DEFENCE AND SECURITY OF INDIA - AUG/SEPT 2010

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KASHMIR

RETURN TO ANARCHY Fuelled by a sense of frustration, the valley is gripped by a cycle of escalating violence I AMITABH MATTOO ARTILLERY

FLAGGING FIREPOWER Delayed modernisation plans are hampering India's security interests I GURMEET KANWAL SINGH AUGUST 2010

DEFENCE and SECURITY of INDIA

DSI VOLUME 3

ISSUE 1

Rs 250

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AUGUST 2010

LETTER FROM THE

editor

‘H

istoric’ and ‘landmark’ are probably words that will be overused when President Barack Obama makes his first visit to India this November. Indo-US relations have always been complicated, accompanied by a negative legacy, at the best of times. But this visit has the potential of becoming a turning point, leading perhaps, as India’s former foreign secretary Shyam Saran writes to the next ‘big thing’ in the India-US partnership.

Clearly, the stakes have changed for two of the world’s largest democracies. America is keen to have cordial relations with India for its own benefits and as for India with such a strategic alliance she can reposition herself on the global map as a stronger economic and military force.

Already, the US defence industry is making inroads into India’s defence shopping list resulting in the diversification of its military hardware sources. From just $342 million worth of acquisitions between 2001 and 2006, the figure this year could, potentially, touch $6.3 billion. This would include the $5.8 billion purchase of C-17 Globemaster III strategic airlifters and 145 M777 155m ultralight howitzers. If these sale agreements are inked, US could nudge Russia as India’s primary supplier of defence equipment.

It has always been an anguished peace in Kashmir but now even that patina of stability is in tatters. Over the last two months, the land of saffron and the Chinar tree is in agony. At last count, nearly 50 people have died, there have been 872 stone-pelting incidents in June and July alone and 1,456 security personnel have been injured. Fuelled by disenchanted youth, the public protests are snowballing into a mass resistance movement. DSI examines the anatomy of the uprising and the road ahead.

The visit of Myanmar’s strongman, Senior General Than Shwe, to Delhi last month in many ways marks a milestone in bilateral relations. Perhaps the rise of China in the region has coaxed India to engage more closely with Myanmar with whom it shares an extensive 1,600km-long porous border, even though its human rights record is perhaps more than questionable. The results of the visit have been positive: besides more economic engagement, it formed part of India’s constant efforts to contain terror. After more than a decade, a mutual legal assistance agreement has been signed that allows Indian insurgents held in Myanmar to get deported back for trials under Indian law.

As usual we look forward to your feedback. If you have any suggestions, comments or criticisms contact us at dsidelhi.feedback@gmail.com Should you want to subscribe to DSI, mail us at dsisubscriptions@mtil.biz and our marketing team will do the rest.

Mannika Chopra EDITOR Defence & Security of India

1

DSI

From just $342 million worth of acquisitions between 2001 and 2006, the figure this year could touch $6.3 billion.This would include the $5.8 billion purchase of C-17 Globemaster III strategic airlifters and 145 M777 155m ultralight howitzers.

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CONTENTS

AUGUST 2010

COVER STORY

14

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP The growing proximity between India and America is underpinned by a realisation by both countries that they need each other as strategic, political and cultural allies. While America sees India as a major contributor to regional stability, India views the US as a vital international ally and defence partner.

An analysis as President Barack Obama gets ready to undertake a passage to India.

KASHMIR

06

RETURN TO ANARCHY In July, for the first time in over 17 years, troops from the 15th Corps of the Indian Army were deployed in Srinagar to assist civilian authorities to maintain law and order. Though the Army’s presence remained muted, it was a startling recognition of the fact that the Kashmir Valley has descended into a deep abyss once again. A month later, there are no signs that normalcy has returned.

It seems that Jammu and Kashmir is experiencing its worst summer since the bleak days of 1990.

ARTILLERY

MODERNISATION

28

46

A MATTER OF INTEREST

India has once again cancelled its Request for Proposal for 1,580 towed guns thus setting back the artillery modernisation programme by another three to five years. This is over and above the ten-year long delay that has already occurred.

General Than Shwe’s unprecedented visit to India could usher in a new focus in India’s Look East Policy.

India’s engagment with Mynamar, seen in this low-key, five-day visit, is not driven by security imperatives alone. Strategic drivers are at work here which make the Indian approach to its eastern neighbour very different from that of the West.

38

Extending advanced Command, Control, Communication Computers and Intelligence to the Indian battlefield presents a host of challenges.

SECURITY

42

NETWORKING INTELLIGENCE Yet to be set up the National Intelligence Grid will be an umbrella organisation for investigating agencies providing a crucial centralised data system.

AFP

NEIGHBOURS

ASYMMETRICAL FIREPOWER

ON THE PATH OF DIGITISATION

2

DSI

3

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CONTENTS

AUGUST 2010

COVER STORY

14

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP The growing proximity between India and America is underpinned by a realisation by both countries that they need each other as strategic, political and cultural allies. While America sees India as a major contributor to regional stability, India views the US as a vital international ally and defence partner.

An analysis as President Barack Obama gets ready to undertake a passage to India.

KASHMIR

06

RETURN TO ANARCHY In July, for the first time in over 17 years, troops from the 15th Corps of the Indian Army were deployed in Srinagar to assist civilian authorities to maintain law and order. Though the Army’s presence remained muted, it was a startling recognition of the fact that the Kashmir Valley has descended into a deep abyss once again. A month later, there are no signs that normalcy has returned.

It seems that Jammu and Kashmir is experiencing its worst summer since the bleak days of 1990.

ARTILLERY

MODERNISATION

28

46

A MATTER OF INTEREST

India has once again cancelled its Request for Proposal for 1,580 towed guns thus setting back the artillery modernisation programme by another three to five years. This is over and above the ten-year long delay that has already occurred.

General Than Shwe’s unprecedented visit to India could usher in a new focus in India’s Look East Policy.

India’s engagment with Mynamar, seen in this low-key, five-day visit, is not driven by security imperatives alone. Strategic drivers are at work here which make the Indian approach to its eastern neighbour very different from that of the West.

38

Extending advanced Command, Control, Communication Computers and Intelligence to the Indian battlefield presents a host of challenges.

SECURITY

42

NETWORKING INTELLIGENCE Yet to be set up the National Intelligence Grid will be an umbrella organisation for investigating agencies providing a crucial centralised data system.

AFP

NEIGHBOURS

ASYMMETRICAL FIREPOWER

ON THE PATH OF DIGITISATION

2

DSI

3

Contributors-final.qxd:contributors-aug.qxd 10/08/10 1:30 PM Page 1

AUGUST 2010

CONTRIBUTORS

DSI

DEFENCE and SECURITY of INDIA AUGUST 2010 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 1 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

AMITABH MATTOO

SHYAM SARAN

AJAI SHUKLA

GURMEET KANWAL SINGH

ADAM BADDELEY

Amitabh Mattoo is a professor of International Studies at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.

A member of the National Knowledge Commission, he was also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jammu.

A former member of India's National Security Council's Advisory Board, he has been part of the task force constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Global Strategic Developments. He is currently working at the nongovernmental level to bring about peace and normalcy in Kashmir.

Shyam Saran was India’s Foreign Secretary from 2004 to 2006. He has also headed the Economic and Multilateral Economic Divison in the Ministry of External Affairs. As Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, he advised the Prime Minister on foreign policy, nuclear and defence related issues. Postretirement, he was appointed the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Indo-US civil nuclear issues and Special Envoy and Chief Negotiator on Climate Change. He has now returned to being a private citizen. Currently, he is a senior fellow, Centre for Policy Research and ViceChairperson, Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries.

Ajai Shukla works in both the visual and the print medium. He is Consulting Editor (Strategic Affairs) for Business Standard . He was also Consulting Editor (Strategic Affairs) for NDTV, a reputed news broadcaster in India, for which he has anchored prime time news and special programmes. He is currently working on a book on Sino-Indian frontier policy.

Gurmeet Kanwal Singh is Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi.

He commanded an infantry brigade during Operation Prakaram on the Line of Control in 2001-03. A soldierscholar, he has authored several books including Indian Army:Vision 2020 and Nuclear Defence: Shaping the Arsenal. He is a wellknown columnist and TV analyst on national security issues.

Adam Baddeley is the Editor of Asian Military Review. He specialises in the area of C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance). He writes for over twenty defence and aerospace publications across the globe.

Maneesha Dube EDITOR

Mannika Chopra CORRESPONDENT

Mangala Ramamoorthy ART DIRECTOR

Bipin Kumar DESIGN

Sandeep Sharma SENIOR MANAGER INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

Vishal Mehta DEPUTY MANAGER MARKETING

Tarun Malviya COORDINATOR

Ronald Micah CIRCULATION & DISTRIBUTION

Ashwani Rai PRODUCTION & PRE-PRESS

Sunil Dubey, Ritesh Roy, Devender Pandey MEDIATRANSASIA INDIA LIMITED

323, Udyog Vihar, Ph-IV, Gurgaon 122016 Ph: +91 0124-4759500 Fax: +91 0124-4759550 FINANCIAL CONTROLLER

Puneet Nanda PRESIDENT

Xavier Collaco CHAIRMAN

J. S. Uberoi

SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN

RAHUL BEDI

Vikram Sood retired as Secretary, Research and Analysis Wing in March 2003 after working in that organisation for more than 30 years. A regular contributor to various newspapers and journals in India and abroad, he is specialises on international security and foreign policy issues. He is currently Vice-President, Centre for International Affairs at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, an independent think tank on public policy.

Siddharth Varadarajan is the Strategic Affairs Editor and Delhi Bureau Chief of The Hindu. A leading commentators on foreign policy, he has reported extensively from Pakistan, Iran, Nepal, Bangladesh, the former Yugoslavia as well as Kashmir and the NorthEast. He has edited a book on the Gujarat riots, Gujarat: The Making of aTragedy in 2005. An economist, he is currently writing a book on the Indo-U.S. relationship.

Rahul Bedi is the New Delhi correspondent for Jane’s Defence Weekly, UK and contributes to it on a diverse range of security and military related matters.

He is also the India correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, London and the Irish Times.

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Defence and Security of India is obtained by subscription.

For subscription enquiries, please contact: dsisubscriptions@mtil.biz AFP

VIKRAM SOOD

GLOBAL SALES REPRESENTATIVES Australia Charlton D'Silva, Mass Media Publicitas Tel: (61 2) 9252 3476 Email: cdsilva@publicitas.com France/Spain Stephane de Remusat, REM International Tel: (33) 5 3427 0130 Email: sremusat@aol.com Germany/Austria/Switzerland/Italy/UK Sam Baird, Whitehill Media Tel: (44-1883) 715 697 Mobile: (44-7770) 237 646 E-Mail: sam@whitehillmedia.com Israel/Turkey Liat Heiblum, Oreet - International Media Tel: (97 2) 3 570 6527 Email: liat@oreet-marcom.com Russia Alla Butova, NOVO-Media Ltd, Tel/Fax : (7 3832) 180 885 Mobile : (7 960) 783 6653 Email :alla@mediatransasia.com, allbbo@online.sinor.ru Scandinavia/Benelux/South Africa Tony Kingham, KNM Media Tel: (44) 20 8144 5934 Mobile: (44) 7827 297 465 E-Mail: tony.kingham@worldsecurity-index.com South Korea Young Seoh Chinn, Jes Media Inc. Tel: (82-2) 481 3411/13 E-Mail: jesmedia@unitel.co.kr USA (East/South East)/Canada Margie Brown, Margie Brown & Associates.

Tel : (+1 540) 341 7581 Email :margiespub@rcn.com USA (West/SouthWest)/Brazil Diane Obright, Blackrock Media Inc. Tel: +1 (858) 759 3557 Email: blackrockmedia@cox.net Defence and Security of India is published and printed by Xavier Collaco on behalf of Media Transasia India Limited.

Published at 323, Udyog Vihar, Ph- IV, Gurgaon 122016 and printed at Paras Offset Pvt Ltd, C176, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi. Entire contents Copyright © 2008. All rights reserved. Reproduction and translation in any language in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

Requests for permission should be directed to Media Transasia India Limited. Opinions carried in the magazine are those of the writers’ and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or publishers. While the editors do their utmost to verify information published they do not accept responsibility for its absolute accuracy.

The publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material or for material lost or damaged in transit.

All correspondence should be addressed to Media Transasia India Limited.

www.mediatransasia.in/defence.html

Contributors-final.qxd:contributors-aug.qxd 10/08/10 1:30 PM Page 1

AUGUST 2010

CONTRIBUTORS

DSI

DEFENCE and SECURITY of INDIA AUGUST 2010 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 1 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

AMITABH MATTOO

SHYAM SARAN

AJAI SHUKLA

GURMEET KANWAL SINGH

ADAM BADDELEY

Amitabh Mattoo is a professor of International Studies at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.

A member of the National Knowledge Commission, he was also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jammu.

A former member of India's National Security Council's Advisory Board, he has been part of the task force constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Global Strategic Developments. He is currently working at the nongovernmental level to bring about peace and normalcy in Kashmir.

Shyam Saran was India’s Foreign Secretary from 2004 to 2006. He has also headed the Economic and Multilateral Economic Divison in the Ministry of External Affairs. As Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, he advised the Prime Minister on foreign policy, nuclear and defence related issues. Postretirement, he was appointed the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Indo-US civil nuclear issues and Special Envoy and Chief Negotiator on Climate Change. He has now returned to being a private citizen. Currently, he is a senior fellow, Centre for Policy Research and ViceChairperson, Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries.

Ajai Shukla works in both the visual and the print medium. He is Consulting Editor (Strategic Affairs) for Business Standard . He was also Consulting Editor (Strategic Affairs) for NDTV, a reputed news broadcaster in India, for which he has anchored prime time news and special programmes. He is currently working on a book on Sino-Indian frontier policy.

Gurmeet Kanwal Singh is Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi.

He commanded an infantry brigade during Operation Prakaram on the Line of Control in 2001-03. A soldierscholar, he has authored several books including Indian Army:Vision 2020 and Nuclear Defence: Shaping the Arsenal. He is a wellknown columnist and TV analyst on national security issues.

Adam Baddeley is the Editor of Asian Military Review. He specialises in the area of C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance). He writes for over twenty defence and aerospace publications across the globe.

Maneesha Dube EDITOR

Mannika Chopra CORRESPONDENT

Mangala Ramamoorthy ART DIRECTOR

Bipin Kumar DESIGN

Sandeep Sharma SENIOR MANAGER INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

Vishal Mehta DEPUTY MANAGER MARKETING

Tarun Malviya COORDINATOR

Ronald Micah CIRCULATION & DISTRIBUTION

Ashwani Rai PRODUCTION & PRE-PRESS

Sunil Dubey, Ritesh Roy, Devender Pandey MEDIATRANSASIA INDIA LIMITED

323, Udyog Vihar, Ph-IV, Gurgaon 122016 Ph: +91 0124-4759500 Fax: +91 0124-4759550 FINANCIAL CONTROLLER

Puneet Nanda PRESIDENT

Xavier Collaco CHAIRMAN

J. S. Uberoi

SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN

RAHUL BEDI

Vikram Sood retired as Secretary, Research and Analysis Wing in March 2003 after working in that organisation for more than 30 years. A regular contributor to various newspapers and journals in India and abroad, he is specialises on international security and foreign policy issues. He is currently Vice-President, Centre for International Affairs at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, an independent think tank on public policy.

Siddharth Varadarajan is the Strategic Affairs Editor and Delhi Bureau Chief of The Hindu. A leading commentators on foreign policy, he has reported extensively from Pakistan, Iran, Nepal, Bangladesh, the former Yugoslavia as well as Kashmir and the NorthEast. He has edited a book on the Gujarat riots, Gujarat: The Making of aTragedy in 2005. An economist, he is currently writing a book on the Indo-U.S. relationship.

Rahul Bedi is the New Delhi correspondent for Jane’s Defence Weekly, UK and contributes to it on a diverse range of security and military related matters.

He is also the India correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, London and the Irish Times.

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Defence and Security of India is obtained by subscription.

For subscription enquiries, please contact: dsisubscriptions@mtil.biz AFP

VIKRAM SOOD

GLOBAL SALES REPRESENTATIVES Australia Charlton D'Silva, Mass Media Publicitas Tel: (61 2) 9252 3476 Email: cdsilva@publicitas.com France/Spain Stephane de Remusat, REM International Tel: (33) 5 3427 0130 Email: sremusat@aol.com Germany/Austria/Switzerland/Italy/UK Sam Baird, Whitehill Media Tel: (44-1883) 715 697 Mobile: (44-7770) 237 646 E-Mail: sam@whitehillmedia.com Israel/Turkey Liat Heiblum, Oreet - International Media Tel: (97 2) 3 570 6527 Email: liat@oreet-marcom.com Russia Alla Butova, NOVO-Media Ltd, Tel/Fax : (7 3832) 180 885 Mobile : (7 960) 783 6653 Email :alla@mediatransasia.com, allbbo@online.sinor.ru Scandinavia/Benelux/South Africa Tony Kingham, KNM Media Tel: (44) 20 8144 5934 Mobile: (44) 7827 297 465 E-Mail: tony.kingham@worldsecurity-index.com South Korea Young Seoh Chinn, Jes Media Inc. Tel: (82-2) 481 3411/13 E-Mail: jesmedia@unitel.co.kr USA (East/South East)/Canada Margie Brown, Margie Brown & Associates.

Tel : (+1 540) 341 7581 Email :margiespub@rcn.com USA (West/SouthWest)/Brazil Diane Obright, Blackrock Media Inc. Tel: +1 (858) 759 3557 Email: blackrockmedia@cox.net Defence and Security of India is published and printed by Xavier Collaco on behalf of Media Transasia India Limited.

Published at 323, Udyog Vihar, Ph- IV, Gurgaon 122016 and printed at Paras Offset Pvt Ltd, C176, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi. Entire contents Copyright © 2008. All rights reserved. Reproduction and translation in any language in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

Requests for permission should be directed to Media Transasia India Limited. Opinions carried in the magazine are those of the writers’ and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or publishers. While the editors do their utmost to verify information published they do not accept responsibility for its absolute accuracy.

The publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material or for material lost or damaged in transit.

All correspondence should be addressed to Media Transasia India Limited.

www.mediatransasia.in/defence.html

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AUGUST 2010

KASHMIR The present unrest in the valley threatens to overwhelm the gains made in the past five years.

Yet, it is still possible to redeem the situation

DSI

Kashmiri women break down during the funeral procession of Iqbal Ahmed Khan who died of bullet wounds inflicted during a clash with security forces in Srinagar

AMITABH MATTOO

Unlike 20 years ago, the State is not being challenged by popular insur– gency, Pakistan-sponsored militant organisations or by separatists. n New Delhi and Srinagar, should understand the anatomy of the uprising and the intensity of the anger which is a larger expression of disillusionment and frustration. n The internet has become powerful instrument of radicalisation and mobilisation. n

O

n July 7, 2010, for the first time in over seventeen years, troops from the 15th Corps of the Indian Army were deployed in Srinagar to assist civilian authorities in the maintenance of law and order. Although the Army’s presence remained low key, it was a startling recognition of the fact that the valley of Kashmir had descended into a deep crisis, once again. A month later there were no signs that normalcy was on the anvil and it seemed that Jammu and Kashmir could experience its worst summer since the bleak days of 1990.

On August 1, when I was in Srinagar, there were protests by hundreds of people that continued through the day and much of the night, through several parts of the

valley. At least eight protesters, including a woman, were killed. In the town of Pampore, just south of Srinagar and well known for its saffron farms, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Jammu and Kashmir Police fired at groups that were blocking the National Highway. Two were killed. But the protests soon heightened and a police station in nearby Khrew was torched. An explosion in the ammunition dump at the station left at least four dead and scores injured. The night air was filled with slogans for azadi from mosques, almost throughout the valley, even in the usually calm residential neighbourhoods of Srinagar. Despite appeals by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and other leaders, there were no signs that the Kashmir Valley was going to easily settle down.

Angry New Generation Veteran Kashmir-watchers may experience a sense of déjà vu and be reminded of the 1990s. However, unlike two decades ago, the writ of the State is not primarily being challenged by a popular insurgency or Pakistan-sponsored militant organisations or even by separatist cartels like the Hurriyat. Instead, it is the anger of a new generation of young men and women, who have grown up in these two decades of conflict, which is translating into a resilient wave of protests in many parts of the Kashmir Valley. These young men,

RETURN TO ANARCHY 6

7

AFP

KEY POINTS

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AUGUST 2010

KASHMIR The present unrest in the valley threatens to overwhelm the gains made in the past five years.

Yet, it is still possible to redeem the situation

DSI

Kashmiri women break down during the funeral procession of Iqbal Ahmed Khan who died of bullet wounds inflicted during a clash with security forces in Srinagar

AMITABH MATTOO

Unlike 20 years ago, the State is not being challenged by popular insur– gency, Pakistan-sponsored militant organisations or by separatists. n New Delhi and Srinagar, should understand the anatomy of the uprising and the intensity of the anger which is a larger expression of disillusionment and frustration. n The internet has become powerful instrument of radicalisation and mobilisation. n

O

n July 7, 2010, for the first time in over seventeen years, troops from the 15th Corps of the Indian Army were deployed in Srinagar to assist civilian authorities in the maintenance of law and order. Although the Army’s presence remained low key, it was a startling recognition of the fact that the valley of Kashmir had descended into a deep crisis, once again. A month later there were no signs that normalcy was on the anvil and it seemed that Jammu and Kashmir could experience its worst summer since the bleak days of 1990.

On August 1, when I was in Srinagar, there were protests by hundreds of people that continued through the day and much of the night, through several parts of the

valley. At least eight protesters, including a woman, were killed. In the town of Pampore, just south of Srinagar and well known for its saffron farms, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Jammu and Kashmir Police fired at groups that were blocking the National Highway. Two were killed. But the protests soon heightened and a police station in nearby Khrew was torched. An explosion in the ammunition dump at the station left at least four dead and scores injured. The night air was filled with slogans for azadi from mosques, almost throughout the valley, even in the usually calm residential neighbourhoods of Srinagar. Despite appeals by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and other leaders, there were no signs that the Kashmir Valley was going to easily settle down.

Angry New Generation Veteran Kashmir-watchers may experience a sense of déjà vu and be reminded of the 1990s. However, unlike two decades ago, the writ of the State is not primarily being challenged by a popular insurgency or Pakistan-sponsored militant organisations or even by separatist cartels like the Hurriyat. Instead, it is the anger of a new generation of young men and women, who have grown up in these two decades of conflict, which is translating into a resilient wave of protests in many parts of the Kashmir Valley. These young men,

RETURN TO ANARCHY 6

7

AFP

KEY POINTS

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AUGUST 2010

KASHMIR and increasingly women too, are not armed with guns but usually only with stones in what is rapidly turning into a mass resistance movement.

And tragically, most of those killed over the last weeks have been young people, often in the prime of their youth. The irony is that at a time when Pakistan is in internal turmoil and its leadership is still reluctant to talk meaningfully on Kashmir, our own follies have, once again, derailed Jammu and Kashmir’s journey back to stability.

What is immediately required is for New Delhi and Srinagar, therefore, to fully understand the anatomy of the uprising, the intensity of the anger and then craft policies that can quell this rage.

Instead, it is the anger of a new generation of young men and women, who have grown up during these two decades of conflict, which is translating into a resilient wave of protests in many parts of the Kashmir Valley.These young men, and increasingly women too, are not armed with guns but usually only with stones in what is rapidly turning into a mass resistance movement.

Five Basic Features

After a gap of seventeen years, the Indian Army carries out a flag march in the streets of Srinagar to enforce curfew AFP

Five important features of the protests need to be highlighted. First, the immediate catalyst for the protests has been the killings of innocent Kashmiris. On June 11, a student, Tufail Mattoo, was killed by a teargas shell and that one killing has triggered a vicious cycle of protests-killingsprotests. Nearly 50 Kashmiris have died between June 11 and the first week of August. Most of them are teenagers, either protesters or just innocent by-standers caught in the turmoil.

Second, while this rebellious urge—as indicated above—may have been sparked off by specific incidents of violence and killings, it is a larger expression of anger, disillusionment and frustration. While it is tempting to reduce the protests to indoctrination by extremist Islamic groups, Pakistan’s machinations or the influence of other vested interests, the reality is that this radicalisation has been caused by multiple factors and above all by a sense of hopelessness. This is a generation that has seen suffering, killings, political uncertainty and has had to remain sequestered in their homes for great lengths of time. A generation that has witnessed often a daily tragedy, seen no light at the end of tunnel, often endured harassment and which has been distrusted by sections of the Indian establishment, is consequently simmering with deep discontent and angst. And yet this generation is not at an age where it can introspect and take a long-term of view of matters.

Third, this is also a generation, somewhat paradoxically, which has been empowered by technology. The internet, as we know, is a powerful instrument of social communication but it is an equally powerful instrument of radicalisation and

DSI

political mobilisation. One has conducted only a sample survey of the Kashmiri lists on, say, Facebook to witness the anger, the appeal of the stone pelters as well as the collective expression of rebellion through the Quit Jammu and Kashmir campaign.

On YouTube, a Kashmiri version of Everlast’s song, Stone in My Hand, has been uploaded. The lyrics are deeply suggestive: I got no pistol, ain’t got no sword; I got no Army, ain’t got no land, ain’t got nothing but the stone that’s in my hand…

You say you want a revolution, well get on board.

We’ll start a new crusade; we’ll start a Holy War.

8

Don’t need no orders, don’t need no plan; I don’t need nothing but the stone that’s in my hand.

You build your fighter jets, you drop your bombs; You kill our fathers, you kill our moms. You kill our brother and our sisters, and our uncles and our aunts; Still I’m fighting with the stone that’s in my hand.

Fourth, there does not seem to be a leader or leaders who is either inspiring these protests or directing them. There may be those who are ideologically or logistically guiding these protests, but there is no mainstream or separatist leader

who can legitimately be blamed (or can claim credit) for the street protests. While the Hurriyat (G) leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani may be still retaining his credibility, others in the separatist camp have become marginal to the protests. When the Pakistan-based chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Syed Salahuddin, suggested that the protests were impacting on the daily life of the citizens, his effigies were burnt. While the young radical protégé of Geelani, Masarat Alam, is given credit for guiding the protests through his weekly “protest” calendar, even he is merely riding a wave than genuinely leading the massive rage on the streets of the valley.

The belief within the intelligence community that former militants (surrendered or captured but not yet rehabilitated) are the backbone of the protests is also not borne by the reality on the ground.

Finally, this rage of the young is built on the larger and longer sense of Kashmiri victimhood, injustice and insecurity about their identity. This is, of course, rooted in a deep sense of discrimination, injustice and a widespread anti-India sentiment.

Hidden Opportunities Almost every crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, however, also has a hidden opportunity that we have consistently missed. The

9

”

present uprising of the young in the valley does threaten to overwhelm all the gains made over the past years. And yet, it is possible to redeem the situation even now. But for this, New Delhi and Srinagar have to act not just in synergy but demonstrate the imagination, creativity and, above all, the determination necessary to gain the trust of a generation whose anger has been visible on the streets of Kashmir over the past few months.

The challenge for the Omar Abdullah Government is enormous. This is unlikely to be the only crisis that the Chief Minister will face in his political career, but it is easily his worst so far. The credibility of his Government, the party and of his chief ministership has been severely dented. There are no magical mantras for gaining popularity but acting on the following fronts will go a long way in re-establishing his authority.

First, it is vital to end this cycle of protest-violence-protest. Surely in the 21st century it should be possible to control protesters, armed only with stones, without having to kill young men and women through the use of non-lethal mob-control measures. It is not surprising that the

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AUGUST 2010

KASHMIR and increasingly women too, are not armed with guns but usually only with stones in what is rapidly turning into a mass resistance movement.

And tragically, most of those killed over the last weeks have been young people, often in the prime of their youth. The irony is that at a time when Pakistan is in internal turmoil and its leadership is still reluctant to talk meaningfully on Kashmir, our own follies have, once again, derailed Jammu and Kashmir’s journey back to stability.

What is immediately required is for New Delhi and Srinagar, therefore, to fully understand the anatomy of the uprising, the intensity of the anger and then craft policies that can quell this rage.

Instead, it is the anger of a new generation of young men and women, who have grown up during these two decades of conflict, which is translating into a resilient wave of protests in many parts of the Kashmir Valley.These young men, and increasingly women too, are not armed with guns but usually only with stones in what is rapidly turning into a mass resistance movement.

Five Basic Features

After a gap of seventeen years, the Indian Army carries out a flag march in the streets of Srinagar to enforce curfew AFP

Five important features of the protests need to be highlighted. First, the immediate catalyst for the protests has been the killings of innocent Kashmiris. On June 11, a student, Tufail Mattoo, was killed by a teargas shell and that one killing has triggered a vicious cycle of protests-killingsprotests. Nearly 50 Kashmiris have died between June 11 and the first week of August. Most of them are teenagers, either protesters or just innocent by-standers caught in the turmoil.

Second, while this rebellious urge—as indicated above—may have been sparked off by specific incidents of violence and killings, it is a larger expression of anger, disillusionment and frustration. While it is tempting to reduce the protests to indoctrination by extremist Islamic groups, Pakistan’s machinations or the influence of other vested interests, the reality is that this radicalisation has been caused by multiple factors and above all by a sense of hopelessness. This is a generation that has seen suffering, killings, political uncertainty and has had to remain sequestered in their homes for great lengths of time. A generation that has witnessed often a daily tragedy, seen no light at the end of tunnel, often endured harassment and which has been distrusted by sections of the Indian establishment, is consequently simmering with deep discontent and angst. And yet this generation is not at an age where it can introspect and take a long-term of view of matters.

Third, this is also a generation, somewhat paradoxically, which has been empowered by technology. The internet, as we know, is a powerful instrument of social communication but it is an equally powerful instrument of radicalisation and

DSI

political mobilisation. One has conducted only a sample survey of the Kashmiri lists on, say, Facebook to witness the anger, the appeal of the stone pelters as well as the collective expression of rebellion through the Quit Jammu and Kashmir campaign.

On YouTube, a Kashmiri version of Everlast’s song, Stone in My Hand, has been uploaded. The lyrics are deeply suggestive: I got no pistol, ain’t got no sword; I got no Army, ain’t got no land, ain’t got nothing but the stone that’s in my hand…

You say you want a revolution, well get on board.

We’ll start a new crusade; we’ll start a Holy War.

8

Don’t need no orders, don’t need no plan; I don’t need nothing but the stone that’s in my hand.

You build your fighter jets, you drop your bombs; You kill our fathers, you kill our moms. You kill our brother and our sisters, and our uncles and our aunts; Still I’m fighting with the stone that’s in my hand.

Fourth, there does not seem to be a leader or leaders who is either inspiring these protests or directing them. There may be those who are ideologically or logistically guiding these protests, but there is no mainstream or separatist leader

who can legitimately be blamed (or can claim credit) for the street protests. While the Hurriyat (G) leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani may be still retaining his credibility, others in the separatist camp have become marginal to the protests. When the Pakistan-based chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Syed Salahuddin, suggested that the protests were impacting on the daily life of the citizens, his effigies were burnt. While the young radical protégé of Geelani, Masarat Alam, is given credit for guiding the protests through his weekly “protest” calendar, even he is merely riding a wave than genuinely leading the massive rage on the streets of the valley.

The belief within the intelligence community that former militants (surrendered or captured but not yet rehabilitated) are the backbone of the protests is also not borne by the reality on the ground.

Finally, this rage of the young is built on the larger and longer sense of Kashmiri victimhood, injustice and insecurity about their identity. This is, of course, rooted in a deep sense of discrimination, injustice and a widespread anti-India sentiment.

Hidden Opportunities Almost every crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, however, also has a hidden opportunity that we have consistently missed. The

9

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present uprising of the young in the valley does threaten to overwhelm all the gains made over the past years. And yet, it is possible to redeem the situation even now. But for this, New Delhi and Srinagar have to act not just in synergy but demonstrate the imagination, creativity and, above all, the determination necessary to gain the trust of a generation whose anger has been visible on the streets of Kashmir over the past few months.

The challenge for the Omar Abdullah Government is enormous. This is unlikely to be the only crisis that the Chief Minister will face in his political career, but it is easily his worst so far. The credibility of his Government, the party and of his chief ministership has been severely dented. There are no magical mantras for gaining popularity but acting on the following fronts will go a long way in re-establishing his authority.

First, it is vital to end this cycle of protest-violence-protest. Surely in the 21st century it should be possible to control protesters, armed only with stones, without having to kill young men and women through the use of non-lethal mob-control measures. It is not surprising that the

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KASHMIR

average Kashmiri finds it Kashmiri demonstrators officials to be punished if the faith of the people has to be disturbing that while run from a police restored in the system and if Kashmiri protests lead to vehicle during a protest the bureaucrats are to take the deaths, protests during the in Srinagar political leadership seriously.

Bharat Bandh, for instance, Fourth, it is important for Omar lead to no such violence. Zero-tolerance of human rights abuse cannot remain a Abdullah reach out to everyone. A politislogan—it must be translated into reality cian is one who only thinks of the next election; a statesman is one who thinks of the with immediate effect.

Second, it is vital to engage these young next generation. Bury the past, forget the men and women or at least sections of bitterness of yesterday and try to create a them. This has to be done not just by the new way in politics. Meet young people, as government alone, but in partnership with many as you can, every day. And call on civil society. The State government must your political opponents (drop by at also bring all the stakeholders together, Fairview to see the Muftis, Mirwaiz Umar including parties in opposition. In addi- Farooq at Nageen and even Geelani at tion, there are men and women of unim- Hyderpura) and seek their support in the peachable integrity who can be called crisis. Generosity in politics will never be upon to form a Council of Elders who can seen as a weakness. Political leaders who work with mohalla and village elders and demonstrate humility in crisis always emerge stronger at the end of the day. the imams of local masjids to restore peace.

For New Delhi, it is critical to once again Third, the State government must fix blame and take action. The impression that recognise that Jammu and Kashmir, for a there is administrative anarchy must be variety of reasons, is not just another State corrected. The government must “mean of the Union. It cannot be dealt with the business� and must be seen as taking action kind of political inertia and bureaucratic against those responsible for the present ineptitude that the Centre can afford in its crisis. This is not to recommend finding relations with other States without any scapegoats. But it is essential for some dangerous consequences. Prime Minister

10

Manmohan Singh (and I am sure so does Sonia Gandhi) understands this clearly.

But this has to be immediately appreciated by all those in North Block in charge of Jammu and Kashmir. In any case, it is critical that the Prime Minister, who still enjoys great credibility and goodwill in the valley, personally takes charge of J&K.

Multiple Fronts Based on this understanding, New Delhi must immediately act on multiple fronts.

First, appoint a special representative for Jammu and Kashmir. Ever since N. N. Vohra was appointed the Governor of the State in 2008, there has been no designated interlocutor for talks. The appointment of an interlocutor right away will not be seen as a sign of weakness; rather it will signal the sensitivity of New Delhi to the voices of dissent and anger that are still alive in the valley. But the appointment of a serving or a retired bureaucrat would be a mistake, given their training and attitude. A political heavyweight or any other person who enjoys the confidence of 7, Race Course Road and 10, Janpath, would indicate the importance that New Delhi accords to a dialogue.

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Every Kashmiri youth needs to be given a vision of the future, a vision full of opportunity and where he or she feels secure in every sense of the term.

And that vision has to be translated into reality.This requires a detailed roadmap, out-of-the-box thinking and a willingness to reach out at every level.

Second, the Centre must Chairperson of the All Vision for the Future appoint an expert committee Parties Hurriyat Conference Today, there is rage to consider, afresh, the rec- (G) Syed Ali Shah Geelani among the youth of the ommendations made by the arrives to address a public State. It is anger that Prime Minister’s working rally in Baramulla stems from two decades groups on governance, confiof conflict, the violence, dence building measures (CBMs)—both curfews, killings and a near-total breakinternal and those across the Line of down of the system. This angst, disillusionControl (LoC)—economic reconstruction ment, frustration—call it what you will— and Centre-State relations. Several key demands attention and sensitivity from recommendations, particularly those the Indian nation: from the Government of given by the working group on internal India, from civil society, from corporate CBMs (chaired by Vice-President Hamid houses and especially from the media.

Ansari) have either not been implement- Every Kashmiri young man and woman ed or have been taken up half-heartedly. needs to be given a vision of the future, a Their effective implementation will be a vision full of opportunity and where he or trust-building measure of great signifi- she feels secure in every sense of the term. cance. Unfortunately, the report of the And that vision has to be translated into working group on Centre-State relations reality. This requires a detailed roadmap, has led to discord rather than furthering out-of-the-box thinking and a willingness an understanding. to reach out at every level.

Another urgent necessity is an empowKashmir has, of course, been flooded ered task force of experts that examines by schemes and packages, but this is the the report and its detailed annexures, time and place for one more scheme. The consults with stakeholders and arrives at Prime Minster must announce a new a consensus that would, more or less, Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) for satisfy most shades of opinion.

Jammu and Kashmir which would, in Third, the government must reach out partnership and consultation with the to the angry youth, especially the State Government, seek to ensure that unemployed, through all the resources every Kashmiri young man and woman, that India can bring to bear. The youth can will be provided the opportunities that become the State’s greatest strength—its ensure that she becomes an empowered soft power—in the years to come, if we stakeholder in the future of the State. YES immediately give their development our should make interventions wherever highest priority. needed to provide access to the best

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quality of training, coaching, counseling and guidance available in the country.

And YES should do everything necessary to ensure that every Kashmiri young person can be secure of her future.

Let us also realise that the understanding of Kashmir, despite all these years of problems, remains shallow in the corridors of power. When Kashmiris, who took to the streets in a similar uprising in 2008 over the Amarnath land controversy, turned out in even larger numbers to vote in the State elections last year, this was mistakenly seen as evidence of Kashmiri fickleness. It was a mistake to view the elections as signaling a return to ‘businessas-usual’ in the politics of the State and as obviating the need for a special and more imaginative approach. The triumph of democracy should not have been a moment of triumphalism.

In fact, by acting in a statesmanlike fashion, New Delhi would have demonstrated a willingness to reward participation in the democratic process and not be seen as capitulating to extra-constitutional pressure. This unique opportunity was missed.

But all is still not lost. Much, as has been indicated, can be done unilaterally and immediately to respond to the deep yearning of the young people of the State for security in all its dimensions: that is freedom from fear in the physical, political, economic and cultural spheres.

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INDO-US RELATIONS

DSI

As President Barack Obama heads towards India later this year, it has to be seen how this visit will enhance the Indo-US relationship

SHYAM SARAN

KEY POINTS

n Both in India and the US, there is a search for the next ‘big thing’ in bilateral relations, similar to the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement. n The areas of convergence between the two countries has led to a removal of negative legacies of the past. n India’s current expectation of the US may need to be trimmed to a more realistic level. n India cannot be a partner and a target.

T

AFP

US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during their meeting on the sideline of the G20 Summit in Toronto

he US President Barack Obama is set to pay a State visit to India in November this year. Visits at the summit level add momentum to bilateral relations. Bureaucracies are notoriously event-oriented and a summit is a good opportunity to push through pending projects, resolve outstanding issues and announce some news-worthy initiatives.

But will the visit as an event fit into a larger and more enduring process? Will it enhance Indo-US strategic partnership or will it turn out to be an episodic high in our relations and settle down again to a more mundane plateau?

STRATEGIC P ARTNERSHIP 14

15

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AUGUST 2010

INDO-US RELATIONS

DSI

As President Barack Obama heads towards India later this year, it has to be seen how this visit will enhance the Indo-US relationship

SHYAM SARAN

KEY POINTS

n Both in India and the US, there is a search for the next ‘big thing’ in bilateral relations, similar to the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement. n The areas of convergence between the two countries has led to a removal of negative legacies of the past. n India’s current expectation of the US may need to be trimmed to a more realistic level. n India cannot be a partner and a target.

T

AFP

US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during their meeting on the sideline of the G20 Summit in Toronto

he US President Barack Obama is set to pay a State visit to India in November this year. Visits at the summit level add momentum to bilateral relations. Bureaucracies are notoriously event-oriented and a summit is a good opportunity to push through pending projects, resolve outstanding issues and announce some news-worthy initiatives.

But will the visit as an event fit into a larger and more enduring process? Will it enhance Indo-US strategic partnership or will it turn out to be an episodic high in our relations and settle down again to a more mundane plateau?

STRATEGIC P ARTNERSHIP 14

15

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AUGUST 2010

INDO-US RELATIONS

Long Term Logic One, it saw India as a rapidly growing continental-sized economy with an ever increasing weight and profile in the global market place. It was in the US interest to align itself with this emerging power and benefit from the economic opportunities it offered.

Two, here was a country with significant and expanding military capabilities which, most recently, during the Tsunami disaster, had demonstrated its naval capabilities and its ability as well as willingness to project power. Three, both looked upon the emergence of China as a major challenge, not to be contained as in the Cold War days, but to be engaged in a manner that enhanced the prospects of peaceful, plural and balanced security architecture in the Asia Pacific region. The US understood that even though India could never be an ally, it would nevertheless pursue, in its own self interest, policies that would create a strong countervailing presence in the region supportive of US objectives.

Finally, in a world increasingly dominated by cross-cutting transnational issues such as international terrorism, maritime piracy, global pandemics, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and climate change, no solutions would be possible without India’s active participation and support. India was a preferred partner particularly since it also shared values of plural democracy with the US. All these factors had a certain enduring long term logic and were the key factors behind the eagerness with which a strategic partnership was sought with India and formalised during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington in July 2005. This by no

In a world increasingly dominated by crosscutting transnational issues such as international terrorism, maritime piracy, global pandemics, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and climate change, no solutions would be possible without India’s active participation and support. India was a preferred partner particularly since it also shared values of plural democracy with the US.

”

means implied that there were no areas of divergent interests and perceptions.

Pakistan was certainly one such area; the policy towards Iran another. Both sides were convinced, however, that the areas of convergence outweighed their differences.

It was this perception that led the two countries to seek to remove the negative legacies of the past. The consistent theme in our talks with the US was that it could no longer treat India both as a partner as well as a target. It would have to choose. The US did make that strategic choice when it decided to conclude the civil nuclear agreement with India, reversing a major pillar of the US non-proliferation policy of the past three decades.

For India, a strategic relationship with the US offered several advantages. For once, the world’s pre-eminent economic and technological power would become a powerful support to India’s pursuit of its economic and social development objectives. Let us also not underrate the

16

AFP

Both in India and the US, there is a search for the next ‘big thing’ in our relations, similar to the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement. What is not appreciated is the fact that the agreement, an acknowledged game-changer, was possible only because it flowed from a strategic convergence between the two countries. The first conversations that I had as India’s Foreign Secretary with my US interlocutors, in the early months of 2005, were focussed precisely on the strategic and global dimension of Indo-US relations. How did the US perceive India’s role in the evolving global landscape?

DSI

perceptional change about India’s importance in capitals around the world as a result of the US seeking a strategic partnership with India: India’s diplomatic space expanded.

Two, the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement and the subsequent waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group opened up international commerce in civil nuclear energy for India, thus contributing significantly to India’s energy security. It also held the prospect of dismantling the

technology denial regime Prime Minister Manmohan Pacific landscape of several operating against India Singh addresses a Joint rising powers, including since its peaceful nuclear Session of the United China and India itself. This explosion of 1974. The States Congress in was a major shift in Indian Indian industry was poised Washington DC perceptions, scarred as it to benefit greatly from had been by the USS access to cutting edge technologies, neces- Enterprise’s threatening entry into the sary for its upgradation, precisely at a time Bay of Bengal in 1971. when it was entering its phase of maturity.

Finally, the US became a potential Three, there is little doubt that India means of diversifying India’s defence looked upon the US as a relatively hardware and technology relationship benign security presence in an Asia- away from over-dependence on Russia

17

(see Growing Engagement, pg 22). Until the end of the Cold War, Russia never supplied weapons to either China or Pakistan. Today, China is a bigger client for Russian arms than India and its supplies to Pakistan could become a reality eventually. However, at least as far as China is concerned, neither the US nor its Western allies are likely to transfer any defence hardware or technology to China. This is a plus point. The fly in the ointment is Pakistan which is being

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INDO-US RELATIONS

Long Term Logic One, it saw India as a rapidly growing continental-sized economy with an ever increasing weight and profile in the global market place. It was in the US interest to align itself with this emerging power and benefit from the economic opportunities it offered.

Two, here was a country with significant and expanding military capabilities which, most recently, during the Tsunami disaster, had demonstrated its naval capabilities and its ability as well as willingness to project power. Three, both looked upon the emergence of China as a major challenge, not to be contained as in the Cold War days, but to be engaged in a manner that enhanced the prospects of peaceful, plural and balanced security architecture in the Asia Pacific region. The US understood that even though India could never be an ally, it would nevertheless pursue, in its own self interest, policies that would create a strong countervailing presence in the region supportive of US objectives.

Finally, in a world increasingly dominated by cross-cutting transnational issues such as international terrorism, maritime piracy, global pandemics, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and climate change, no solutions would be possible without India’s active participation and support. India was a preferred partner particularly since it also shared values of plural democracy with the US. All these factors had a certain enduring long term logic and were the key factors behind the eagerness with which a strategic partnership was sought with India and formalised during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington in July 2005. This by no

In a world increasingly dominated by crosscutting transnational issues such as international terrorism, maritime piracy, global pandemics, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and climate change, no solutions would be possible without India’s active participation and support. India was a preferred partner particularly since it also shared values of plural democracy with the US.

”

means implied that there were no areas of divergent interests and perceptions.

Pakistan was certainly one such area; the policy towards Iran another. Both sides were convinced, however, that the areas of convergence outweighed their differences.

It was this perception that led the two countries to seek to remove the negative legacies of the past. The consistent theme in our talks with the US was that it could no longer treat India both as a partner as well as a target. It would have to choose. The US did make that strategic choice when it decided to conclude the civil nuclear agreement with India, reversing a major pillar of the US non-proliferation policy of the past three decades.

For India, a strategic relationship with the US offered several advantages. For once, the world’s pre-eminent economic and technological power would become a powerful support to India’s pursuit of its economic and social development objectives. Let us also not underrate the

16

AFP

Both in India and the US, there is a search for the next ‘big thing’ in our relations, similar to the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement. What is not appreciated is the fact that the agreement, an acknowledged game-changer, was possible only because it flowed from a strategic convergence between the two countries. The first conversations that I had as India’s Foreign Secretary with my US interlocutors, in the early months of 2005, were focussed precisely on the strategic and global dimension of Indo-US relations. How did the US perceive India’s role in the evolving global landscape?

DSI

perceptional change about India’s importance in capitals around the world as a result of the US seeking a strategic partnership with India: India’s diplomatic space expanded.

Two, the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement and the subsequent waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group opened up international commerce in civil nuclear energy for India, thus contributing significantly to India’s energy security. It also held the prospect of dismantling the

technology denial regime Prime Minister Manmohan Pacific landscape of several operating against India Singh addresses a Joint rising powers, including since its peaceful nuclear Session of the United China and India itself. This explosion of 1974. The States Congress in was a major shift in Indian Indian industry was poised Washington DC perceptions, scarred as it to benefit greatly from had been by the USS access to cutting edge technologies, neces- Enterprise’s threatening entry into the sary for its upgradation, precisely at a time Bay of Bengal in 1971. when it was entering its phase of maturity.

Finally, the US became a potential Three, there is little doubt that India means of diversifying India’s defence looked upon the US as a relatively hardware and technology relationship benign security presence in an Asia- away from over-dependence on Russia

17

(see Growing Engagement, pg 22). Until the end of the Cold War, Russia never supplied weapons to either China or Pakistan. Today, China is a bigger client for Russian arms than India and its supplies to Pakistan could become a reality eventually. However, at least as far as China is concerned, neither the US nor its Western allies are likely to transfer any defence hardware or technology to China. This is a plus point. The fly in the ointment is Pakistan which is being

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AFP

A Joint U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force Provincial Reconstruction Team provides cover during an inspection in the Shemgal Valley in Afghanistan

armed with sophisticated US weaponry despite their target being India.

Nevertheless, Indian access to modern defence hardware from the US, which is a leader in the field, is an opportunity which should be taken advantage of, but with proper safeguards.

So as President Obama heads towards India, how strong and healthy is the Indo-US strategic partnership? How much of the logic that underlaid the partnership in 2005 still holds good? What can be done to refocus the relationship on the original strategic roadmap?

In the latter half of the Bush II administration, tactical compulsions began to blur the contours of the Indo-US strategic partnership. In both countries, domestic politics played a complicating and, at times, adversarial role. This was apparent as the two sides struggled to conclude their negotiations on the civil nuclear agreement. If bureaucracies

It is best to convey to the US that India has certain over-riding interests to safeguard in the Af-Pak theatre. India will not allow Pakistan to define its security extra-territorially and have a veto over what polity rules Afghanistan. If it does, then India will take counter-measures to protect its interests.

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alone had a say, I doubt whether we would have succeeded eventually as we did. There were several occasions where it was an intervention by President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that enabled negotiators to overcome what looked like impassable roadblocks.

The Pakistan issue also began to impinge on the relationship as the US sought to support General Musharraf by urging India to be more accommodating.

To be fair, the US backed off when India reacted strongly.

In Asia-Pacific, the need to win China’s support on North Korea’s nuclear programme and on Iran in the Security Council, lead to the US downplaying and eventually abandoning the quadrilateral concert of democracies— the US, Japan, Australia and India. India never saw the quadrilateral as an incipient military alliance but certainly as a useful consultative forum on the situation in

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AUGUST 2010

SECURITY India or the US. The recent statement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton implicitly rejecting these claims is a welcome development.

ASEAN’s recent decision to invite the US and Russia to join the East Asia Summit is another positive development. This will help in creating a more balanced security and economic architecture in the region which is also India’s objective. A thorough discussion of these developments and how India and the US can work together as well as with other stakeholders in the region, would give the Indo-US strategic dialogue a significant impetus.

The US needs to drop its ambivalence on technology access. It has kept several Indian technology companies on its Entities List thus prohibiting any collaboration with US companies. India is still on the watch list when it comes to the transfer of a whole range of dual use technologies.

This is inconsistent with strategic partnership but only Obama can override the

Defence Minister A.K. Antony with the US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates during his visit to India

cumbersome inter-agency review process and take a political initiative on this issue.

Another milestone could be an unambiguous US declaration of support for India’s candidature for permanent membership in the UN Security Council.

The US caginess on this is inexplicable.

On India’s side, too, there needs to be a change in mindset. The US ambivalence is mirrored here in the form of continuous hesitation and a negative attitude towards the US despite the fact that the Cold War is over and the global situation has undergone significant transformation there after. We must not whine about the past but instead explore what benefits we can draw for India in a more broad-based and intensive relationship with the US. Despite its current weaknesses and preoccupations, the US has the capacity to bounce back and re-invent itself as it has often done in the post-World War era. Its combination of technological excellence

DSI

and creative entrepreneurship makes it both a formidable power and, for India, an attractive partner. It is for us to choose how we mould this relationship to our advantage, resisting where our interests are being compromised and proactively pursuing areas where we stand to benefit.

There is one leaf that President Obama needs to take out from President Bush’s book—big ideas need political engagement at the highest level.

Bureaucracies on either side abhor the dramatic and feel most comfortable with the modest and the inertially familiar.

If there is an idea (and not the rhetoric of an idea) which grips President Obama personally, as it did President Bush, only then will he be committed to making it happen. It must also be an idea that catches India’s imagination and over-rides the hesitancy and naysaying that is the hallmark of our own polity. A tall order perhaps, but one whose time may have come.

AFP

DEFENDER® Armor Safeguards against Lethal Threats Asia-Pacific. We did not believe that any country, such as China or Russia, should have a veto over which India should consult or exchange views with.

What has happened during the Obama administration is that all these tactical compulsions which were already apparent during the last years of the Bush presidency have acquired a much sharper salience. The global economic crisis and Sino-US economic interdependence have reduced US influence. Its decision to exit Afghanistan has sharpened differences over Pakistan. The elements that made Indo-US strategic partnership a rewarding objective for both still remain valid but are currently somewhat muted. Is there a way in which these elements can be energised once again?

For India, our current expectation of the US may need to be trimmed to a more realistic, more modest level. We have to assume, for example, that the US will continue to pursue its own perceived interests in the Af-Pak region. India should not

Both India and the US have an interest in the freedom of navigation and security of sea-lanes. China’s assertion of its territorial claims in the South China seas is not in the interest of ASEAN, of India or the US.The recent statement

by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton implicitly rejecting these claims is a welcome development.

20

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make the pursuit of its own objectives in the region, hostage to US calculations.

It is best to convey to the US, frankly and forthrightly, that India has certain over-riding interests to safeguard in the Af-Pak theatre. India will not allow Pakistan to define its security extra-territorially and have a veto over what polity rules Afghanistan. If it does, then India will take counter-measures to protect its interests. A fundamentalist regime in Kabul, which once again makes Afghanistan a breeding ground for extremism and terrorism, is not acceptable. The US needs to factor this into its calculations.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the situation is improving and a stronger Indo-US convergence of interests is possible. Both India and the US have an interest in the freedom of navigation and security of sealanes, in the extended Indian OceanPacific Ocean theatre. China’s assertion of its territorial claims in the South China seas is not in the interest of ASEAN, of

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Defending Warfighters around the World

MAY TAN PVT. LTD., New Delhi, India Telefax: 011-26493333 Email: rmohan19@hotmail.com www.ceradyne.com

Indo-US-shyam saran.qxd:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 2:33 PM Page 7

AUGUST 2010

SECURITY India or the US. The recent statement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton implicitly rejecting these claims is a welcome development.

ASEAN’s recent decision to invite the US and Russia to join the East Asia Summit is another positive development. This will help in creating a more balanced security and economic architecture in the region which is also India’s objective. A thorough discussion of these developments and how India and the US can work together as well as with other stakeholders in the region, would give the Indo-US strategic dialogue a significant impetus.

The US needs to drop its ambivalence on technology access. It has kept several Indian technology companies on its Entities List thus prohibiting any collaboration with US companies. India is still on the watch list when it comes to the transfer of a whole range of dual use technologies.

This is inconsistent with strategic partnership but only Obama can override the

Defence Minister A.K. Antony with the US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates during his visit to India

cumbersome inter-agency review process and take a political initiative on this issue.

Another milestone could be an unambiguous US declaration of support for India’s candidature for permanent membership in the UN Security Council.

The US caginess on this is inexplicable.

On India’s side, too, there needs to be a change in mindset. The US ambivalence is mirrored here in the form of continuous hesitation and a negative attitude towards the US despite the fact that the Cold War is over and the global situation has undergone significant transformation there after. We must not whine about the past but instead explore what benefits we can draw for India in a more broad-based and intensive relationship with the US. Despite its current weaknesses and preoccupations, the US has the capacity to bounce back and re-invent itself as it has often done in the post-World War era. Its combination of technological excellence

DSI

and creative entrepreneurship makes it both a formidable power and, for India, an attractive partner. It is for us to choose how we mould this relationship to our advantage, resisting where our interests are being compromised and proactively pursuing areas where we stand to benefit.

There is one leaf that President Obama needs to take out from President Bush’s book—big ideas need political engagement at the highest level.

Bureaucracies on either side abhor the dramatic and feel most comfortable with the modest and the inertially familiar.

If there is an idea (and not the rhetoric of an idea) which grips President Obama personally, as it did President Bush, only then will he be committed to making it happen. It must also be an idea that catches India’s imagination and over-rides the hesitancy and naysaying that is the hallmark of our own polity. A tall order perhaps, but one whose time may have come.

AFP

DEFENDER® Armor Safeguards against Lethal Threats Asia-Pacific. We did not believe that any country, such as China or Russia, should have a veto over which India should consult or exchange views with.

What has happened during the Obama administration is that all these tactical compulsions which were already apparent during the last years of the Bush presidency have acquired a much sharper salience. The global economic crisis and Sino-US economic interdependence have reduced US influence. Its decision to exit Afghanistan has sharpened differences over Pakistan. The elements that made Indo-US strategic partnership a rewarding objective for both still remain valid but are currently somewhat muted. Is there a way in which these elements can be energised once again?

For India, our current expectation of the US may need to be trimmed to a more realistic, more modest level. We have to assume, for example, that the US will continue to pursue its own perceived interests in the Af-Pak region. India should not

Both India and the US have an interest in the freedom of navigation and security of sea-lanes. China’s assertion of its territorial claims in the South China seas is not in the interest of ASEAN, of India or the US.The recent statement

by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton implicitly rejecting these claims is a welcome development.

20

”

make the pursuit of its own objectives in the region, hostage to US calculations.

It is best to convey to the US, frankly and forthrightly, that India has certain over-riding interests to safeguard in the Af-Pak theatre. India will not allow Pakistan to define its security extra-territorially and have a veto over what polity rules Afghanistan. If it does, then India will take counter-measures to protect its interests. A fundamentalist regime in Kabul, which once again makes Afghanistan a breeding ground for extremism and terrorism, is not acceptable. The US needs to factor this into its calculations.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the situation is improving and a stronger Indo-US convergence of interests is possible. Both India and the US have an interest in the freedom of navigation and security of sealanes, in the extended Indian OceanPacific Ocean theatre. China’s assertion of its territorial claims in the South China seas is not in the interest of ASEAN, of

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- Rugged lightweight individual combatant protection - Vehicle crew survivability armor application - Lightweight aircraft armor protection systems - Custom vehicle armor defense systems - Naval vessel modular composite armor

Defending Warfighters around the World

MAY TAN PVT. LTD., New Delhi, India Telefax: 011-26493333 Email: rmohan19@hotmail.com www.ceradyne.com

growing engagement.qxd:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 3:49 PM Page 1

AUGUST 2010

DEFENCE INDUSTRY

DSI

GROWING EN GAGEMENT

The US defence industry is making significant inroads into India’s defence procurement plans

AJAI SHUKLA

KEY POINTS

n The growing intensity of the US-India defence engagement can be seen in the increasing contacts between military personnel and the billions of dollars worth of US weaponry flowing into India’s arsenal. n In 2010, America could potentially corner contracts worth $6.3 billion: in the pipeline is the $5.8 billion purchase of ten C-17 Globemaster III strategic airlifters and 145 M777 155mm ultra light howitzers from BAE Systems for $647 million.

T

AJAI SHUKLA

A Boeing 737 production line at Renton, near Washington on the US west coast

22

he scenic area around Puget Sound, near Renton, Washington, on the US west coast, is solidly Boeing country.

This is the global hub of Boeing’s civil aviation business, with more than 7,000 skilled workers churning out 737 airliners from an assembly line, which has produced over 40 percent of the world’s current airliner fleet. Boeing’s next wunderkind— the 787 Dreamliner which makes its international debut at the Farnborough Air Show—circles overhead completing its test flight programme.

Now, leveraging the historic success of the 737 (on an average one 737 takes off or lands somewhere in the world every three seconds), Boeing is integrating the latest-generation military systems onto that platform. A short distance away from the 4.3 million sq ft 737 assembly line is a

23

tightly guarded complex where Boeing Defence, Space and Security, the military branch of the world’s largest aerospace giant, is building the P8A Poseidon MultiMission Maritime Aircraft (MMA).

In terms of sensor and data technology, the Poseidon is a clear leader in its class. Last year, in a $2.1 billion contract that emblemises the new USIndia defence relationship, Washington agreed to sell India eight Poseidons, with options for another four aircraft. In 2013, when the first of these are delivered, India will become the first country other than the United States to operate this cutting-edge platform. But before that Boeing will build five Poseidons for the US Navy.

The top-secret nature of the P8A project, and its Indian variant the P8I, is obvious. Hawk-eyed security guards eyeball our small group—the first Indian journalists to actually see and photograph the Poseidon—as we are escorted across the tarmac to where the aircraft is parked.

All cameras, a guard barks at us, must remain in their bags until we reach a designated photography point from where no other experimental aircraft are visible. Even so, a security officer reviews every photograph we take, asking for some to be deleted.

From a distance, the Poseidon looks like a regular Boeing 737-800 to which the distinctive 737-900 wings have been fused.

Drawing closer, you notice the absence of window ports: there are just two large side

growing engagement.qxd:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 3:49 PM Page 1

AUGUST 2010

DEFENCE INDUSTRY

DSI

GROWING EN GAGEMENT

The US defence industry is making significant inroads into India’s defence procurement plans

AJAI SHUKLA

KEY POINTS

n The growing intensity of the US-India defence engagement can be seen in the increasing contacts between military personnel and the billions of dollars worth of US weaponry flowing into India’s arsenal. n In 2010, America could potentially corner contracts worth $6.3 billion: in the pipeline is the $5.8 billion purchase of ten C-17 Globemaster III strategic airlifters and 145 M777 155mm ultra light howitzers from BAE Systems for $647 million.

T

AJAI SHUKLA

A Boeing 737 production line at Renton, near Washington on the US west coast

22

he scenic area around Puget Sound, near Renton, Washington, on the US west coast, is solidly Boeing country.

This is the global hub of Boeing’s civil aviation business, with more than 7,000 skilled workers churning out 737 airliners from an assembly line, which has produced over 40 percent of the world’s current airliner fleet. Boeing’s next wunderkind— the 787 Dreamliner which makes its international debut at the Farnborough Air Show—circles overhead completing its test flight programme.

Now, leveraging the historic success of the 737 (on an average one 737 takes off or lands somewhere in the world every three seconds), Boeing is integrating the latest-generation military systems onto that platform. A short distance away from the 4.3 million sq ft 737 assembly line is a

23

tightly guarded complex where Boeing Defence, Space and Security, the military branch of the world’s largest aerospace giant, is building the P8A Poseidon MultiMission Maritime Aircraft (MMA).

In terms of sensor and data technology, the Poseidon is a clear leader in its class. Last year, in a $2.1 billion contract that emblemises the new USIndia defence relationship, Washington agreed to sell India eight Poseidons, with options for another four aircraft. In 2013, when the first of these are delivered, India will become the first country other than the United States to operate this cutting-edge platform. But before that Boeing will build five Poseidons for the US Navy.

The top-secret nature of the P8A project, and its Indian variant the P8I, is obvious. Hawk-eyed security guards eyeball our small group—the first Indian journalists to actually see and photograph the Poseidon—as we are escorted across the tarmac to where the aircraft is parked.

All cameras, a guard barks at us, must remain in their bags until we reach a designated photography point from where no other experimental aircraft are visible. Even so, a security officer reviews every photograph we take, asking for some to be deleted.

From a distance, the Poseidon looks like a regular Boeing 737-800 to which the distinctive 737-900 wings have been fused.

Drawing closer, you notice the absence of window ports: there are just two large side

growing engagement.qxd:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 2:35 PM Page 3

AUGUST 2010

DEFENCE INDUSTRY Counter-terrorism cooperation between the India and the US is growing as steadily.

In 2008, after the Mumbai terror attacks, unprecedented cooperation between American and Indian intelligence and investigative agencies provided leads that assisted India in convicting captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab.

The two countries also cooperated in the case of captured Pakistani-origin terrorist, David Headley.

”

windows from where the crew conducts visual checks. Only up close does one notice the forward and aft radars, the torpedo stations on the reinforced wings and the weapons stations underneath the aircraft. This is a combat platform so lethal that it has required a new nomenclature: Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft.

The Poseidon will give India the ability to monitor, control and engage the enemy across enormous stretches of the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. Currently, the Indian Navy (IN) struggles to secure these waters with obsolescent Long Range Maritime Patrol (LRMP) aircraft like the IL-38 and Tu-142.

But these legendary Russian aircraft are no match for the Poseidon in terms of range, the endurance to remain on station for extended periods and the on-board weaponry to strike and destroy enemy vessels, whether surface combatants or submarines.

The Indian Navy has demanded customised capabilities for its P8I MMAs, including a 360-degree field of view that can pick up even small boats. For this,

DSI

A HERCULEAN TASK ven as Boeing builds the Indian Navy’s first Poseidon, Lockheed Martin is rolling out the first Indian Air Force C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft from its plant in Marietta, Georgia. India has contracted to buy six Super Hercules aircraft for $1.059 billion, with options to purchase an additional six aircraft. Says Orville Prins, Lockheed Martin’s Chief for Marketing, India: “We were supposed to deliver the first C-130J in February 2011, but will hand over the aircraft to India this year itself. We hope to see the Super Hercules flying, in IAF colours, during the Aero India Air Show in February 2011.”

E

The cutting-edge satellite navigation and communications equipment on the IAF Super Hercules and their state-of-the-art electronic warfare suites make these aircraft ideally suited for transporting commandoes deep into enemy territory. Justifying this sale to the US Congress, the administration stated that this would “(provide) the Indian Government with a credible special operations airlift capability that will deter aggression in the region… and ensure interoperability with US forces in coalition operations.” Washington has noted that the C-130J will let India raid terrorist camps inside Pakistan, Taliban camps in Afghanistan or send in Special Forces to assist in securing Pakistan’s nuclear weapons if they seem about to fall into terrorist hands or launch operations deep inside Tibet.

—AS

Boeing has supplemented its Lockheed Martin’s billions of dollars worth of US Raytheon forward radar with C-130J Super Hercules weaponry that is flowing into a Telefonic aft-radar, which transport aircraft India’s arsenal. functions as an electronic rearConsider the figures. view mirror. Within the P8I, 21 crew Between 2001 and 2006, India purchased members will scan for targets from 5 just $342 million worth of American highly adaptable operator consoles. defence equipment. In 2007-2009, the Enemy submarines will be detected number rose to $4.1 billion, including the with sonobuoys and despatched with billion-dollar purchase of six C-130J Super torpedoes and depth charges. Surface Hercules; the $1.1 billion acquisition of ships will be picked up with radar and sent Boeing VVIP jets for Indian political down with AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship leaders and the $2.1 billion contract for missiles. An ultra-sophisticated electronic eight Poseidon MMAs. In 2010, America intelligence suite will scan airwaves for could corner contracts worth $6.3 billion: enemy communications and three in the pipeline is the $5.8 billion purchase of additional fuel tanks will allow the IN to ten C-17 Globemaster III strategic airlifters extend its domination of the waters and 145 M777 155mm ultra light howitzers around the Indian peninsula.

(ULHs) from BAE Systems for $647 million.

That would mean that the US potentially can displace Russia as India’s largest Defence Sales The growing intensity of the US-India weapons supplier.

And as India’s capital budget rises by 10defence engagement is highlighted by growing military personnel contacts— 15 percent year-on-year, the future looks tactical exercises between the two militaries even rosier for US defence corporations. and officers attending courses and seminars Repeat orders are possible for the C-130J in each others’ countries as well as by and the C-17, the $11 billion purchase of 126

24

medium fighters remains a possibility and so does the procurement of Patriot-3 missile batteries for protecting vital Indian assets from ballistic missile attacks. Further along, the US-India cooperation could increase across the spectrum of high-tech defence software and electronic warfare as American companies—driven by offset requirements and business logic—establish R&D and production tie-ups with Indian IT companies.

Much of this is already happening.

The C-17 has just completed trials in India, during which the Globemaster III demonstrated its short-runway capability by landing and taking off from a 1,300m runway at Gaggal civilian airport, Himachal Pradesh. With the Indian Air Force’s 25 year-old fleet of about 15 Gajraj IL-76 heavylift aircraft now barely serviceable, the Globemaster III’s ability to operate from high-altitude, makeshift runways and to haul 74-tonne loads over a hundred fullyequipped soldiers over 4,500km without refuelling, makes this extremely attractive for Indian defence planners. The

Globemaster III provides the capability needed for flying in a brigade from as far as Hyderabad to reinforce Indian defences at, say, Chushul on the Sino-Indian frontlines in Ladakh. Even at a staggering $580 million per aircraft, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is contemplating a single-vendor purchase of the C-17.

Also being trial-evaluated in India over the next two months would be two military rotorcraft: Boeing’s Chinook CH-47 tandem rotor, multi-mission helicopter and the Apache AH-64 attack helicopter, which is a front-runner for the IAF order for 22 attack helicopters. The US, meanwhile, is keen on supplying India with a custom-built version of the 737-mounted Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) System, which Boeing Defence has designed for the Royal Australian Air Force.

Robust Policy Framework America’s growing profile in Indian defence procurement is underpinned by robust policy and management structures that have steadily taken root since the dialogue between Jaswant Singh and Strobe Talbott thawed the deep freeze that had beset relations after India’s nuclear tests in 1998. Boosted by US President Bill Clinton’s visit to India in 2000, the warmth grew after 9/11, when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee called up George W. Bush to offer India’s condolences. During the US military’s Operation Enduring Freedom, India provided over-flight access to US aircraft and docking and refuelling facilities

25

for the US Navy. On July 18, 2005, the two countries signed arguably a landmark agreement, New Framework in the USIndia Defence Relationship, which recognised a major Indian role in America’s vision of the global security architecture.

Today, the defence relationship is steered by the apex Defence Policy Group.

Under this are five working groups, including a Defence Joint Working Group , Defence Production and Procurement Group, Science & Technology Steering Group, Joint Training Group and the Military Cooperation Group.

Counter-terrorism cooperation is also growing as steadily. In 2008, after the Mumbai terror attacks, unprecedented cooperation between American and Indian intelligence and investigative agencies provided leads that assisted India in convicting captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab. The two countries also cooperated in the case of captured Pakistani-origin terrorist, David Headley.

This cooperation was formalised during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the US last November, when the two countries signed a Counter-Terrorism Cooperation Initiative.

At the broader political level, too, New Delhi is unmistakably closing ranks with Washington. Going by multiple policy assertions from the senior-most rungs of three consecutive US administrations, there is near-absolute unanimity in Washington that India must be cultivated as a major strategic, political and cultural ally of the

growing engagement.qxd:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 2:35 PM Page 3

AUGUST 2010

DEFENCE INDUSTRY Counter-terrorism cooperation between the India and the US is growing as steadily.

In 2008, after the Mumbai terror attacks, unprecedented cooperation between American and Indian intelligence and investigative agencies provided leads that assisted India in convicting captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab.

The two countries also cooperated in the case of captured Pakistani-origin terrorist, David Headley.

”

windows from where the crew conducts visual checks. Only up close does one notice the forward and aft radars, the torpedo stations on the reinforced wings and the weapons stations underneath the aircraft. This is a combat platform so lethal that it has required a new nomenclature: Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft.

The Poseidon will give India the ability to monitor, control and engage the enemy across enormous stretches of the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. Currently, the Indian Navy (IN) struggles to secure these waters with obsolescent Long Range Maritime Patrol (LRMP) aircraft like the IL-38 and Tu-142.

But these legendary Russian aircraft are no match for the Poseidon in terms of range, the endurance to remain on station for extended periods and the on-board weaponry to strike and destroy enemy vessels, whether surface combatants or submarines.

The Indian Navy has demanded customised capabilities for its P8I MMAs, including a 360-degree field of view that can pick up even small boats. For this,

DSI

A HERCULEAN TASK ven as Boeing builds the Indian Navy’s first Poseidon, Lockheed Martin is rolling out the first Indian Air Force C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft from its plant in Marietta, Georgia. India has contracted to buy six Super Hercules aircraft for $1.059 billion, with options to purchase an additional six aircraft. Says Orville Prins, Lockheed Martin’s Chief for Marketing, India: “We were supposed to deliver the first C-130J in February 2011, but will hand over the aircraft to India this year itself. We hope to see the Super Hercules flying, in IAF colours, during the Aero India Air Show in February 2011.”

E

The cutting-edge satellite navigation and communications equipment on the IAF Super Hercules and their state-of-the-art electronic warfare suites make these aircraft ideally suited for transporting commandoes deep into enemy territory. Justifying this sale to the US Congress, the administration stated that this would “(provide) the Indian Government with a credible special operations airlift capability that will deter aggression in the region… and ensure interoperability with US forces in coalition operations.” Washington has noted that the C-130J will let India raid terrorist camps inside Pakistan, Taliban camps in Afghanistan or send in Special Forces to assist in securing Pakistan’s nuclear weapons if they seem about to fall into terrorist hands or launch operations deep inside Tibet.

—AS

Boeing has supplemented its Lockheed Martin’s billions of dollars worth of US Raytheon forward radar with C-130J Super Hercules weaponry that is flowing into a Telefonic aft-radar, which transport aircraft India’s arsenal. functions as an electronic rearConsider the figures. view mirror. Within the P8I, 21 crew Between 2001 and 2006, India purchased members will scan for targets from 5 just $342 million worth of American highly adaptable operator consoles. defence equipment. In 2007-2009, the Enemy submarines will be detected number rose to $4.1 billion, including the with sonobuoys and despatched with billion-dollar purchase of six C-130J Super torpedoes and depth charges. Surface Hercules; the $1.1 billion acquisition of ships will be picked up with radar and sent Boeing VVIP jets for Indian political down with AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship leaders and the $2.1 billion contract for missiles. An ultra-sophisticated electronic eight Poseidon MMAs. In 2010, America intelligence suite will scan airwaves for could corner contracts worth $6.3 billion: enemy communications and three in the pipeline is the $5.8 billion purchase of additional fuel tanks will allow the IN to ten C-17 Globemaster III strategic airlifters extend its domination of the waters and 145 M777 155mm ultra light howitzers around the Indian peninsula.

(ULHs) from BAE Systems for $647 million.

That would mean that the US potentially can displace Russia as India’s largest Defence Sales The growing intensity of the US-India weapons supplier.

And as India’s capital budget rises by 10defence engagement is highlighted by growing military personnel contacts— 15 percent year-on-year, the future looks tactical exercises between the two militaries even rosier for US defence corporations. and officers attending courses and seminars Repeat orders are possible for the C-130J in each others’ countries as well as by and the C-17, the $11 billion purchase of 126

24

medium fighters remains a possibility and so does the procurement of Patriot-3 missile batteries for protecting vital Indian assets from ballistic missile attacks. Further along, the US-India cooperation could increase across the spectrum of high-tech defence software and electronic warfare as American companies—driven by offset requirements and business logic—establish R&D and production tie-ups with Indian IT companies.

Much of this is already happening.

The C-17 has just completed trials in India, during which the Globemaster III demonstrated its short-runway capability by landing and taking off from a 1,300m runway at Gaggal civilian airport, Himachal Pradesh. With the Indian Air Force’s 25 year-old fleet of about 15 Gajraj IL-76 heavylift aircraft now barely serviceable, the Globemaster III’s ability to operate from high-altitude, makeshift runways and to haul 74-tonne loads over a hundred fullyequipped soldiers over 4,500km without refuelling, makes this extremely attractive for Indian defence planners. The

Globemaster III provides the capability needed for flying in a brigade from as far as Hyderabad to reinforce Indian defences at, say, Chushul on the Sino-Indian frontlines in Ladakh. Even at a staggering $580 million per aircraft, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is contemplating a single-vendor purchase of the C-17.

Also being trial-evaluated in India over the next two months would be two military rotorcraft: Boeing’s Chinook CH-47 tandem rotor, multi-mission helicopter and the Apache AH-64 attack helicopter, which is a front-runner for the IAF order for 22 attack helicopters. The US, meanwhile, is keen on supplying India with a custom-built version of the 737-mounted Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) System, which Boeing Defence has designed for the Royal Australian Air Force.

Robust Policy Framework America’s growing profile in Indian defence procurement is underpinned by robust policy and management structures that have steadily taken root since the dialogue between Jaswant Singh and Strobe Talbott thawed the deep freeze that had beset relations after India’s nuclear tests in 1998. Boosted by US President Bill Clinton’s visit to India in 2000, the warmth grew after 9/11, when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee called up George W. Bush to offer India’s condolences. During the US military’s Operation Enduring Freedom, India provided over-flight access to US aircraft and docking and refuelling facilities

25

for the US Navy. On July 18, 2005, the two countries signed arguably a landmark agreement, New Framework in the USIndia Defence Relationship, which recognised a major Indian role in America’s vision of the global security architecture.

Today, the defence relationship is steered by the apex Defence Policy Group.

Under this are five working groups, including a Defence Joint Working Group , Defence Production and Procurement Group, Science & Technology Steering Group, Joint Training Group and the Military Cooperation Group.

Counter-terrorism cooperation is also growing as steadily. In 2008, after the Mumbai terror attacks, unprecedented cooperation between American and Indian intelligence and investigative agencies provided leads that assisted India in convicting captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab. The two countries also cooperated in the case of captured Pakistani-origin terrorist, David Headley.

This cooperation was formalised during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the US last November, when the two countries signed a Counter-Terrorism Cooperation Initiative.

At the broader political level, too, New Delhi is unmistakably closing ranks with Washington. Going by multiple policy assertions from the senior-most rungs of three consecutive US administrations, there is near-absolute unanimity in Washington that India must be cultivated as a major strategic, political and cultural ally of the

growing engagement.qxd:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 2:36 PM Page 5

AUGUST 2010

DEFENCE INDUSTRY

This is equally true of the United States—‘natural Cockpit of Boeing’s Indian Ocean region, which has partner’ is the phrase in Apache AH-64 attack long been central to US global fashion—and built up as a helicopter maritime strategy and is more so serious military power in the Indian Ocean region. A superficial today than ever. Here, the Indian military, appraisal of this US trend, especially from a particularly the Indian Navy, stands out as monochromatic ‘balance of power’ a reliable local partner for multiple US perspective, might conclude that interests that range far beyond countering Washington merely seeks to use New Delhi China: these include keeping open as a long-term counterweight to China. In shipping lanes, cracking down on piracy, fact, while the United States’ regard for disaster relief, counter-terrorism and India is indeed growing in tandem with counter proliferation tasks through China’s rise, the deepening US-India groupings like the Container Security relationship has many more components Initiative (which India has not yet signed).

Fascinatingly, China may also be buying than just the balancing of China.

Even if one were to be sceptical about into this very idea. In a recent opinion piece America’s relatively recent discovery that in the Chinese daily, Global Times which the two countries share important preceded National Security Advisor Shiv common values—secular, democratic Shankar Menon’s visit to China early last structures, multi-ethnic societies, market- month to explore new strategic possibilities driven economies, free medias, etc— for the Sino-Indian relationship, a Chinese successive US Presidents have recognised analyst argued that Indian control of the India as a major net contributor to regional northern Indian Ocean may suit China since stability and security. In a region as crucial that would be preferable to a strong US to the US security interests as South Asia— Navy presence in these waters. where both Afghanistan and Pakistan are So far, this idea has been expressed only vital battlegrounds in the War on Terror— unofficially and only in a single media a politically stable and economically article. But it is standard Chinese practice robust India becomes an irresistible to test reactions to potentially controversial political and defence partner. ideas through a trial balloon of this kind.

26

Some Disagreements

”

Paradoxically, India’s recent shift towards American weaponry is also creating disagreements between New Delhi and Washington. New Delhi has so far refused to enter two agreements demanded by the US law for transferring the highest level of communications and satellite navigation equipment that is used on US weapon platforms. These two agreements—the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA)—mandate that India must closely guard the communications security (COMSEC) equipment fitted on US electronics to ensure interoperability.

New Delhi is also resisting a US proposal for a Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) that would allow Indian and US militaries to access each other’s logistics facilities and bases on a paper accounting basis. The government, while allowing the US forces basing facilities in practice, has shied away from a formal agreement because of vocal domestic opposition, notably from the Left, which charges the government with a sell-out to the US.

AFP

AJAI SHUKLA

Paradoxically, India’s recent shift towards American weaponry is also creating disagreements between New Delhi and Washington. New Delhi has so far refused to enter two agreements demanded by the US law for transferring the highest level of communications and satellite navigation equipment that is used on US weapon platforms.

adds: “The signing of the In a similar fashion, New Minister for External CISMOA is essential for a Delhi had earlier resisted the End Affairs Jaswant Singh high-tech system like the P8I. Use Monitoring, arrangements with US Deputy It is absolutely packed with that US law demands for Secretary of State transferring defence equip– Strobe Talbott during his sensitive technologies. The US wants to share these ment to a foreign country. It was visit to India in 1999 technologies with India but only during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visit in July 2009, did the two will make sure that they are suitably sides agree on a ‘break-through language’ protected by the CISMOA.” The US Government, which is extremely in the text that kept American inspectors keen to sign these agreements, has away from Indian military bases.

Manohar Thyagaraj, a security analyst presented the Indian MoD with a draft text who studies the US-India strategic and also suggested that it is willing to work relationship, explains: “These foundation around any specific objections that New agreements such as CISMOA and BECA Delhi might have. So far, however, there has are required by US law for providing been complete silence from the Indian side.

All this is causing frustration on both another country with the most advanced electronics on US weapons platforms. sides. A US official complains, “Both sides These agreements are common for all are just kicking the can down the road, countries that receive US high technology hoping that someone, sometime will see the light and actually do something and are not unique to India.”

In the absence of the CISMOA and real about it.”

American vexation was officially BECA, high-tech platforms like the C-130J, the P8I and the C-17 will be fitted with conveyed during the visit of US Defence commercially available communications Secretary, Robert Gates, to Delhi in January and satellite navigation suites, rather than when he urged Prime Minister Manmohan the higher-grade ones that outfit US Singh and Defence Minister A.K. Antony to sign the CISMOA and the LSA. military platforms.

Addressing the press after his meetings Egan Greenstein, Senior Manager for Business Development, Boeing Defence, in New Delhi, a chagrined Gates pointed

27

DSI

out, “These agreements have been lying around for quite a while… this is not some new requirement that has just emerged.

[These agreements] are preponderantly to India’s benefit, because they give hightech systems additional high-tech capabilities… are enablers, if you will, to the very highest quality equipment in the Indian armed forces.”

After the US Defence Secretary’s visit, Washington wrote to New Delhi, using concrete examples—including the P8I and the C-130J—to illustrate to New Delhi what capabilities it will pass up by refusing to sign the CISMOA and BECA. The US reinforced this point during the inaugural US-India Strategic Dialogue held from June 1 to 4, in Washington.

India too has its complaints, most notably the reluctance of the US State Department export control regulators to sanction the transfer of high technology to India. A case in point was Washington’s unwillingness to allow Lockheed Martin to provide India with consultancy in developing the naval version of the Tejas fighter.

Washington accepts that this issue needs to be addressed and President Barack Obama has directed the State Department to review export control regulations. On August 13, 2009, the White House stated: “The U.S. has one of the most robust export control systems in the world. But, it is rooted in the Cold War era of over 50 years ago and must be updated to address the threats we face today and the changing economic and technological landscape.”

As shared values and interests bring the US and India closer, they will inevitably find ways of resolving these disagreements. In working with India, the US is encountering a new phenomenon: a rising power that will forge its ties with Washington largely on its own terms and with powerful negotiating leverage due to its strong defence and strategic relationships with multiple power centres, including Russia, France and the UK. New Delhi, on its part, must learn to deal with a rule-based bureaucracy that cannot be swayed by political signals.

Some western media reports suggest that President Obama, during his visit to India later this year, will be signing a slew of defence purchase deals with India that could be worth over $5 billion. While this may be an over-estimation, there is little doubt that the US defence industry is the new bully on a playground that has long been dominated by Russia, Israel, France and the UK.

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This is equally true of the United States—‘natural Cockpit of Boeing’s Indian Ocean region, which has partner’ is the phrase in Apache AH-64 attack long been central to US global fashion—and built up as a helicopter maritime strategy and is more so serious military power in the Indian Ocean region. A superficial today than ever. Here, the Indian military, appraisal of this US trend, especially from a particularly the Indian Navy, stands out as monochromatic ‘balance of power’ a reliable local partner for multiple US perspective, might conclude that interests that range far beyond countering Washington merely seeks to use New Delhi China: these include keeping open as a long-term counterweight to China. In shipping lanes, cracking down on piracy, fact, while the United States’ regard for disaster relief, counter-terrorism and India is indeed growing in tandem with counter proliferation tasks through China’s rise, the deepening US-India groupings like the Container Security relationship has many more components Initiative (which India has not yet signed).

Fascinatingly, China may also be buying than just the balancing of China.

Even if one were to be sceptical about into this very idea. In a recent opinion piece America’s relatively recent discovery that in the Chinese daily, Global Times which the two countries share important preceded National Security Advisor Shiv common values—secular, democratic Shankar Menon’s visit to China early last structures, multi-ethnic societies, market- month to explore new strategic possibilities driven economies, free medias, etc— for the Sino-Indian relationship, a Chinese successive US Presidents have recognised analyst argued that Indian control of the India as a major net contributor to regional northern Indian Ocean may suit China since stability and security. In a region as crucial that would be preferable to a strong US to the US security interests as South Asia— Navy presence in these waters. where both Afghanistan and Pakistan are So far, this idea has been expressed only vital battlegrounds in the War on Terror— unofficially and only in a single media a politically stable and economically article. But it is standard Chinese practice robust India becomes an irresistible to test reactions to potentially controversial political and defence partner. ideas through a trial balloon of this kind.

26

Some Disagreements

”

Paradoxically, India’s recent shift towards American weaponry is also creating disagreements between New Delhi and Washington. New Delhi has so far refused to enter two agreements demanded by the US law for transferring the highest level of communications and satellite navigation equipment that is used on US weapon platforms. These two agreements—the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA)—mandate that India must closely guard the communications security (COMSEC) equipment fitted on US electronics to ensure interoperability.

New Delhi is also resisting a US proposal for a Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) that would allow Indian and US militaries to access each other’s logistics facilities and bases on a paper accounting basis. The government, while allowing the US forces basing facilities in practice, has shied away from a formal agreement because of vocal domestic opposition, notably from the Left, which charges the government with a sell-out to the US.

AFP

AJAI SHUKLA

Paradoxically, India’s recent shift towards American weaponry is also creating disagreements between New Delhi and Washington. New Delhi has so far refused to enter two agreements demanded by the US law for transferring the highest level of communications and satellite navigation equipment that is used on US weapon platforms.

adds: “The signing of the In a similar fashion, New Minister for External CISMOA is essential for a Delhi had earlier resisted the End Affairs Jaswant Singh high-tech system like the P8I. Use Monitoring, arrangements with US Deputy It is absolutely packed with that US law demands for Secretary of State transferring defence equip– Strobe Talbott during his sensitive technologies. The US wants to share these ment to a foreign country. It was visit to India in 1999 technologies with India but only during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visit in July 2009, did the two will make sure that they are suitably sides agree on a ‘break-through language’ protected by the CISMOA.” The US Government, which is extremely in the text that kept American inspectors keen to sign these agreements, has away from Indian military bases.

Manohar Thyagaraj, a security analyst presented the Indian MoD with a draft text who studies the US-India strategic and also suggested that it is willing to work relationship, explains: “These foundation around any specific objections that New agreements such as CISMOA and BECA Delhi might have. So far, however, there has are required by US law for providing been complete silence from the Indian side.

All this is causing frustration on both another country with the most advanced electronics on US weapons platforms. sides. A US official complains, “Both sides These agreements are common for all are just kicking the can down the road, countries that receive US high technology hoping that someone, sometime will see the light and actually do something and are not unique to India.”

In the absence of the CISMOA and real about it.”

American vexation was officially BECA, high-tech platforms like the C-130J, the P8I and the C-17 will be fitted with conveyed during the visit of US Defence commercially available communications Secretary, Robert Gates, to Delhi in January and satellite navigation suites, rather than when he urged Prime Minister Manmohan the higher-grade ones that outfit US Singh and Defence Minister A.K. Antony to sign the CISMOA and the LSA. military platforms.

Addressing the press after his meetings Egan Greenstein, Senior Manager for Business Development, Boeing Defence, in New Delhi, a chagrined Gates pointed

27

DSI

out, “These agreements have been lying around for quite a while… this is not some new requirement that has just emerged.

[These agreements] are preponderantly to India’s benefit, because they give hightech systems additional high-tech capabilities… are enablers, if you will, to the very highest quality equipment in the Indian armed forces.”

After the US Defence Secretary’s visit, Washington wrote to New Delhi, using concrete examples—including the P8I and the C-130J—to illustrate to New Delhi what capabilities it will pass up by refusing to sign the CISMOA and BECA. The US reinforced this point during the inaugural US-India Strategic Dialogue held from June 1 to 4, in Washington.

India too has its complaints, most notably the reluctance of the US State Department export control regulators to sanction the transfer of high technology to India. A case in point was Washington’s unwillingness to allow Lockheed Martin to provide India with consultancy in developing the naval version of the Tejas fighter.

Washington accepts that this issue needs to be addressed and President Barack Obama has directed the State Department to review export control regulations. On August 13, 2009, the White House stated: “The U.S. has one of the most robust export control systems in the world. But, it is rooted in the Cold War era of over 50 years ago and must be updated to address the threats we face today and the changing economic and technological landscape.”

As shared values and interests bring the US and India closer, they will inevitably find ways of resolving these disagreements. In working with India, the US is encountering a new phenomenon: a rising power that will forge its ties with Washington largely on its own terms and with powerful negotiating leverage due to its strong defence and strategic relationships with multiple power centres, including Russia, France and the UK. New Delhi, on its part, must learn to deal with a rule-based bureaucracy that cannot be swayed by political signals.

Some western media reports suggest that President Obama, during his visit to India later this year, will be signing a slew of defence purchase deals with India that could be worth over $5 billion. While this may be an over-estimation, there is little doubt that the US defence industry is the new bully on a playground that has long been dominated by Russia, Israel, France and the UK.

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ASYMMETRICA L FIREPOWER A team of Army personnel investigating at the German Bakery in Pune where a powerful bomb blasted kiiling nine people in February 2010

Delays in implementing artillery modernisation plans will hamper India’s security interests

GURMEET KANWAL SINGH

KEY POINTS

n Despite the lessons learnt from Kargil, modernisation of the artillery has continued to stagnate. n Together with aerially delivered firepower, the artillery is the only combat arm that can break the enemy’s will to fight. n The recent cancellation of the Request for Proposal has set back the artillery modernisation programme by three to five years, over and above the ten-year long delay that has already occurred.

W

hile Pakistan has recently acquired M109 A5 155mm howitzers, the most potent and the most sophisticated self-propelled gun in the world, from the United States, India has once again cancelled its Request for Proposal (RfP) for 1,580 towed guns (155mm, 52 calibre). As a result, it has set back the artillery modernisation programme by another three to five years.

This is over and above the ten-year long delay that has already occurred.

Of all the combat arms of the Indian Army, artillery will be a battle-winning factor in future warfare. It is a well-established fact that potent artillery firepower had turned the tide and eventually paved the way for victory during the Kargil conflict in 1999. Yet, despite the lessons learnt from Kargil, modernisation of the artillery has continued to stagnate. In a

future conventional war, which will be fought under a nuclear shadow, the ability to manoeuvre with large tank columns and armoured personnel carriers will be extremely limited due to the need to avoid crossing the adversary’s nuclear red lines. In the mountains, manoeuvre is, in any case, not possible due to the restrictions imposed by terrain. The inability to manoeuvre will lead to much greater emphasis being placed on firepower to achieve the desired military aims and objectives. Hence, it is imperative that artillery modernisation is undertaken with alacrity so as to generate firepower asymmetries of a high order on the future battlefield.

The last major acquisition of towed gun-howitzers was that of about 400 pieces of 39-calibre 155mm FH77B howitzers with a range of 30km from Bofors of Sweden in the mid-1980s. This gun had proved its mettle in the Kargil conflict. After two decades of neglect, during which the 100mm and 122mm field guns of Russian origin and the indigenously developed and manufactured 75/24 Indian Mountain Gun joined the long list of equipment bordering on obsolescence but still in service with the Army, tenders were floated and trials were held for a 52-calibre 155mm towed gun to replace all field and medium guns.

Just when a contract for 120 SelfPropelled (SP) guns on tank tracks and 180 wheeled SP 155mm guns was about to be concluded after years of protracted trials, Denel, a South African arms

28

The115 mm FH77B Bofors guns prepare to fire at enemy positions from a gun emplacement during the 1999 Kargil battle

29

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DSI

ASYMMETRICA L FIREPOWER A team of Army personnel investigating at the German Bakery in Pune where a powerful bomb blasted kiiling nine people in February 2010

Delays in implementing artillery modernisation plans will hamper India’s security interests

GURMEET KANWAL SINGH

KEY POINTS

n Despite the lessons learnt from Kargil, modernisation of the artillery has continued to stagnate. n Together with aerially delivered firepower, the artillery is the only combat arm that can break the enemy’s will to fight. n The recent cancellation of the Request for Proposal has set back the artillery modernisation programme by three to five years, over and above the ten-year long delay that has already occurred.

W

hile Pakistan has recently acquired M109 A5 155mm howitzers, the most potent and the most sophisticated self-propelled gun in the world, from the United States, India has once again cancelled its Request for Proposal (RfP) for 1,580 towed guns (155mm, 52 calibre). As a result, it has set back the artillery modernisation programme by another three to five years.

This is over and above the ten-year long delay that has already occurred.

Of all the combat arms of the Indian Army, artillery will be a battle-winning factor in future warfare. It is a well-established fact that potent artillery firepower had turned the tide and eventually paved the way for victory during the Kargil conflict in 1999. Yet, despite the lessons learnt from Kargil, modernisation of the artillery has continued to stagnate. In a

future conventional war, which will be fought under a nuclear shadow, the ability to manoeuvre with large tank columns and armoured personnel carriers will be extremely limited due to the need to avoid crossing the adversary’s nuclear red lines. In the mountains, manoeuvre is, in any case, not possible due to the restrictions imposed by terrain. The inability to manoeuvre will lead to much greater emphasis being placed on firepower to achieve the desired military aims and objectives. Hence, it is imperative that artillery modernisation is undertaken with alacrity so as to generate firepower asymmetries of a high order on the future battlefield.

The last major acquisition of towed gun-howitzers was that of about 400 pieces of 39-calibre 155mm FH77B howitzers with a range of 30km from Bofors of Sweden in the mid-1980s. This gun had proved its mettle in the Kargil conflict. After two decades of neglect, during which the 100mm and 122mm field guns of Russian origin and the indigenously developed and manufactured 75/24 Indian Mountain Gun joined the long list of equipment bordering on obsolescence but still in service with the Army, tenders were floated and trials were held for a 52-calibre 155mm towed gun to replace all field and medium guns.

Just when a contract for 120 SelfPropelled (SP) guns on tank tracks and 180 wheeled SP 155mm guns was about to be concluded after years of protracted trials, Denel, a South African arms

28

The115 mm FH77B Bofors guns prepare to fire at enemy positions from a gun emplacement during the 1999 Kargil battle

29

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ARTILLERY manufacturer and a leading contender for the contract, was alleged to have been involved in a corruption scam in an earlier deal for Anti-Material Rifles. The other two howitzers in contention, from Soltam of Israel and BAE Systems (erstwhile Bofors of Sweden), reportedly did not meet the laid down criteria and Army Headquarters recommended fresh trials. The guns did not meet the stringent performance parametres as they were mainly technology demonstration and developmental models and not in actual service with the home country armies. It was then decided to begin the process all over again, setting the programme back at least A DRDOthree to four years. designed Beginning in January Loader, part of 2008, the Ministry of the Pinaka Defence (MoD) issued Multi-Barrel three global tenders for Rocket 155mm guns and howLauncher itzers for the mountains, weapon system the plains and self-propelled guns for the deserts. The Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC) of MoD, which is chaired by the Defence Minister, approved the procurement of 1,580 guns on December 13, 2007, and an RfP was issued on March 26, 2008. The RfP was issued to eight prospective bidders including BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Nexter (France), Rhinemetall (Germany), Samsung (South Korea) and ST Kinetics. The Technical Evaluation Committee short-listed the guns of BAE Systems and ST Kinetics. The DAC also approved the procurement of 145 lightweight towed 155mm, 39-calibre howitzers on June 19, 2006 and an RfP was issued to ten global vendors on January 14, 2008. ST Kinetics was the only one to submit a Technical and Commercial Offer for its Pegasus lightweight howitzer. As it became a single-vendor situation, the MoD initiated the procurement of lightweight howitzers through the direct Foreign Military Sale (FMS) route from the US government.

An RfP has also been issued for 180 wheeled self-propelled 155mm guns for around Rs 4,700 crore to be used by mechanised forces in the plains and semi-desert sectors. Summer and winter trials of all the new guns were expected to be held over the next one year and it was anticipated that contracts would be awarded as early as in the first half of 2010. Except for trials of the SP (wheeled) howitzers that are underway,

DSI

Summer and winter trials of all the new guns were expected to be held over the next one year and it was anticipated that contracts would be awarded as early as in the first half of 2010. Except for trials of the self propelled howitzers that are underway, none of the other manufacturers have so far been invited for trials and the tender for 1,580 towed howitzers has again been cancelled.

”

procurement scam. The government has no option but to finalise a governmentto-government deal with the US for 145 M777A1 ultra light howitzers through the FMS route, provided the howitzer meets the qualitative requirements that have been laid down.

Some Progress

none of the other manufacturers have so far been invited for trials and the tender for 1,580 towed howitzers has been cancelled again.

Guns for the Mountains The probability of the next war breaking out in the mountains is far higher than that of a war in the plains. Keeping this in mind, the artillery recently outlined

30

its requirement for a lightweight towed howitzer of 155mm calibre for employment in the mountains. Neither the present Bofors howitzer nor its 52-calibre replacement will be capable of effective operations in the mountains. A lightweight 39 or 45-calibre 155mm howitzer that weighs less than 5,000 kg, with a light, but adequately powered prime mover, is ideal for the mountains. The

gun-train should be capable of negotiating sharp road bends without the need to unhook the gun from the prime mover. In January 2008, the MoD floated an RfP for 145 pieces of ultralight 39-calibre 155mm towed howitzers for use by the Indian Army’s mountain formations.

Presumably, these howitzers will also be employed by the Army’s rapid reaction divisions—as and when these are

raised—as these howitzers will be easy to transport by air. The 145 howitzers will be adequate to equip seven medium artillery regiments and will cost approximately Rs 3,000 crore. Though the RfP was issued to BAE Systems and Singapore Technologies and trials were slated to commence in June, 2009, Singapore Technologies was black-listed for its suspected involvement in another

31

Since the Bofors 155mm howitzer was introduced into service, the indigenously designed and manufactured 105mm Indian Field Gun and its (not so) light version, the Light Field Gun, have also joined the list of guns and howitzers heading for obsolescence. Approximately 180 pieces of 130mm M-46 Russian medium guns have been successfully “upgunned” to 155mm calibre with ordnance supplied by Soltam of Israel. The new barrel length of 45-calibres has enhanced the range of the gun to about 40km with extended range ammunition.

There has been notable progress on the rocket artillery front. A contract for the acquisition of two regiments of Rosoboronexport’s 12-tube, 300mm Smerch Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) system with 90km range was signed with Russia in early-2006 and the

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ARTILLERY manufacturer and a leading contender for the contract, was alleged to have been involved in a corruption scam in an earlier deal for Anti-Material Rifles. The other two howitzers in contention, from Soltam of Israel and BAE Systems (erstwhile Bofors of Sweden), reportedly did not meet the laid down criteria and Army Headquarters recommended fresh trials. The guns did not meet the stringent performance parametres as they were mainly technology demonstration and developmental models and not in actual service with the home country armies. It was then decided to begin the process all over again, setting the programme back at least A DRDOthree to four years. designed Beginning in January Loader, part of 2008, the Ministry of the Pinaka Defence (MoD) issued Multi-Barrel three global tenders for Rocket 155mm guns and howLauncher itzers for the mountains, weapon system the plains and self-propelled guns for the deserts. The Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC) of MoD, which is chaired by the Defence Minister, approved the procurement of 1,580 guns on December 13, 2007, and an RfP was issued on March 26, 2008. The RfP was issued to eight prospective bidders including BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Nexter (France), Rhinemetall (Germany), Samsung (South Korea) and ST Kinetics. The Technical Evaluation Committee short-listed the guns of BAE Systems and ST Kinetics. The DAC also approved the procurement of 145 lightweight towed 155mm, 39-calibre howitzers on June 19, 2006 and an RfP was issued to ten global vendors on January 14, 2008. ST Kinetics was the only one to submit a Technical and Commercial Offer for its Pegasus lightweight howitzer. As it became a single-vendor situation, the MoD initiated the procurement of lightweight howitzers through the direct Foreign Military Sale (FMS) route from the US government.

An RfP has also been issued for 180 wheeled self-propelled 155mm guns for around Rs 4,700 crore to be used by mechanised forces in the plains and semi-desert sectors. Summer and winter trials of all the new guns were expected to be held over the next one year and it was anticipated that contracts would be awarded as early as in the first half of 2010. Except for trials of the SP (wheeled) howitzers that are underway,

DSI

Summer and winter trials of all the new guns were expected to be held over the next one year and it was anticipated that contracts would be awarded as early as in the first half of 2010. Except for trials of the self propelled howitzers that are underway, none of the other manufacturers have so far been invited for trials and the tender for 1,580 towed howitzers has again been cancelled.

”

procurement scam. The government has no option but to finalise a governmentto-government deal with the US for 145 M777A1 ultra light howitzers through the FMS route, provided the howitzer meets the qualitative requirements that have been laid down.

Some Progress

none of the other manufacturers have so far been invited for trials and the tender for 1,580 towed howitzers has been cancelled again.

Guns for the Mountains The probability of the next war breaking out in the mountains is far higher than that of a war in the plains. Keeping this in mind, the artillery recently outlined

30

its requirement for a lightweight towed howitzer of 155mm calibre for employment in the mountains. Neither the present Bofors howitzer nor its 52-calibre replacement will be capable of effective operations in the mountains. A lightweight 39 or 45-calibre 155mm howitzer that weighs less than 5,000 kg, with a light, but adequately powered prime mover, is ideal for the mountains. The

gun-train should be capable of negotiating sharp road bends without the need to unhook the gun from the prime mover. In January 2008, the MoD floated an RfP for 145 pieces of ultralight 39-calibre 155mm towed howitzers for use by the Indian Army’s mountain formations.

Presumably, these howitzers will also be employed by the Army’s rapid reaction divisions—as and when these are

raised—as these howitzers will be easy to transport by air. The 145 howitzers will be adequate to equip seven medium artillery regiments and will cost approximately Rs 3,000 crore. Though the RfP was issued to BAE Systems and Singapore Technologies and trials were slated to commence in June, 2009, Singapore Technologies was black-listed for its suspected involvement in another

31

Since the Bofors 155mm howitzer was introduced into service, the indigenously designed and manufactured 105mm Indian Field Gun and its (not so) light version, the Light Field Gun, have also joined the list of guns and howitzers heading for obsolescence. Approximately 180 pieces of 130mm M-46 Russian medium guns have been successfully “upgunned” to 155mm calibre with ordnance supplied by Soltam of Israel. The new barrel length of 45-calibres has enhanced the range of the gun to about 40km with extended range ammunition.

There has been notable progress on the rocket artillery front. A contract for the acquisition of two regiments of Rosoboronexport’s 12-tube, 300mm Smerch Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) system with 90km range was signed with Russia in early-2006 and the

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DSI

ST Kinetics’ Pegasus lightweight howitzer

equipment has since been received. This weapon system is a major boost for the long-range firepower capabilities of the Army. If this weapon system had been available during the Kargil conflict, Pakistan’s brigade headquarters and forward airfield at Skardu and other targets deep inside Pakistan Occupied Kashmir could have been hit with impunity.

Extended range (ER) rockets are being introduced for the 122mm Grad MBRL of Russian origin that have been in service for over three decades. The ER rockets will enhance the weapon system’s range from 22 to about 40km. A contract worth Rs 5,000 crore has also been signed for the serial production of the Pinaka MBRL weapon system, another Defence & Research Development Organisation (DRDO) project, which was plagued by time delays and completed with help from Larsen & Toubro and the Tatas. The Pinaka rockets will have an approximate range of 37km.

Counter-bombardment (the US term is counterfire) capability is also being upgraded, but at a slow pace. At least about 40 to 50 Weapon Locating Radars are required for effective counter-bombardment, especially in the plains, but only a dozen have been procured so far.

”

32

Counter-bombardment (the US term is counter-fire) capability is also being upgraded, but at a slow pace. At least about 40 to 50 Weapon Locating Radars (WLRs) are required for effective counterbombardment, especially in the plains, but only a dozen have been procured so far. In addition to the 12 AN-TPQ 37 Firefinder WLRs acquired from Raytheon, USA, under a 2002 contract worth $200 million, Bharat Electronics Limited is reported to be assembling 28 WLRs. These radars will be based on both indigenous and imported components and are likely to be approved for introduction into service after extensive trials that are ongoing. The radar is expected to match the capabilities of the Firefinder system and will have a detection range of about 40km.

The indigenous sound ranging system, which is meant to locate the positions of enemy guns based on the sound of their firing does not appear to be

It is expected that 50 making worthwhile progress The US M109 A5 BrahMos missiles will be and may be shelved in favour 155mm howitzer has produced every year. Efforts of an imported system. In fact, been acquired by are afoot to further increase it needs to be considered Pakistan recently its strike range. BrahMos whether this relic of the two World Wars, that is rather cumbersome to Aerospace has orders worth Rs 3,500 deploy and maintain, deserves a silent crore from the Army and the Navy, burial, as gun and mortar locating radars which has opted for the anti-ship as well now provide accurate locations of enemy as the land attack cruise missile versions.

These terrain hugging missiles are virtuguns and mortars.

Efforts are also underway to add bal- ally immune to counter measures due to listic as well as cruise missiles to the their high speed and very low radar cross artillery arsenal. The BrahMos supersonic section and are far superior to subsonic cruise missile (Mach 2.8 to 3.0), with a cruise missiles like Pakistan’s Babur. precision strike capability, very high kill Countries like Chile, Kuwait, Malaysia energy and range of 290km, is being and South Africa have shown interest in inducted into the Army. A ceremonial acquiring this missile.

The modernisation plans of tube induction function of the Block-I version was held in July 2007. Since then, the artillery alone are likely to cost Rs 13,000 Block-II version has successfully complet- crore at FY 2008-09 prices. The major ed trials. It is a versatile missile that can be acquisitions will be of initial lots of 400 launched from Tatra mobile launchers towed howitzers of 155mm calibre (with and silos on land, aircraft and ships and, a barrel length of 52 calibres) costing perhaps in future, also from submarines. about Rs 4,000 crore; 145 lightweight

33

155mm towed howitzers (with a barrel length of 45 calibres) costing Rs 3,000 crore and 180 SP 155mm howitzers costing Rs 5,000 crore. The Shakti project for command and control systems for the artillery, earlier called Artillery Combat Command and Control System, has passed user trials and is now being fielded extensively in the plains. Gradually, it will be fielded up to the corps level and the two artillery divisions will be equipped with it.

Artillery modernisation must be given a major boost so that the Army gets the firepower that it needs for future conflicts. In conjunction with aerially delivered firepower, the artillery is the only combat arm that can cause degradation and destruction and ultimately break the enemy’s will to fight. Any further delay in the implementation of artillery modernisation plans will be detrimental to national security interests.

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ST Kinetics’ Pegasus lightweight howitzer

equipment has since been received. This weapon system is a major boost for the long-range firepower capabilities of the Army. If this weapon system had been available during the Kargil conflict, Pakistan’s brigade headquarters and forward airfield at Skardu and other targets deep inside Pakistan Occupied Kashmir could have been hit with impunity.

Extended range (ER) rockets are being introduced for the 122mm Grad MBRL of Russian origin that have been in service for over three decades. The ER rockets will enhance the weapon system’s range from 22 to about 40km. A contract worth Rs 5,000 crore has also been signed for the serial production of the Pinaka MBRL weapon system, another Defence & Research Development Organisation (DRDO) project, which was plagued by time delays and completed with help from Larsen & Toubro and the Tatas. The Pinaka rockets will have an approximate range of 37km.

Counter-bombardment (the US term is counterfire) capability is also being upgraded, but at a slow pace. At least about 40 to 50 Weapon Locating Radars are required for effective counter-bombardment, especially in the plains, but only a dozen have been procured so far.

”

32

Counter-bombardment (the US term is counter-fire) capability is also being upgraded, but at a slow pace. At least about 40 to 50 Weapon Locating Radars (WLRs) are required for effective counterbombardment, especially in the plains, but only a dozen have been procured so far. In addition to the 12 AN-TPQ 37 Firefinder WLRs acquired from Raytheon, USA, under a 2002 contract worth $200 million, Bharat Electronics Limited is reported to be assembling 28 WLRs. These radars will be based on both indigenous and imported components and are likely to be approved for introduction into service after extensive trials that are ongoing. The radar is expected to match the capabilities of the Firefinder system and will have a detection range of about 40km.

The indigenous sound ranging system, which is meant to locate the positions of enemy guns based on the sound of their firing does not appear to be

It is expected that 50 making worthwhile progress The US M109 A5 BrahMos missiles will be and may be shelved in favour 155mm howitzer has produced every year. Efforts of an imported system. In fact, been acquired by are afoot to further increase it needs to be considered Pakistan recently its strike range. BrahMos whether this relic of the two World Wars, that is rather cumbersome to Aerospace has orders worth Rs 3,500 deploy and maintain, deserves a silent crore from the Army and the Navy, burial, as gun and mortar locating radars which has opted for the anti-ship as well now provide accurate locations of enemy as the land attack cruise missile versions.

These terrain hugging missiles are virtuguns and mortars.

Efforts are also underway to add bal- ally immune to counter measures due to listic as well as cruise missiles to the their high speed and very low radar cross artillery arsenal. The BrahMos supersonic section and are far superior to subsonic cruise missile (Mach 2.8 to 3.0), with a cruise missiles like Pakistan’s Babur. precision strike capability, very high kill Countries like Chile, Kuwait, Malaysia energy and range of 290km, is being and South Africa have shown interest in inducted into the Army. A ceremonial acquiring this missile.

The modernisation plans of tube induction function of the Block-I version was held in July 2007. Since then, the artillery alone are likely to cost Rs 13,000 Block-II version has successfully complet- crore at FY 2008-09 prices. The major ed trials. It is a versatile missile that can be acquisitions will be of initial lots of 400 launched from Tatra mobile launchers towed howitzers of 155mm calibre (with and silos on land, aircraft and ships and, a barrel length of 52 calibres) costing perhaps in future, also from submarines. about Rs 4,000 crore; 145 lightweight

33

155mm towed howitzers (with a barrel length of 45 calibres) costing Rs 3,000 crore and 180 SP 155mm howitzers costing Rs 5,000 crore. The Shakti project for command and control systems for the artillery, earlier called Artillery Combat Command and Control System, has passed user trials and is now being fielded extensively in the plains. Gradually, it will be fielded up to the corps level and the two artillery divisions will be equipped with it.

Artillery modernisation must be given a major boost so that the Army gets the firepower that it needs for future conflicts. In conjunction with aerially delivered firepower, the artillery is the only combat arm that can cause degradation and destruction and ultimately break the enemy’s will to fight. Any further delay in the implementation of artillery modernisation plans will be detrimental to national security interests.

Rosoborn06 final.qxp:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 4:49 PM Page 2

SOLID-STATE FOR LONG RANGE DETECTION

Podberyozovik-ETI

Komor-1 magneto-acoustic system

Coastal Area:

Fregat

Amga-ME hydro acoustic system

reliable control & effective response ROSOBORONEXPORT

eas and oceans wash about 150 countries, each and every of them attaching paramount importance to the protection of their coastal areas. Their main goals are to keep sea borders in territorial waters shut, as well as to control sovereign exclu-sive economic zones, to combat smuggling, drug trafficking and piracy, and to conduct maritime SAR operations. Regional conflicts involving coastal nations cannot be disregarded either.

In summary, the key mission of presentday navies is to prevent, repel or contain threats coming from sea. Apart from that, sea terrorism has evolved to become one of the most burning non-military, transnational asymmetric challenges facing governments, navies, coast guards and population of large and small maritime nations. Unlike traditional wars and conflicts, in which warring parties and zones of action are clearly defined, new threats and challenges demand raising specific measures that go far beyond the use of military force.

Integrated surveillance and control

S

systems turn out to be the most efficient and cost-effective means to provide security to the nation under the abovementioned circumstances, as they allow for the monitoring of sea, air and underwater situation, maritime target identification and alert and are organized with automated observation units, communication systems, data collection, processing and output systems, and rapid response forces.

It used to be normal practice that different services developed surveillance and control systems for their particular needs. As a result of interagency disputes, one and the same coastal area in some countries could have several radars, featuring the same characteristics, but operated by different agencies. Indeed, comprehensive solutions are available and affordable for very few, which is explained by serious technological problems to a large extent.

Meanwhile, the contemporary approach to such comprehensive systems envisages that they should have uniform integrated architecture. In other words, the data of all objects in the adjacent coastal area, as well as DSI Marketing Promotion

the sea state and weather info should come as a single packet with regular real-time updates provided by coastal observation points, navy ships, aviation, coast guards and commercial vessels. The processed data should be made available to government and military agencies, and other parties concerned, including commercial ones. Such data might be useful for fish and wildlife services, which have quite limited capabilities to control situation at sea, prevent illegal fishing and seize poachers. Or it might be of help for the customs service which main objective is to timely apprehend smugglers, or for maritime police to combat piracy. Moreover, such systems will allow rescue teams to detect and identify distressed ships in good time, and environmental agencies will be able to localise oil spills at short notice.

In summary, a universal, comprehensive interagency real time surveillance and warning system may be not just functional, but also cost effective. It is deployed using the financing of not one, but several ministries and agencies. Moreover, it no longer has function redundancy, which minimises the total

deployment and maintenance costs owing to the absence of the need to set up similar facilities for different users. Mention should be made that the advanced computer-based, network and telecoms technologies of data collection, processing and transmission pave way for the use of sea situation monitoring and control systems that are already in service, such as radars and state-of-the-art global and national space-based systems.

Taking this into account, Russia’s main arms and dual use equipment trader Rosoboronexport offers a huge line up of most sophisticated and advanced systems that can be easily converted into a comprehensive surveillance, control and warning chain.

The core elements of the network are coastal operations and data control centres, which collect, process and store information from in-service observation and surveillance assets. These mainly include coast based radars such as MR-10M1E and its mobile version Mys-M1E, as well as PodberyozovikET1, Fregat and wireless observation posts, interconnected into territorial subsystems.

The latter can be used to control coastal zones of 500 nm long and up to 200 nm wide.

Its maritime target acquisition and identification capability guarantees the detection of vessels used by terrorists, trespassers, poachers, and pirates, as well as their rapid arrest.

The wireless observation posts are equipped with radars and electro-optical systems of various types, and are running on various frequencies, featuring allweather day and night observation, navigation and mapping functions, and boasting advanced electromagnetic, hydro acoustic and other capabilities, provided by both fixed and mobile sensor units. A distinctive advantage of such posts is the comprehensive and full picture of maritime situation in the area of responsibility, they pro-vide. Coastal radars detect sea objects, identify them friend-or-foe and measure coordinates and motion parameters. Television and infrared cameras transfer video im-ages for further identification of targets. The data is then fed to automatic IFF trans-ponders, which are used to check route, destination,

carried load and owner parameters of the vessels under consideration.

The automatic weather radar at the wireless observation post and data buoys regularly submit weather updates to the territorial information centre. Their auto-matic digital communication systems support VHF and HF radio exchange with subscribers far beyond the line-of-sight, which allows forming a chain of several transceivers with the total coverage up to 200 km. The posts can be fully automatic, remotely operated or controlled by shifts of human operators.

In addition, Rosoboronexport offers overthe-horizon observation systems, featuring really outstanding performance. A bright example of such a system is the Podsolnukh-E surface wave radar, designed to provide roundthe-clock all-weather detection of surface and aerial targets at ranges out to 450 km in the water area of 25,000 square miles simultaneously. The radar automatically checks target coordi-nates and measures motion parameters, processes them and feeds to rapid reaction force’s headquarters all in real time. Its antennae do not need special

Rosoborn06 final.qxp:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 4:49 PM Page 2

SOLID-STATE FOR LONG RANGE DETECTION

Podberyozovik-ETI

Komor-1 magneto-acoustic system

Coastal Area:

Fregat

Amga-ME hydro acoustic system

reliable control & effective response ROSOBORONEXPORT

eas and oceans wash about 150 countries, each and every of them attaching paramount importance to the protection of their coastal areas. Their main goals are to keep sea borders in territorial waters shut, as well as to control sovereign exclu-sive economic zones, to combat smuggling, drug trafficking and piracy, and to conduct maritime SAR operations. Regional conflicts involving coastal nations cannot be disregarded either.

In summary, the key mission of presentday navies is to prevent, repel or contain threats coming from sea. Apart from that, sea terrorism has evolved to become one of the most burning non-military, transnational asymmetric challenges facing governments, navies, coast guards and population of large and small maritime nations. Unlike traditional wars and conflicts, in which warring parties and zones of action are clearly defined, new threats and challenges demand raising specific measures that go far beyond the use of military force.

Integrated surveillance and control

S

systems turn out to be the most efficient and cost-effective means to provide security to the nation under the abovementioned circumstances, as they allow for the monitoring of sea, air and underwater situation, maritime target identification and alert and are organized with automated observation units, communication systems, data collection, processing and output systems, and rapid response forces.

It used to be normal practice that different services developed surveillance and control systems for their particular needs. As a result of interagency disputes, one and the same coastal area in some countries could have several radars, featuring the same characteristics, but operated by different agencies. Indeed, comprehensive solutions are available and affordable for very few, which is explained by serious technological problems to a large extent.

Meanwhile, the contemporary approach to such comprehensive systems envisages that they should have uniform integrated architecture. In other words, the data of all objects in the adjacent coastal area, as well as DSI Marketing Promotion

the sea state and weather info should come as a single packet with regular real-time updates provided by coastal observation points, navy ships, aviation, coast guards and commercial vessels. The processed data should be made available to government and military agencies, and other parties concerned, including commercial ones. Such data might be useful for fish and wildlife services, which have quite limited capabilities to control situation at sea, prevent illegal fishing and seize poachers. Or it might be of help for the customs service which main objective is to timely apprehend smugglers, or for maritime police to combat piracy. Moreover, such systems will allow rescue teams to detect and identify distressed ships in good time, and environmental agencies will be able to localise oil spills at short notice.

In summary, a universal, comprehensive interagency real time surveillance and warning system may be not just functional, but also cost effective. It is deployed using the financing of not one, but several ministries and agencies. Moreover, it no longer has function redundancy, which minimises the total

deployment and maintenance costs owing to the absence of the need to set up similar facilities for different users. Mention should be made that the advanced computer-based, network and telecoms technologies of data collection, processing and transmission pave way for the use of sea situation monitoring and control systems that are already in service, such as radars and state-of-the-art global and national space-based systems.

Taking this into account, Russia’s main arms and dual use equipment trader Rosoboronexport offers a huge line up of most sophisticated and advanced systems that can be easily converted into a comprehensive surveillance, control and warning chain.

The core elements of the network are coastal operations and data control centres, which collect, process and store information from in-service observation and surveillance assets. These mainly include coast based radars such as MR-10M1E and its mobile version Mys-M1E, as well as PodberyozovikET1, Fregat and wireless observation posts, interconnected into territorial subsystems.

The latter can be used to control coastal zones of 500 nm long and up to 200 nm wide.

Its maritime target acquisition and identification capability guarantees the detection of vessels used by terrorists, trespassers, poachers, and pirates, as well as their rapid arrest.

The wireless observation posts are equipped with radars and electro-optical systems of various types, and are running on various frequencies, featuring allweather day and night observation, navigation and mapping functions, and boasting advanced electromagnetic, hydro acoustic and other capabilities, provided by both fixed and mobile sensor units. A distinctive advantage of such posts is the comprehensive and full picture of maritime situation in the area of responsibility, they pro-vide. Coastal radars detect sea objects, identify them friend-or-foe and measure coordinates and motion parameters. Television and infrared cameras transfer video im-ages for further identification of targets. The data is then fed to automatic IFF trans-ponders, which are used to check route, destination,

carried load and owner parameters of the vessels under consideration.

The automatic weather radar at the wireless observation post and data buoys regularly submit weather updates to the territorial information centre. Their auto-matic digital communication systems support VHF and HF radio exchange with subscribers far beyond the line-of-sight, which allows forming a chain of several transceivers with the total coverage up to 200 km. The posts can be fully automatic, remotely operated or controlled by shifts of human operators.

In addition, Rosoboronexport offers overthe-horizon observation systems, featuring really outstanding performance. A bright example of such a system is the Podsolnukh-E surface wave radar, designed to provide roundthe-clock all-weather detection of surface and aerial targets at ranges out to 450 km in the water area of 25,000 square miles simultaneously. The radar automatically checks target coordi-nates and measures motion parameters, processes them and feeds to rapid reaction force’s headquarters all in real time. Its antennae do not need special

Rosoborn06 final.qxp:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 4:49 PM Page 4

Dozor unmanned aerial vehicle

Podsolnukh-E surface wave radar Mys-MIE

maintenance or servicing as they include no moving parts.

The radar is able to assess geophysical and jamming environment and adjust to contingencies automatically. A set of such systems placed along the shoreline will normally form a joint data link with the command posts of the Navy, Coast Guards and weapon control station.

In summary, the Podsolnukh-E over-the-horizon radar has a potential to dramatically cut the costs of 200-mile economic zone monitoring and surveillance, not to mention that it can be operated both in defence and civilian roles (SAR, eco-logical monitoring, tsunami warning, wildlife protection).

Yet another effective observation system is the Monolit-B active/passive radar. The matter is that it detects radar signals of enemy’s warships at more than 400 km, offering precise target designation for coastal missile and artillery systems.

Moreover, the comprehensive obser– vation and surveillance system can take hold of the data concerning underwater targets (mini-subs, combat swimmers and specially trained water animals), which it obtains from underwater observation means, including MGK-608E Sever longrange underwater detection radar and Amga-ME hydro acoustic system. At short ranges it relies on Komor electromagnetic antisub radar, Anapa-ME anti-ranger hydro locator and Komor-1 magneto-acoustic system. These are highly immune to jamming and can covertly detect submarines, surface ships and small size objects, identify them and automatically send target designation data to coastal weapons even before the targets approach critical maritime or shore facilities, including oil platforms, seaports and naval bases. Deployed properly on the seashore, islands, oil platforms, in straights and seaports, these systems form a joint data area, collecting information about underwater situation throughout the whole coastal zone.

The comprehensive system designers attached special importance to its capability of preventing sea crime and terrorism, taking into account that large political, trade and industrial facilities, located in the coastal area, are vulnerable to terror attacks by extremists seeking to inflict catastrophic damage on economy and cause as many human casualties as possible. Despite this, some rogue nations give shelter to criminals and terrorists, who use their territories as bridgeheads for the expansion of their illegal activities at sea in all corners of the globe. To address this threat, the integrated system has a provision for a specialised small size satellite communication trans– mitter: it sends alarm signals to coastal information centres and provides early warning of security forces about terror attacks on small fishing boats and tourist liners. The captain of a distressed vessel should only press the alarm button on a portable gadget to send the alarm signal, while larger ships would normally use auto-mated warning systems for this.

Russia has also developed the Dozor unmanned aerial vehicle to control and observe sea borders in the exclusive economic zone. The drone flies up in the sky for a long time, detecting and identifying surface targets and transmitting their details to coastal surveillance systems from ranges out to 200 miles. The cruising speed of the UAV is 120150 km/h, while the range is 1,200 km. The activation time for equipment check, flight data input and other prelaunch procedures does not exceed 30 minutes.

DSI Marketing Promotion

Open architecture and simple design are undoubtedly two key advantages of the integrated system offered by Rosoboronexport. The matter is that system capabilities can be built up indefinitely by raising the number of its constituent parts, modernising them and introducing new and more advanced systems.

The first phase provides for the setting up of local and regional situation awareness centres. They can be deployed in the responsibility zones of naval bases, security areas of coastal and sea infrastructure of oil and gas companies, and other critical facilities and installations.

The regional systems may then be reorganised into a joint countrywide situation awareness centre. Importantly, the fact that up-to-date general and military information technologies are used to set up such systems guarantees their costeffectiveness and protection from unauthorised interferences.

Russia has faced tough rivalry on the market of integrated surveillance systems of late. Indeed, there are many such systems on offer now, but they are either inferior to Russian ones in terms of performance, or have similar characteristics, but cost significantly more. Many clients are aware of the trend, and have wisely launched talks with Rosoboronexport over the supply and deployment of national surveillance systems.

The wealth of experience in using integrated surveillance systems for the control of coastal waters in Russia proves that the comprehensive approach to the information support of all types of maritime operations raises their efficiency by more than 30%. Noteworthy, the configurations of such systems may vary depending on particular missions, tasks and the choice of equipment by the customer. In other words, it can be either a local area protection system for an oil platform, or a huge country-wide maritime situation awareness centre.

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C4I.qxp:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 2:40 PM Page 1

AUGUST 2010

MODERNISATION

DSI

Indian defence requirements are attracting international interest largely due to the $80 billion that has been earmarked for its modernisation

Indian Army soldiers use satellite phones to communicate with their colleagues at Sonamarg, Kashmir

ADAM BADDELEY

KEY POINTS

n The amount India has ear marked for its defence modernisation is leading to partnerships between domestic and international firms and leading to their integration into the global supply chain. n Extending advanced Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence to the Indian battlefield presents a plethora of challenges.

AFP

I

THE DIGITISATION PATH 38

ndia’s embarkation on the path of digitisation at the lowest tactical level has begun with programmes such as Battlefield Management System (BMS) and F-INSAS (Future Infantry Soldier as a System).

Extending advanced Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) to these battlefield echelons presents a plethora of challenges, not least their sheer scale. F-INSAS’ potential scope is 350,000 infantrymen, dwarfing all other similar programmes in the world.

Expectedly then, the $80 billion India has earmarked for these and other programmes over the next years is drawing considerable international interest and leading to co-operation and partnership with domestic firms and their integration into the international supply chain.

Already, Israel’s Elbit Systems has a presence in India. Earlier this year, Elbit were awarded the contract to supply their BMS system to meet Australia’s Battle Group and Below Command, Control and Communications programme which will, equip Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) and dismounted troops. It has also recently been selected to supply Chile with a similar system for that country’s Tarapacá requirement.

39

In Israel, Elbit are the prime suppliers for the Israel Defence Force’s (IDF) Digital Army Programme (DAP) that provides C4I to all aspects of maneuver forces from future soldiers and armoured forces to army aviation, with links to other arms. In June, the IDF completed a major exercise in the North of the country, using all aspects of the DAP architecture including the Dominatorbased future soldier system which began delivery in early 2009.

Raytheon, working with the Indian firm Precision Engineering Ltd, has demonstrated a 2Mbps tactical network to the Indian military earlier this year, using its EPLRS XF-based radio family which can equip vehicles, dismounted soldiers, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and aircraft. Raytheon has a number of scalable Command and Control (C2) products such as its Tactical Small Unit Situational Awareness, which runs on Google Android operating systems and Google’s mapping software—both open source solutions.

The company’s adoption of open source solution has been continued with its Persistent Surveillance and Dissemination of Systems (PSDS2) designed to automatically detect, cross cue and correlate C4I data for targetting and intelligence. Part of its offering in India, the systems was originally developed and then fielded in Iraq in just 110 days.

Imagery and data can be archived for 30 days and each node supports up to eight sensor inputs via Ethernet, analogue or microwave radio links, with new sensors able to integrated within an hour. PSDS2 consisted of a single transit case, which issues entirely Commercial Off The Shelf (CoTS) products enabling the maintenance of the system to be sourced internationally.

Another off-the-shelf solution is the Israeli firm Kearfott’s Instant NetworkCentric System (INCS), a low cost and rapidly installed solution, which it is offering in India. This consists of a ruggedised tactical computer designed to accept any third party C2 software and a Mobilcom’s MCU-100 (a 4G LTE 2.5GHz broadband wireless solution

C4I.qxp:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 2:40 PM Page 1

AUGUST 2010

MODERNISATION

DSI

Indian defence requirements are attracting international interest largely due to the $80 billion that has been earmarked for its modernisation

Indian Army soldiers use satellite phones to communicate with their colleagues at Sonamarg, Kashmir

ADAM BADDELEY

KEY POINTS

n The amount India has ear marked for its defence modernisation is leading to partnerships between domestic and international firms and leading to their integration into the global supply chain. n Extending advanced Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence to the Indian battlefield presents a plethora of challenges.

AFP

I

THE DIGITISATION PATH 38

ndia’s embarkation on the path of digitisation at the lowest tactical level has begun with programmes such as Battlefield Management System (BMS) and F-INSAS (Future Infantry Soldier as a System).

Extending advanced Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) to these battlefield echelons presents a plethora of challenges, not least their sheer scale. F-INSAS’ potential scope is 350,000 infantrymen, dwarfing all other similar programmes in the world.

Expectedly then, the $80 billion India has earmarked for these and other programmes over the next years is drawing considerable international interest and leading to co-operation and partnership with domestic firms and their integration into the international supply chain.

Already, Israel’s Elbit Systems has a presence in India. Earlier this year, Elbit were awarded the contract to supply their BMS system to meet Australia’s Battle Group and Below Command, Control and Communications programme which will, equip Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) and dismounted troops. It has also recently been selected to supply Chile with a similar system for that country’s Tarapacá requirement.

39

In Israel, Elbit are the prime suppliers for the Israel Defence Force’s (IDF) Digital Army Programme (DAP) that provides C4I to all aspects of maneuver forces from future soldiers and armoured forces to army aviation, with links to other arms. In June, the IDF completed a major exercise in the North of the country, using all aspects of the DAP architecture including the Dominatorbased future soldier system which began delivery in early 2009.

Raytheon, working with the Indian firm Precision Engineering Ltd, has demonstrated a 2Mbps tactical network to the Indian military earlier this year, using its EPLRS XF-based radio family which can equip vehicles, dismounted soldiers, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and aircraft. Raytheon has a number of scalable Command and Control (C2) products such as its Tactical Small Unit Situational Awareness, which runs on Google Android operating systems and Google’s mapping software—both open source solutions.

The company’s adoption of open source solution has been continued with its Persistent Surveillance and Dissemination of Systems (PSDS2) designed to automatically detect, cross cue and correlate C4I data for targetting and intelligence. Part of its offering in India, the systems was originally developed and then fielded in Iraq in just 110 days.

Imagery and data can be archived for 30 days and each node supports up to eight sensor inputs via Ethernet, analogue or microwave radio links, with new sensors able to integrated within an hour. PSDS2 consisted of a single transit case, which issues entirely Commercial Off The Shelf (CoTS) products enabling the maintenance of the system to be sourced internationally.

Another off-the-shelf solution is the Israeli firm Kearfott’s Instant NetworkCentric System (INCS), a low cost and rapidly installed solution, which it is offering in India. This consists of a ruggedised tactical computer designed to accept any third party C2 software and a Mobilcom’s MCU-100 (a 4G LTE 2.5GHz broadband wireless solution

C4I.qxp:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 10:14 AM Page 3

AUGUST 2010

MODERNISATION

Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) network as well as part of Australia’s coastal surveillance infrastructure. The company has also developed SoldierLink, an extension of the systems down to the individual level. The company has undertaken demonstration and briefing the Directorate General of Information System and Infantry over the past three years and received a Request for Information (RfI) to meet the F-INSAS programme shortly after the DEFEXPO held in Delhi in February.

On its part, General Dynamics UK has led the UK’s Bowman programme, with integrated high frequency, very high frequency and ultra high frequency radios

with a battle management system. The company has integrated similar systems for Romania and is in the process of supplying an International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) free $75m LTCIS Brigade sized C4I solution for Libya.

General Dynamics has recently set up an Indian subsidiary and General Dynamics C4 Systems has set up two plants near Delhi that are integrated into their overall capability offering.

Rohde and Schwarz’s (R&S) has a significant world wide presence, principally with its Multiband, Multimode, Multirole Tactical Radio System (M3TR) family of tactical radios with variants of the family designed to equip naval vessels

Infanterist der Zukunft (IdZ) and aircraft. R&S radios, for Indian Army soldiers example, are standard on all receive instructions in an future soldier system, the two are offering the Warrior 21 Airbus A400M trans- underground bunker in system internationally with port aircraft. For situational Drass (left) A French the company’s offerings being awareness, the company soldier equipped with selected by Spain and uses TacMan, a licensed ver- Sagem’s FELIN future Switzerland to date. sion of ESG’s Taranis Light soldier system Saab is co-operating with C4I software. Customers include a European Special Forces used to Mahindra in the C4I sector and has been demonstrating capabilities to the Indian share data within a convoy.

Thales has a number of C4I partners military. The basis for all Saab’s C2 prodand joint ventures in Asia, notably with uct is the SAFIR-SDK architecture and Sapura in Malaysia with the domestic com- open source developer kit, which can be pany and Samsung in South Korea. In downloaded and is used as the basis on India, its partner is Rolta. At Delhi’s DEF- which customers’ specific applications can EXPO 2010, several key Thales C4I offer- be built. The architecture is already in ings on show at Rolta’s pavilion included service as part of Sweden’s SLB battle the FlexNet Software Defined Radio management system. As part of the tech(SDR), St@rmille soldier radio and nology transfer package with Mahindra, Battlegroup Comm@nder integrated Saab has taken a number of Indian engivehicle-based C4I system. In addition to neers to Sweden to train them.

According to some estimations, Harris specific national partners, the company is establishing strategic partners with key RF Communications today provides over suppliers, one of the first being Barco, the 30 percent of all military radios sold annually throughout the world. The company world’s biggest military display supplier.

Fellow French firm, Sagem, leading with through the US Foreign Military Sales its work on the Fantassin a Equipements et route has sold a number of its previous Liaisons Integres (FELIN) future soldier generation Falcon II Combat Net Radios to system, is now entering large scale service. Pakistan but says it will offer India a disFrance’s DGA brought FELIN to DEFEXPO tinct and different offering. Harris has in February, the only country to bring a already provided the Mumbai police with national system to the event. Working with Land Mobile Radios and the company’s EADS, the supplier of Germany’s current RF-7800S Secure Personal Radio (SPR),

40

41

P

”

capable up to 40Mbps) which can be rapidly attached on any vehicle.

Danish firm Terma’s T-Core software provides a core C2 solution that can be adapted for land, sea and air applications, designated by the ‘FLEX’ suffix. For Denmark’s deployment in Afghanistan, it has equipped its armoured and tactical vehicles with the DK-BMS system, which is a combination of Systematic’s SitaWare MIP software and BMS-FLEX. The system underwent its final acceptance test in May. In India, Terma is currently in negotiations to determine a local partner. Systematic, however, has opted to prioritise opportunities in Pakistan, principally focussing on a high level C2 system there.

Northrop Grumman’s iBMS solution is scalable from division down to the soldier level. iBMS is a development of the Command and Control Personal Computer (C2PC) software with the introduction of a Network Service Gateway.

C2PC is widely used across the world: its diverse uses include a C2 enabler for NATO Special Forces, Taiwan’s Po Sheng Command, Control, Communications,

AFP

Thales has a number of C4I partners and joint ventures in Asia, notably with Sapura in Malaysia with the domestic company and Samsung in South Korea.

In India, its partner is Rolta. At DEFEXPO 2010, several keyThales C4I offerings on show at Rolta’s stand included such as the FlexNet Software Defined Radio (SDR), St@rmille soldier radio and Battlegroup Comm@nder integrated vehicle based C4I system.

DSI

one of the most highly capable individual radios on the market being recently demonstrated to India’s military.

At the Eurosatory Defence Show in June, Harris announced their Falcon Fighter soldier system is a complete modular soldier system built around the SPR with worn computing and displays and uses the company’s new Falcon Command C2 software scalable from brigade down to the individual soldier.

The Falcon Fighters first customer is an Asian special forces, which will receive the system in March.

Other Harris radios include the new RF-7800V-HH, a hand-held SDR, which has demonstrated ranges of 15km in the dense Amazon jungle, which also supports narrowband data rates of up to 175Kbps.

The American firm ITT began establishing a physical presence in India in 2010, when it opened its first office here. In terms of C4I, the company is pursing opportunities in BMS, F-INSAS and other programmes. In 2009, the company demonstrated in India the vehicle mounted High Capacity Data Radio used by the US, UK, Poland, Belgium and Italy together with the SpearNet hand-held radio. Spain has acquired a significant number of SpearNet radios that are used in frontline service today as well as part of the development stage of the country’s Comfut Soldier Modernisation programme.

In April, a major Tactical Tele-Medicine exercise using Spearhead radio took place in Seville in Spain. From a camera placed on a medic’s chests, high resolution still and video images were sent over 1.5km: the SpearNet’s transmissions are capable of ranges of up to 5km to ambulance and back to the field hospital to prepare surgeons for their arrival.

Many of the Spanish military’s battlefield C2 solutions such as SIMACET and LINCE are provided by Amper Programmas. For export, a complete C4I suite has been developed for platoon use with the neon C4I suite, with the company negotiating with a number of potential partners in India. The neon system’s capabilities can be built up in a modular fashion with the company seeing the Blue Force Tracking focusing on situational awareness and combat ID version as being a key offering in Asia.

A further version, NeMesis has been developed for the homeland security and is used in the border surveillance role in Kuwait.

C4I.qxp:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 10:14 AM Page 3

AUGUST 2010

MODERNISATION

Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) network as well as part of Australia’s coastal surveillance infrastructure. The company has also developed SoldierLink, an extension of the systems down to the individual level. The company has undertaken demonstration and briefing the Directorate General of Information System and Infantry over the past three years and received a Request for Information (RfI) to meet the F-INSAS programme shortly after the DEFEXPO held in Delhi in February.

On its part, General Dynamics UK has led the UK’s Bowman programme, with integrated high frequency, very high frequency and ultra high frequency radios

with a battle management system. The company has integrated similar systems for Romania and is in the process of supplying an International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) free $75m LTCIS Brigade sized C4I solution for Libya.

General Dynamics has recently set up an Indian subsidiary and General Dynamics C4 Systems has set up two plants near Delhi that are integrated into their overall capability offering.

Rohde and Schwarz’s (R&S) has a significant world wide presence, principally with its Multiband, Multimode, Multirole Tactical Radio System (M3TR) family of tactical radios with variants of the family designed to equip naval vessels

Infanterist der Zukunft (IdZ) and aircraft. R&S radios, for Indian Army soldiers example, are standard on all receive instructions in an future soldier system, the two are offering the Warrior 21 Airbus A400M trans- underground bunker in system internationally with port aircraft. For situational Drass (left) A French the company’s offerings being awareness, the company soldier equipped with selected by Spain and uses TacMan, a licensed ver- Sagem’s FELIN future Switzerland to date. sion of ESG’s Taranis Light soldier system Saab is co-operating with C4I software. Customers include a European Special Forces used to Mahindra in the C4I sector and has been demonstrating capabilities to the Indian share data within a convoy.

Thales has a number of C4I partners military. The basis for all Saab’s C2 prodand joint ventures in Asia, notably with uct is the SAFIR-SDK architecture and Sapura in Malaysia with the domestic com- open source developer kit, which can be pany and Samsung in South Korea. In downloaded and is used as the basis on India, its partner is Rolta. At Delhi’s DEF- which customers’ specific applications can EXPO 2010, several key Thales C4I offer- be built. The architecture is already in ings on show at Rolta’s pavilion included service as part of Sweden’s SLB battle the FlexNet Software Defined Radio management system. As part of the tech(SDR), St@rmille soldier radio and nology transfer package with Mahindra, Battlegroup Comm@nder integrated Saab has taken a number of Indian engivehicle-based C4I system. In addition to neers to Sweden to train them.

According to some estimations, Harris specific national partners, the company is establishing strategic partners with key RF Communications today provides over suppliers, one of the first being Barco, the 30 percent of all military radios sold annually throughout the world. The company world’s biggest military display supplier.

Fellow French firm, Sagem, leading with through the US Foreign Military Sales its work on the Fantassin a Equipements et route has sold a number of its previous Liaisons Integres (FELIN) future soldier generation Falcon II Combat Net Radios to system, is now entering large scale service. Pakistan but says it will offer India a disFrance’s DGA brought FELIN to DEFEXPO tinct and different offering. Harris has in February, the only country to bring a already provided the Mumbai police with national system to the event. Working with Land Mobile Radios and the company’s EADS, the supplier of Germany’s current RF-7800S Secure Personal Radio (SPR),

40

41

P

”

capable up to 40Mbps) which can be rapidly attached on any vehicle.

Danish firm Terma’s T-Core software provides a core C2 solution that can be adapted for land, sea and air applications, designated by the ‘FLEX’ suffix. For Denmark’s deployment in Afghanistan, it has equipped its armoured and tactical vehicles with the DK-BMS system, which is a combination of Systematic’s SitaWare MIP software and BMS-FLEX. The system underwent its final acceptance test in May. In India, Terma is currently in negotiations to determine a local partner. Systematic, however, has opted to prioritise opportunities in Pakistan, principally focussing on a high level C2 system there.

Northrop Grumman’s iBMS solution is scalable from division down to the soldier level. iBMS is a development of the Command and Control Personal Computer (C2PC) software with the introduction of a Network Service Gateway.

C2PC is widely used across the world: its diverse uses include a C2 enabler for NATO Special Forces, Taiwan’s Po Sheng Command, Control, Communications,

AFP

Thales has a number of C4I partners and joint ventures in Asia, notably with Sapura in Malaysia with the domestic company and Samsung in South Korea.

In India, its partner is Rolta. At DEFEXPO 2010, several keyThales C4I offerings on show at Rolta’s stand included such as the FlexNet Software Defined Radio (SDR), St@rmille soldier radio and Battlegroup Comm@nder integrated vehicle based C4I system.

DSI

one of the most highly capable individual radios on the market being recently demonstrated to India’s military.

At the Eurosatory Defence Show in June, Harris announced their Falcon Fighter soldier system is a complete modular soldier system built around the SPR with worn computing and displays and uses the company’s new Falcon Command C2 software scalable from brigade down to the individual soldier.

The Falcon Fighters first customer is an Asian special forces, which will receive the system in March.

Other Harris radios include the new RF-7800V-HH, a hand-held SDR, which has demonstrated ranges of 15km in the dense Amazon jungle, which also supports narrowband data rates of up to 175Kbps.

The American firm ITT began establishing a physical presence in India in 2010, when it opened its first office here. In terms of C4I, the company is pursing opportunities in BMS, F-INSAS and other programmes. In 2009, the company demonstrated in India the vehicle mounted High Capacity Data Radio used by the US, UK, Poland, Belgium and Italy together with the SpearNet hand-held radio. Spain has acquired a significant number of SpearNet radios that are used in frontline service today as well as part of the development stage of the country’s Comfut Soldier Modernisation programme.

In April, a major Tactical Tele-Medicine exercise using Spearhead radio took place in Seville in Spain. From a camera placed on a medic’s chests, high resolution still and video images were sent over 1.5km: the SpearNet’s transmissions are capable of ranges of up to 5km to ambulance and back to the field hospital to prepare surgeons for their arrival.

Many of the Spanish military’s battlefield C2 solutions such as SIMACET and LINCE are provided by Amper Programmas. For export, a complete C4I suite has been developed for platoon use with the neon C4I suite, with the company negotiating with a number of potential partners in India. The neon system’s capabilities can be built up in a modular fashion with the company seeing the Blue Force Tracking focusing on situational awareness and combat ID version as being a key offering in Asia.

A further version, NeMesis has been developed for the homeland security and is used in the border surveillance role in Kuwait.

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE GRID.qxd:INDO-PAK.qxd 06/08/10 2:29 PM Page 1

AUGUST 2010

SECURITY

NETWORKING INTELLIGENCE

DSI

A team of Army personnel investigating at the German Bakery in Pune where a powerful bomb blasted kiiling nine people in February 2010

The National Intelligence Grid will be an umbrella organisation of investigating agencies providing a crucial centralised data system

VIKRAM SOOD

It is unclear how the National Intelligence Grid (NIG) will differ from the National Counter-Terrorism Centre. n With a Parliamentary form of government and a Cabinet Committee on Security empowered to take decisions, ownership of the proposed NIG will be problematic. n While it is not necessary to completely replicate the NIG that has been set up in the US it is a useful template for the Indian system. n

I

ndia is located in a volatile and unstable area surrounded by either inimical or failing States. Till date, we continue to face terrorist threats sponsored by Pakistan, tackle home-grown insurgencies and deal with unstable relations with a rising power with which we fought a war and still don’t have a demarcated border. We also have to counter various internal ethnic insurgencies, ideological upheavals and worsening socio-economic problems that emanate from exploding expectations and imbalances that arise due to a rapidly developing economy.

In addition to all this, today’s enemies have no borders and have the advantage of being invisible till they perpetrate their acts.

The rapid growth of science and technology has altered the way future wars will be fought and how terrorists will equip themselves. Lethality will have a different meaning ranging from nuclear bombs in State arsenals to dirty bombs in the hands of terrorists, from State-sponsored cyber warfare to the use of cyber technology by terrorists as well as the use of modern communications by State and non-State actors. Speed, miniaturisation and lethality make for that extra surprise that the State has to match to deal with 21st century threats. As the scope and scale of threats increases with the passage of time, it is upto nations to understand and appreciate them fully and take necessary steps to protect the State’s vital interests including its population.

INDIAN EXPRESS ARCHIVE/ARUL HORIZON

KEY POINTS

Modern Terrorism Modern terrorism thrives not just on ideology or politics. The main driver is money and the new economy of terror and international crime has been estimated at $1.5 trillion (and growing) and is often referred to as the New Economy of Terror, which is big enough to challenge Western hegemony. The various illegal businesses of arms and narcotics trading, oil and diamond smuggling, charitable organisations that front for illegal businesses and black money operations, all form part of this burgeoning business.

42

Narcotics smuggling too generates its separate line of business; globally connected with arms smuggling and human trafficking. And all these areas deal in $100 bills. The buzzword today is globalisation, even in the business of terrorism.

Armed groups have linked up internationally, financially and otherwise, and have been able to operate across borders

with Pakistani jihadis doing service in the US, France or Australia, while Uzbek and Chechen insurgents have taken shelter in Pakistan. The manner in which Pakistani terrorist organisations have morphed and amalgamated in recent months gives an indication of their malleability and adaptability as well as the control exercised over them by the State.

This only exacerbates problems for the Indian intelligence and security services, including the counter-terrorist.

Today, there is no knowing the origin or nature of the next threat or terrorist attack.

The fear of an attack is by itself a terrorist act. If September 11, 2001, was an act of airborne terror, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks were an act of maritime terror, in its infan-

43

cy. Today’s pirates, off the coast of Somalia, could be tomorrow’s terrorists acting across India’s 7,500km coastline. Going by our recent experiences, if not from the earlier advice, we need to be prepared to deal with State-sponsored cyber warfare. We need specialised skills to counter cyber warfare and to build offensive cyber warfare of our own.

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE GRID.qxd:INDO-PAK.qxd 06/08/10 2:29 PM Page 1

AUGUST 2010

SECURITY

NETWORKING INTELLIGENCE

DSI

A team of Army personnel investigating at the German Bakery in Pune where a powerful bomb blasted kiiling nine people in February 2010

The National Intelligence Grid will be an umbrella organisation of investigating agencies providing a crucial centralised data system

VIKRAM SOOD

It is unclear how the National Intelligence Grid (NIG) will differ from the National Counter-Terrorism Centre. n With a Parliamentary form of government and a Cabinet Committee on Security empowered to take decisions, ownership of the proposed NIG will be problematic. n While it is not necessary to completely replicate the NIG that has been set up in the US it is a useful template for the Indian system. n

I

ndia is located in a volatile and unstable area surrounded by either inimical or failing States. Till date, we continue to face terrorist threats sponsored by Pakistan, tackle home-grown insurgencies and deal with unstable relations with a rising power with which we fought a war and still don’t have a demarcated border. We also have to counter various internal ethnic insurgencies, ideological upheavals and worsening socio-economic problems that emanate from exploding expectations and imbalances that arise due to a rapidly developing economy.

In addition to all this, today’s enemies have no borders and have the advantage of being invisible till they perpetrate their acts.

The rapid growth of science and technology has altered the way future wars will be fought and how terrorists will equip themselves. Lethality will have a different meaning ranging from nuclear bombs in State arsenals to dirty bombs in the hands of terrorists, from State-sponsored cyber warfare to the use of cyber technology by terrorists as well as the use of modern communications by State and non-State actors. Speed, miniaturisation and lethality make for that extra surprise that the State has to match to deal with 21st century threats. As the scope and scale of threats increases with the passage of time, it is upto nations to understand and appreciate them fully and take necessary steps to protect the State’s vital interests including its population.

INDIAN EXPRESS ARCHIVE/ARUL HORIZON

KEY POINTS

Modern Terrorism Modern terrorism thrives not just on ideology or politics. The main driver is money and the new economy of terror and international crime has been estimated at $1.5 trillion (and growing) and is often referred to as the New Economy of Terror, which is big enough to challenge Western hegemony. The various illegal businesses of arms and narcotics trading, oil and diamond smuggling, charitable organisations that front for illegal businesses and black money operations, all form part of this burgeoning business.

42

Narcotics smuggling too generates its separate line of business; globally connected with arms smuggling and human trafficking. And all these areas deal in $100 bills. The buzzword today is globalisation, even in the business of terrorism.

Armed groups have linked up internationally, financially and otherwise, and have been able to operate across borders

with Pakistani jihadis doing service in the US, France or Australia, while Uzbek and Chechen insurgents have taken shelter in Pakistan. The manner in which Pakistani terrorist organisations have morphed and amalgamated in recent months gives an indication of their malleability and adaptability as well as the control exercised over them by the State.

This only exacerbates problems for the Indian intelligence and security services, including the counter-terrorist.

Today, there is no knowing the origin or nature of the next threat or terrorist attack.

The fear of an attack is by itself a terrorist act. If September 11, 2001, was an act of airborne terror, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks were an act of maritime terror, in its infan-

43

cy. Today’s pirates, off the coast of Somalia, could be tomorrow’s terrorists acting across India’s 7,500km coastline. Going by our recent experiences, if not from the earlier advice, we need to be prepared to deal with State-sponsored cyber warfare. We need specialised skills to counter cyber warfare and to build offensive cyber warfare of our own.

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE GRID.qxd:INDO-PAK.qxd 06/08/10 2:30 PM Page 3

AUGUST 2010

SECURITY

INDIAN EXPRESS ARCHIVE

A POTENTIAL CHECK LIST FOR THE NIG

were there earlier but they The rapidly changing Bodies of victims killed were ignored. nature of the threat, the in a Naxal attack in transnational character of the Dantewada in May terrorist, the multiple impacts Indian Security Needs of his activities and the speed with which it As a nation, quite simply, we are not manifests itself, make it necessary to have security minded. Our actions to periodithe best possible internal and external sys- cally improve the security systems have tems, with excellent coordination between been episodic and not based on threat these intelligence organisations. perceptions for the future. While the However, mere intelligence coordina- Chinese invasion led to the creation of tion among agencies is not enough, what the Aviation Research Centre, the is also needed is seamless coordination Sashastra Seema Bal and the Special among the other agencies downstream. Frontier Force, the Pakistani invasion of This means coordination among teams 1965 and the Mizo uprising of 1966 led to that are supposed to react to intelligence the creation of RAW (Research and threats and State forces of security and Analysis Wing). intelligence that will be required to take For years nothing new was created till follow up action. Good and accurate intel- the Kargil invasion which led to the ligence is wasted if the response mecha- creation of the Defence Inte– nisms are weak or un-coordinated. The lligence Agency, the National Technical 26/11 Mumbai attacks established this Research Organisation and the Multiclearly, even though intellgence signs Agency Centre. The 26/11 attacks led to

44

the creation of the National Investigation Agency, the proposed National CounterTerrorism Centre (NCTC) and most recently there is talk of creation of a National Intelligence Grid (NIG).

Since the Kargil invasion of 1999, there has been a tendency to replicate existing American systems in India. The US has set up an elaborate labyrinth called the National Intelligence Grid (NIG). But this network has not been without its teething problems. The blueprint of the US intelligence community (IC), called the 500-Day Plan for Integration and Collaboration, describes the essence of the problem with these words. “IC personnel have not fully developed the mutual trust or the information sharing networks that enable a common IC culture of collaboration. In today’s environment, the wide array of intelligence professionals with varied backgrounds and experiences need to

l

The system must be adapted to Indian conditions with care being taken not to simply copy systems followed in other countries, notably the US and the UK.

l

It is no use forming new agencies unless the existing ones are first spruced up.

Intelligence and police reforms are part of a general reform.

l

There must be a quick response mechanism in position from the Centre down to the point of action in the State.

l

It is not enough to merely create state-of-the-art superstructures unless there is reform from the bottom up.

l

In tackling insurgencies and terrorism it is not enough to have a muscular response.

Intelligence agencies need to analyse, evaluate the data and information, quickly, and in virtual time, keeping in mind the high use of technology and cyber warfare from threats emanating from state adversaries.

l

Since there is a multiplicity of specialised intelligence agencies, there has to be a clear and legal charter of duties for each agency.

l

The agencies should be required to function within the charter, with autonomy of function in operational and strategic matters. Heads of organisations must be empowered sufficiently to be able to take administrative decisions on their own.

l

There has to be effective and imaginative media management.

l

It is necessary to create a culture in the intelligence community that leads to coordination and collaboration, which is never an easy goal and to be able to feed multiple consumers in real time.

l

There has to be an effective coordination between the agencies and among the various ministries and departments of the government.

l

In our structure, where law and order is a State subject, there has to legislative enactment that empowers the Centre to compel the States to cooperate either for data sharing or follow up on intelligence inputs.

l

Finally, for coordinating and supervising all these intelligence agencies, there has to be an Intelligence Coordinator as distinct from the National Security Advisor who is the chief consumer of the finished product and a principal advisor to the government.

—VS

work together with greater access and agility and collaborate on improvements and mission critical problems as a matter of course to achieve superior results.” The grid seeks to accelerate information sharing, build acquisition excellence, modernise practices and seeks to improve the role of the US Directorate of National Intelligence’s authorities.

The US NIG then has a different purpose from its Indian counterpart: it seeks to integrate the intelligence community, but the Indian system, on the other hand, envisages the establishment of a huge data bank.

In India, our first task should be to get the National Intelligence Grid off the ground as soon as possible. From what has appeared in the media so far, it seems that the NIG is an ambitious programme that seeks to provide complete data about any individual. This includes land records,

internet logs, phone records, gun records, driving license, insurance and income tax records, relating to rail and air travel, phone calls, bank accounts, credit card transactions and PAN cards. This data will be available to eleven Government agencies like the Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing, Military Intelligence, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, among others. All authorised agencies like the Railways, Income Tax, Air India, the State Police and even banks, insurance and telecom companies will have access to this data. This information is to be linked with the Unique Identification System, which will be established by February 2011.

Judging from the manner in which we organise our national census and our election cards, there are reasons to be skeptical about our ability to achieve this much needed data bank by the stipulated date, assuming that it has Cabinet clearance.

45

DSI

Our actions to periodically improve the security systems have been episodic and not based on future threat perceptions.

While the Chinese invasion led to the creation of the Aviation Research Centre, the Sashastra Seema Bal and the Special Frontier Force, the Pakistani invasion of 1965 and the Mizo uprising of 1966 led to the creation of Research and AnalysisWing.

”

Having said that, the NIG also needs to have safeguards against misuse of this data both by those managing it and those seeking it. The NIG is located in a Presidential form of government in the US where the ownership of this system lies with the President. In India, however, with its Parliamentary form of government, and the Cabinet Committee on Security empowered to take decisions, ownership of a proposed NIG is going to be problematic. Of course, this is a subsequent issue.

Further, it is not clear how NIG would be distinct from the NCTC: will it duplicate its data or will it merely superimpose itself? The personnel managing the NIG will need training and experience, both of which have their own unavoidable gestation period. These are grey areas that need to be sorted out.

Above all the NIG must be manned by trained men and women and not birds of passage.

It is not necessary to replicate the US system in its entirety but it is a useful launching pad to adopt it to Indian conditions and threats. In our case, the mere establishment of a National Intelligence Grid will not be enough unless there is a root and branch bottom up approach being followed simultaneously.

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE GRID.qxd:INDO-PAK.qxd 06/08/10 2:30 PM Page 3

AUGUST 2010

SECURITY

INDIAN EXPRESS ARCHIVE

A POTENTIAL CHECK LIST FOR THE NIG

were there earlier but they The rapidly changing Bodies of victims killed were ignored. nature of the threat, the in a Naxal attack in transnational character of the Dantewada in May terrorist, the multiple impacts Indian Security Needs of his activities and the speed with which it As a nation, quite simply, we are not manifests itself, make it necessary to have security minded. Our actions to periodithe best possible internal and external sys- cally improve the security systems have tems, with excellent coordination between been episodic and not based on threat these intelligence organisations. perceptions for the future. While the However, mere intelligence coordina- Chinese invasion led to the creation of tion among agencies is not enough, what the Aviation Research Centre, the is also needed is seamless coordination Sashastra Seema Bal and the Special among the other agencies downstream. Frontier Force, the Pakistani invasion of This means coordination among teams 1965 and the Mizo uprising of 1966 led to that are supposed to react to intelligence the creation of RAW (Research and threats and State forces of security and Analysis Wing). intelligence that will be required to take For years nothing new was created till follow up action. Good and accurate intel- the Kargil invasion which led to the ligence is wasted if the response mecha- creation of the Defence Inte– nisms are weak or un-coordinated. The lligence Agency, the National Technical 26/11 Mumbai attacks established this Research Organisation and the Multiclearly, even though intellgence signs Agency Centre. The 26/11 attacks led to

44

the creation of the National Investigation Agency, the proposed National CounterTerrorism Centre (NCTC) and most recently there is talk of creation of a National Intelligence Grid (NIG).

Since the Kargil invasion of 1999, there has been a tendency to replicate existing American systems in India. The US has set up an elaborate labyrinth called the National Intelligence Grid (NIG). But this network has not been without its teething problems. The blueprint of the US intelligence community (IC), called the 500-Day Plan for Integration and Collaboration, describes the essence of the problem with these words. “IC personnel have not fully developed the mutual trust or the information sharing networks that enable a common IC culture of collaboration. In today’s environment, the wide array of intelligence professionals with varied backgrounds and experiences need to

l

The system must be adapted to Indian conditions with care being taken not to simply copy systems followed in other countries, notably the US and the UK.

l

It is no use forming new agencies unless the existing ones are first spruced up.

Intelligence and police reforms are part of a general reform.

l

There must be a quick response mechanism in position from the Centre down to the point of action in the State.

l

It is not enough to merely create state-of-the-art superstructures unless there is reform from the bottom up.

l

In tackling insurgencies and terrorism it is not enough to have a muscular response.

Intelligence agencies need to analyse, evaluate the data and information, quickly, and in virtual time, keeping in mind the high use of technology and cyber warfare from threats emanating from state adversaries.

l

Since there is a multiplicity of specialised intelligence agencies, there has to be a clear and legal charter of duties for each agency.

l

The agencies should be required to function within the charter, with autonomy of function in operational and strategic matters. Heads of organisations must be empowered sufficiently to be able to take administrative decisions on their own.

l

There has to be effective and imaginative media management.

l

It is necessary to create a culture in the intelligence community that leads to coordination and collaboration, which is never an easy goal and to be able to feed multiple consumers in real time.

l

There has to be an effective coordination between the agencies and among the various ministries and departments of the government.

l

In our structure, where law and order is a State subject, there has to legislative enactment that empowers the Centre to compel the States to cooperate either for data sharing or follow up on intelligence inputs.

l

Finally, for coordinating and supervising all these intelligence agencies, there has to be an Intelligence Coordinator as distinct from the National Security Advisor who is the chief consumer of the finished product and a principal advisor to the government.

—VS

work together with greater access and agility and collaborate on improvements and mission critical problems as a matter of course to achieve superior results.” The grid seeks to accelerate information sharing, build acquisition excellence, modernise practices and seeks to improve the role of the US Directorate of National Intelligence’s authorities.

The US NIG then has a different purpose from its Indian counterpart: it seeks to integrate the intelligence community, but the Indian system, on the other hand, envisages the establishment of a huge data bank.

In India, our first task should be to get the National Intelligence Grid off the ground as soon as possible. From what has appeared in the media so far, it seems that the NIG is an ambitious programme that seeks to provide complete data about any individual. This includes land records,

internet logs, phone records, gun records, driving license, insurance and income tax records, relating to rail and air travel, phone calls, bank accounts, credit card transactions and PAN cards. This data will be available to eleven Government agencies like the Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing, Military Intelligence, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, among others. All authorised agencies like the Railways, Income Tax, Air India, the State Police and even banks, insurance and telecom companies will have access to this data. This information is to be linked with the Unique Identification System, which will be established by February 2011.

Judging from the manner in which we organise our national census and our election cards, there are reasons to be skeptical about our ability to achieve this much needed data bank by the stipulated date, assuming that it has Cabinet clearance.

45

DSI

Our actions to periodically improve the security systems have been episodic and not based on future threat perceptions.

While the Chinese invasion led to the creation of the Aviation Research Centre, the Sashastra Seema Bal and the Special Frontier Force, the Pakistani invasion of 1965 and the Mizo uprising of 1966 led to the creation of Research and AnalysisWing.

”

Having said that, the NIG also needs to have safeguards against misuse of this data both by those managing it and those seeking it. The NIG is located in a Presidential form of government in the US where the ownership of this system lies with the President. In India, however, with its Parliamentary form of government, and the Cabinet Committee on Security empowered to take decisions, ownership of a proposed NIG is going to be problematic. Of course, this is a subsequent issue.

Further, it is not clear how NIG would be distinct from the NCTC: will it duplicate its data or will it merely superimpose itself? The personnel managing the NIG will need training and experience, both of which have their own unavoidable gestation period. These are grey areas that need to be sorted out.

Above all the NIG must be manned by trained men and women and not birds of passage.

It is not necessary to replicate the US system in its entirety but it is a useful launching pad to adopt it to Indian conditions and threats. In our case, the mere establishment of a National Intelligence Grid will not be enough unless there is a root and branch bottom up approach being followed simultaneously.

Myanmar.qxd:INDO-PAK.qxd 10/08/10 2:43 PM Page 1

AUGUST 2010

NEIGHBOURS

DSI

A MATTER OF INTEREST

In the wake of General Than Shwe’s visit, New Delhi has an opportunity to move beyond a zero sum game with Beijing in a region that is strategically important for both Asian powers

SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN

KEY POINTS

India’s engagement with Myanmar is not being driven by ‘narrow’ security imperatives alone. There are a number of strategic drivers at work which make the Indian approach to its eastern neighbour very different from that of the West. n If the West's policy of sanctions has failed to make a dent, India and China ought jointly to leverage their engagement with the regime to help bring about some improvement in the conditions of the Burmese people. n

W AFP

Myanmar’s military ruler Senior General Than Shwe, his wife Daw Kyaing Kyaing and President Pratibha Patil walk the red carpet in New Delhi

46

estern commentators who have written tartly about the recent spectacle of a democratic India playing host to the dictator of Myanmar, Senior General Than Shwe, forget a simple fact of geography. India shares a 1,400 kmlong frontier with Myanmar and three of the four States perched on that frontier have ongoing or barely dormant insurgencies that have often received sanctuary and more across the border. But India’s engagement with Myanmar is not being driven by ‘narrow’ security imperatives alone. There are, in fact, a

47

number of strategic drivers at work here which make the Indian approach to its eastern neighbour very different from that of the West.

India’s special relationship with Myanmar is said by western critics to be a good example of what happens when countries formulate their foreign policy based on realpolitik rather than morality and principles. In 2006, President George W. Bush made a pitch for India to join the United States in isolating the military regime. “India’s leadership is needed in a world that is hungry for freedom,” he said in a speech at Purana Qila in Delhi.

Naming Myanmar and a few other countries, he said that India and the U.S., “...must stand with reformers and dissidents and civil society organisations and hasten the day when the people of these nations can determine their own future and choose their own leaders.”

Geopolitical Reality Nobody in India would disagree with these fine sentiments but the geopolitical reality on the ground is a little more complex. There was a time when India stood unabashedly on the side of the democrats in Myanamar. In the early 1990s, it backed Aung San Suu Kyi in her opposi-

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A MATTER OF INTEREST

In the wake of General Than Shwe’s visit, New Delhi has an opportunity to move beyond a zero sum game with Beijing in a region that is strategically important for both Asian powers

SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN

KEY POINTS

India’s engagement with Myanmar is not being driven by ‘narrow’ security imperatives alone. There are a number of strategic drivers at work which make the Indian approach to its eastern neighbour very different from that of the West. n If the West's policy of sanctions has failed to make a dent, India and China ought jointly to leverage their engagement with the regime to help bring about some improvement in the conditions of the Burmese people. n

W AFP

Myanmar’s military ruler Senior General Than Shwe, his wife Daw Kyaing Kyaing and President Pratibha Patil walk the red carpet in New Delhi

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estern commentators who have written tartly about the recent spectacle of a democratic India playing host to the dictator of Myanmar, Senior General Than Shwe, forget a simple fact of geography. India shares a 1,400 kmlong frontier with Myanmar and three of the four States perched on that frontier have ongoing or barely dormant insurgencies that have often received sanctuary and more across the border. But India’s engagement with Myanmar is not being driven by ‘narrow’ security imperatives alone. There are, in fact, a

47

number of strategic drivers at work here which make the Indian approach to its eastern neighbour very different from that of the West.

India’s special relationship with Myanmar is said by western critics to be a good example of what happens when countries formulate their foreign policy based on realpolitik rather than morality and principles. In 2006, President George W. Bush made a pitch for India to join the United States in isolating the military regime. “India’s leadership is needed in a world that is hungry for freedom,” he said in a speech at Purana Qila in Delhi.

Naming Myanmar and a few other countries, he said that India and the U.S., “...must stand with reformers and dissidents and civil society organisations and hasten the day when the people of these nations can determine their own future and choose their own leaders.”

Geopolitical Reality Nobody in India would disagree with these fine sentiments but the geopolitical reality on the ground is a little more complex. There was a time when India stood unabashedly on the side of the democrats in Myanamar. In the early 1990s, it backed Aung San Suu Kyi in her opposi-

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AFP

Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi with US envoy for East Asia Kurt Campbell (right) in Yangon

tion to the military dictatorship. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) had just won a spectacular and unexpected victory in elections that the military regime— organised then as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)—had hoped the National Unity Party would win. When the NLD won 392 out of 492 seats, the military held the results in abeyance and then annulled them. India joined the West in condemning this move.

But as bilateral relations with Yangon grew frosty, New Delhi saw itself gradually lose out to China. The generals forgave Beijing for its long-standing support to the Burmese Communist Party and other armed ethnic rebels and pushed for Chinese investments and political support.

The Chinese, on their part, made skilful use of SLORC’s desire to use Buddhism as an ideological prop for the regime.

In 2000, when the State Peace and Development Council began experimenting with its version of political reconciliation, the Clinton and Bush administrations and the rest of the West took an all-or-nothing stand.The result was that Daw Suu Kyi was sent back to jail.

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Though there was concern at the inroads China was making, Indian policy makers mainly worried about the activities of insurgent groups in the North-East and their use of Burmese territory as a safe haven. Starting in the mid-1990s, therefore, a course correction was effected. New Delhi began engaging with SLORC—and its current avatar, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)— dropped its vocal support for Daw Suu Kyi and decided that the revival of normal diplomatic and economic ties was the best vehicle for furthering its interests.

Whenever the Indian government has had second thoughts, or comes under western pressure to re-evaluate its approach to the military regime, it has baulked at changing course for fear of giving a greater handle to the Chinese. The irony is that although China has made spectacular inroads, it remains wary of

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Myanmar pro-democracy activists protest against the visit of Senior General Than Shwe in New Delhi

Indian influence there. Not surprisingly, therefore, the generals in Myanmar have become quite adept at playing Beijing off against New Delhi. Each of these rising powers is insecure enough about the other to pander to the endless demands of the Burmese junta for economic assistance and political legitimacy.

One way to break this cycle is for India and China to have a frank dialogue with each other about Myanmar and to see if a win-win situation can be brought about in which the military regime agrees to ‘normalise’ the economic and political situation in the country. To a certain extent, there are signs that the West is also recognising the futility of its boycott politics.

The Obama administration, for example, has sent a high-level envoy, Kurt Campbell, to Myanmar for exploratory discussions with the military regime. But that process has not gone very far, mainly because the SPDC feels it has the backing

Generals in Myanmar have become quite adept at playing Beijing off against New Delhi. Each of these rising powers is insecure enough about the other to pander to the endless demands of the Burmese junta for economic assistance and political legitimacy.

50

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of India and China, not to speak of the ASEAN countries, and does not feel obliged to respond to American overtures.

If the West’s policy of sanctions and boycotts has failed to make a dent, India and China ought jointly to leverage their engagement with the regime to help bring about some improvement in the conditions of the Burmese people. This, in turn, begs the question of whether India and China have enough in common to think about a common approach.

At first blush, their interests seem diametrically opposed. In strategic terms, China is interested in Myanmar as a cargo and energy transit route along a southnorth axis running from Sittwe in the Bay of Bengal to Yunnan province. Oil and gas destined for Kunming, say, must go past the Malacca Straits to the western Chinese seaboard and then be transported thousands of kilometres inward again.

Developing Sittwe, therefore, is an

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NEIGHBOURS “India's leadership is needed in a world that is hungry for freedom,” said George W. Bush during his speech at the Purana Qila. Naming Myanmar and a few other countries, he said that India and the US, “...must stand with reformers and dissidents and civil society organisations and hasten the day when the people of these nations can determine their own future.”

All About Gas Similarly, India has no reason to fear the Chinese plans for a natural gas pipeline from Sittwe to Kunming; if anything, by making China less insecure about the vulnerability of its sea lines of communication, such infrastructure may actually lead to a scaling back of Beijing’s plans

AFP

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attractive proposition for China. For India, however, the west-east transit axis is crucial since Myanmar is the missing link both for better connectivity with NorthEastern States like Mizoram and with the wider ASEAN region. Unless Myanmar comes up to speed, the trans-Asian railroad and highway will remain incomplete.

China, which has not been an enthusiastic supporter of India’s integration with ‘East Asia’, might arguably have a stake in disrupting this west-east connectivity. But Beijing also knows the forces of political economy in a networked world cannot forever be held at bay by the lack of border infrastructure.

Indeed, the benefits that will accrue to Myanmar as a result of its emergence as a transit route along multiple axes will generate positive externalities for China as well.

and A-3 offshore blocks in for an expansion of its naval US President George 2006 not so much because fleet. Indeed, in 2006, India’s W. Bush speaking at oil and gas minister at the time, New Delhi's Purana Qila of Chinese competition but because of Delhi’s Mani Shankar Aiyar, had even during a visit to India inability to work out a proposed extending the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas transit plan through Bangladesh meant it pipeline eastward across Uttar Pradesh, had no immediate use for the gas being Bihar and Assam, into northern produced. Today, given Myanmar’s potential in both natural gas and hydroMyanmar and then up to Yunnan.

India and China compete for electric power, there is enough to keep Myanmar’s offshore gas but there are Indian companies like ONGC Videsh other markets in the fray too like Limited and NHPC (formerly National Thailand and there is no reason for ener- Hydroelectric Power Corporation) gaingy to become a zero-sum game. India lost fully occupied in the longterm, even as out in the allocation of gas from the A-1 Chinese companies operate.

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Though there was concern at the inroads China was making, Indian policy makers mainly worried about the activities of insurgent groups in the North-East and their use of Burmese territory as a safe haven.

Starting in the mid-1990s, therefore, a course correction was effected.

the Union for Solidarity Much, of course, will depend Members of the and Development Party on the future course of political People's Liberation (USDP). The USDP, which developments within Myanmar. Army burn heroin has subsumed the activities There is a line of argument that smuggled in from India should invest more in the Myanmar in Bishnupur of Myanmar’s biggest government-organised NGO, democracy movement because district in Manipur the Union for Solidarity an as and when a regime change occurs, a grateful new government Development Association, will be the would want to scale up its relations with Army’s designated political vehicle when New Delhi and downgrade ties with national elections are held, presumably Beijing. Such a reading is naive, because later in 2010.

Myanmar’s geographical and economic position is such that its relations with Foregone Conclusion China will remain strong regardless of Though the results of the election are a the nature of the regime. Having said foregone conclusion, the National that, India should nevertheless leverage League for Democracy ought to reassess the goodwill it has with the NLD and its decision to boycott the process. There other pro-democracy forces to ensure the is no way the NLD will be allowed to surupcoming elections bring about some prise the military’s party the way it did in change for the better.

1990 and Daw Suu Kyi cannot participate In a pre-emptive move against growing since the rules bar prisoners from being international and domestic pressure, for a members of political parties. But a boychange, the generals in Nay Pyi Taw have cott will be effective only if the NLD can begun laying the groundwork for the tran- mobilise enough support on the streets sition to a ‘managed democracy’. In April, and if the military fears the adverse Prime Minister Thein Sein hung up his impact this would have on its internauniform and announced the formation of tional standing. Neither of these

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conditions hold. The SPDC has already hit rock bottom in the global popularity stakes and the opposition’s chances of paralysing Yangon, Mandalay and the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw are low indeed. Given how well-entrenched the military is—and given the South-East Asia region’s preference for ‘order’—a ‘guided democracy’ of the sort which obtains in Malaysia is perhaps the best that can be hoped for under the present circumstances. But even this would be a huge improvement over the current stalemate and would open up political spaces that Daw Suu Kyi and the NLD could slowly utilise.

In 2000, when the SPDC last began experimenting with its version of political reconciliation, the Clinton and Bush administrations and the rest of the West took a dogmatic, all-or-nothing stand.

The result was that Daw Suu Kyi was sent back to jail. Khin Nyunt, the powerful intelligence chief who had convinced his military colleagues that a limited relaxation at home would open doors abroad, ended up getting purged.

To the extent to which India’s word still counts, it should urge the NLD and others to participate in the upcoming election. And it should begin a serious dialogue with China about the role the two countries can play together to ensure the generals in Myanmar start liberalising the political situation in the country.

DEFENCE and SECURITY of INDIA

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Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, recently cleared the procurement of 42 Russian Sukhoi-30MKI multi-role military aircraft for an estimated Rs 15,000 crore increasing their numbers in service with the IAF to 272 by around 2018-19.

The initial Sukhoi contract in the late 1990s was for 50 fighters, but in 2000 the MoD agreed to locally build another 140 under licence—74 of which had been supplied—and added another 40 few years later. The latest order of 42 Su-30MKIs will make the IAF one of the largest operators of this advanced fighter that has performed creditably in joint exercises with the US, French and Singapore air forces.

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RAHUL BEDI

New Horizons Lockheed Martin’s F-16N is one of the contenders for the MRCA

Trials for MRCA Over THE good news is that the Indian Air Force (IAF), having conducted field and weapon trials of all six competing Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) at home and abroad, plans on submitting its shortlist to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to enable it to begin price negotiations to procure 126 fighters.

Faced with fast diminishing fighter squadrons, the IAF is determined to place the onus on the MoD for a quick decision to ink the MRCA deal within the next 12-18 months.

Under the terms of purchase, the first 18 MRCA will be acquired in a ‘fly away’ condition while the remaining 108 will be built locally under the mandatory Transfer of Technology (ToT). The first MRCA will need to be delivered 48 months after the deal is inked and the selected vendor will be required to undertake an offset of 50 percent (up from the mandatory 30 percent) of the contact value.

The even better news is that the declining value of European currencies could prove advantageous to the three European aircraft makers competing against two US and one Russian vendor for the estimated $11 billion contracts.

All of the six MRCA rivals—Boeing’s F/A-18E/F, Dassault’s Rafale, Eurofighter’s Typhoon, Lockheed Martin’s F-16IN, Russian Aircraft Corporations (RSK’s) MiG-35 and Saab’s JAS-39 Gripen—re-submitted their respective bids to the MoD as their March 2008 proposals valid for two years had expired.

Armament industry sources believe the European vendors, in the light of their depreciating currencies in the ongoing fiscal crisis gripping the region, are likely to be cheaper and more

56

competitive than their earlier proposals in comparison to the ubiquitous dollar.

But aviation industry sources said since Boeing and Lockheed Martin had, over decades, built hundreds of F-16s and F-18s, their development and production costs had long been amortised, rendering both models commercially competitive.

Meanwhile, in making its final choice the MoD is expected to take into account the fighters’ life-cycle cost spread across their projected service life of around four decades instead of its usual procedure of selecting the lowest bidder, better known in the trade as L1 (Lowest 1).

The MoD has estimated that the proposed fighters Verifiable Cost Model (VCM) based on 40 years of squadron service for the MRCA or flying time of 6,000 hours. The IAF and MoD has invited outside expertise to help them compute the MRCA’s life-cycle cost and official sources said this was the primary reason behind the delay in issuing the Request for Proposal in August 2007 for the 126 fighters.

The MoD’s VCM took into account direct acquisition cost including that of weapons and spares, warranty for the first two years and licence royalty to build the MRCA in India. It also included the cost of ToT, the initial training of pilots and technical personnel and operating expenses like fuel consumption and lubricants spread over several decades.

Consequently, all six competitors have configured their bids around the life-cycle cost formula.

According to official sources, the eventual number of MRCAs is expected to increase to aroung 200 within an eventual evaluation of around $16 billion.

IN a welcome development, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) plans to break free of its decades-long dependence on imported materiel and technology by deciding to incrementally develop its military-industrial capability indigenously, by enhancing product development in the private and public sectors.

The first Defence Production Policy (DPP) to be released shortly will require the short-listing in advance by around seven to eight years of weapon and defence systems requirements to provide local companies adequate lead time to develop and manufacture them. The MoD, the military, the Defence Research and Development Organisation and associated technical and financial institutions, including those from the private sector, will be involved in this exercise.

Thereafter, specific programmes will be allocated to various local companies, keeping in view their expertise and capabilities as ‘development projects’ for which the MoD will decree completion deadlines and provide up to 80 percent of funding required for their research and development.

The onus, however, will be on developing strategic and critical technologies as insurance against possible sanctions like the ones imposed after the 1998 nuclear tests. R. K. Singh, secretary, Defence Production, claims that the reworked DPP, with the responsibility of domestic weapons development and production, is to ensure that India’s strategic autonomy is not compromised in addition to it generating jobs and broad-basing the country’s overall industrial infrastructure.

Last year, Defence Minister A. K. Antony had lamented the “shameful and dangerous”

Defence Minister A.K. Antony situation whereby India was impelled to import 70 percent of its materiel despite governmental assertions that the country would be largely self-reliant by 2005.

Augmenting IAF’s Strategic Reach THE Indian Air Force (IAF) has completed trials of the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Very Heavy LiftTransport Aircraft by successfully landing it at Gaggal civilian airport— also known as the Kangra-Dharamshala airfield—on June 23 ahead of acquiring 10 of them for an estimated $5.8 billion to augment its strategic reach.

Leased from the US Air Force, the C-17 successfully touched down at Gaggal’s 1,317m long runway normally used by 50-seat civilian aircraft. It had flown there from the IAF transport base at Agra where the C-17s would eventually be based.

The Gaggal landing completed the C-17 ‘token’ trials, which the IAF had insisted upon even though there was no other aircraft competing for the contract. Air Chief Marshal P. V. Naik declared last year that the IAF had selected the C-17s to replace the IAF’s fleet of the dozen-odd Russian-origin Ilushin IL76 Gajraj transporters for their ability to ferry 70-tonne loads to a distance of 2,400nm and use short or even make-shift runways at high altitudes.

Negotiations, however, for the C-17s to be acquired via the Foreign Military Sales route will begin once the US Congress, which was notified about India’s requirement in April, approved the sale depending on the configuration the IAF wanted. Deliveries wil begin 24 months after the deal was signed, officials say.

Once confirmed, the C-17 acquisition will be India’s biggest ever deal with the US surpassing last January’s $2.1 billion procurement of eight Boeing P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft.

Alongside, the IAF is also in the process of finalising its requirement for 16 medium lift transport aircraft for which Alenia Aeronautica’s C-27J Spartan and EADS’ CASA C-295 were under evaluation.

The two rival models had undergone field trials last December—conducted by the IAF—in support of the Border Security Force’s (BSF) tender for two transport

Boeing C-17 Globemaster I I I Very Heavy Lift Transport Aircraft

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Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, recently cleared the procurement of 42 Russian Sukhoi-30MKI multi-role military aircraft for an estimated Rs 15,000 crore increasing their numbers in service with the IAF to 272 by around 2018-19.

The initial Sukhoi contract in the late 1990s was for 50 fighters, but in 2000 the MoD agreed to locally build another 140 under licence—74 of which had been supplied—and added another 40 few years later. The latest order of 42 Su-30MKIs will make the IAF one of the largest operators of this advanced fighter that has performed creditably in joint exercises with the US, French and Singapore air forces.

a n

u p d a t e

o n

d e f e n c e

c o m m e r c i a l

n e w s

defencebuzz

RAHUL BEDI

New Horizons Lockheed Martin’s F-16N is one of the contenders for the MRCA

Trials for MRCA Over THE good news is that the Indian Air Force (IAF), having conducted field and weapon trials of all six competing Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) at home and abroad, plans on submitting its shortlist to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to enable it to begin price negotiations to procure 126 fighters.

Faced with fast diminishing fighter squadrons, the IAF is determined to place the onus on the MoD for a quick decision to ink the MRCA deal within the next 12-18 months.

Under the terms of purchase, the first 18 MRCA will be acquired in a ‘fly away’ condition while the remaining 108 will be built locally under the mandatory Transfer of Technology (ToT). The first MRCA will need to be delivered 48 months after the deal is inked and the selected vendor will be required to undertake an offset of 50 percent (up from the mandatory 30 percent) of the contact value.

The even better news is that the declining value of European currencies could prove advantageous to the three European aircraft makers competing against two US and one Russian vendor for the estimated $11 billion contracts.

All of the six MRCA rivals—Boeing’s F/A-18E/F, Dassault’s Rafale, Eurofighter’s Typhoon, Lockheed Martin’s F-16IN, Russian Aircraft Corporations (RSK’s) MiG-35 and Saab’s JAS-39 Gripen—re-submitted their respective bids to the MoD as their March 2008 proposals valid for two years had expired.

Armament industry sources believe the European vendors, in the light of their depreciating currencies in the ongoing fiscal crisis gripping the region, are likely to be cheaper and more

56

competitive than their earlier proposals in comparison to the ubiquitous dollar.

But aviation industry sources said since Boeing and Lockheed Martin had, over decades, built hundreds of F-16s and F-18s, their development and production costs had long been amortised, rendering both models commercially competitive.

Meanwhile, in making its final choice the MoD is expected to take into account the fighters’ life-cycle cost spread across their projected service life of around four decades instead of its usual procedure of selecting the lowest bidder, better known in the trade as L1 (Lowest 1).

The MoD has estimated that the proposed fighters Verifiable Cost Model (VCM) based on 40 years of squadron service for the MRCA or flying time of 6,000 hours. The IAF and MoD has invited outside expertise to help them compute the MRCA’s life-cycle cost and official sources said this was the primary reason behind the delay in issuing the Request for Proposal in August 2007 for the 126 fighters.

The MoD’s VCM took into account direct acquisition cost including that of weapons and spares, warranty for the first two years and licence royalty to build the MRCA in India. It also included the cost of ToT, the initial training of pilots and technical personnel and operating expenses like fuel consumption and lubricants spread over several decades.

Consequently, all six competitors have configured their bids around the life-cycle cost formula.

According to official sources, the eventual number of MRCAs is expected to increase to aroung 200 within an eventual evaluation of around $16 billion.

IN a welcome development, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) plans to break free of its decades-long dependence on imported materiel and technology by deciding to incrementally develop its military-industrial capability indigenously, by enhancing product development in the private and public sectors.

The first Defence Production Policy (DPP) to be released shortly will require the short-listing in advance by around seven to eight years of weapon and defence systems requirements to provide local companies adequate lead time to develop and manufacture them. The MoD, the military, the Defence Research and Development Organisation and associated technical and financial institutions, including those from the private sector, will be involved in this exercise.

Thereafter, specific programmes will be allocated to various local companies, keeping in view their expertise and capabilities as ‘development projects’ for which the MoD will decree completion deadlines and provide up to 80 percent of funding required for their research and development.

The onus, however, will be on developing strategic and critical technologies as insurance against possible sanctions like the ones imposed after the 1998 nuclear tests. R. K. Singh, secretary, Defence Production, claims that the reworked DPP, with the responsibility of domestic weapons development and production, is to ensure that India’s strategic autonomy is not compromised in addition to it generating jobs and broad-basing the country’s overall industrial infrastructure.

Last year, Defence Minister A. K. Antony had lamented the “shameful and dangerous”

Defence Minister A.K. Antony situation whereby India was impelled to import 70 percent of its materiel despite governmental assertions that the country would be largely self-reliant by 2005.

Augmenting IAF’s Strategic Reach THE Indian Air Force (IAF) has completed trials of the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Very Heavy LiftTransport Aircraft by successfully landing it at Gaggal civilian airport— also known as the Kangra-Dharamshala airfield—on June 23 ahead of acquiring 10 of them for an estimated $5.8 billion to augment its strategic reach.

Leased from the US Air Force, the C-17 successfully touched down at Gaggal’s 1,317m long runway normally used by 50-seat civilian aircraft. It had flown there from the IAF transport base at Agra where the C-17s would eventually be based.

The Gaggal landing completed the C-17 ‘token’ trials, which the IAF had insisted upon even though there was no other aircraft competing for the contract. Air Chief Marshal P. V. Naik declared last year that the IAF had selected the C-17s to replace the IAF’s fleet of the dozen-odd Russian-origin Ilushin IL76 Gajraj transporters for their ability to ferry 70-tonne loads to a distance of 2,400nm and use short or even make-shift runways at high altitudes.

Negotiations, however, for the C-17s to be acquired via the Foreign Military Sales route will begin once the US Congress, which was notified about India’s requirement in April, approved the sale depending on the configuration the IAF wanted. Deliveries wil begin 24 months after the deal was signed, officials say.

Once confirmed, the C-17 acquisition will be India’s biggest ever deal with the US surpassing last January’s $2.1 billion procurement of eight Boeing P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft.

Alongside, the IAF is also in the process of finalising its requirement for 16 medium lift transport aircraft for which Alenia Aeronautica’s C-27J Spartan and EADS’ CASA C-295 were under evaluation.

The two rival models had undergone field trials last December—conducted by the IAF—in support of the Border Security Force’s (BSF) tender for two transport

Boeing C-17 Globemaster I I I Very Heavy Lift Transport Aircraft

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DEFENCE BUZZ aircraft, a requirement which is expected to increase for the paramilitary force over the next three to five years.

Officials said IAF evaluation teams had also visited the respective manufacturing facilities in Italy and Spain and a decision by the BSF on acquiring either aircraft was imminent.

The 16 transporters for the IAF, for which a Request for Proposal was likely to be issued ‘shortly’ to the two rival vendors, will supplement its fleet of around 104 Russian-built Antonov An-32 twin-engine turboprop planes that are currently undergoing an upgrade in Ukraine under a $400 million contract.

Six of the An-32s will be retrofitted in Ukraine and the remainder at a Hindustan Aeronautics Limited facility at Kanpur in northern India.

Meanwhile the IAF is expected to receive first of the six Lockheed Martin C-130J ‘Super Hercules’ transport aircraft being acquired for $962.5 million in February 2011, two months ahead of schedule to coincide with the Bangalore Air Show.

Deliveries of the remaining five aircraft, also configured for Special Forces operations, will be completed by 2012-13.

Official sources say the IAF is in talks with Lockheed Martin for six additional C-130Js while the BSF and India’s Metrological Department too had evinced interest in acquiring them in varied configurations for individual adaptability.

Fast-Forward Mode IN a move aimed at fast forwarding materiel purchases and making up for past shortcomings in modernising India’s military, the Defence Minister’s financial powers to acquire defence equip– ment are to be increased five-fold to Rs 500 crore.

This enhancement was proposed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who was earlier Defence Minister, also precludes clearance by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for military equipment purchases up to Rs 1,000 crore. Presently, CCS clearance was mandated for all defence contracts above Rs 200 crore. In future, such procurements will only necessitate joint clearance by the Defence and Finance Ministers. Military officials are hoping this will expedite much needed and long delayed military acquisitions.

This new arrangement agreed by Mukherjee and Defence Minister A.K. Antony has been dispatched to the Prime

DSI

DRDO-designed Akash Surface-to-Air Missile Minister for approval to enable the federal authorities to amend the Transaction of Business Rules (TBR) to render the new system operational.

Modernising India’s military has over decades suffered grievously due to bureaucratic procedures, vacillation in decision making and recurring corruption scandals. This, in turn, has resulted in an increased qualitative and technological gap with Chinese military capability and near symmetrical conventional parity with Pakistan. In terms of military modernisation, China is speeding ahead and is on the threshold of emerging as a first world, technologically savvy Army, dramatically changing the nature of threat in the region.

The reason for this indifferent growth of military capability has been blamed by experts and successive watchdog parliamentary committees on the mindset of Indian decision makers who remain largely apathetic to long-term and anticipatory security planning processes.

The structure and processes of the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) executive functioning also eludes focus on long-term planning, encouraging at best a ‘sectoral’ and highly unsatisfactory approach.

Consequently, after decades of planning and fighting many wars and near constant insurgencies, the continuing perception of defence planning in India remains a ‘book-keeping’ exercise of utilising money and resources merely to meet the demands of the Services and MoD departments. It is optimistically presumed under the prevailing system that over time these will get converted into desired defence capability.

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DRDO-Designed Akash for IAF THE Indian Army has placed an order for 12 locally designed Akash Surface-to-Air (SAM) Missile batteries to equip three air defence regiments, replacing ageing Soviet SAM-6 Kvadrat systems for an estimated Rs 12,500 crore.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister A. K. Antony at its June 8 meeting approved the induction of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)-designed Akash into the Army two years after it had summarily rejected the missile system for its operational shortcomings.

The public sector Bharat Dynamics Ltd in Hyderabad has been designated as the production agency for the Army variant of the 5.78m long solid-fuelled SAM that weighs 700 kg and is capable of striking targets at distances of 25-3018,000 ft.

The DRDO claims Akash is capable of engaging multiple targets after being fired from mobile platforms in conjunction with its indigenously developed 3D Rajendra fire control radar. First test fired in 1990 as part of the DRDO’s inconsistent Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, it was scheduled for service induction in 2000-02 but suffered continuous delays due to technical shortcomings which defence scientists claim had been overcome.

Consequently, in February 2010, the DAC approved an additional Rs 4,279 crore for the Akash programme and the acquisition of six additional Akash squadrons—or 750 missiles—for the IAF to be constructed by the public sector Bharat Electronics Limited.

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DEFENCE BUZZ Earlier, in 2008, the IAF had ordered two Akash squadrons, comprising 32 launchers and 250 missiles for Rs 1,212 crore, deliveries for which are scheduled for completion by 2013.

“There was a proposal to abandon Akash but after testing two squadrons last year (2009), the IAF are satisfied with it and ordered six more,” Antony declared in February 2010 in what is viewed in military-industrial circles as a major boost for the DRDO and defence public sector units.

Industry analysts said the combined Army and IAF orders for Akash were also the largest ever for the DRDO’s tactical missile systems and would significantly boost private sector participation through the supply of components and sub-systems.

The IAF’s and Army’s air defence units were the least modernised, equipped with Soviet-era S-16 Igla low altitude SAM and SAM-3s and OSA-AKM/SA-8 Gecko SAMs respectively. The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report in October 2008 had revealed that the IAF’s air defence ground environment systems were ‘inadequate’ for effective surveillance.

The CAG audit declared that the IAF’s outdated 1970-71 air defence plans formed the basis for determining its radar and associated equipment despite significant changes in the regional security scenario and enhanced sophisticated aerial threats.

Last year, the IAF acquired 18 Rafael-Israel Aircraft Industries-made quick reaction Spyder-SR Low-Level Quick Reaction Missile following delays with indigenous missile systems. The Army too is seeking to import similarmissile systems to augment its air defence capabilities.

Engine Trouble THE naval version of the locally-designed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) or LCA (Navy) may have rolled out from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) facility in Bangalore on July 6, albeit some three years behind schedule, but confusion surrounds the choice of a new and more powerful engine for the fighter.

In 2008, the IAF, which had ordered 20 LCAs, declared that its F404-GE-IN20 afterburning turbofan power-pack engine compromised its qualitative requirements, providing it an 80-85 kN thrust but its desired weapon payload and overall qualitative requirements required an enhanced 95-100 kN thrust.

And though the IAF had declared its willingness to accept the first two LCA squadrons or 40 aircraft powered by the F404-GE-IN20s, it wants the five additional Tejas squadrons or around 100-110 Mark II aircraft it plans on inducting, to replace ageing MiG 21 variants, to have more powerful engines to overcome their present operational shortcomings.

And while the choice for the proposed new engine is between General Electric’s GE F-414 INS5 and EurojetTurbo’s EJ-200 power pack the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has added to the tangle by insisting on upgrading its locally designed GTX-35VS Kaveri engine in collaboration with France’s Snecma Moteurs as a possible alternative.

Armament industry sources said the collaborative agreement could be confirmed during French President Nikolas Sarkozy’s visit to Delhi later this year.

Arguing for greater self-sufficiency, the

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited-designed Tejas

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DRDO, much to the IAF’s chagrin, had ‘persuaded’ India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) to clear the joint development of Kaveri with French help, despite the engine’s long history of non-performance.

Under development by the DRDO’s Gas Turbine Research Establishment in Bangalore since 1986, Kaveri was to be diverted to power commercial and naval ships and even locomotives, as the MoD last year conceded that it had failed to emerge as an alterative LCA engine.

In August 2009, Defence Minister A. K. Antony told Parliament that the IAF had rejected the DRDO’s proposal to develop and manufacture Kaveri with 90kN thrust along with Snecma Moteurs on the grounds that it will necessitate minimum changes to integrate it into the LCA. The IAF, Antony said, had suggested a proven engine for the LCA Mark II that was already in production and flight-worthy to meet immediate requirements indicating that the MoD accepted its recommendation.

Thereafter, the MoD invited bids from General Electric and EurojetTurbo to supply 99 engines. Eight of them were to be acquired outright and the remainder locally constructed under a Transfer of Technology (ToT) in a deal estimated at around $600 million.

The MoD’s tender also included the option to acquire 49 additional engines at the same or marginally higher cost. But in an inexplicable volte face, Antony once again informed the Parliament in May 2010 that Kaveri, “required to be optimised for lower weight and higher performance so that it can be used for Tejas and possibly for India’s next generation of combat aircraft.”

Alongside, he also spoke of importing engines for the LCA. Analysts estimate that each Tejas Mk II could utilise two-three engines during its operational life cycle, resulting in a requirement of 200-300 new engines.

The initial LCA (N) prototypes, however, will be fitted with the GE-F-404-IN 20 but that would later be replaced by the more powerful power pack once selected. The Indian Navy has a projected requirement of 40 single and two-seat LCAs for carrier deployment. Under development for induction by 2014-15 onto the 37,500-ton Project 71 Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC), presently under construction at the Cochin Shipyard Limited in southern India, the LCA (N) programme was sanctioned in 2003 but has suffered delays due to financial problems and technical shortcomings.

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