Military Acquisitions, Partnerships & Developments

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 20 Jul 2014 23:56

Agreed its not ideal and your plan is workable but at least the program you noted can make money for Ibdia via exports.

jamwal · Post by **jamwal** » 21 Jul 2014 00:11

Is anyone attending the conference in DRDO office on 21-22 July ? It's about precision guided munitions, me thinks. Just saw a signboard in passing.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 13 Aug 2014 17:52

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 14 Aug 2014 04:33

US pips Russia as top arms supplier to India

The US has overtaken Russia as the largest arms supplier to India in the last three years. But in terms of overall numbers, Russia still remains the biggest weapons exporter to India, having notched military sales worth over $40 billion since the first MiG-21 jets and T-55 tanks in the 1960s to the present-day Sukhoi-30MKI fighters and T-90S main-battle tanks.

Russia, of course, is now running scared of the aggressive inroads being made by the US into the money-spinning Indian arms market, as if the continuing challenge from France and Israel was not enough. India, incidentally, has even turned to Israel to upgrade some its Russian-origin equipment.

With IAF having inducted over 200 of the 272 Sukhoi-30MKI fighters ordered for over $12 billion, Russia is now eager to quickly seal the final R&D contract with India to jointly develop the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft. If India indeed moves to induct over 200 such ""swing-role" stealth fighters in the next decade, it will spend close to $35 billion on them.

But that is in the future. On Tuesday, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha, defence minister Arun Jaitley said India spent Rs 83,458 crore on importing weapons over the last three years. The US stood first in this list with Rs 32,615 crore, followed by Russia (Rs 25,364 crore), France (Rs 12,047 crore) and Israel (Rs 3,389 crore).

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 29 Aug 2014 08:19

Ministry of Defence to expedite defence deals: Arun Jaitley

Voicing “concern” over the “slow pace of defence acquisitions” highlighted for him by the Indian Navy on Tuesday, defence minister Arun Jaitley indicated the government will move ahead with expediting defence acquisitions, adding that a “significant amount” (of funds) “has to be available” for the nation’s defence.

Mr Jaitley is also finance minister, and his remarks are seen as significant, possibly indicating a significant hike in the defence allocation in the coming Union Budget.

The minister said expediting defence acquisitions was possible even within the current rules, indicating crucial defence acquisition files “need not be” repeatedly moved up and down. The Navy is suffering from a critical shortage of submarines and also wants multi-role helicopters quickly.

“Taking note of the capability shortfall of conventional submarines, ship-borne helicopters, mine counter-measure vessels and other weapons and sensors in the Navy, Mr Jaitley said all efforts will be made to ensure operational preparedness,” the Navy said in a statement later.

The acute shortage of submarines has reached a point of criticality. The Navy wants to start the long-delayed acquisition process for six second-line submarines with air independent propulsion technology.

Speaking to reporters after interacting with senior officers at the naval commanders’ conference here, Mr Jaitley said, “The entire resources of the country, notwithstanding various pressures, has to make available a significant amount for the defence of the country.”

He said: “The key matter of concern appears to be the slow pace of acquisitions of whatever equipment and assets are required. The Navy has highlighted that... The hope of the forces is that their requirements should be fulfilled and the process be expedited. The effort of the government would be to work in that direction.”

Mr Jaitley, also the finance minister, said the current economic situation is a “challenging time”, and said the government is taking whatever steps are necessary to restore investor confidence.

ravip · Post by **ravip** » 29 Aug 2014 15:36

@ANI_news 7m
Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) clears Rs 20,000 crore worth of acquisition: Sources

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 29 Aug 2014 17:58

----deleted-----

Edit: Ok, thank you for the info. Spotted it later.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » 29 Aug 2014 19:26

Apache is for IAF per press reports

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 29 Aug 2014 19:47

abhik wrote:
Nikhil T wrote:quote="abhik"]Something seems off here, 7000 crores for just 32 ALH Dhruvs? Thats about 219 crores/ 36 million dollars per helicopter./quote]

Not surprised. Dhruv has a high import content (in FY 2008, it was 90% by value). Its only natural that the price has been steadily rising as well.
It used to cost around 7-8 million USD. Just inflation or upgraded systems do not explain a 5 fold increase in price.

Sonar and other sensors along with stuff like foldable blades, anti corrisive requirements of the navy.

tushar_m · Post by **tushar_m** » 29 Aug 2014 20:02

Indian Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS) approves deal for Apaches and Chinooks

Indian Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS) approved deal for 22 AH-64D Apache Block IIIs and 15 CH-47F Chinooks for the Indian Air Force. The Defense Acquisition Council, chaired by defense minister Arun Jaitley, approved the necessary offsets clearances to take the deal forward with the US.

Defense procurement, deals and approvals are being fast tracked under the new government in New Delhi. A few days back Mazgaon Docks Limited (MDL) got a deadline of a year to get the first Scorpene submarine out to sea from the defense minister.

Indian Ministry of Defense also decided to move forward with the purchase of 16 Multi-Role Helicopters at a cost of INR 1800 crore for the Indian Navy. Also cleared were the purchase of Integrated Anti- Submarine Defence Suits for 11 frontline warships at a cost of Rs. 1,770 crore.Besides mid-life upgrade of six submarines — four of them Russia-built Kilo Class submarines and two German-built HDW submarines will be carried out in India at the cost of around INR 4,800 crore and a dedicated border communication system will be set up for the Indian army – mainly for use on the India-China border – for a cost of INR 900 crore.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 30 Aug 2014 21:49

Let’s talk transfer of technology

It is good that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley have made it clear to the U.S. Defence Minister, Chuck Hagel, who was in India earlier this month, that the pure sale of defence hardware by the U.S. to India is far from enough.

The way we should go with the Americans has to be on the lines of the co-development and co-production of the state-of-the-art Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) with the Russians.

However, India, which agreed to buy 39 AH-64D Apache helicopters for the Army in addition to the 22 now under negotiation, is in talks again for purchase by the Indian Air Force (IAF) from the U.S. manufacturer, Boeing. This is being done without transfer of technology (TOT) to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the local manufacture of all these 61 helicopters, which is bad for the country. Such a number of helicopters, senior managers and engineers of HAL’s Helicopter Division argue forcefully, is large enough for substantial local content-based production. Neither the IAF nor the Army contracts with Boeing has gone so far as to make TOT result in techno-commercially viable production here feasible and viable. The Ministry of Defence should act immediately to tie-up such TOT-based production by HAL instead of proceeding with mere import of the finished product.

Defence supplies by the U.S.

Will the U.S. government agree? If we use the multi-billion U.S. dollar value of the two contracts as leverage and exert pressure, they will have to. This would mean new jobs for HAL and its sub-contractors. It would also mean we would have a nationally controlled spares production base in the country, which would be orders of magnitude cheaper than supply of spares from the U.S. The bread and butter for the supplier come from hugely priced spares; not from the main equipment.

If one were to analyse defence supplies by U.S. companies under the U.S. government’s direction and control even to their “closest allies” such as the U.K., one would find that it is the policy of the U.S. government to severely restrict not only TOT in general, but transfer of technology relating to critical sub-assemblies, modules and components too, making us eternally dependent on them.

A specific case will illustrate the reality. The case pertains to the Sea Harrier, which is aircraft carrier-borne and uses vertical take off and landing (VTOL). The U.K. was the inventor of VTOL technology. India had bought two squadrons (around 30 aircraft) of the Sea Harrier from the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) way back in the 1970s for its aircraft carriers. When the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government was in power (1999-2004), we sent our Sea Harriers to the BAC for a thorough upgrade. At that time, the Ministry of Defence, the Navy and the BAC knew that such an upgrade would call for the BAC importing some critical sub-systems, modules and components (hereafter collectively referred to as “modules”) from the U.S. This was because those modules had been imported by the BAC even for the Sea Harriers it had produced in the U.K. and supplied to the British Navy.

That the U.S. government would prove “difficult” in clearing the supply of those modules for our Sea Harriers was recognised by both the BAC and the Defence Ministry. So they sounded out the U.S. government agencies concerned. The U.S. response was non-committal. Nevertheless, the Ministry went ahead. Why? Because we did not have an option. Over 25 years, the Indian Navy operated those aircraft, but no effort was made to successfully indigenise those modules. We just merrily went along with importing those modules from the BAC, which in turn kept importing them from the U.S. companies concerned at huge increases in prices from time to time.

It was not surprising, therefore, that the U.S. government refused the supplies to the BAC for fitment on our Sea Harriers. The BAC and the British Navy then told India that the U.S. government had done likewise, even in regard to the Harriers of the British Navy despite the U.K. being the country’s “closest ally.”

The U.S. government finally agreed to the export of the modules concerned, but only after former British Prime Minister Tony Blair flew to Washington D.C. to specifically persuade the U.S. President to release them. As far as our requirements of the modules were concerned, Mr. Vajpayee had done something similar.

This case shows how even British and European defence equipment manufacturers have to constantly face and deal with the U.S. government’s export controls on them on a wide array of modules, despite the fact that all of them are supposedly equal members of NATO.

Being circumspect in dealings

This kind of policy and practice by the U.S. government also came up with regard to the “upgraded” F-16 Falcon and the F-18 Hornet fighter-bombers which Lockheed Martin and Boeing respectively had offered India against the global tender put out by the Ministry of Defence/IAF for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) four years ago. Of all the six bidders, the TOT and terminal local content were the smallest in the case of both the U.S. planes. Therefore we have to be extremely circumspect in dealing with the U.S. government in all high technology defence systems from the transfer of technology and local production content points of view.

(Ashok Parthasarathi was the Science and Technology adviser to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.)

Having a production base in the country would mean national control over spare parts, so as to not remain at the mercy of the supplier

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 30 Aug 2014 22:20

India nears $2.5 billion deal for Boeing military helicopters

(Funny that web page has a EADS ad right up front.)

The Apache deal should have offsets, right? So, why is AP complaining about ToT?

The government also deferred a decision on a $2.5 billion proposal to acquire Israeli Spike anti-tank guided missiles.

Manish_Sharma · Post by **Manish_Sharma** » 31 Aug 2014 03:29

^Kamaal hai on some other thread where not US but French platform is being bought same 'offset' is pooh poohed, while here..........

what to do ?

For somebody who uses the word 'data' with every breath there is tons of it here:

That the U.S. government would prove “difficult” in clearing the supply of those modules for our Sea Harriers was recognised by both the BAC and the Defence Ministry. So they sounded out the U.S. government agencies concerned. The U.S. response was non-committal. Nevertheless, the Ministry went ahead. Why? Because we did not have an option. Over 25 years, the Indian Navy operated those aircraft, but no effort was made to successfully indigenise those modules. We just merrily went along with importing those modules from the BAC, which in turn kept importing them from the U.S. companies concerned at huge increases in prices from time to time.

It was not surprising, therefore, that the U.S. government refused the supplies to the BAC for fitment on our Sea Harriers. The BAC and the British Navy then told India that the U.S. government had done likewise, even in regard to the Harriers of the British Navy despite the U.K. being the country’s “closest ally.”

The U.S. government finally agreed to the export of the modules concerned, but only after former British Prime Minister Tony Blair flew to Washington D.C. to specifically persuade the U.S. President to release them. As far as our requirements of the modules were concerned, Mr. Vajpayee had done something similar.

This case shows how even British and European defence equipment manufacturers have to constantly face and deal with the U.S. government’s export controls on them on a wide array of modules, despite the fact that all of them are supposedly equal members of NATO.

Being circumspect in dealings

This kind of policy and practice by the U.S. government also came up with regard to the “upgraded” F-16 Falcon and the F-18 Hornet fighter-bombers which Lockheed Martin and Boeing respectively had offered India against the global tender put out by the Ministry of Defence/IAF for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) four years ago. Of all the six bidders, the TOT and terminal local content were the smallest in the case of both the U.S. planes. Therefore we have to be extremely circumspect in dealing with the U.S. government in all high technology defence systems from the transfer of technology and local production content points of view.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 31 Aug 2014 07:01

Hahahaha (note: no emoticon).

"Data" has life. "Data" does get "stale".

More l8r.

But glad people are slowly noticing important concepts.

JTull · Post by **JTull** » 31 Aug 2014 14:32

US has been keen to do something like Brahmos JV, with the Javelin proposal being their best attempt at screwdriver ToT. One thing they do realise is that Brahmos is not that kind of venture.

Utility helicopters maybe a good test of their credibility in offering a proper ToT.

It is my belief that 100% local content is not a practical target. US companies will continue to receive royalties, supply parts for decades and participate in future upgrades. If they're serious about doing business, this is a great opportunity. But if they only want a lackey, they'll have to wait for govt. change.

Rien · Post by **Rien** » 31 Aug 2014 17:22

Although I'm repeating myself, but the Light Combat Helicopter is available at a fraction of the price and comes with 100% ToT. 17.5 million. We can have 4 of them for one Apache.

I'd have to say kill the Apache. More LCH's is the better way to go. It fires Helina, so we save money on importing expernsive missiles as well. And hopefully in the future Astra will replace the Mistral AAM. HAL has a tender for a desi engine and we have avionics, so we can slowly replace all the EU gear on the heli. All in all, the Light Combat Helicopter is a very compelling deal.

It has visual stealth, is made of composites, has great high altitude performance, and good in IR. It's quite similar to the Eurocopter Tiger, and a very advanced helicopter.

Asit P · Post by **Asit P** » 03 Sep 2014 10:23

Government plans to export BrahMos missiles, Tejas, air defence system to Vietnam, Indonesia and Venezuela

The Modi government is quietly working on a plan to export defence equipment and armaments produced in India to friendly countries. A beginning could be made by exporting BrahMos missiles to Southeast Asia and South American countries. Vietnam, Indonesia and Venezuela have expressed willingness to procure the supersonic missile jointly produced by India and Russia, sources indicated to ET.

Indo-Vietnam defence ties are on an upward trajectory and Hanoi has been keen for the last few years to purchase this missile. However, there was no progress under the UPA government on the issue, sources indicated. BrahMos missiles have been inducted in all three defence services. The inter-governmental agreement between India and Russia for development of BrahMos missile (290-kmrange) also stipulates use of this advanced system to be inducted into the Indian and Russian armed forces as well as export to friendly countries.

Vietnam and Russia are partners since the days of the Cold War and it can use Russian made defence equipment. India will sign an agreement for supplying defence equipment to Vietnam, during President Pranab Mukherjee's trip from September 14-17.

The sentence highlighted in Bold has caught my attention! If the news turns out to be true, then it will be a milestone baby step for our beloved nation.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 03 Sep 2014 10:39

The LCA has an American engine. Is it exportable without permission? Or has it been granted?

srin · Post by **srin** » 03 Sep 2014 10:45

Exporting Brahmos right now to Vietnam specifically is probably not going to happen in reality. Everybody knows that with all these sanctions on Russia, China holds its b@ll$. Being chummy with China is very important to Putin at the moment and he wouldn't antagonize them for this.

Yeah - they may sign MoUs and agreements, but it will get lost in paperwork for a few years.

KiranM · Post by **KiranM** » 03 Sep 2014 11:51

NRao wrote:The LCA has an American engine. Is it exportable without permission? Or has it been granted?

NRao saab, not all AFs have as stringent requirements as IAF. May be we can market LCA Mk1 with Kaveri. Of course, this means fast tracking Kaveri integration & testing with one of the PVs.
A 100 LCA Mk1 for export with Kaveri engines should break even the amount sunk into that programme, provide feedback & experience for learning and may be even fund the next iteration.

Surya · Post by **Surya** » 03 Sep 2014 17:28

marten don't waste time

It is being done deliberately

Step aside and let the soosai vest be donned

srai · Post by **srai** » 03 Sep 2014 17:42

abhik wrote:
Nikhil T wrote:quote="abhik"]Something seems off here, 7000 crores for just 32 ALH Dhruvs? Thats about 219 crores/ 36 million dollars per helicopter. /quote]

Not surprised. Dhruv has a high import content (in FY 2008, it was 90% by value). Its only natural that the price has been steadily rising as well.
It used to cost around 7-8 million USD. Just inflation or upgraded systems do not explain a 5 fold increase in price.

Typical deal would be inclusive of lifecycle support for 10 to 20 years. This would include things like x number of spare parts, servicing agreement, and other infrastructure. The airframes by themselves would be hanger queens if you don't have lifecycle support in place as well.

suryag · Post by **suryag** » 03 Sep 2014 21:15

Another example of "great" Russian help

Did Russia delay submarine overhaul to undermine Indian shipyard?

soumik · Post by **soumik** » 06 Sep 2014 16:44

just read this
http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/747946

India’s Air Force and Air Defense showed interest in Russia’s S-400, S-300PV, Buk-M1 and Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile systems during the Avia Indra-2014 exercises, chief of Russia’s air defense missile troops, Major-General Sergei Babakov said on Wednesday.

“They showed much interest in our systems. They may need weaponry to upgrade,” Babakov said.

Anyone know anything more about whether this was just innocent interest or whether we are looking to beef up our SAM network immensly by adding S-400 class systems?

brar_w · Post by **brar_w** » 06 Sep 2014 18:40

Interest could be because China is going to be acquiring this system

vic · Post by **vic** » 07 Sep 2014 10:06

abhik wrote:
Vipul wrote:Def Min Clears Acquisition Proposals Worth Rs 21,000 Cr.
Thus, a proposal for supply of 32 HAL-built Advanced Light Helicopter, 'Dhruv', to the Coast Guard and the Navy at a cost of Rs 7,000 crore was also okayed, officials said.
Something seems off here, 7000 crores for just 32 ALH Dhruvs? Thats about 219 crores/ 36 million dollars per helicopter.

Similar imported Naval helicopters cost around USD 70 Million each.

vic · Post by **vic** » 07 Sep 2014 10:07

suryag wrote:Another example of "great" Russian help

Did Russia delay submarine overhaul to undermine Indian shipyard?

Has HSL ever completed any project within time and cost?

pragnya · Post by **pragnya** » 07 Sep 2014 10:50

abhik wrote:
Vipul wrote:Def Min Clears Acquisition Proposals Worth Rs 21,000 Cr.
Thus, a proposal for supply of 32 HAL-built Advanced Light Helicopter, 'Dhruv', to the Coast Guard and the Navy at a cost of Rs 7,000 crore was also okayed, officials said.
Something seems off here, 7000 crores for just 32 ALH Dhruvs? Thats about 219 crores/ 36 million dollars per helicopter.

that includes maintenance, as well as search-and-rescue equipment worth Rs 900 crore for the armed forces.

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 11 Sep 2014 09:43

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/boei ... 82104.html

Boeing delivers 5th maritime patrol aircraft to India

"We'll deliver one more P-8I before the end of the year, followed by two in 2015."

vipins · Post by **vipins** » 29 Sep 2014 14:23

Tata signs deal with Honeywell to build defence navigator in India

(Reuters) - Tata Power Co Ltd's defence engineering unit, Tata Power SED, has signed an agreement with Honeywell International to produce the U.S. company's "TALIN" navigator in India, Honeywell said in a statement on Monday.

Shrinivasan · Post by **Shrinivasan** » 01 Oct 2014 00:23

pankajs wrote:Boeing delivers 5th maritime patrol aircraft to India
"We'll deliver one more P-8I before the end of the year, followed by two in 2015."

I think it is high time we create 2-3 SQ of P8is (say 8 birds in a SQ), one for the BOB, 1 for Arabian Sea and another for IOR. we should station couple of birds from the BoB SQ in the Andamans. I am not sure if the Laccadives' Naval air strip can accommodate P8is.

Hobbes · Post by **Hobbes** » 01 Oct 2014 06:30

vipins wrote:Tata signs deal with Honeywell to build defence navigator in India
(Reuters) - Tata Power Co Ltd's defence engineering unit, Tata Power SED, has signed an agreement with Honeywell International to produce the U.S. company's "TALIN" navigator in India, Honeywell said in a statement on Monday.

Question: I believe the DRDO has developed, with considerable effort and expense, a comprehensive navigation suite comprising of inertial navigation (INS) as well as gyroscopic systems such as the ring laser gyro in the Agni missiles. Why is TATA SED not licencing that technology to build their own system instead of screwdrivering a Honeywell box?

JTull · Post by **JTull** » 03 Oct 2014 02:05

Answer: DRDO wouldn't want it land into the hands of our neighbours or others like them from a civilian contractor with uncertain security arrangements.

member_23370 · Post by **member_23370** » 03 Oct 2014 03:08

But would Indian armed forces buy TATA SED products with this honeywell navigator? Then its equally risky.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 03 Oct 2014 03:10

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/news ... wsid=21321

The US will also sell the famous MRAP vehicles to India to counter IEDs. Indian officials are looking to use this in the Maoist-hit areas for security forces who are frequently killed in landmine and IED blasts.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 03 Oct 2014 05:40

Yes.

Then the US spent $45 billion to build their own.

MRAP.

(India (and Paki) should be getting these at a few cents on the dollar.)

Shrinivasan · Post by **Shrinivasan** » 03 Oct 2014 08:24

vipins wrote:Tata signs deal with Honeywell to build defence navigator in India
(Reuters) - Tata Power Co Ltd's defence engineering unit, Tata Power SED, has signed an agreement with Honeywell International to produce the U.S. company's "TALIN" navigator in India, Honeywell said in a statement on Monday.

This is Tokenism gone amuck... Just a ruse to padup the offset column

Shrinivasan · Post by **Shrinivasan** » 03 Oct 2014 08:27

NRao wrote:The US will also sell the famous MRAP vehicles to India to counter IEDs. Indian officials are looking to use this in the Maoist-hit areas for security forces who are frequently killed in landmine and IED blasts.

I dont think desh would get any MRAPs, it is better that way... Even if Desh manages to buy a dozen from uncle, pakees will wail about it endlessly and demand 100 MRAPs for free. Let them spend $$$ on these white elephants, then wait and watch tellebunnies blow them up or hijack these for their own use.

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 04 Oct 2014 08:26

Govt may relax norms for authorized defence agents

NEW DELHI: After implementing nuanced blacklisting norms to replace the earlier indiscriminate ones, the Modi government is now working to overhaul the policy on the hiring of defence agents by foreign armament companies.

Sources say the defence ministry has already held one round of top-level discussions on the policy for "authorised Indian representatives or agents" and the role they can play in facilitating and smoothening arms deals in a legitimate manner.

Though the policy is yet to take a final concrete shape, the "dominant view" now emerging in the MoD is that it should junk its regulatory role over the agents imposed through stringent guidelines issued in 2001. "The regulatory business has met with poor success, and even proved counter-productive," said a source.

India is the world's largest arms importer, having spent Rs 83,458 crore in just the last three years in acquiring weapons from the US, Russia, France, Israel and others. Overall, India has inked arms deals worth well over $60 billion since the 1999 Kargil conflict. But there are just a handful of legalised defence agents on the rolls of MoD.

Conversely, hordes of shady middlemen -- sometimes in the garb of "consultants" -- lurk in the corridors of power to grease the official machinery and swing deals with hefty kickbacks to politicians, bureaucrats and military officers despite all the anti-graft provisions and "integrity pacts" in place.

The MoD hopes to encourage the registration of a greater number of legalised agents with the new policy, which will probably be ready by November-December. As opposed to the wheeling and dealing of middlemen, these agents can assist foreign armament companies in replying to arms tenders, trial evaluation of systems, price negotiations, enhancing the quality of after-sales service and in resolving performance and warranty issues.

"The thought process is that armament companies should be free to choose anyone they want to act as their agents, provided they are not blacklisted. It should also be left to the company to decide how much commission it wants to pay the agent," said the source.

"MoD will only set some ground rules. For instance, like whether or not agents can sit in CNC (contract negotiation committee) meetings. The policy, of course, will not eliminate middlemen...they will continue to be tracked and prosecuted," he added.

Interestingly, the NDA government in 2001 had lifted the blanket ban on agents, which had been in force since 1987 after the infamous Bofors howitzer and HDW submarine scandals. But this bid to inject some transparency did not really work since the stringent norms laid down for agents were considered unrealistic, with the government even declaring it would determine the scale of commission to be paid to them. Consequently, almost no one came forward to be registered as an agent.

Thakur_B · Post by **Thakur_B** » 04 Oct 2014 08:33

VinodTK wrote:Govt may relax norms for authorized defence agents
"The policy, of course, will not eliminate middlemen...they will continue to be tracked and prosecuted," he added.

And palms will be greased as often.