for anestimated $4.5 billion to augment the IndianNavy’s (IN) surveillance, strategic andsealift capabilities.

The MMMRA and LPD procurementdecision follows recent visits by DefenceMinister A.K. Antony and Admiral NirmalVerma to the US where they met with across-section of senior military andadministration officials to discuss businessand defence and security cooperation.

MoD officials say that the four proposedLPDs-similar to INS Jalashwa (formerly USSTrenton), the 16,900 tonne second-handAustin-class LPD the IN acquired in 2005 foraround $50.63 million will cost the Navy $3.55billion. They will be acquired under the ‘buyand make’ category of the DefenceProcurement Procedures which permitslicensed indigenous production of militaryequipment in collaboration with an overseaspartner. At least two of the four LPDs will beconstructed at the state-owned HindustanShipyard Limited at Vishakhapatnam and theremaining two either imported or built abroad.

The four P-8I MMMRA, a variant of theP-8A Poseidon that Boeing is developing forthe US Navy,will supplement eight others theIN has ordered in 2009 for $2.1 billion.Induction of the eight P-8Is is expected tobegin by early 2013 and be completed threeyears later.

In a related development the IN isinducting the first of its two Italian-built fleettankers on January 21, 2011 and the secondone at the year-end to augment its blue watercapability by fuelling warships and taskforces far from home.

INS Deepak, built by Fincantieri Cantieri Navali of Italy for 159.32 million Eurounder a 2008 contract, arrived in Mumbai onChristmas Eve. It will join the IN’s older fleettankers, INS Jyoti and INS Aditya. Meanwhile,INS Shakti, the second Fincantieri-builttanker-ordered in March 2009 and launchedlast October, will be inducted some 11-12months later.

The 175m-long tankers, powered by two 10,000 m diesel engines capable ofattaining an optimum speed of 20 knots canrefuel four warships simultaneously, andtransport 17,900 tonne of cargo, including15,250 tonne of fuel. They can also embark a 10-tonne helicopter and house 250 personnel, including the crew.Finacantieri is also servicing two contractswith the Indian Navy agreed in 2004 for thedesign and propulsion system integration ofits Indigenous Aircraft Carrier underconstruction at Cochin.

INS Deepak

FEBRUARY 2011 DSI


216X276.indd 1216X276.indd 1 1/27/11 10:27:04 AM1/27/11 10:27:04 AM

The technology of yesterday’s dogfights will not win in the modern battlespace. The Super Hornet gives Indiathe advanced capabilities required to prevail for decades to come. It’s the only aircraft available today witha proven, fully integrated suite of networked radar, sensors, avionics and weapons systems—enabling theSuper Hornet to engage potential threats beyond visual range like nothing else. To engage, fight and win.

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