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A Long To-Do List for Manohar Parrikar, Defence Minister
: India's new Defence Minister Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar, today walks into an office with a long to-do list waiting on the table.
The 58-year-old metallurgy graduate from IIT, Bombay, has to fix a woefully outdated weapons system and will have to weed out corruption that regularly plagues defence contracts in the country.
India's servicemen face shortages of everything from ammunition to fighter jets and submarines as the country seeks to close the gap with assertive neighbour China, which is arming itself quickly.
The Indian Air Force needs at least 39 squadrons of fighter planes but has only 32, and its chief said recently that the country can't afford any more hold ups of a $22 billion fighter jet deal with French company Dassault Aviation for the supply of 126 Rafale fighters.
The Indian Army needs artillery guns. Desperately. India has not bought artillery guns since 1987. Also, two newly raised Mountain Strike Corps - designed to thwart Chinese advances into India through the Himalayas -
need light artillery guns that can be easily moved around in the mountains. Just modernising the artillery will cost an estimated Rs. 30,000 crore.
The Navy requires submarines immediately. It also needs at least a 100 Naval Multi-Role Helicopters and additional Naval Utility Helicopters. Total cost, Rs. 70,000 to 80,000 crore.
Last year, India could afford to spend only about Rs. 86000 crore as capital expenditure. Mr Parrikar, therefore, has to not just prioritise demands, but also convince the Union Cabinet to loosen its purse strings.
The biggest challenge that he faces is fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "make in India" dream.
In the last few months, the Defence Ministry has turned down almost all proposals to buy equipment from foreign manufacturers.
New Delhi wants the Indian private sector to acquire technology from foreign companies and set up joint ventures or JVs in India. Foreign manufacturers have also been allowed to own as much as 49 per cent in such JVs.
Former Chairman of Integrated Defence Staff, Admiral Shekhar Sinha says to make it economically viable for foreign weapons manufacturers to invest in India, the country will have to allow them to export from India.
Also, he says, a limit on how much they can invest in the JVs may not be conducive for transfer of critical technology to Indian companies.
Both will require changes in the law.
Story First Published: November 10, 2014 10:56 IST
A Long To-Do List for Manohar Parrikar, Defence Minister
A look inside the shopping list of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar
Dailybhaskar.com | Nov 10, 2014, 20:15PM IST
NEW DELHI
New Delhi: On Sunday, Manohar Parrikar was appointed as the Defence Minister of India after taking oath during the cabinet expansion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet.
Apart from addressing the issue of frequent ceasefire violations, threat imposed by various extremists groups, threats from In-house anti-national groups, Parrikar has the responsibility of modernising the third largest army in the world.
Of late, Indian Armed Force have been ailing from various deficiencies- obsolete weapons, lack of spare parts and delay in acquisition deals have been some of the crucial factors that have become a stumbling block in the road to becoming a complete military power.
In the last couple of years, several defence acquisition programmes had to be stalled for one reason or another. A case in example, INS Vikramaditya could only join the Indian Navy after a long period of 10 long years.
The deal to buy 126 multi-role Rafale fighter jets has been pending for quite some time. A decision on the same is not expected any earlier than March next year. The contract hit a roadblock after French firm, Dassault Aviations, hiked the cost by as much as 100%. A shortage of fund, forced the then Indian government to postpone the purchase till the allotment of next budget.
Last month, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared proposals worth Rs. 80,000 crore to bolster the ailing defence sector.
Clearing the procurement, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters, "National security is of paramount concern for the government and all hurdles and bottlenecks in the procurement process should be addressed expeditiously."
Amongst the proposal was the plan to make six submarines in India for the Indian Navy. The decision was taken in-line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative.
Indian Navy has been entrusted with the task of identifying six shipyards which can identify the technology from foreign manufacturers. The six submarines expected to cost Rs. 53,000 crore.
A total of 440 helicopters will be inducted in all three branches of Indian defence forces. A bulk of the helicopters will be manufactured in India; the rest will be procured from US-based Boeing Company.
Speaking to news reporters, former Defence Minister Arun Jaitely said, "Almost 440 helicopters between three services have to be acquired some will be acquired from abroad and most of them have to be domestically manufactured... we have also announced Indian entities can apply and even public sector (firms can apply) so as to have capacity building in India."
The 440 helicopters are expected to cost Rs. 40,000 crore.
Apart from 440 helicopters, 54 transport aircraft will also be purchased. Tata Sons and Europe's Airbus have placed a joint multi-billion dollar bid to replace Indian Air Force's ageing fleet of Avro cargo planes.
The deal is estimated to be worth USD 2 billion and would replace the 56 Avro jets with Airbus C295 transport planes.
Apart from the above purchases, a total of Rs, 7,000 crore will also be spent upon to procure anti-tank missiles, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and other crucial military hardware.
On the anvil is the plan to buy 8,000 Israeli anti-tank missiles at the cost of Rs, 32,000 crore. The Israeli missile outbid the much talked about US-based Javelin missiles.
During the DAC meeting a proposal to buy 12 upgraded Dornier Surveillance aircraft was also cleared. The aircraft will be brought from Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) at the cost of Rs. 1,850 crore.
A proposal to buy 362 infantry fighting vehicles will be brought from the Ordinance Factory Board, Medak in West Bengal, for Rs. 662 crore.
Apart from the above decisions, the DAC also cleared purchase of 1,761 radio relay containers at a cost of Rs.662 crore, building of 363 Armoured Personnel Carriers at Rs. 1,800 crore and buying of critical rolling stock, including arms, guns, artillery, at Rs. 740 crore.
Earlier, soon after coming to power, NDa government cleared procurement proposal worth Rs. 21,000 crore open only to Indian manufacturers. The plan included, Rs. 9,000 crore tender to provide five fleet support ships for the Indian Navy.
A proposal to supply 32 HAL-built Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH), Dhruv, to be supplied to Coast Guard and Indian Navy at the cost of Rs. 7,000 crore.
A look inside the shopping list of India's Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar - daily.bhaskar.com
: India's new Defence Minister Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar, today walks into an office with a long to-do list waiting on the table.
The 58-year-old metallurgy graduate from IIT, Bombay, has to fix a woefully outdated weapons system and will have to weed out corruption that regularly plagues defence contracts in the country.
India's servicemen face shortages of everything from ammunition to fighter jets and submarines as the country seeks to close the gap with assertive neighbour China, which is arming itself quickly.
The Indian Air Force needs at least 39 squadrons of fighter planes but has only 32, and its chief said recently that the country can't afford any more hold ups of a $22 billion fighter jet deal with French company Dassault Aviation for the supply of 126 Rafale fighters.
The Indian Army needs artillery guns. Desperately. India has not bought artillery guns since 1987. Also, two newly raised Mountain Strike Corps - designed to thwart Chinese advances into India through the Himalayas -
need light artillery guns that can be easily moved around in the mountains. Just modernising the artillery will cost an estimated Rs. 30,000 crore.
The Navy requires submarines immediately. It also needs at least a 100 Naval Multi-Role Helicopters and additional Naval Utility Helicopters. Total cost, Rs. 70,000 to 80,000 crore.
Last year, India could afford to spend only about Rs. 86000 crore as capital expenditure. Mr Parrikar, therefore, has to not just prioritise demands, but also convince the Union Cabinet to loosen its purse strings.
The biggest challenge that he faces is fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "make in India" dream.
In the last few months, the Defence Ministry has turned down almost all proposals to buy equipment from foreign manufacturers.
New Delhi wants the Indian private sector to acquire technology from foreign companies and set up joint ventures or JVs in India. Foreign manufacturers have also been allowed to own as much as 49 per cent in such JVs.
Former Chairman of Integrated Defence Staff, Admiral Shekhar Sinha says to make it economically viable for foreign weapons manufacturers to invest in India, the country will have to allow them to export from India.
Also, he says, a limit on how much they can invest in the JVs may not be conducive for transfer of critical technology to Indian companies.
Both will require changes in the law.
Story First Published: November 10, 2014 10:56 IST
A Long To-Do List for Manohar Parrikar, Defence Minister
A look inside the shopping list of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar
Dailybhaskar.com | Nov 10, 2014, 20:15PM IST
NEW DELHI
New Delhi: On Sunday, Manohar Parrikar was appointed as the Defence Minister of India after taking oath during the cabinet expansion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet.
Apart from addressing the issue of frequent ceasefire violations, threat imposed by various extremists groups, threats from In-house anti-national groups, Parrikar has the responsibility of modernising the third largest army in the world.
Of late, Indian Armed Force have been ailing from various deficiencies- obsolete weapons, lack of spare parts and delay in acquisition deals have been some of the crucial factors that have become a stumbling block in the road to becoming a complete military power.
In the last couple of years, several defence acquisition programmes had to be stalled for one reason or another. A case in example, INS Vikramaditya could only join the Indian Navy after a long period of 10 long years.
The deal to buy 126 multi-role Rafale fighter jets has been pending for quite some time. A decision on the same is not expected any earlier than March next year. The contract hit a roadblock after French firm, Dassault Aviations, hiked the cost by as much as 100%. A shortage of fund, forced the then Indian government to postpone the purchase till the allotment of next budget.
Last month, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared proposals worth Rs. 80,000 crore to bolster the ailing defence sector.
Clearing the procurement, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters, "National security is of paramount concern for the government and all hurdles and bottlenecks in the procurement process should be addressed expeditiously."
Amongst the proposal was the plan to make six submarines in India for the Indian Navy. The decision was taken in-line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative.
Indian Navy has been entrusted with the task of identifying six shipyards which can identify the technology from foreign manufacturers. The six submarines expected to cost Rs. 53,000 crore.
A total of 440 helicopters will be inducted in all three branches of Indian defence forces. A bulk of the helicopters will be manufactured in India; the rest will be procured from US-based Boeing Company.
Speaking to news reporters, former Defence Minister Arun Jaitely said, "Almost 440 helicopters between three services have to be acquired some will be acquired from abroad and most of them have to be domestically manufactured... we have also announced Indian entities can apply and even public sector (firms can apply) so as to have capacity building in India."
The 440 helicopters are expected to cost Rs. 40,000 crore.
Apart from 440 helicopters, 54 transport aircraft will also be purchased. Tata Sons and Europe's Airbus have placed a joint multi-billion dollar bid to replace Indian Air Force's ageing fleet of Avro cargo planes.
The deal is estimated to be worth USD 2 billion and would replace the 56 Avro jets with Airbus C295 transport planes.
Apart from the above purchases, a total of Rs, 7,000 crore will also be spent upon to procure anti-tank missiles, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and other crucial military hardware.
On the anvil is the plan to buy 8,000 Israeli anti-tank missiles at the cost of Rs, 32,000 crore. The Israeli missile outbid the much talked about US-based Javelin missiles.
During the DAC meeting a proposal to buy 12 upgraded Dornier Surveillance aircraft was also cleared. The aircraft will be brought from Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) at the cost of Rs. 1,850 crore.
A proposal to buy 362 infantry fighting vehicles will be brought from the Ordinance Factory Board, Medak in West Bengal, for Rs. 662 crore.
Apart from the above decisions, the DAC also cleared purchase of 1,761 radio relay containers at a cost of Rs.662 crore, building of 363 Armoured Personnel Carriers at Rs. 1,800 crore and buying of critical rolling stock, including arms, guns, artillery, at Rs. 740 crore.
Earlier, soon after coming to power, NDa government cleared procurement proposal worth Rs. 21,000 crore open only to Indian manufacturers. The plan included, Rs. 9,000 crore tender to provide five fleet support ships for the Indian Navy.
A proposal to supply 32 HAL-built Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH), Dhruv, to be supplied to Coast Guard and Indian Navy at the cost of Rs. 7,000 crore.
A look inside the shopping list of India's Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar - daily.bhaskar.com
