domain-b.com : Rs26,000-cr boost for navy with maritime recce aircraft and LPDs
Rs26,000-cr boost for navy with maritime recce aircraft and LPDs news
06 October 2010
New Delhi: The last quarter of the year 2010 may end with a big bang for the Indian defence sector as a number of big ticket deals are likely to be sealed and announced amidst furry of high profile visits by foreign heads of states. With the Russian and French heads of states due to drop by in December it will, however, be US president Barack Obama's visit in November that will garner the headlines.
It is being let known that that India may announce not just an additional purchase of four Boeing P-8I long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, over and above the eight already on order but also confirm the acquisition of 10 C-17 Boeing Globemaster heavy lift transport aircraft.
This would not only be welcome news for a US president desperately trying to generate jobs in a moribund economy, but also for him as a politician, hailing as he does from Chicago, the same city where Boeing is headquartered.
For the Indian Navy it will also be a double whammy of sorts with the Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by defence minister AK Antony, also clearing the acquisition of four big amphibious assault warships for the Navy. Known as Landing Platform Docks (LPD) this deal is expected to be worth around Rs16,000 crore.
Coupled with the additional Boeing P-8I Poseidon's the two deals will work out to a whopping Rs26,000 crore. The eight P8-I Poseidon's were contracted for a cost of $2.1 billion and the additional four will take the value of the contract beyond $3bn. This will make it the biggest ever defence deal won by America on Indian soil.
Critically, for the US, the order for the C-17 Globemasters and the Poseidon's has the potential to generate up to 30,000 jobs and more in America.
The Indian Navy only recently acquired an LPD class-ship from the US Navy, the USS Trenton, which, after retrofitting and refurbishment, was inducted into the navy as INS Jalashwa. It has not been made clear if the LPD contract will also go to an American defence company, but certainly it has been made clear that the LPD project will be executed under the "buy and make" category of the Defence Procurement Procedure, which basically involves licensed indigenous manufacture in collaboration with a foreign manufacturer.
"At least two of the LPDs will be constructed at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) at Visakhapatnam, which was transferred from the shipping ministry to the defence ministry last year to meet national security requirements of building strategic vessels," said a source.
The fact that INS Jalashwa is an acquisition made through the US and that all operational expertise in operating such a class of ships is being sourced from the United States, it would make an American partner for the project a logical choice.
The P-8Is and the LPDs will be critical components in the Navy's long-term strategic plans for the Indian Ocean Region and will serve as force multipliers in any Indian effort to establish its strategic footprint in the region. The P8-I's will begin joining the force from 2013.
India is the foreign launch customer for the project.
The Poseidon's will be armed with torpedoes, depth bombs and Harpoon missiles, apart from carrying long-range radars and sensors. The aircraft will have anti-warship and anti-submarine warfare capabilities and also significant electronic sensor and warfare capabilities.
The LPDs will significantly boost the navy's "blue-water capabilities" allowing the navy to haul troops over long distances and land them on foreign shores.
The 16,900-tonne INS Jalashwa carries six UH-3H helicopters and four landing craft onboard. To date, it is the second-largest Indian warship after the 28,000-tonne aircraft carrier INS Viraat.