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Govt to relaunch hunt for mid-air refuellers idrw.org
In a setback to IAF’s plans to further boost its ‘strategic reach’ capabilities, the government has decided to re-float the tender for acquiring six new mid-air refuelling aircraft for fighter jets after scrapping the virtually finalised $1.5-billion contract with European aerospace major EADS.
‘‘The RFP (request for proposal) will be re-floated and will go EADS, Boeing (US) and Ilyushin (Russian), among others, for a global competition now,’’ said a defence ministry official on Wednesday.
Defence minister A K Antony, on his part, told Parliament last month that the finance ministry had ‘‘expressed certain reservations relating to the competitiveness of the bids and the reasonableness of the price’’ for the IAF project to acquire the six new flight refueller aircraft.
IAF had selected the Airbus A-330 MRTT (multi-role tanker transport) aircraft of EADS after a thorough evaluation quite some time back but the file was stuck in the finance ministry, which felt they were overpriced. With Antony not intervening in the matter, the government has now cancelled the entire acquisition process. IAF, incidentally, was not too keen to buy more Ilyushin-78, six of which it had acquired from Uzbekistan a few years ago, since it said the A-330s better met its tanker requirements.
Be that as it may, the four-engined IL-78s, which can each carry over 75 tonnes of fuel to tank up fighters during flight, have proved to be a major force-multiplier for IAF.
IL-78s have made it possible for IAF fighters like the multi-role Mirage-2000s, the deep penetration Jaguars and the air-dominance Sukhoi-30MKIs to operate with extended ranges and flight-times.
Sukhois, for instance, have a cruising speed range of 3,200 km and can carry around eight tonnes of armaments. This strategic capability gets a further boost with air-to-air refuelling by IL-78 tankers, enhancing their radius of operations by more than double, making it possible for them to strike targets deep inside China. Incidentally, Pakistan inducted the first of its four mid-air refuellers, contracted from Ukraine, just last month.
You know i just realized something. since the deal is being re-launched it has to now make use of the New DPP
http://www.defence.pk/forums/india-defence/37504-new-defence-procurement-policy-nov-1-acquisitions-made-more-transparent.html
PIB Press Release
In a move that has the potential to revolutionize the Indian Defence Industry, the Ministry of Defence is adding a new provision in its procurement procedure which will allow issue of Request For Proposal (RFP) to Indian industries having requisite financial and technical capabilities to absorb technology and undertake indigenous manufacture under a new category ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’. Under the current procedure in ‘Buy and Make’ cases RFP is issued only to foreign vendors, who are required to transfer technology to Indian Defence Industry, called Production Agency. This does not promote setting up of Joint Ventures or Co-production arrangements in India by big foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
- DPP-2009 to boost technology transfer to Indian Industry
- Broad contours of 15-year armed forces acquisition plan to be made public
- RFI for all acquisitions to be put on MoD website
- Role of independent monitors to be increased to ensure probity in defence deals
The new procedure, to be effective from November 01, 2009 will be akin to the existing ‘Make Procedure’ with a vital difference that the production and development by Indian industry will be through transfer of technology and not through Research and Development. Announcing this at a National Seminar on Defence Acquisition, organized by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, here today, the Defence Minister Shri AK Antony said the move is primarily aimed at encouraging pro-active participation by the Indian industry who could establish JV/Production arrangements with any foreign manufacturer. The needs of the Services will be shared with capable Indian firms who in turn would submit a roadmap for development and production of a particular item over its life-cycle.
Shri Antony said the twin objectives of DPP-2009 aim at promoting and facilitating wide participation of Defence Industry, while enabling transparency and integrity in all acquisitions.
The Defence Minister said to ensure transparency and enhanced awareness in the Indian industry, the Government will prepare a public version of the fifteen years Long Term Acquisition Plan of the Armed Forces. This will be placed on the MoD website and shared with industry associations to create requisite awareness amongst them.
“This would help Indian Industry to work out the technological requirements and build in-house capabilities in order to meet the future defence requirements. I am sure that the industry will respond positively to this proposal”, he said.
Another important feature of DPP-2009 would be mandatory issue of Request for Information (RFI) on the MoD website in all acquisition cases. To enable participation of industry in Defence Acquisition Planning, the Ministry will henceforth invite their representatives for consultations and presentations in high-level procurement meetings before a decision is taken on the source and methodology for procurement of Defence weapons and equipment.
Further, to enhance probity in Defence procurement deals, DPP-2009 proposes to enhance the role of Independent Monitors, to scrutinize complaints with regard to violations of Integrity Pact which prohibits corruption in Defence deals.
In order to facilitate discharge of Offset obligations, an enabling clause has also been incorporated to permit change of offset partners in exceptional cases. The Offset provisions for the option clause has been amplified to state that the Offsets will not be applicable in cases where the same was not included in the original contract. Shri Antony expressed the hope that these changes will bring in greater degree of probity in the procedure and also encourage domestic defence industry to develop.
Shri Antony asked Defence personnel to ensure that the Qualitative Requirements (QRs) formulation is done in a manner that fulfils the end user’s basic requirements while at the same time it should encourage the widest possible competition. “It is only through competition that we can ensure the maximum value for our money. It is important to have broad-based and realistic QRs that would lead to multivendor competition”, he said. Noting that the occasional changes in QRs by the Services also led to delays in Defence Acquisitions, Shri Antony said that acquisitions once approved by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), changes to RFP and QRs should be avoided and exercised only exceptionally.
Referring to the technical and commercial aspects of evaluation, Shri Antony said we need to ensure these vital stages are completed not only in a fair, objective and transparent manner, but within the stipulated time frame.
28 Oct 2009
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Defence has decided to open up the arms industry in a big way to private Indian companies, which will get directly involved in acquisitions under a new “buy and make Indian” provision.
Earlier, only bids from foreign firms were invited for major acquisitions.
These companies would then look for Indian partners for transfer of technology.
Under the Defence Procurement Policy 2009 that comes into effect from November 1, private Indian firms can be directly approached to take part in the multi-billion dollar local defence market. These companies will be free to look for foreign partners. The rationale behind the move is that the Indian companies can do away with production of major technology through expensive and time consuming research and development process.
They can directly enter into a joint venture with a foreign company and start production of weapon systems that could be delivered fast to the armed forces. In other words, if army wants to buy new tanks, it can place the order with an Indian company instead of a foreign vendor.
The move would reduce over-dependence on the Defence Research and Development Organisation, which has come under criticism for being slow in delivering key weapon systems. DRDO has a vast range of products, from missiles to tanks and medicines. Through the new policy, the attempt is to ensure that defence research remains focused on critical technologies.
For the first time, the MoD’s plan of acquisition, production and research and development will be made public. Revealing the highlights of the new policy, Defence Minister A K Antony said that the 15-year Long Term Acquisition Plan of the armed forces would be put on the MoD website and shared with industry associations and chambers so that they knew what armed forces were looking for. However, all the acquisition plans of the MoD will not be posted on the websites.
India?s arms market to open up for home firms
Will India's private firms compete in a bid. Making use of the new rules
