Defence Notes
New Delhi, 10 August 2009
Stage Set For Evaluation
MOTHER OF ALL DEFENCE DEALS
By Radhakrishna Rao
The stage is being set for
kick-starting the exciting flight
evaluation trials of the six competing medium multi role combat aircraft (MMRCA)
in the race for the Indian defence contract for the supply of 126 aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF). These will form part of the bulwark of the
frontline fighter fleet alongwith the formidable Russian origin Su-30MKI combat
aircraft and the fourth generation, home grown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas
now undergoing qualification trials as a prelude to obtaining initial
operational clearance (IOC). The contract is expected to be worth between
US$10-billion and US$12-billion depending upon the features and characteristics
of the aircraft alongwith its weapons suite carrying capability. ”It is the
biggest fighter aircraft deal since 1990s” says Mark Kronenberg, who heads
Boeing’s business in the Asia Pacific region.
And sometime next month, the skies
of Bangalore,
which also happens to be the country’s aeronautical nerve centre, will witness
the roar and thunder of the flying machines
displaying their awesome manoeuvers and breathtaking skills as part of
the “dog fight” to win what has been described as the “mother of all defence
deals”. Interestingly, this is also reckoned to be India’s largest single defence
contract to date.
In order to evaluate these six
contending fighter planes from all possible angles, a multi disciplinary team
made up of experts drawn from ASTE (Aircraft Systems and Testing Establishment)
of IAF, CENILAC (Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification) of the
state owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian
aeronautical major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has been set up. Apart from Bangalore, all the six aircraft will be subjected to
trials in two other locations featuring varying climatic and environmental
conditions .In Bangalore,
the aircraft will be evaluated for its performance, systems and humidity. And
over the Thar desert stretches of Jaisalmer in
the western Indian state of Rajasthan, these metal birds will undergo hot
weather and weapons trials. Thereafter, they will be flight tested under high
altitude and cold weather conditions of Leh in Ladakh. “We need to wait for the
field trials to be over before any conclusion can be drawn,” quipped an IAF
official.
Meanwhile, all the six high profile
bidders—Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-16IN, Boeing
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Saab JAS-39 Gripen, Mikoyan Mig-35—are working overtime to give their best
performance during the Indian field
trials. During the flight trials in India, the performance of the
aircraft in various stages including their take off and landing, their
maneuvering capability as well as their operational efficiency under hot
weather and cold weather conditions will be thoroughly evaluated. Also under
scanner will be their maintainability, mission support equipment, combat
efficiency and life cycle costs.
Once the trials in the Indian
locations are over, the aircraft will be ready for carrying out actual firing
trials which could take place either in the country where the aircraft is
manufactured or in a country suggested by the vendor .All the trials as a
prelude to the final selection of the aircraft are expected to be completed by
the first half of 2010.
India’s no nonsense Defence
Minister, A.K.Antony, known for his impeccable personal integrity, has made it plain that the aircraft that would be
selected finally should meet all the requirements of the IAF. He has also made
it plain that there should not be an impropriety or irregularity in the
selection procedure. In fact, in 2007 December he had ordered the cancellation
of the tender for the acquisition of 197 light utility helicopters after
Eurocopter was close to bagging the order on the ground that “the flight
evaluation procedure was dnot as per the norms”. As such, this time around Antony has stressed on
fair and transparent selection process so that the country would be able to
realize the best value for money. A stickler to rules, Antony has hinted at strong and ruthless
action against any act of corruption, wrong doing and irregularity in defence
deals. Further, he has delivered a stern warning to defence vendors and
contractors against resorting to “bribes and payoffs” to win Indian defence
contracts. As it is, many high ticket Indian deals had gained notoriety on
account of the alleged payment of “hush money” and “pay offs”.
Rapid depletion of the combat
aircraft squadron owing to the phasing out of the Soviet era Mig-range of
fighter aircraft along with the inordinate delay in the qualification of the
Tejas aircraft nudged IAF to go in for MMRCA with a view to sustaining its
fighting edge.IAF is now believed to have just 32 squadrons against the
sanctioned strength of 39.5 squadrons .Even so the new IAF chief, P.V. Naik, has expressed the optimism that
IAF would have 45 squadrons by 2020-25 and in the process touch its optimum
force levels.
In fact, the need for rejuvenating
the IAF’s fighter fleet was projected in early 1990s in the context of the plan
to phase out the aging Mig-21, Mig-23 and Mig-27 constituting the mainstay of
IAF’s frontline fighting structure. But the only positive fall out of this far from happy scenario was the rapid
acquisition of an increasing number of Russian made multi role combat aircraft
Su-30 MKI .IAF considers it to be quite formidable fighting machine with
versatile capabilties. Meanwhile, IAF has ordered an additional 40 Su-3o MKIs
from Russia.
As things stand now, IAF expects to have a total of 230 Su-30 MKIs in its
inventory of fighter aircraft.
As it is, the vendor of the aircraft
finally selected by the Indian defence ministry will be required to undertake
50% offset obligation in India.
Against this backdrop some of the
vendors in the competition have already forged alliance with Indian industrial outfits and
software and IT service providers for the joint development, co production,
technology transfer as well as sourcing of components and services.
Significantly, the economic offset for the MMRCA deal was set at 50% of the
total value of the contract under 2006 defence procurement rules. As pointed
out by the Indian defence ministry, the offset
provision will help expose the
Indian industry to many new and emerging technologies and innovative
manufacturing techniques so that their expertise level could be scaled up to
the best in the world.
On another front the RFP (request
for proposal) for the contract has a
provision whereby India
can exercise the option of acquiring
another lot of 63 aircraft in future without any cost escalation. But
then as stated by IAF chief Naik, “the acquisition of more aircraft would be
assessed at an appropriate time based on our experience and requirements”. It
is the fond hope of IAF that the first selected aircraft will reach India by
2013-14 by taking into account the fact that the manufacturer could initiate
the supply of aircraft within three years of signing the contract.
The first batch of 18 aircraft will
be delivered to India in flyway condition while the remaining 118
will be produced by the Bangalore
based HAL under technology transfer. The aircraft is expected to have a life
cycle of 40 years and will be designed to carry out defence, ground attack and
reconnaissance operations in addition to possessing the capability for mid air refueling.
Among the factors that IAF is likely to consider while finalizing the aircraft type include the scope of modernization,
life cycle costs, technology transfer , reliability of spares supply, training,
infrastructure, its weapons suites and eletronics as well as leveraging the
geopolitical advantages of the deal. Also under considerations will be
operational issues like range, interoperability and super-cruising ability. In
the ultimate analysis, which aircraft will grab the record Indian defence
order, no one is in a position to hazard a guess at this point of time.---INFA
(Copyright, India
News and Feature Alliance)
|