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Based on this article, Russia's exports are more to China than to us (35% as opposed to 24%).
On BR, we have seen a hue and cry about the French, German, US etc supplying to both warring sides (w.r.t TSP). With our huge defence deals with Russia, why arent similar concerns raised? Is there something I am missing or since we are dealing with them for 50 years and so is China we just say 'Thats the way it is'?
Well,we cannot expect Russia to lose such a huge market because we have concerns,but russians are not giving it to them for free in some name or another,in porki case the khans are giving them free sops and selling to us so indirectly we are paying for the porki stuff,thats not the case with china and also even if russia sells stuff to china as a vendor,they are partnering and parting sophisticated tech stuff to us.
"Modernisation is a very high priority matter. We are looking up to 2027. All the services (Army, Navy and Airforce) have drawn up their plans," Bharadwaj told reporters on the sidelines of the passing out parade at Officers Training Academy. He said India has progressed in a big way in making indigenous defence equipment like Brahmos supersonic cruise missile and said a lot of technical equipment used in battle is being produced indigenously.
Yakhont is indigenous? AFAIK only onboard computer on it is indigenous,they haven't got the full TOT of brahmos from russia due to some copyright issue.
mixing technologies from different countries is what he is calling development ?
NEW DELHI: The Army has launched a hunt for heavy machine guns (HMGs), which can fire high-explosive, incendiary and armour-piercing rounds at a rapid clip, to further boost the high-volume firepower of its infantry battalions.
Floating a global RFI (request for information) for armament majors, the Army wants the tripod-mounted 12.7mm HMGs to have an effective range of over 2,000-metre and be capable of firing over 450 rounds per minute.
"The weapon should be robust enough to withstand rough usage and simple to maintain in operational conditions normally encountered in India like high-altitude areas, jungles and deserts,'' said an officer.
"We used to have HMGs earlier but they have been weeded out...the old HMGs are used only in a few operational areas now to take on `soft' targets like vehicles and bunkers,'' said another officer.
The long list of deals signed between both nations during Putin’s visit is impressive:
1) A US$1.5 billion deal for the supply of 29 additional MiG-29 Fulcrum D-based fighter aircraft.
2) An agreement to sign a contract on the joint development of a new fifth-generation fighter.
3) A revised price of US$2.3 billion on the upgraded Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier with a displacement capacity of 45,000 tons, a maximum speed of 32 knots (59 kilometers) per hour and a range of 13,500 nautical miles (25,000 kilometers) at a cruising speed of 18 knots.
4) Deals to establish a joint venture to produce navigation equipment for global positioning systems including the equivalent of the Russian Glonass, and the use of the Glonass signal for military purposes by India.
5) Several agreements for the construction of 16 nuclear power plants in India by 2017.
Russia supplies India with around 70 percent of its defense needs and, importantly, the defense cooperation is no longer restricted to a buyer-seller relationship. It now includes joint design, research and development, joint production, training, and service-to-service contacts.
Russia is always prepared to share its most sensitive and newest developments in technology with India. Significantly, it is one of those countries that have promised not to provide China, or for that matter Pakistan, the same weapon systems it provides to India. Of late, India is also holding joint naval exercises and counter-terrorism exercises with Russia.
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The Indo-U.S. nuclear deal has not been implemented for many reasons, one of which happens to be the Obama administration’s reluctance to transfer “dual-use technology” to India. But it provided the international non-proliferation framework, which Moscow has now better exploited to boost cooperation with New Delhi on a range of sensitive areas such as reprocessing technology, joint thorium fuel cycle nuclear power projects and fast neutron reactors. As Putin’s visit demonstrated, Russia has now signed on to constructing as many as 16 nuclear plants in India.
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It is perhaps not properly highlighted that one of India’s most significant overseas investments, worth US$2.8 billion, has been in Sakhalin in Siberia for extracting oil. But that is not all. India has also invested some US$2.1 billion in buying a British company called Imperial Energy in the Tomsk region in Siberia. Investing in that region has been India’s energy strategy.
India has been discussing several more investments with the Russian side. Its public sector petroleum company, ONGC Videsh Limited, has shown interest in partnering with Russian oil and gas majors like Gazprom and Rosneft to invest in different regions of Siberia and even North Russia. The regions of interest are Sakhalin-III in Siberia and the Timan-Pechora Basin in northern Russia, as well as the Yamal peninsula, a gas-rich area in Northwest Siberia.
Bharat has been asked to supply electronic fuses for 105-mm artillery for a firing test by the Indian Army. The tender for the supply of 600,000 electronic fuses for 105-mm artillery is the largest of three tenders for the supply of one million electronic fuses for 105, 130, and 155-mm artillery for a total of $200 million.
News in Hindustan Times today that IAF is interested in 6 KC-130J mid-air refuellers. It also quotes a Lockheed official saying India will exercise options to buy an additional 6 C-130J Super Hercules aircraft as a follow on order for its special forces.
KC130J would only useful to refuel helicopters and C130J types.
perhaps the idea is 'leaders' onboard the swank new EH101 VVIP helis can undertake
long range electioneering missions from delhi to trivandrum without ground logistics.
Military electronics and electro-optical equipment manufacturer Aryt Industries Ltd. (TASE: ARYT) and its Indian partner Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BSE: 500049) have passed to the next stage of a large tender for the supply of electronic artillery fuses to the Indian Army.
Bharat has been asked to supply electronic fuses for 105-mm artillery for a firing test by the Indian Army. The tender for the supply of 600,000 electronic fuses for 105-mm artillery is the largest of three tenders for the supply of one million electronic fuses for 105, 130, and 155-mm artillery for a total of $200 million
Last August, Aryt announced that its subsidiary Reshef Technologies Ltd. (99.75% owned by Aryt) had signed a technological cooperation agreement with Bharat Electronics, a military electronics manufacturer. Bharat Electronics is India's second largest defense company, after Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., and has 13,000 employees. Last year, Aryt reported that, as part of a ten-year cooperation agreement with Bharat Electronics, Reshef would help Bharat bid in tenders for artillery fuses of various types, with Bharat financing 20% of the development and production costs.
Nikhil T wrote:News in Hindustan Times today that IAF is interested in 6 KC-130J mid-air refuellers. It also quotes a Lockheed official saying India will exercise options to buy an additional 6 C-130J Super Hercules aircraft as a follow on order for its special forces.
Looks like US has got its plate full .
The headline, as usual, is sensationalist.....the body of the report says that IAF has asked about the details of the tanker version; the report conviniently makes us believe that IAF is about to buy it and even speculates that the next lot of 6 follow-on version will be tankers, when we had news articles that IAF may expand on the C-130J fleet from 6 to 12,...and how can one even compare a C-130 based tanker with IL-78 and MRTT, hain ji?
Didn't see this news being posted earlier so am posting it here. Have bolded the most interesting bits of news that at least I haven't heard before.
India Daily News & Analysis
March 25, 2010
NEW DELHI --- As the financial year nears its end, the ministry of defence (MoD) is rushing through several big-ticket purchases in the hope of using up the budget allocation for 2009-10. The “year-end” contracts run into at least a few billion dollars.
A host of defence deals have been signed in the past few weeks, while some deals are being negotiated for a final settlement. The aim is to sign maximum contracts by March 31.
Last weekend, the army entered its biggest defence contract in recent memory for acquiring two BrahMos cruise missile regiments at over Rs8,000 crore. An army source said the deal was stuck for months “but the financial yearend helped us out”.
A government source said they were also hoping to sign contracts for the upgrade of Mirage 2000 fighters at $2.2 billion and for purchase of Akash missiles for the air force at about Rs4,500 crore.
The government is trying to close these contracts in the next few days, so that the first payment could be released from the 2009-10 allocation.
MoD has been facing flak for its inability to spend capital allocations. It has been returning thousands of crores to the government each fiscal because of delay in concluding contracts, adversely affecting defence modernisation. For example, according to the revised budget estimates in this year’s budget presented last month, MoD was yet to spend Rs5,439 crore meant for purchases by January-end.
A ministry source said March had been “quite” productive, thanks to two high-profile contracts concluded during Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin’s visit and the approval for purchase of VVIP choppers.
When Putin was in New Delhi, the two sides agreed to a hiked price to refit aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and purchase MIG-29K fighters for the navy, together for almost $4 billion. The VVIP chopper deal worth Rs3,726 crore was signed a few days ago after the cabinet committee’s approval.
Sources said the long-drawn contentious negotiations for the upgrade of Mirage 2000 fighters of the air force had been almost closed. The upgrade cost is $2.2 billion and at least one official said the contract may be signed in the next couple of weeks.
Several smaller contracts have been also signed in the past few days. Among them are the over $100-million repeat order for 400 Barak missiles for the navy and the air force’s $60-million order for Crystal Maze air-to-surface missiles.
Kartik wrote:Didn't see this news being posted earlier so am posting it here. Have bolded the most interesting bits of news that at least I haven't heard before.
India Daily News & Analysis
March 25, 2010
NEW DELHI --- <SNIP>
Last weekend, the army entered its biggest defence contract in recent memory for acquiring two BrahMos cruise missile regiments at over Rs8,000 crore. An army source said the deal was stuck for months “but the financial yearend helped us out”.
....<SNIP>
Several smaller contracts have been also signed in the past few days. Among them are the over $100-million repeat order for 400 Barak missiles for the navy and the air force’s $60-million order for Crystal Maze air-to-surface missiles.
I guess, the new regiments of Brahmos are of the newer varierty? And as for the "small-orders" of $100million and $60million, any pak-lurk would get a heartburn by seeing the figures that pass as 'small-order' nowadays for MOD/Indian Armed Forces.....the beggaristan can't buy jack-sh#@ with out donation from 3.5 freinds......
Elbit Systems Ltd. announced today that its subsidiary, Elisra Electronic Systems Ltd., was awarded contracts to supply airborne and ground electronic warfare (EW) systems, for a customer in Asia, at an aggregate value of approximately $147 million. The systems will be delivered over the next three years.The unnamed customer is likely to be India.
Elisra CEO Itzhak Gat noted that the selection of Elisra's systems attests to the company's technological leadership and to the maturity of its systems. These contract awards strengthen Elisra's position as a recognized world leader in the Electronic Warfare market.
Is it not the same as buying a system completely from abroad ? So instead of buying XYZ form say Thales plant in Belguim we but it form Thales plant at Belgaum
I might be late to see this bit of news but am posting it anyhow. The current issue of AW&ST quotes the Russian Deputy PM as saying that India is the only country other than Russia to have access to Glonass for defense purposes. This was done during Putin's recent visit to India.
^^^ They probably mean the encrypted high precision (HP) signal it should allow ~ 1 m accuracy and should boost accuracy of weapons and navigation of our defense service.
kit wrote:Interesting.So the most recent Agni tests validated the GLONASS navigation .. with better accuracy ?!
Could be one possibility , but more than Agni it would be missile like Prithvi , Shaurya ,Cruise missiles and JDAM type weapon that would benefit the most.
If all missiles have to be revalidated then we should be in for a raft of tests. This should be fun for all involved. Nothing like firing live rounds to gain confidence in weapon systems.
Currently, experts from Carl Zeiss are training Indian specialists in Wetzlar to monitor production in the future. Red dot sights from Carl Zeiss are standard optics on the G36 rifles used by the German Army. The cooperation with Carl Zeiss was initiated by the Indian armed forces.
BHEL is looking to migrate upward from 76 mm naval guns.
Does anyone know who is being talked to and for what manner of naval gunnery ie: 100 mm or 130 mm?
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd seeks high-end naval gun ally
Neeraj Thakur / DNA
Friday, April 2, 2010 2:00 IST
New Delhi: State run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) is expanding its portfolio in the defence sector. Bhel aims to supply higher version of super rapid gun mount (SRGM) naval guns to the ministry of defence.
Total revenue from this order could be in the range of Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore. The company is looking for a technology partner and expects to finalise one in the next 9-12 months.
“The defence ministry has given us the mandate to develop a higher version of SRGM guns. We need the technology for which we will tie up with some foreign player. A lot of players have approached us and we are doing the due diligence,” said B Prasada Rao, chairman and managing director, Bhel.
A senior executive of the company said technology available with European companies looks better than elsewhere in the world.
Therefore, Bhel may strike a deal with a European company, he said.
Bhel is currently using the technology of Oto Melara, an Italian company, to manufacture 76mm SRGM naval guns for the Indian Navy.
Strengthening its presence and fleet in the Indian maritime zone to tackle terrorist activities in the post 26/11 scenario, the Indian Coast Guard is planning to procure 40 ships of different types for its fleet.
"We will soon issue global tenders for procuring six Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), 14 Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs) and 20 interceptor boats for increasing our strength in the maritime boundary along both the eastern and western sea-board," Coast Guard officials told agency here.
NEW DELHI: The Army has finally agreed to acquire the indigenous two-stage ramjet ‘Akash' missile. The ‘in-principle' agreement came at a meeting in the Defence Ministry last week. While the Army has given its nod, induction will depend on the delivery schedule Bharat Dynamics Limited, which makes the missile, is able to maintain. For, the public sector undertaking is already processing orders for six additional squadrons from the Indian Air Force.
Top sources in the Ministry said Army Chief General V.K. Singh gave his ‘in-principle' agreement at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council. The meeting also gave its final clearance for acquisition of Ultra Light Howitzers (ULH) from the United States through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route.
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Gates outlines plans to reform export controls
WASHINGTON http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63J4PY20100420
Tue Apr 20, 2010 1:54pm EDT
Fri, Apr 16 2010
(Reuters) - Secretary of Defense Robert Gates outlined plans on Tuesday for reforming U.S. export controls on weapons and commercial goods with potential military uses, saying the current system was outdated.
BARACK OBAMA
"The problem we face is the that the current system -- which has not been significantly altered since the end of the Cold War -- originated and evolved in a very different era," Gates said in a speech to business executives.
"The current arrangement fails at the critical task of preventing harmful exports while facilitating useful ones," Gates said.
He proposed creating a single agency to license controlled exports, instead of the current system which divides responsibilities between the State Department, Defense Department and Commerce Department.
With the increased efforts by the Ministry of Defence of opening up opportunities for private sector, the Gujarat government also seems to be leaving no stone unturned. The state government is planning to set up a dedicated special economic zone (SEZ) for offsets in the defence sector.
"We have floated the idea of setting up a dedicated SEZ for the defence sector, that too primarily for offsets, to the ministry of defence. We can allot land in any of the special investment regions (SIR). It is now upto the ministry of defence to support us in developing the SEZ," Saurabh Patel, minister of state for industries, finance, energy and petrochemicals, Government of Gujarat, told Business Standard.
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Speaking at a seminar on 'Emerging Opportunities in the Defence Sector', Patel said, "The Gujarat government is very keen to leverage the capabilities of its industries to meet the national defence requirements and are seeking to explore the scope for setting up joint ventures with overseas companies engaged in supplying defence equipment to India by way of capital and technology inflows. Gujarat is on the forefront in the sectors of petrochemicals, pharmaceutical and telecommunications. To capitalize on the emerging opportunities, the state government is planning to set up an exclusive SEZ for defence supply industries. For providing a thrust to the defence sector in Gujarat, the central and the state governments will work in tandem for better coordination."
The seminar, fifth in the series of 12 pre-summit seminars being organised in the state in the run-up to the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit (VGGIS) 2011, was organised in the context of the major reform in the Defence Procurement Policy of the Union government, which provides opportunities for the direct participation by Indian Industry in defence tenders on a level playing field with the PSUs. Currently, 70 per cent of India's defence products are being sourced from abroad, but now India is aiming to reverse the trend by manufacturing 70 per cent of its defence equipment in India.
"Now is the time for boosting the defence sector in the state as it is going to be the fastest growing sector in the coming years. We can produce the best quality defence equipment at a cheaper price due to low manufacturing and labour cost," Patel added.
Can't help but renew admiration for the clean, efficient, focused and remarkably result-oriented programs of the state govt in Gujrat. May they lead other states by example.
NEW DELHI: The case of a senior home ministry official caught taking Rs 10 lakh as bribe for the purchase of bulletproof jackets turned dramatic on Thursday, with the alleged bribe-giver claiming in court that there was a "cartel"in the MHA that received kickbacks, and that the scam was bigger than Bofors.
As the CBI sought custody of IRES officer R S Sharma and two other accused, one of them—R K Gupta, director of a Delhi company producing defence equipment— claimed he was framed for exposing the "cartel".
"This is an act of revenge. I and my wife studied at IITs. We are paying the price for blowing the lid off the scam. This is bigger than Bofors. We will have more (Hemant) Karkares if such elements are allowed to have their say in the decision-making process,"Gupta, who allegedly bribed Sharma, said.
The CBI prosecutor said, "We are not a puppet investigative agency. CBI does not work under the MHA, and it carries on the probe independently. We have a CD of their taped conversation and this court can hear it. The accused is saying he is a whistle-blower, but at the same time he was bribing the accused official."
Additional sessions judge O P Saini gave the CBI two days to question the accused. "I deem it proper that the accused are remanded in custody in the interest of investigation," he said.
A continuing cold war between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has stalled India's plans for a two-front war if necessary with Pakistan and China despite the government's recent announcements of progress.
In fact India's defense acquisitions are moribund and Indian defense preparedness is at an all-time low. Insiders say Mukherjee's ministry has vetoed virtually every defense acquisition proposal on one pretext or another. India imports 70 percent of its defense armaments.
The antipathy between the two goes back to 2004, when Congress President Sonia Gandhi found the low-key Singh more suitable as Prime Minister than Mukherjee. Gandhi also in 2007 thwarted Mukherjee's ambition to become India's president, ostensibly because Mukherjee couldn't be spared as the workhorse of the party and the government. Today the political grapevine says Gandhi may consider Manmohan Singh for the president's job in 2012, by which time Rahul Gandhi would be ready to take over as the Prime Minister, once again spoiling Mukherjee's ambitions.
When the portfolios of the United Progressive Alliance government headed by Gandhi's Congress Party were being finalized, Mukherjee told Sonia point-blank that he would not take any other ministry except Finance. Singh did not want that, as Mukherjee had been his boss a quarter century ago when Singh was the Reserve Bank of India Governor and Mukherjee was the Finance Minister. Singh lobbied hard for his chum Montek Singh Ahluwalia instead. But Gandhi was well aware that that she could no longer deny Mukherjee. Since then, Mukherjee has been paying Singh back in the same coin. In many cases, the Finance Ministry has "advised" the Defense Ministry about the efficacy of a different sets of weapons systems than those chosen by Defense.
The result of the rivalry is that personal squabbling and ego trips have taken primacy over issues of national interest. India's military capability has declined, adversely affecting combat readiness despite a government projection that defense needs have increased markedly in the past 18 months or so since the November 2008 Mumbai terror strikes. Unprecedented air incursions by the Chinese in 2009 and Beijing's blunt warning to India on the issues of Arunachal Pradesh and the Dalai Lama have added to the threat perception.
An interesting perspective the political angle on defense expenditure.....
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