Indian Military

New Delhi – The Indian government has once again floated tenders for Towed and Tracked Gun Systems and vendors from various countries like France, Britain and the U.S have been invited for the bids. The acquisition is a major part of the Indian Army’s modernisation programme but has always suffered setbacks due to repeat cancellations of the tender. While the process to acquire towed and tracked gun systems was initiated in 2006, tenders have been cancelled due to the alleged corruption and scams involving the bidding companies from abroad.

However, India has come close to negotiating the acquisition of 145 ultra light guns from BAE Systems US called the M-777 A1 since the trials for the same have been concluded in India. India plans to acquire this gun through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route and the US Congress has already given its clearance.

The M-777 A1 is an ultra light 155mm/45 calibre gun and its striking features include its mobility, transportability, survivability and lethality.

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New Delhi –The Indian Army has come under the scanner once again following the recent mysterious leaking of a classified report related to the field trial of the M777 ultra-light Howitzer that was concluded recently. The pages of the classified report that have leaked contain evidence that the M-777 howitzer had failed the field trials concluded in December 2010.

The company that now own Bofors, the BAE Systems of US, makes the ultra light Howitzer M777 which is to be procured through a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route by India from the US. The acquisition is to be made through the government-to- government FMS route and is worth over $647 million for 10 regiments (160) guns. However, according to the leaked pages of the report, the Howitzer gun appears to have failed the recent trials on several parameters.

The matter of the blacklisting of Singapore Technologies by the Indian Ministry of Defense just gets curiouser and curiouser. The arms company has contradicted the basis of the report, tabled by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in Parliament, on the special audit it conducted at the request of the Ministry of Defense, into the facts and circumstances that gave rise to the corruption case against the former Director General of Ordnance Factories and Chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Sudipta Ghosh.

The arms company had been recommended for blacklisting by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in June last year, after Sudipta Ghosh was implicated in a corruption case. A decision to blacklist was held in abeyance last December to allow trials of artillery howitzers and other weapons systems to be conducted, subject to the investigations agency’s final report.

But in January the company claimed this was not the case and that it had not, in fact, been blacklisted.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India was asked by the Ministry of Defense, in June 2009, to conduct an audit into the facts and circumstances that gave rise to the criminal case against the former Director General of Ordnance Factories and Chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Sudipta Ghosh.

While submitting that the institution of the CAG was neither ‘empowered nor equipped’ to conduct inquiries of a forensic nature, the CAG nevertheless accepted the charge and submitted a report to Parliament last week, that testifies to the acts of omission and commission, based on incompetence, lack of foresight or mala fide intent, that led to the recommendation of a blacklist of companies.

The recommendation for blacklisting Singapore Technologies (ST) arose from the issue of the supply of Close Quarter Battle (CQB) Carbines to paramilitary forces under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), India’s law enforcement and interior ministry.

ST was indirectly mentioned in the FIR (First Information Report) registered by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) against Sudipta Ghosh and so the ‘transaction with STK was put on hold in June, 2009 by MOD.

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.