HAL ups Su-30 production

[KashifAsrar]

Despite CAG rap, HAL ups Su-30 production


By Rajat Pandit/TNN


New Delhi: Unruffled by the deep holes punched by Comptroller and Auditor General into the contracts and delivery schedules for Sukhoi-30MKIs, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is now going full steam ahead to manufacture these ‘‘air-dominance’’ fighters at a faster clip.
HAL has been directed by the Cabinet Committee on Security to ‘‘compress’’ the indigenous manufacture of 140 Sukhoi-30MKIs by three years to finish the project by 2013-2014, instead of the original 2017-2018.
‘‘The Sukhoi project is doing very well. We are increasing production very fast. This year, we will make our first Sukhoi from raw material in the fourth phase (the first three were produced from ready-to-assemble, semi-knocked down and completely-knocked down kits),’’ HAL chairman Ashok Baweja told TOI.
The faster delivery schedule of Russianorigin Sukhoi-30MKIs is, of course, very important due to rapid depletion in the number of IAF fighter squadrons (each has 12 to 18 jets), which will touch a low of 29 by next year as compared to 40 two decades ago.
IAF currently has just three-and-a-half squadrons of Sukhoi-30MKIs, the most potent fighter in its combat fleet, based in Pune, Bareilly and Halwara. With a cruising speed range of 3,200 km, coupled with air-toair refuelling, these fighters can hit targets deep inside China. The latest CAG report has, however, pointed out several glaring lapses in the entire project, including that the average cost of a HAL-manufactured Sukhoi-30MKI is likely to be Rs 28.60 crore more than that of the same fighter imported from Russia.
Asked about this, Baweja only said: ‘‘The whole case of costing is very complex. We’re studying and analysing the CAG report...we will give our own perspective about it to CAG.’’
It was in November 1996 that India signed a contract with Russia for the purchase of 18 Sukhoi-30s, which were to be followed by another 32 advanced Su-30MKIs, customised for India. Then, in December 2000, it signed a second contract for the licensed production of another 140 Sukhoi-30MKIs by HAL at Nashik in phases spread over 14 years at a total cost of Rs 22,122.78 crore ($4,809.3 million).
Blasting the government for huge cost escalations, CAG said the Rs 22,122.78-crore figure, projected by the government in 2000, was revised to Rs 39,224 crore in 2005.
‘‘Even these estimates are open-ended, with the possibility of further escalation...There is no cost advantage in manufacturing the aircraft indigenously,’’ it said. CAG also expressed shock that the entire licence fee was paid in advance to Russia.