Tag Archives: Parrikar

Over Rs 16,000 cr spent, DRDO yet to finish vital projects

sunday gaurdians 8th march 1

 

The first of the LCAs was handed over to IAF 32 years after the project started.

ABHINANDAN MISHRA New Delhi | 7th Mar 2015

Vital defence projects that have been taken up by the country’s premier Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) over the last several years, do not show any signs of completion despite thousands of crores of taxpayers’ money spent on them.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, while detailing the nine major DRDO projects that have not been able to meet their deadlines, stated in Parliament that Rs 16,708 crore have been spent on these projects that were scheduled to be completed years ago.

Some of these projects, such as the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas, Phase II, which was expected to be completed by December 2008, has now been pushed to the end of this month. The government had sanctioned Rs 5,777 crore for this project. The first of the LCAs, which was conceived in 1983, was handed over to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in January this year by Parrikar, 32 years after the project started.

Similarly, the probable date of completion of the Naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA, Navy) Phase I, which was expected to be completed by March 2010, is under revision. One of the reasons submitted by the Defence Minister for the delay is that “technology challenges have been significantly higher than originally anticipated”. The sanctioned cost of this project is Rs 1,714.98 crore

The probable date of completion of another much talked about project, Aero Engine Kaveri, which was supposed to be completed by December 1996, is also under revision. Sources within DRDO claim that the project, for which the government had sanctioned Rs 2,839 crore, is likely to be shelved

The Air Borne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) System, for which the government has sanctioned Rs 2,275 crore, is running four years behind the probable date of completion. It was supposed to be handed over to the IAF in October 2011. This has now been postponed to December 2015.

Another crucial project, Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM), which was allotted Rs 2,606.02 crore is also running four years behind its completion date. It was supposed to be completed by May 2011, but the DRDO has now promised to finish it by December 2015.

The helicopter version third generation anti tank guided missile, whose promised date of completion was December 2010, is now expected to be completed by January 2018. Air-to-air missile Astra too is running four years behind its scheduled date of completion and is expected to be ready by December 2016.

The project on the dual colour missile approach warning system for fighter aircraft and advanced lightweight torpedo, which were to be completed by the DRDO in 2013, are now likely to be executed by the latter part of 2015. For the financial year 2013-14, a total of Rs 10,610.17 crore was allocated to DRDO, of which Rs 5,552.57 crore was in revenue and Rs 5,057.60 crore was in capital.

A senior official with the DRDO stated that the “culture” of promoting scientists who are unable to complete their projects on time, instead of reprimanding them is a big factor behind the delays that have become synonymous with DRDO.

“The practice of seeking extensions for a project, one after another, has been condoned by successive Defence Ministers. Why would a scientist want to complete his project on time if he knows that even if he does not complete it on time, the project will be extended and he will continue to work on the same project? Scientists who retire are given extensions because they have been working on a project, so they would naturally want the project to go on and on,” the official stated.

According to Parrikar, the government has taken many corrective measures to complete the ongoing projects on time like three-tier project monitoring and constituting a Project Monitoring Review Committee (PMRC). However, DRDO officials claimed that he was only repeating what has been said by Defence Ministers who came before him.

“Consortium approach, three-tier project monitoring approach, Project Monitoring Review Committee (PMRC) and Project Appraisal and Review Committee (PARC) have been there in the DRDO for the last 10-15 years. There is no new remedy which Parrikar has tried to suggest,” the official claimed.

Comments –

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, while detailing the delay in nine major DRDO projects vide Parliament question No 789 by Hon MP Nishikant Dubey from BJP and answered on 27 Feb 2015. As Per annexure ‘A; serial No 3 Aero Engine Kaveri, DRDo answer was technical bla bla the real delay reason the incompetent, corrupt, immoral scientist led the project.

Mr. T Mohan Rao, Director GTRE who was picked up by the Karnataka police during a raid on a high-end spa cum-massage parlour in Jaya-mahal on 11th May 2011 at 11 PM with the Mr V N Narayan, Agent Israeli firm ILN Technologies Inc.

T Mohana Rao is Director of the Gas Turbine Research institute (GTRE), a DRDO wing involved in the manufacture of Kaveri, India’s first indigenous jet engine for LCA Tejas. According to the police, Mohana Rao had claimed at the time of the arrest, “I have come to fix an appointment for
my wife for tomorrow.” Mohana Rao also allegedly lied to the police that he was a consultant with aeronautics space research and was a resident of Vimanapura in HAL. In 2008, Mohana
Rao and the GTRE team were awarded the Dr V M Ghatge national award for his outstanding contribution in the field of aerospace technology. Mohana Rao is also chairperson of the Bangalore branch of Aeronautical Society of India and the Chairperson of the township advisory committee of C V Raman Nagar, where most DRDO personnel live.

This is the tip of Ice the berg, Sh Avinash Chander down fall because of his immoral act to made Ms Tessy Thamos firstly Distinguished scientist ignoring lot of deserving scientists and after that made him Director, ASL again ignoring deserve candidates and finally made her husband CMDR S K Patel incompetent man recruited and appointed as director QRS violated all norms.

These types of cases are real reasons of
delaying in DRDO mission oriented projects.

 

shiva the destroyer • 14 hours ago

only solution to such kind of delays and carelessness is privatisation of DRDO…

DRDO Greets New Defence Minister With Successful LRSAM Test

By Hemant Kumar Rout | ENS Published: 10th November 2014 -The Indian Express

BALASORE: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Monday greeted new Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar with the successful test firing of new generation state-of-the-art long range surface-to-air missile (LRSAM) Barak-8.

Barak_8
A model of Barak-8 missile | EPS

Defence sources said the missile, developed jointly by the DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), was test launched from the weapon test range in the Negev desert of Israel at about 10.20 am as per Indian time.
A DRDO release stated that the missile successfully intercepted a manoeuvring air-breathing target mimicking an attacking combat aircraft. The test also validated all the elements related to the naval and land-based variants of the missile including the phased array radar, battle management system, communications and the interceptor.

“After detecting the incoming aerial target through the system’s radar, the weapon system calculated the optimal interception point, launched the missile into its operational trajectory that acquired the target and successfully intercepted it. All the weapon system’s components met mission parameters successfully”, the release stated.

Barak-8 is an Indo-Israeli surface-to-air missile (SAM), designed to defend against aircraft, anti-ship missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In January 2007, India and Israel had signed a US$330 million deal to co-develop an all new generation of the Barak SAM, which has been named as Barak-8.

The missile has a length of about 4.5 meters, a diameter of 0.54 meters, wingspan of 0.94 meters and weighs around 275 kg including a 60 kg warhead which detonates at proximity. The missile has maximum speed of Mach 2 with an operational range of 75 km to 100 km. It possesses high degrees of maneuverability at target interception range.

A second motor is fired during the terminal phase, at which stage the active radar seeker is activated to home in on to the enemy track. Barak-8 has been designed to counter a wide variety of air-borne threats, such as anti-ship missiles, aircraft, UAVs and drones as well as supersonic cruise missiles, the sources added.

The test was carried out in the presence of DRDO scientists and officials of the Indian Armed Forces. The system is developed for both Israel defence forces and Indian armed forces. Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and DRDO Chief Avinash Chander and President of IAI Joseph Weiss witnessed the test along with top officials of Israel defence forces.

According to IAI, Barak-8 employs a state-of-the-art phased array multi-mission radar, two-way data link and flexible command and control system. Congratulating scientists, Chander termed the event as a milestone in cooperation between the two countries in developing advanced weapon systems.
9 Comments

devasis • 24 days ago
Parrikar the nation wants some action from you. Let us make our arms ourselves.
The 80,000 crores we spend on importing arms could have been spent on health and education.

Davanand Atomic Singh • a month ago
All this weaponry and yet still an army jawan and a civilian is dead. Are we using the weaponry for the right reasons? Here the minister is greeted with the launch whilst there are families crying for their loved ones. Can we correct ourselves and use the equipment for the right reasons and not shelve them for no purpose. These weapons have to be exploited or the enemy will just take control of our country, through intelligence or actions.

ron ban • a month ago
Interesting thing is that India has co developed with Russia a ship killing missile named Brahmos …………… and with Israel has co developed a missile named Barak 8 to protect ships from Brahmos type missiles.

Mohit • a month ago
Do some more test and install this system in our new frigates and aircraft carrier “Vikramaditya”. They have been deployed without missile defense system.

NSR • a month ago
Since India paid for the development of LRSAM and MRSAM, does it get the Intellectual Property completely, or share with Israel, or no IP at all?
How did Israel allowed to sell Barak-8 to other foreign countries? Does India also has right to sell it too if it wishes…

Mohit NSR • 25 days ago
India have contributed by developing rocket motor and actuation system for Barak-8 missile. IAI have worked on target seeker and radar. DRDO should have acquired technology from Israeli.  This missile can be sold to other nation only when allowed by both India and Israel.
It is good that other nation are getting interested in acquiring this system as it will help in making money out of this and developing more advanced weaponry. 2) In the long term , India can sell off other missile system to these country as they have more confidence on Indian built systems 3) selling to friendly nation can help us in long term.

nicky NSR • a month ago
its a co-developed system so both have equal right over lrsam . yes India can export it any country but both India and Israel must agree first .if for example India wants to sell lrsam to Brazil but Israel not interested then the deal cannot go through .

NSR nicky • 25 days ago
I read somewhere that Israel is not going to transfer full technology of seeker and radar to us even though they used our money to develop it…I heard that they just supplied blueprints and India had trouble producing seeker from the supplied data…
After successful flight, even IAI president acknowledged that without India’s money it would have remained a design project only…
So I hope they do really transfer all technology and do more joint R&D, design, and manufacturing projects…

Defence deals stuck due to lobbying, Parrikar says

TNN | Nov 13, 2014, 12.29AM IST
PANAJI: Defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said most defence deals are stuck because of lobbying, vested interests, and kickbacks that happened during the last 10 years of Congress rule at the Centre. He said his priority is to clear the controversy and speed up acquisition in a transparent manner.

“My target is to clear all weapons purchase deals one by one on a priority basis, beginning next week,” said the country’s new defence minister, adding that he will also strengthen the army’s fighting capability, logistics, and infrastructure. He further said he will strengthen the armed forces with pre-emptive measures that discourage cross-border firing on the line of control.

He said India need not worry about Pakistan or China or any other country as the country’s defences are strong.
Speaking to party workers on his maiden visit to Goa after being sworn into the Union Cabinet, he said that after being extensively briefed over the last two days, he has realized that India has no need to worry about any other country.

Parrikar, who is on a five day visit to Goa, told media persons that everybody knows what happened in the Agusta Westland VVIP chopper deal and there was a question mark raised on the acquisition of fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF). He refused to elaborate on the fighter aircraft deal.

“Most (defence) acquisitions made have some controversy. I don’t want to go into the details, but my job is to clear the controversy,” he said, adding that the more you go in for tightening on corruption, the more you raise the question, and the deals get more complex, and one should adopt a transparent method where no questions are raised.

Asked to react on incursions in Arunachal Pradesh by the Chinese military, Parrikar said this type of incursion and crossing the imaginary line of control happens many times in many sectors, but it is taken care of on the same day or within a couple of days. “Except on one or two occasions, there has been no serious incident.” He added the ministry will take steps to avoid such incidents in the future.

He said he will look at the country being able to produce indigenous weapons based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘make in India’ concept. He also said that revamping of the DRDO is on the cards, but “as of now I have not taken any decision. Right now, I want them to perform”. He further said the ministry will concentrate on improving training capacity, and filling up vacancies of officers in the army.

Parrikar was given a rousing welcome at the Dabolim airport by Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar and the state cabinet.