asian defence

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The first squadron of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas will be raised in Bangalore.

The Aircraft and System Testing Establishment (ASTE) will conduct a series of tests before the aircraft is inducted into the Indian Air Force.

Commandant of the ASTE, Air Commodore BR Krishna said that two pilots have been identified by the Bangalore-based flight testing establishment for carrying out extensive tests.

The first unit of LCA will be named No.45 Squadron. The squadron comprising 20 aircraft will be known as 'Flying Daggers' and will later be moved to the Sulur Air Base near Coimbatore.

India's Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile will make its first flight during 2012,
with systems integration work under way, says Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO) chief V K Saraswat.

To be fired eventually from a variety of land, naval and air platforms, the
Nirbhay is planned as a supplement to the larger Indian/Russian BrahMos
supersonic cruise missile.

Washington has expressed serious doubts on the ability of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to handle projects like the MMRCA, dubbing it "untested and suspect". This drew a sharp response from a defence ministry official, who pointed out the defence PSU was already engaged in producing a frontline "air dominance" fighter like Sukhoi-30MKI with Russia's help.

As per the MMRCA contract, which India hopes to ink this year, 18 jets will be bought off-the-shelf from the foreign vendor finally selected, while the rest will be manufactured by HAL in India after transfer of technology.

Two American fighters, F/A-18 'Super Hornet' ( Boeing) and F-16 'Falcon' ( Lockheed Martin), are in the race to bag the project, which is the largest fighter deal going around the world at this time. The other jets, which have undergone the gruelling field trials by IAF, are the Swedish Gripen (Saab), French Rafale (Dassault), Russian MiG-35 (United Aircraft Corporation) and Eurofighter Typhoon (consortium of British, German, Spanish and Italian companies).



The Financial Times on Friday reported that US ambassador to India Timothy Roemer, in a confidential cable last year, had held India's aviation industry as "two to three decades behind the US and other western nations" despite some advances.


"The potential for HAL to successfully partner with US firms on a truly advanced aircraft remains untested and suspect," said Roemer, in the cable now leaked by WikiLeaks and "seen" by the British newspaper.

After a trip to HAL facilities in Bangalore in February 2010, Roemer also expressed surprise at the lack of automation and safety precautions at the HAL plant. US companies need to "approach partnerships carefully to understand the management and technological experience of Indian firms", he said.

India said Thursday it aims to start making its own commercial aircraft in a bid to cash on a boom in the domestic civil aviation sector.

Officials from the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) told reporters the state-owned firm will present a detailed report to the government within three months seeking clearance to manufacture a 90-seater passenger aircraft.

"There is potential for short-distance, low-cost carriers as operators are looking for cost-effective and right-sized aircraft, while passengers want lower air fares," NAL director A.R. Upadhaya said.

"The proposed 90-seat civil aircraft can make this happen," he said at Aero India in Bangalore, South Asia's largest airshow, where global aviation firms are vying for a slice of India's burgeoning civil and military market.


The planned aircraft would be ready for commercial operation by 2017 if cleared for production. India has in the past made a 16-seater aeroplane but it was intended for governmental rather than commercial use.

Upadhaya said various international aerospace companies were interested in becoming partners in the 50-billion-rupee ($1 billion) project, the first attempt by India to develop a civil aeroplane of that size.

Citing a government assessment, he said India would require about 1,000 aircraft by 2025 in the 90-seater segment.

Europe's Airbus expects India will need more than 1,000 aircraft over the next 20 years at a cost of $138 billion.

India's passenger numbers will expand by 15 percent annually over the next five years, making it the fastest-growing market in the world, Dinesh Keskar, president of Boeing's India subsidiary, forecast earlier in the week.

The expansion of India's middle class, spurred by the country's growing economy, has fuelled air travel.

The Navy will issue a global tender for procuring six next generation submarines worth over Rs 50,000 crore by the end of this year.
"The government has cleared Project-75 India which is the next lot of six submarines... At the moment we are going with the Request for Information (RFI) process, I hope within this year we would be able to push off the tender," Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma told reporters on the sidelines of a submarine seminar.

Project-75 India is a follow on of the Scorpene submarine project, six of which are being built by the Mazgaon Dockyards Limited (MDL) under a Rs 20,000 crore deal with French company DCNS.



With a depleted submarine strength, the Navy is planning to induct over 12 submarines in the next 10-12 years. The plans have also suffered a setback in view of the delays in the construction of the Scorpenes in Mumbai.
Talking about the capabilities of future submarines, the Navy chief said, "It will be a different boat in the sense that we are revising its Qualitative Requirements. Along with better sensors it will also have better hiding capability, improved detection range and combat management system."

He said the Navy would go for the Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) systems for the submarines, which would enhance their capability of remaining submerged in water for a longer time period.

After more than 90 upgrades, an advanced variant of the indigenous Main Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun will undergo serial production in 2014.
The tank, Arjun Mark-II, will be equipped with an indigenous engine a year after the start of its serial production to replace its German power plant, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials told PTI.
"The advanced Arjun will be equipped with Explosive Reactive Armour and missile-firing capability from its main gun and better night-vision capabilities," they said.

The officials said that the gear box of the tank too would be upgraded to improve its performance.


Meanwhile, the DRDO has decided to go ahead with the first phase of the tank''s trial in June this year. "The user-Indian Army- would be involved in the trial from the phase one itself. The second phase would take place sometime early next year," said the officials.



124 Arjun Mark-I tanks, comprising two regiments, have already been inducted into the Army after being manufactured in Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) in Avadi. The regiments are based in the western sector.

It is already known as the world’s biggest defence import deal in a long time. Now, it transpires, it is even bigger than that. The Indian Air Force is in the market to buy 126 Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) from one of six foreign vendors bidding for the contract.

Over time, however, the IAF plans to buy 260 of them, Deccan Chronicle has learnt. That means, what has been talked about as a $10-12 billion deal will eventually fetch the winner of the contract close to $25 billion.
While the IAF floated a request for proposal (RFP) for only 126 fighters, sources privy to the armed forces’ Long-Term Integrated Perspective Plan said that that document puts the number of medium fighter jets the IAF needs at is 260. Ministry of defence officials, however, refused to confirm that there was any plan beyond the current RFP.



America’s Lockheed Martin (F-16) and Boeing (F/A-18), the 4-nation Eurofighter consortium (Typhoon), France’s Dassault (Rafale), Sweden's SAAB (Gripen) and Russia’s Mikoyan-Gureyvich (MiG-35) are locked in a high-intensity public relations as well as behind-the-scenes war to win the contract.

Air Chief P.V. Naik had on Thursday said that the Contract Negotiations Committee would achieve key milestones towards evaluating the packages offered by the various vendors in a week or two and that the contract would be ready for signing by September, except if "dissatisfied vendors put a spoke in the wheel".

That, sources said, looked almost inevitable given the size of the contract and what it could do to the fortunes of the winner. It could potentially keep alive assembly lines for some fighters from the 1970s/1980s vintage for another 30 years, ensuring that some 25,000 to 30,000 people would find employment in what are currently stricken economies in the US and Europe.

The sources also said that the eventual number of the frontline air superiority Sukhoi-30 MKIs from Russia in the IAF's fleet would also go up to 280.

The IAF would need these higher numbers of combat jets of different classes considering that it has to plan for threats coming from two fronts.

Given the huge potential in military avionics, Indian aerospace firm Axis Aerospace and Technologies (AAT) and Russian defence exporter FGUP Rosoboronexport Monday announced they have signed an agreement to start a joint venture focusing on avionics for IAF's front line Sukhoi SU-30 and MiG-29 fighter jets, as also military helicopters.

Apart from these Russian-origin platforms, the JV will also work on the new fighter jet from the Mikoyan stable, the MiG-35, which is one of the contenders in India's $10.4-billion tender for 126 combat aircraft.



'The JV will focus on creation of cutting-edge technology for aerospace and defence applications in addition to design, production and integration of avionics systems,' the two companies said, but did not give the funding details of the project.

The venture would address areas such as development of MIPS technology for use in avionics. This would be a major leap towards achieving self-reliance in processor technology for Indian industry.

Axis Aerospace would build on the Russian efforts in this field to create MIPS (million instructions per seconds)-based avionics, communication systems and software-defined radio (SDR). The JV would seamlessly fuse the building blocks of this technology held by both companies to design and produce SDRs, the future of all communication systems.

'The JV will undertake manufacture of avionics equipment for MiG-35, Su-30, MiG-29 (fighter jets), Mi-17, Mi-28, and Kamov-28 (helicopters) enabling better offset discharge by Russian original equipment manufacturers, apart from design and development of new generation test solutions for maintenance of avionics equipment,' city-based AAT's CEO Ravi Narayanan said here.

The venture would also take part in establishing a service centre in India for maintenance and repair of avionics equipment of Russian origin, apart from integration of the same on aircraft and helicopters of both Russian and non-Russian design, he added.

'This JV, once it is formed, will be the perfect vehicle to support indigenous efforts to develop, support and upgrade avionics and other types of equipment for Russian-origin defence product, which would continue to be the dominant factor in Indian defense for the years to come. Also this would marry Russian domain expertise, OEM knowledge along with cutting edge technology build to suit Indian requirements,' Narayanan said.

Rosoboronexport said the creation of such JV would make it possible to extend participation of the Russian companies in Indian defense programmes including advanced projects in the future.

The Indian Army has begun the process for acquiring heavy guns yet again, floating tenders for both the Towed and Tracked systems within January 2011.

The tender for the Towed gun was issued on January 28 while for the Tracked version, it was issued mid-January.

Sources said that several vendors, from France, US, Britain, Israel and Czechoslovakia and other countries, were invited but no details of the tender specifications were available as they are generally secret anyway in accordance with General Staff Qualitative Requirements (GSQRs).



India had earlier cancelled its Request for Proposal (RfP) for 1,580 towed guns (155mm, 52 calibre), as well as for tracked Guns over allegations of corruption involving one company or another. That set back the Army’s artillery modernisation programme by three to five years over and above the ten-year long delay in the process.

But the good news is that the summer and winter field trials of the ultralight gun, BAE Systems M 777 A1, have been completed successfully at the Pokhran range and now some negotiations are to be conducting for acquiring 145 of them from the US Government under its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme. The 155mm/45 caliber gun, which can be slung-carried by heavy lift helicopters like the Boeing Chinook, or ferried by heavy trucks, is to be deployed in the mountains.

The process to acquire this type of gun was initiated in 2006.

US Congressional clearance, a mandatory requirement, has already been given and the gun could be in the Indian Army’s inventory within a couple of years after the contract is signed. Made partly of titanium, the gun is about40 per cent lighter than the earlier versions in operation, and is being used extensively in Afghanistan by the US Army.

It has digital controls, can be move quickly after firing, and can deliver munitions up to 40 km. There would be limitations of terrain in the mountains however.

It may be recalled that the artillery had played a decisive role in demolishing Pakistani positions that they had intruded into in Kargil in the 1999 war. But somehow, thanks to the allegations of corruption over the acquisition of 400 Bofors FH 77B (155mm/39 caliber) guns from Sweden in the mid-1980s, the Indian Army has not been able to renew its inventory. The Bofors guns though played havoc with the Pakistanis.

Pakistan however has has acquired M-109 A5 155mm howitzers meanwhile from the United States.

The Indian Army needs to phase out all its medium and field guns, although there is a proposal to upgun the Soviet vintage 130 mm guns into 155 mm guns by replacing the barrel. Israel’s Soltam had assisted in this process with the barrles but only some of the guns have been upgunned, and their results are reported to be very good.

While there is no plan to make the ultralight gun in India, both the other proposals involve part purchase and part Transfer of Technology to make them in India. BAE Systems for this has tied up with the Mahindras, and the Czech with the state-run BEML.

The emphasis on the acquisition now is to go in for ToT, and then make the guns indigenously rather than under licence, the latter option inevitably coming with some restrictions.

It may be pointed out that the French have offered to give all the technology if India buys the Ceasar, described by French officials as “the best and most modern gun” now successfully being used in Afghanistan. They say that this gun can meet both the tracked and towed requirements.

Notably, all the guns with the Indian Army’s Artillery Regiment are obsolete, and it goes to its credit that despite this limitations, it keeps them in ready to fire position. Old Bofors, the (not so light) Light Field Gun, and the Soviet M 46 medium guns are in this obsolete list.

There is progress though on the rocket artillery with the indigenous Pinaka and Russian Smerch Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers (MBRLs) having been inducted.

One hopes this time, the RfP is replied to, the trials are held as required, the deal is done in time, and the guns are delivered ASAP. Artillery plays a potent, battle-winning role and its modernization cannot be delayed any further.

Russia exhibited over 80 types of weaponry at the upcoming Aero India 2011 air show, state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport said in a statement, but the MiG-35 fighter jet did not take part.
Aero India-2011, which was held in the southern city of Bangalore on February 9-13, was expected to attract the record number of over 600 manufacturers, vendors and suppliers from 63 countries.

Russia was represented by 35 companies, including aircraft manufacturers MiG and Sukhoi, and air defense systems producers Almaz-Antei and Engineering Design Bureau (KBM).

AIRCRAFT
Russia promoteed its MiG-35 and Su-35 fighter jets, the Yak-130 combat trainer, two versions of the Il-76MD transport plane (with different engines), the Il-78MK aerial tanker and MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB naval fighters.
However, the MiG-35, which is a candidate in an Indian Air Force tender for 126 light fighter aircraft, will not take part in the show, MiG representatives in Delhi told RIA Novosti last week. Indian press articles last year claimed that the aircraft had unofficially been dropped from the shortlist of aircraft being considered,which Russian aerospace holding UAC denies.
The Be-200 amphibious aircraft was most likely one of the top attractions of the Russian exhibit as its popularity with foreign customers steadily grows. The Be-200 can be used in a wide variety of roles, from maritime reconnaissance and rescue to firefighting.

HELICOPTERS
Rosoboronexport and Russian Helicopters showed the Mi-28NE attack helicopter, the light multirole Ka-226T and the heavy transport Mi-26. All three helicopters are currently taking part in separate Indian helicopter tenders.
The visitors were also able to receive information about the Mi-35M combat transport helicopter, the Kamov Ka-31 radar surveillance helicopter and the Ansat and Kamov Ka-32A11BS multi-role helicopters.
AIR DEFENSE
The air defense part of the Russian exhibit was represented by the Tor-M2E, the S-300VM, the Buk-M2E and the Tunguska-M1 systems.
Russia's Engineering Design Bureau unveiled a new ultra short-range air defense system based on the Strelets multiple launcher for the portable Igla missiles.
Russia is the world's second largest conventional arms exporter after the United States. In 2010, Russian defense industry companies delivered about $10 billion worth of arms to foreign customers.

The 8th International Exhibition on Aerospace, Defence and Civil Aviation Aero India 2011, which is one of the biggest among such events in Asia, is hosted at the Air Force Station Yelahanka in the suburbs of Bangaluru from 9th to 13th February 2011. The Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rosoboronexport, a regular participant in the air show, is promoting more than 80 items of weapons and military equipment.
Aerospace systems have always been a centrepiece in the defence cooperation between Russia and India. It was in 1964 when the first batch of the MiG-21 aircraft was delivered to India and our countries started then their modern-era military cooperation. The mutually advantageous collaboration has been maintained for decades, and is now raised to a strategic partnership level.
Last visit to India of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev testifies to the high status of our relations. A number of important agreements were signed, including a feasibility study contract for the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) development programme. That was a start of the joint programme implementation. Similar developments are also carried out by USA and China. Thanks to the cooperation with Russia, India can be justly classed now in their number.
Just as prospective is a development programme for the Multi-Role Transport Aircraft (MTA) which is planned to enter service with Air Forces of both countries in future. The aircraft is intended for active operation by both military services and commercial air lifting companies.

"We are moving up to deep-rooted cooperation and joint development of advanced systems. It does require a renewed level of trust. It is one thing to sell finished items or assemblе them by licence, and it is quite different to implement programmes such as the fifth generation fighter aircraft, transport aircraft MTA or BrahMos missiles. We have already started, as it is, a number of major programmes that will define future defence capabilities of our countries", - said Viktor Komardin, deputy director general of Rosoboronexport and head of delegation in India.
Russia was the first country which started transferring to India up-to-date aerospace, land and maritime equipment technologies. One of the most revealing examples is licence production of the Su-30MKI aircraft by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. This modification of the fighter aircraft was developed by Russian manufacturers specifically to satisfy exacting requirements of the Indian Air Force. Su-30MKI proved to be a highly effective and reliable system. It is worthy of noting that in 2009 President of India Pratibha Patil made a flight on this fighter aircraft.

by Staff Writers
Bangalore, India (AFP) Feb 10, 2011
India said Thursday it would begin crucial contract negotiations in the next fortnight for an estimated $12 billion order for 126 fighter jets.
The announcement came a day after Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony said the long-delayed contract to modernise India's decades-old aircraft fleet would be handed out during the next fiscal year starting April 1.



"The contract negotiation committee will begin discussions in a week or two," Indian Airforce chief P.V. Naik told reporters on the sidelines of South Asia's biggest airshow in Bangalore, the hub of India's aviation industry.

Six global aeronautical companies, which are in a dogfight to grab the deal to sell the 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), each claimed at the airshow that their products were the world's best. "The Indian airforce is very pleased with the performance of the F-16 and we are hopeful of being shortlisted," said Orville Prins of U.S-based Lockheed Martin which wants to sell its frontline fighter jet to India.

Russia has offered to equip the Indian Su-30MKI aircraft with the electronically scanned array radar to bring them on par with the most modern fighter aircraft in the world. Currently the technical configuration of the upgraded aircraft with onboard AESA radar is being discussed by Russian and Indian experts. The upgraded aircraft could be equipped with perspective Russian or foreign-made weapon, including Indo-Russian “BrahMos” anti-ship missiles.





An Irkut statement said at Aero India 2011 A multirole Su-30MKI aircraft which became a sort of symbol of the IRKUT Corporation deserves an honourable place in the exposition of the company.

Photo: DRDO

India and Pakistan held talks on Sunday, February 6th in Thimphu, capital of Bhutan, when Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her counterpart Salman Bashir met six months after they held talks in Islamabad, said local media.

A Communist Party-backed Chinese newspaper has quickly refuted a top Indian scientist’s claims that India’s ballistic missile defence technology is superior to that of China. India is 10-15 years behind China in missile technology, Chinese Rear Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong was quoted saying on the Global Times front page on Friday.The report was prominently reproduced across the Chinese media. “India’s technology for its measurement and control system, which is used to trace launched missiles, remains at a very low level, and they are unable to constitute a complete and reliable missile defense system,” Zhang said.He was reacting to claims of India’s superior missile technology by V K Saraswat, who heads the Defence Research and Development Organisation .......

Several nations of the world hold an annual Armed Forces Day to recognize, venerate, and honor their military forces.



After a successful political campaign based on a very unique and distinctive methodology called “ahimsa” or non-violence India threw off the colonial yoke and set in motion the decline and demise of the British Empire. For a young nation with no colonial ambitions, and, therefore, no militaristic traditions, she inherited a very young military hierarchy as yet untested with the higher direction of warfare but confronted almost immediately on the attainment of Independence with an invasion in Jammu and Kashmir intended to undermine the principles of Accession enshrined in the Independence Act by which Pakistan was created.



As a consequence of this circumstance British officers continued to preside over the top military posts in both countries leaving behind a legacy that has continued to haunt both nascent countries to this day. Five months after the UN mandated ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir the Government of India replaced the last British Commander-in-Chief in India Gen F R R Bucher with the first Indian to have been selected in the first batch for training for the Kings Commissioned Indian Officer (KCIO) at the UK Imperial War College. K. M. Cariappa held the rank of Lt General and the post of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, and he planned the recapture of the Zojila Pass and Dras and Kargil which enabled the Indian Army to push the Pakistani invaders back. A biography describes his role as being instrumental in turning an Imperial Army into a National Army. That is why the date of his appointment — 15 January 1949 — is celebrated as Army Day.

The advanced version of the indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will be test-fired in February and will enable the manifestation of a fully operational missile shield for vital areas and installations in the country.

The BMD system will be a two-tier system and has been upgraded for greater range. The aim of the two-tier system is to first destroy an incoming missile, at a higher altitude, in the exo-atmosphere and if that fails, the endo-atmospheric interception will take place. The Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) intercepts missiles at altitudes between 50-80 kilometres and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile destroys them at heights between 15-30 kilometres.

According to DRDO, the upgraded BMD system with its missile shield will be able to intercept missiles at exo-atmospheric altitudes of 150 kilometres and endo-atmospheric height of 80 kilometres. The need to enhance the BMD system’s exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric altitudes was felt by the DRDO due to the modern warfare scenario where enemy missiles will need to be intercepted with more stealth and capability. The two tier-BMD system with greater altitude range will ensure that a second layer can be opted for in case of failure in the first attempt.

Last year, V.K. Saraswat, Director-General of DRDO had assured that the first phase of the indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence System to intercept and destroy incoming enemy missiles of less than 2,000-km range is expected to be deployed in two years. He added that the first phase would be made operational through the new concept of ‘capability-based deployment.’ The Air Defence Programme has been divided into two parts — depending upon the threat perception. While the first category of threats pertains to enemy missiles with less than 2,000 kilometres range, the second type belongs to those with more than 2,000 kilometres. Besides, both these phases will have two layers.

According to the DRDO, new technologies have been added and modifications have been made in the interceptor missile PAD 02 to provide higher energy, an improved guidance and control system and an integrated a Gimbaled Directional Warhead with it. The new warhead weighed only around 30 kilograms but will generate the impact of a 150 kilogram omni-directional warhead could make. The entire system is fully automated and human intervention is not needed for activation.

However, the DRDO has not been able to skirt the delays in the indigenous BMD system. Till mid 2010, it had managed to conduct only four tests of BMD system in the last four years. The first three tests in November 2006, December 2007 and March 2009 were dubbed successful, killing enemy missiles at altitudes of 48 kilometres, 15 kilometres and 80 kilometres. However, the fourth test in March 2010 was aborted midway after technical glitches. DRDO feels that if the tests in February this year are successful, the deployment of the BMD system by 2015 is a possibility. India will also fall in the elite group of four countries to have successfully developed an Anti-ballistic missile system, after United States, Russia and Israel.

When the deputy chief of the Indian army recently promised the Indian public and private sectors a "level playing field" in purchases of military hardware he wasn't talking about electric golf carts to take elderly golfers around hilly golf courses.The carts, which cost about $243,000, were allegedly bought with money designated for electric wheelchairs in military hospitals and on track alignment reconnaissance vehicles.Meanwhile, the India government announced major reforms to the country's military procurement program designed to speed up and tighten quality controls over the purchase of defense equipment. Decisions on modern combat and related materiel for the Indian armed forces are being delegated to a new committee under the Master General of Ordnance.Defense Minister A K Antony told the Indian parliament: "There is no question of delays now. After considering security aspect, the committee can take decisions and can give money also. Now the committee under MGO can give all clearances."Responding to critical questions about delays and the issue of sub-standard equipment, the minister said the government will speed up the process of Indianisation in military purchasing to bring more transparency and give "more space" for both Indian industry in both the private and public sectors. The Indian military procures some 70 percent of its purchases from outside the country, a figure that Antony described as "shameful and dangerous."

The final bill doubled, say Indian media reports, when the Russian shipyard escalated the price of its refitting in 2007. The Admiral Gorshkov will turn out to be 60 percent dearer than a new warship, says CAG, adding, "The objective of inducting an aircraft carrier in time to fill the gap in Indian navy has not been achieved."India is building its own 858-foot carrier to be armed with surface-to-air missiles, latest radar and an array of other combat systems from Israel, France and Russia. 'With this project, India joins the select club of 40,000-ton aircraft carrier designers and builders," the navy said in a statement.The CAG report has also criticized the induction into the Army Aviation Corps of 40 advanced light helicopters -- designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited -- at a cost of $360 million. It says they are underpowered, limiting their range to 5,000 instead of the required 6,500 miles, which will delay the phasing out of the AAC's obsolete Chetak (SA 316B Alouette III) and Cheetah (SA 315B Lama) helicopters, reducing the army's operational efficiency in the mountainous Kashmir region. Meanwhile, the Indian ministry of defense has ingeniously defended its golf carts. It says they "facilitate noiseless reconnaissance in close proximity to the enemy." Jane's Defense Weekly, however, notes that more than half of India's 180 golf course are owned or managed the military -- most of them by the army.

By Viola Gienger

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he’ll discuss moving forward on several agreements with the Indian government that would ease the South Asian nation’s path toward acquiring the latest defense technology.An accord to coordinate operations of communications equipment and ensure its security, and another that would allow cooperation on supply logistics are among the agreements Gates said he will pursue when he arrives in New Delhi tomorrow for a two-day visit. The defense chief, who will be making his first trip to India in almost two years, will meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Defense Minister A.K. Antony.

“Not getting these agreements signed is an obstacle to Indian access to the very highest level of technology” that they are interested in, Gates told reporters as on his plane to New Delhi today. “So we will be pursuing those agreements.”The accords would follow another sealed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she visited India in July and won agreement on monitoring the use and any attempted resale of U.S. defense technology. That opened a door for $20 billion in defense and nuclear energy sales by meeting a requirement of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act of 1996.That so-called end-use monitoring agreement was “hugely important” to defense trade, Gates said. “Some of these other agreements would, I think, create even greater opportunities to expand that relationship.”

India is looking to build its defense industry by buying U.S. weapons, then learning how to make them at home to supply its own forces and, ultimately, to export supplies to other countries.

Foreign Investment

U.S. military weapons suppliers such as Chicago-based Boeing Co. and Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp. also are lobbying India to increase the level of foreign investment allowed in its defense industry to 49 percent from the current 26 percent.That would let the contractors have more control over joint ventures while giving them greater incentive to transfer proprietary technology and participate in joint production.

Gates is seeking to increase U.S. ties with India, the world’s largest democracy and fastest-growing economy after China. President Barack Obama has called India a “critical partner” on issues from climate change to combating terrorism.Joint military exercises with the U.S. have increased steadily since 2002. India also has pledged $1.3 billion for development in Afghanistan, and participates in a multinational anti-piracy operation off the Horn of Africa.

Gates in a speech in Singapore last May described India, along with China, Russia and Indonesia, as “new and re-emerging centers of power.” The U.S. expects India, with its army of 1.4 million and an Air Force that includes 900 combat aircraft, to be “a partner and net provider of security in the Indian Ocean and beyond,” Gates told an audience at an annual Asian security conference.India’s and Pakistan’s status as nuclear powers compound their political and military influence.

Pakistan’s National Command Authority cautioned in a Jan. 13 statement that India continues to “pursue an ambitious” program to build up its military, adding advanced weapons systems that may destabilize South Asia.