Indian Military

New Delhi — Indo-Russian military ties are set to grow stronger as India will soon order an additional 59 Russian Mi-17 helicopters from Russia. This decision to acquire 59 helicopters on top of the 80 helicopters ordered earlier has been taken by the Indian Air Force (IAF). The defence acquisition council has cleared the proposal and the request will be forwarded to the cabinet committee on security clearance soon.

The IAF has been trying to augment its fleet of medium-lift helicopters and the acquisition of an additional 59 Mi-17 helicopters aims to fulfil that mission. The existing fleet of medium-lift helicopters will be phased out soon. The Mi-17 helicopters will enhance the IAFs capability to carry out missions in high-altitude areas and relief operations. India had signed a deal with Russia in 2008 to supply 80 Mi-17s to augment its existing fleet of around 150 Mi-8 and Mi-17 medium-lift choppers. These helicopters have over five tonne load carrying capability and are also used to ferry troops.

To shore up its depleting submarine fleet, India will this year issue a $11 billion global tender for building six more next generation vessels, navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma said here Wednesday.

The new submarine program, known as Project 75I, will be a follow-on to the six Scorpenes that are being built at the Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) under Project 75.

“The government has already cleared Project 75I. At the moment we are going through the process of Request For Information (RFI). I hope within this year we will be able to push the tender,” Verma said on the sidelines of a National Maritime Foundation seminar on submarines.

French firm DCNS is now executing the Project 75 Scorpene orders in collaboration with MDL at a cost of $4 billion. The Indian Navy operates 14 diesel-electric submarines at present after it decommissioned two Foxtrot class submarines last year. Of the 14 submarines, 10 are Kilo class Soviet-origin vessels and the rest are HDW German-origin vessels.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has criticized the acceptance of inferior-grade steel used in the manufacture of fleet tankers of the Indian Navy by Italian firm, Fincantieri, saying it amounted to ‘undue favor to a foreign vendor in (the) procurement of fleet tankers’.

Not just the steel, the CAG also has a problem with the ‘excess provisioning of spares worth more than INR 300 million (USD 6 million) and under realization of offset benefit to Indian industry’ in the procurement worth INR 9.36 billion (USD 200 million).

The CAG’s report says the original Request For Proposal (RFP) had a mandatory stipulation requiring the use of ‘DMR 249A or equivalent grade steel’ in the construction of two fleet tankers, which it says is ‘almost double the cost of ordinary steel’.

The INS (Indian Naval Ship) Deepak (Lamp) in dry dock at Muggiano, Italy being launched last February.

New Delhi — In a recent move by the Indian government which may set a precedent in terms of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms in defence, the cap of 26 per cent FDI has been relaxed for Russia. The recent decision has been seen as an upsetting move for private firms.

The recent joint venture between state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the Russian firm Rosoboronexport is a 50:50 venture for a transport plane and  the project cost is estimated at Rs 2900 crore. The plane will be created for the Indian defence forces and will cater to the cargo airlines as well. The HAL-Rosoboronexport venture will develop a prototype within 51 months after starting work and make the plane in six years.

Although the current FDI cap in defence ventures stands at 26 per cent, the Indian government has made a provision to support 49 per cent FDI as a special case in the HAL-Rosoboronexport. It may be noted that India had decided to raise the 26 percent cap on FDI in the defence manufacturing sector to enable the co-development with Russia of the multi-role transport aircraft (MRTA) in 2008.

India and Russia signed an agreement on Thursday night to set up a joint venture to design and develop a Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA). The shareholders agreement will establish a joint venture between India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation and Rosoboronexport for this purpose. The company will headquartered in Bangalore.

According to the Indian Ministry of Defense, the twin-engined aircraft is envisaged to be a 15-20 ton payload capacity that will service the requirements of the air forces of both countries. It’s expected to have a maximum take-off weight of 65 ton, a cruise speed of 800 kilometers per hour (almost 500 miles per hour), a range of 2,500 kilometers to 2,700 kilometers (between around 1,500 miles to 1,700 miles), a service ceiling of 12 kilometers (over seven miles).

Both countries will equally contribute to the expected cost of around USD 600.70 million to develop the aircraft, of which 205 are planned for manufacture so far, with an equal workshare between both countries.

New Delhi — India and Russia have finally signed an agreement to set-up a joint venture company for the design and development of a multi-role transport aircraft (MTA). The joint venture to produce this medium category twin-engine aircraft has been formed between state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the Russian United Aircraft Corporation & Rosoboronexport.

As per the agreement, both the sides will share the development cost equally and the joint venture will manufacture 205 aircraft. The estimated cost of this joint venture project is to the tune of $600 million. The joint venture company would be based in Bangalore.

The MTA will function like a military aircraft capable of short landings and takeoffs and ferrying 80 fully equipped troops and will also be useful in battlefield medical evacuations and relief operations. While the Indian Air Force (IAF) plans to acquire 45 of these aircraft, the Russians are committed to acquiring around 100 over 12 years.