Navy's Guns Sink with Tender

[bloo]

Navy's Guns Sink with Tender
By N C Bipindra - NEW DELHI

Published: 19th Jan 2014 11:51:03 AM

• Photos

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  A BAE Systems gun in action.
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  An Oto Melara gun.

The Navy’s plans to procure weapons for future warships are at risk of running aground. The force urgently needs 127mm guns, but its tender for 13 guns estimated at Rs 1,500 crore finds itself in rough waters. To start with, there were only two vendors for the guns globally. Now, while one has walked out of the tender, the other is facing uncertainty due to its parent company’s woes.

Sources said this could delay two key shipbuilding projects—the seven follow-on Shivalik-class frigates and six Delhi-class destroyers—that are in various stages of construction in domestic shipyards.

While the UK’s BAE Systems has refused to bid, Italian Oto Melara, whose parent company Finmeccanica is facing corruption probes back home, is keen on participating in the tender.

Finmeccanica is also the parent firm of helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, which is facing an Indian probe over allegations of bribes in a Rs 3,727-crore deal for supplying AW-101 VVIP transport choppers to the Indian Air Force.

This has presented the Navy with a fait accompli. Its tender is now on deathbed.

The BAE’s nonparticipation leaves only one vendor in the fray and that is a strict no-no under the present Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP). The DPP stipulates that there has to be a competition (at least two competing firms) before the contract is awarded to the lowest bidder.

The Navy is facing this situation also because the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has not been able to design and develop a 127mm/5-inch gun indigenously.

“It is a pitiable state of affairs. We have not been able to develop an indigenous gun. Now, the search for a foreign gun too is virtually dead. In a single vendor situation, the tender is a nonstarter,” a Naval officer said.

While a representative of Oto Melara in India confirmed their participation in the tender, a BAE representative too confirmed their decision not to participate.

The Defence Ministry had issued the tender (Request for Proposals or RFP in defence parlance) to the two firms on November 12, 2013, and the companies were given time till March 2014 to respond.

Under the programme, India would buy two guns directly from the winner of the tender, while 11 more guns would be manufactured by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) through transfer of technology from the global Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that wins the contract.

But within a fortnight, BAE Systems wrote back saying the company does not intend submitting a proposal. “After conducting a detailed assessment of the RFP, the company has concluded that key aspects present the bidder with a disproportionate level of risk,” BAE Systems said in a response.

By “disproportionate risk” BAE Systems meant that the Defence Ministry was placing the onus of performance of BHEL in executing the contract with quality guns and timely deliveries on the foreign OEM, which would have no control over the functioning of the PSU. Non-performance by the PSU would entail penalties being imposed on the OEM.

“This risk would involve costs and we are sure the Indian government understands this,” a BAE Systems representative said. BAE Systems noted that it has vast experience in producing the Mk45 127mm/5-inch 62-calibre Mod4 gun and in establishing in-country manufacturing programmes. It claimed the gun matched the Indian Navy’s needs. The gun, it said, is in service with the naval fleets of Australia, Denmark, Greece, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Spain, Republic of China (Taiwan), Thailand and Turkey.

The Oto Melara representative, in response to queries, said the company would reply to the Defence Ministry’s RFP by March 2014.

The Sunday Standard

Navy's Guns Sink with Tender -The New Indian Express

 

[shiv]

seriously guys .. we can;t manufacture naval guns ? fucking n00bs we are

 

[Indischer]

seriously guys .. we can;t manufacture naval guns ? fucking n00bs we are

Actually, Naval Gunnery isn't an easy tech to master. And India's requirements are usually so less that it would be a huge waste in R&D for us.

And think about it, we're yet to successfully reverse engineer the 1970s tech Bofors field guns!

 

[shiv]

Actually, Naval Gunnery isn't an easy tech to master. And India's requirements are usually so less that it would be a huge waste in R&D for us.

And think about it, we're yet to successfully reverse engineer the 1970s tech Bofors field guns!

no problem is without a sense of competition, you never know if things are done in best possible way !

There is currently no way of ascertaining the fact that DRDO has used the ToT to its fullest potential.

I will tell u a true story : Civil Engg dept in IITK had designed a prototype buoy to detect tsunami waves in littoral waters of the subcontinent.. It was moth balled for years with no takers for it's funding ..

After the disaster had struck, within a year GoI announced that it had come up with a detector to be placed in BoB and Indian Ocean .. wonder where did it come from ?

 

[Indischer]

no problem is without a sense of competition, you never know if things are done in best possible way !

There is currently no way of ascertaining the fact that DRDO has used the ToT to its fullest potential.

I will tell u a true story : Civil Engg dept in IITK had designed a prototype buoy to detect tsunami waves in littoral waters of the subcontinent.. It was moth balled for years with no takers for it's funding ..

After the disaster had struck, within a year GoI announced that it had come up with a detector to be placed in BoB and Indian Ocean .. wonder where did it come from ?

The problem is tied to the Government's reluctance in involving private sector participation in it's Defence matrix. And the Govt is neither rich nor capable enough to master every tech by itself.

 

[bloo]

Private sector need to get involved and the govt needs to be more flexible in these issues.