Indian Military

The Indian Air Force (IAF) commander Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik had announced in February at Aero India 2011 in Bangalore that the shortlist for the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender would be announced in the next few weeks. Then a few weeks back, he upped the pressure on the Ministry of Defense again, while addressing the Indian Women’s Press Corps. Indo-Asian News Service reported him as saying, “The cost negotiation for MMRCA will begin by the end of this month. I expect the contract to be signed before I retire from service in July this year.”

This pressure is likely intended to get the ministry to move on the outstanding issues related to the MMRCA tender process. Work remains to be done for it to be taken to its logical conclusion (The response this pressure elicits may well be a separate soap opera altogether). But the ministry is also under pressure to meet the April-end deadline for the expiry of the commercial offers submitted by the six vendors.

The Indian Defense Minister AK Antony confirmed to Parliament on Tuesday, the recommendation of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the blacklisting of six arms firms by the Ministry of Defense. Four of these firms, Singapore Technology (Singapore Technologies), Israeli Military Industries (Israel Military Industries), TS Kissan and Company Private Limited and RK Machine Tools Private Limited, are the subject of such a recommendation for the second time, after they were first blacklisted in June last year, along with three other firms, Media Architecture Private Limited of Singapore, BVT of Poland and HYT Engineering of India.

Two other firms, Rheinmetall Air Defence of Germany and a Russian firm called Cooperation Defence have also been recommended for blacklisting this time around.

All of these firms have been implicated in the corruption case involving the former Director General of Ordnance Factories and Chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Sudipta Ghosh, in May last year.