Interestingly, the Navy proposal
for the NUHs is said to be "better than Make-in-India". About 50 per
cent of the procurement of these helicopters are to be executed through
the indigenous route, with an Indian entity being the lead agency, with
foreign collaboration, according to Defense Ministry officials.
In what turned out to be a damp
squib for the armed forces and the industry, Defense Minister Manohar
Parrikar abruptly terminated the meeting that began at 4 p.m., stating
that he had to leave immediately. But later reports suggested that he
took a 7 p.m. flight back to Goa to visit home, raising many eye-brows.
The DAC did take up some of the
items on its 25-point agenda for a decision and indeed some decisions
were taken. But, official explained, till the time the meet reconvenes
and all the items on the agenda are taken up and decided upon, the
minutes of the meeting wouldn't be ready or made public.
Defense Ministry officials, though, said the DAC will reconvene on Sept.1, 2015 to complete the meet's agenda.
Here are the key items that were on DAC's agenda:
Navy's Seeks Approval For NUH Buy
The Navy plans to get the NUHs
under the 'Buy and Make India' route, with some imports off-the-shelf,
and the rest being built in India under a Technology Transfer. "How many
would be done off-the-shelf is yet to be decided," Ministry officials
said.
The DAC is to now give its nod for
the Acceptance of Necessary (AoN) and the next step would be to issue
the Request for Proposals (RFPs) to the Indian companies interested in
the project, Defense Ministry sources said.
Given the kind of line up for
aerospace manufacturing in the country, the industries interested in the
project are Anil Ambani's Reliance defense vertical, Tata's aerospace
venture, Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Bharat Forge and Mahindra.
These firms have responded to the
Request for Information (RFI) with proposals for joint ventures with
foreign helicopter manufacturers such as for Airbus Helicopter's AS565
and AgustaWestland's AW-109. See Arming India's earlier report on
AgustaWestland HERE.
Chetaks From HAL As Interim Arrangement
The Navy has also sought a green
signal from the DAC for buying eight Chetak utility helicopters from
HAL. These helicopters would be used for air operations from on-board
warships and for shore-to-ship operations, officials said. These
helicopters will only plug a gap in the air fleet of the Navy, but the
ultimate solutions are the NUHs.
The Navy had first issued a RFI for
the NUHs in 2010 and followed it up with another recently under the
Defense Procurement Procedure-2013 norms. The RFI was to find a
twin-engined helicopter of modern air frame design and fully integrated
advanced avionics, to replace Navy's existing fleet of Chetak
helicopters, which were inducted 40 years ago.
The helicopters the Navy want
should have twin-controls for both the pilots. These would be used to
carry out search and rescue, casualty evacuation, observation and
surveillance, and limited electronic intelligence gathering. The
choppers should have the capability to carry out anti-submarine warfare
attack with torpedoes and depth charges besides anti-terrorism and
anti-piracy roles.
The twin-engine requirement is to
ensure more survivability for the crew while flying over the maritime
zone, considering the accidents that have occurred involving the naval
utility choppers in the past. The helicopters should be capable of
operating from small decks and larger decks (up to aircraft carrier) in
adverse weather by day and night, apart from snow-covered surface,
sleet, sand, water and slush.
Selection Panel's Report On Shipyards For P75I Submarines
The DAC was to open the report of a
Ministry-appointed committee that assessed the capabilities of India's
seven key shipyards to see which ones had the capability to build the
Navy's second line of hi-tech conventional submarines,officials said.
The committee was named in October
2014 under then Defense Production Secretary G.Mohan Kumar, who has
since been elevated as Defense Secretary.
After opening the report and
reviewing the contents, the DAC would give its nod for issuing RFP to
select shipyards that the committee felt had the necessary facilities,
financial strength and capabilities to build the submarines, which are
envisaged to have the modern Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system on
board.
The DAC had in October 2014
decided to go ahead with Project 75I to build six submarines, estimated
to be worth Rs.50,000 crore ($7.5 billion at present exchange rate). The
shipyards that were considered for the project by the committee were
the public sector Mazagon Docks, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and
Engineers, Goa Shipyard, Hindustan Shipyard, and Cochin Shipyard, and
the private yards, Pipavav and L&T.
The committee had been given six
weeks to do its assessment and to prepare its report. The report was
submitted to the ministry earlier this year with recommendations.
India's much-depleted submarine fleet strength badly need to augment
itself with more conventional submarines. That's a refrain we have heard
for a decade now.
Air Force To Augment Cargo Chopper Fleet
The IAF will seek an AoN from the
DAC for augmenting its 130-helicopter Mi-17V5 fleet for medium lift
cargo capability. The Russian choppers have now become the work horse of
the IAF's cargo helicopter fleet and the new additions will only
reinforce this growing role for the platform.
This deal is likely to bring with
it a 30 per cent offset, a clause in the Defense Procurement
Procedure-2013 under which a winning foreign Original Equipment
Manufacturer in an Indian arms acquisition program would have to
plough-back at least 30 per cent of the contract amount in the Indian
defense, aerospace and homeland security industry.
The Mi-17V5 choppers are the
replacement for the aging Mi-8 choppers in the IAF fleet. Some of the
new platforms are already diverted since last year to be used by the Air
HQ communications squadron that flies the Indian President and Prime
Minister. An earlier deal for 12 AgustaWestland's AW-101 VIP choppers
had been terminated in January 2014, over a CBI probe into allegations
of bribery.
Under the new Mi-17V5 deal, the Air Force is also likely to get maintenance facilities for the helicopters established in India.
Akash Missiles To Boost Air Defense Capability
The other Air Force proposal is to
buy 14 firing units of the indigenous Akash surface-to-air missiles
(SAMs) from Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to arm its seven air
defense squadrons, according to Ministry officials.
The DAC will considering approvals of Acceptance of Necessity for buying the Akash SAMs for Rs.4,500 crore ($680 million).
The BEL makes the Akash missiles
as the lead integrator for the IAF, with contribution from another
public sector Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and HAL and Electronics
Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), and private sector Tata SED and
L&T, all infusing about 90 per cent domestic content.
Of the eight squadrons of
DRDO-developed Akash on order, the IAF inducted its first squadron at an
event at the Gwalior air force base in early July this year, in the
presence of Parrikar and IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha. (See
Image)
SRE Radars For Air Force Air Bases
The other proposal from the Air
Force is to buy Surveillance Radar Element (SRE) S-band radars suitable
for terminal control applications for its new air bases, mostly in
eastern part of the country.
The DAC is to give its nod for the
AoN for these radars procurement at a cost of Rs.228 crore ($35
million). The tender for the radars will be issued soon, after the DAC
approval.
These radars are to be positioned
at air bases such as Panagarh in West Bengal, which will headquarter the
Indian Army's China-specific Mountain Strike Corps. Panagarh will also
be the second base for the Lockheed Marin C-130J special operations
aircraft fleet. The other air bases to get the radars are Purnia in West
Bengal, Bihta in Bihar and Avantipur in Jammu and Kashmir.
Army Looks At Tank Trawls and Short-Span Bridges
The proposals from the land forces
of the country before the DAC for AoN approval are purchase of 102
quantities of 10-meter short-span bridges and 176 units trawls for T-72
and T-90 tanks.
armingind
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