NEW DELHI: A deadly double whammy has hit the armed forces. As it is, the entire Indian defence procurement process is a long-winded, tortuous one. To make matters worse, it often gets derailed by allegations and complaints - some genuine but many motivated.
And now, with the defence capital acquisitions budget being slashed by around Rs 10,000 crore — as was first reported by TOI last month — several critical procurement projects have come to a grinding halt. They range from acquisition of submarines and howitzers to missiles and helicopters.
"Nothing is moving. This is the largest capital budget cut in several years. The finance ministry's fatwa has ensured a virtual blanket ban on progressing procurement cases any further. It will have a cascading adverse effect for the next few years," admitted a senior defence ministry (MoD) official.
Added another, "Many crucial projects are also stalled due to allegations of corruption, technical deviations etc...nobody wants to stick his neck out to take a decision. Defence minister A K Antony himself refers everything, even anonymous complaints, for a probe. Several MPs have also taken to writing letters to Antony on one project or the other, further delaying matters."
In terms of sheer criticality, the two biggest projects facing huge delays are the over $10 billion one for six new-generation conventional submarines and the almost $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project to acquire 126 French Rafale fighters.
The submarine proposal, dubbed Project-75 India, has been in the making for several years now. But the MoD is yet to even issue the global tender or RFP (request for proposal) to kick off the formal process.
The explanation: The RFP is still being vetted for eventual clearance by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) since two of the submarines will be imported from the foreign vendor finally selected. Three will subsequently be built at Mazagon Docks in Mumbai, and the last at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd in Visakhapatnam after transfer of technology. "Even if things move very fast from here on, the Navy will get the first submarine only by 2023 at the earliest," said an official.
Similarly, the joint Army-IAF procurement case for 197 new light-utility helicopters for over Rs 3,000 crore, with Russian Kamov Ka-226T pitted against Eurocopter AS 550 C3 Fennec, has been stalled for months due to complaints of technical deviations during the flight evaluation trials.
This is not the first time the 197-helicopter project has run into trouble. The entire process was scrapped in December 2007 after almost being finalized with Eurocopter due to some irregularities. This when the armed forces desperately need 440 such helicopters to replace their virtually obsolete Cheetah/Chetak fleets.
The inking of the contract for the gigantic MMRCA project itself has been put off till the next fiscal due to the budget cut. The RFP for this project was issued way back in August 2007, and that too after a delay of several years then, but it is yet to be finally inked. Given India's dismal record in arms procurements, it's no wonder that some of fighters eliminated in the race earlier still fancy their chances of a comeback.
Rs 10,000 crore cut in defence budget hits critical procurement deals
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Rs 10,000 crore cut in defence budget hits critical procurement deals
