Just too much to tender

[Contrarian]

Just too much to tender


It's raining military tenders at South Block as India's armed forces continue their shopping spree. The past fortnight has seen the army, navy, air force and the coast guard inviting tenders for close to a dozen weapons systems and airborne platforms. Worth over Rs 20,000 crore, these tenders are equal to the GDP of several small countries.

The coast guard wants three Maritime Patrol Aircraft; both the air force and navy want Aerostat or balloon-mounted radars. The navy has floated tenders for 16 multi-role helicopters, which can carry torpedoes and missiles and operate off its warships.

It also wants eight Mine Counter Measure Vessels worth Rs 6,000 crore. The organisation has also floated tenders for anti-torpedo torpedoes, the technology for which is under development.

—Sandeep Unnithan
India Today - India?s most widely read magazine.

 

[Flintlock]

Its quite encouraging to see the services spending well, but I wonder what this means for the indegenous programs.

For true power-projection capability, we will need to become self-sufficient in most military hardware.