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India, US agree on arms deal, but technology transfer remains key

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Rajat Pandit, TNN | Aug 9, 2014, 05.34AM IST

NEW DELHI: India and the US on Friday agreed to go in for co-development and co-production of advanced weapon systems, with Washington pushing New Delhi for early decisions on offers ranging from the next-generation Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).Modi-Chuk

But India will not jump headlong into any venture without first ensuring the US sticks to its promise to provide “ground-breaking technology” on par with its closest allies, even though the Modi government is keen to strengthen the moribund domestic defence production sector.

The decision to revive the floundering Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) between the two countries, as also work towards the extension of the 10-year India-US defence framework, was taken after visiting US defence secretary Chuck Hagel held delegation-level talks with his Indian counterpart Arun Jaitley.
But India is still not fully convinced about the US as a reliable long-term, high-end defence supplier, given its propensity to impose sanctions and stringent export control laws. The US, however, believes it can effectively marry trade and technology, with benefits for both.

Stressing that “security, stability, freedom of sea lanes, economic development and energy” is in the interest of the two countries as well as the Asia-Pacific region, Hagel said the US wants to be a partner in India’s military modernization and recognises its needs to strengthen its defence-industrial base.
The US will be led by its under secretary of defence acquisition, technology and logistics Frank Kendall in the DTTI. The Indian points-man, in turn, will be the defence production secretary, which is a comedown from before since former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon earlier led the initiative. Jaitley, incidentally, accepted Hagel’s invite to visit Pentagon when he goes to Washington to attend the annual meetings of IMF and World Bank.

Of all the joint development and production offers, the US is especially keen to push the case for fourth-generation Javelin ATGMs, which even President Barack Obama has personally pushed with Modi. The Indian ATGM project, after all, is going to be worth over $2.5 billion. Javelin is in contention with the Israeli “Spike” tank-killing missiles to bag the project, as was earlier reported by TOI.

With the 1.13-million Indian Army grappling with a huge shortfall of 44,000 ATGMs of different types, the project involves an initial direct acquisition of the man-portable “tank killers”, with a strike range of 2.5km, followed by technology transfer to defence PSU Bharat Dynamics for large-scale indigenous manufacture. The Army is keen to equip all its 382 infantry battalions with third and fourth-generation ATGMs.

Comments

Vladimir Sikorski (Ulyanovsk. Russia) 3 hrs ago
In the 50’s and 60’s the Russians supplied us with their MIG’s, T-72 tanks and other weapons. The technology was transferred at that time. What happened after that. Were you guys able to develop further from that platform and make your own planes. No. The French transferred their Mirage aircraft technology in the 70’s and 80’s. Did you develop your own from that platform. No. It took 30 years to develop a 3rd generation aircraft called the Tejas. The Arjun tank was forced on the Army. So why do you Indians keep harping about technology transfer. Even after we give you all the books and manuals and the design features for a product, your paan chewing babu’s of the DRDO and the Defence Ministry are unable to develop anything over and above that. It is way better and cheaper to employ German and Japanese engineers and scientists, pay them well in India and they will develop your arms industry for you. You don’t have much time. World War III is round the corner.

Himanshu Agarwal (Location) replies to Vladimir Sikorski 54 mins ago Bronze : 189189 PointsWordsmith 1News King 1Frequent Flyer 2
Yeah probably India should focus of Developing worlds class universities and then investing similar amount to restructure and new-hiring in DRDO.

Jagdish Sinha (Patna. Bihar) 1 day ago
The USA now is willing to give all the technology India wants as it knows that the idiots in DRDO cannot duplicate or build on anything. The technology for the MIG and the T-90 tanks was transferred by Russia long time ago but we are still unable to build on it and innovate based on the earlier model. It took 30 years to build the Tejas. What a joke it turned out to be. The tech for the French planes was also provided, but just to upgrade the planes they spent billions and had to send them to France. Poor show India.

Swami Vas (Hong Kong) 103 Followers1 day ago Gold : 19.5K19495 PointsInfluencer 7Wordsmith 7Networker 2
PULSE OF INDIA: The fact that India is unconvinced of the reliability of US as a trustworthy defence supplier is absolutely understandable and perfect, considering the past experiences where the US had utterly failed to keep its promises on some important deals. So, it is only right for India to insist that all major deals should be fair and wherever appropriate include transfer of technology which was rightly pinpointed by the Prime Minister. The US belief that it can “effectively marry trade and technology” benefitting both is simply yet another striking example of marriage of convenience! The defence needs of India are indeed varied and important, some even urgent, but the Indian requirements are also huge and long-standing. Thus, it is important for India to ensure continuity in the supply chain which can only be achieved by establishing manufacturing facilities within the country. The keenness of US to strike deals with India on the latest weapons is also equally understandable, especially considering the money-value of the deal as well as its own role as a leading defence equipment exporter but the US should know that from now on all deals with India will have to be on a win-win situation basis! However important or urgent the defence needs are to modernize its armed forces, India should indeed not hurry or plunge into any deals without knowing the depth! India is the largest democracy in the world followed by the US but whether they have been truly friendly or why the US has failed to extend a hand of friendship befitting that status are debatable issues. But one thing is for certain which the world should know that the 21st Century India presently under Modi leadership is going to be a power to be reckoned with! (cc: BJPCALL-LC / PMO /MOD)

Krishna Jha:22 hours ago US Is the leader in front line technology. Before signing any agreement we must ask for TOT. Why to reinvent the wheel. As our limitations to re engineer MIG has been unsuccessful but translating blue more..

 

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डीआरडीओ प्रमुख ने उठाए रक्षा बजट पर सवाल

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  • महानिदेशक ने रक्षा बजट में रिसर्च एंड डेवलपमेंट से अधिक आयात को तवज्जो देने पर जताई चिंता
  • हथियारों के सेंसर देश में ही बनाने की योजना

देहरादून: तमाम रक्षा उपकरणों में सेंसर प्रणाली उसकी सटीकता को कई गुना बढ़ा देती है। अब तक सेंसर के लिए भारत फ्रांस व इजराइल समेत विभिन्न देशों पर निर्भर है। इस निर्भरता को खत्म करने के लिए रक्षा मंत्रलय ने देश में ही सेंसर तैयार करने का निर्णय लिया है। पत्रकारों से रूबरू डीआरडीओ के महानिदेशक अविनाश चंदर ने बताया कि रक्षा उपकरणों में अपने ही देश में निर्मित सेंसर लगाने के लिए करीब 700 करोड़ रुपये की योजना पर काम चल रहा है।

जागरण संवाददाता, देहरादून: डिफेंस रिसर्च एंड डेवलपमेंट ऑर्गेनाइजेशन (डीआरडीओ) के महानिदेशक व रक्षा मंत्री के वैज्ञानिक सलाहकार अविनाश चन्दर ने रक्षा बजट के विभाजन पर गंभीर सवाल खड़े किए हैं। उन्होंने कहा कि रक्षा बजट में रिसर्च एंड डेवलपमेंट के मामले में भारत फिसड्डी है। कुल रक्षा बजट का महज 5.5 फीसद हिस्सा ही आर-एंड-डी पर खर्च किया जा रहा है, जबकि 25 फीसद से अधिक बजट का प्रावधान विदेशों से रक्षा खरीद के लिए किया जा रहा है। इसका प्रतिकूल असर देश के रक्षा अनुसंधान पर पड़ रहा है। उन्होंने इंडियन सोसाइटी ऑफ इंडिया के स्वर्ण जयंती समारोह के उपलक्ष्य में आयोजित अंतरराष्ट्रीय सम्मेलन में कही। बुधवार को राजधानी देहरादून स्थित यंत्र अनुसंधान एवं विकास संस्थान (आइआरडीई) में ऑप्टिक्स एंड इलेक्ट्रोऑप्टिक्स विषय पर आयोजित अंतरराष्ट्रीय सम्मेलन का शुभारंभ करते हुए डीआरडीओ प्रमुख ने स्वीकार किया कि अमेरिका, इजराइल, रूस, फ्रांस व चीन के मुकाबले रक्षा अनुसंधान में भारत को अभी लंबा सफर तय करना है। यह तभी हो पाएगा जब रिसर्च एंड डेवलपमेंट की तरफ विशेष ध्यान दिया जाएगा। चिंता की बात यह है कि इस मोर्चे पर देश बेहद पीछे चल रहा है। अपने देश में रक्षा बजट का महज 5.5 फीसद भाग आर-एंड-डी पर खर्च किया जाता है, जबकि चीन में यह दर 20 फीसद है। इसी अनदेखी के कारण रक्षा हथियारों की खरीद के लिए भारत को दूसरे देशों पर निर्भर होना पड़ता है। यदि हथियारों की खरीद के लिए रक्षा बजट के 25 फीसद हिस्से का बड़ा हिस्सा रिसर्च एंड डेवलपमेंट पर लगाया जाए तो विदेशी सहायता की जरूरत नहीं पड़ेगी। सम्मेलन में डीआरडीओ के महानिदेशक (ईसीएस) एसएस सुंदरम, व ऑप्टिकल सोसाइटी के अध्यक्ष बीपी पाल ने माइक्रो ऑप्टिक्स, नैनो ऑप्टिक्स आदि पर विस्तृत व्याख्यान दिया। साथ ही कई रिसर्च पेपर भी प्रस्तुत किए गए। इस मौके पर सोसाइटी की स्मारिका का विमोचन व ऑप्टिक्स व इलेक्ट्रॉऑप्टिक्स प्रदर्शनी, ऑप्टिकल व फैब्रिकेशन भवन का शुभारंभ भी किया गया। कार्यक्रम में आइआरडीई के निदेशक डॉ. एके गुप्ता, डॉ. एसएस नेगी, एलएन हाजरा, अनुराग शर्मा, अमिताभ घोष, अभय कुमार उपस्थित थे।

DRDO chief also raised questions on the defense budget Instruments Research and Development Establishment, IRDE, Dehradun organized the International Conference on Optics and Electro-optics Inaugurating DRDO chief admitted that the U.S., Israel, Russia, France and China's defense research still a long way to India have to.
DRDO chief also raised questions on the defense budget
Instruments Research and Development Establishment, (IRDE), Dehradun organized the International Conference on Optics and Electro-optics Inaugurating DRDO chief admitted that the U.S., Israel, Russia, France and China’s defense research still a long way to India have to.

 

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Desi defence showpieces powered by videshi parts

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Rajat Pandit, TNN Jan 13, 2014, 01.39AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Tejas light combat aircraft, 30 years in the making, is just 60% indigenous as of now. The story of the indigenous Arjun main battle tank is even worse. First sanctioned in May 1974, 55% of the tank is still made of imported parts. This is the recurring theme across India’s fledgling defence industrial base (DIB), with the government failing to whip DRDO and its sprawling empire of over 50 laboratories as well as the five defence PSUs, four shipyards and 50 ordnance factories into shape.
The defence ministry, with its constant flip-flops, has also failed to spur the domestic private sector into entering the defence production sector in a big way. Neither has it managed to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), notching up a measly $5 million in the last 14 years.toi1

AK Antony may often tom-tom “indigenisation” as one of his guiding mantras, which he feels can curb corruption, but the ground reality has hardly changed in the over seven years he has been at the helm in MoD. India continues to wallow as the world’s largest arms importer, with the armed forces still getting around 65% of their military hardware and software from abroad.
In sharp contrast, China has emerged as the fastest growing arms exporter around the globe after assiduously building a strong DIB. It’s now hawking fighter jets, warships, missiles and smaller arms to countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bolivia and Zambia.

But a “proper ecosystem” has simply not been erected in India. As if the “high import content” in the so-called indigenous projects was not enough, insiders say even the much-touted transfer of technology (ToT) provision build into large defence contracts with foreign manufacturers is a bit of a sham.

“Indian PSUs focus more on just assembling knocked-down kits from foreign vendors instead of properly absorbing technologies,” said a senior official, pointing to the ongoing “licensed production” of the Russian-origin Sukhoi-30MKI fighters by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL).

India has inducted almost 200 of the 272 Sukhois contracted for well over $12 billion from Russia, with HAL producing most of the fighters. “As per plans, HAL should have begun making Sukhois completely from raw material two-three years ago. But there has been a big delay,” he said.

“Moreover, the cost of each HAL-manufactured Sukhoi is almost Rs 100 crore more than if the same fighter was directly imported from Russia (the last 42 Sukhois ordered cost over Rs 450 crore each),” he added.

DRDO does have a point that funds allocated for defence R&D are not adequate. “We just get slightly over 5% of the total defence budget. The US defence R&D budget is around 12%, while China has 20%,” said a scientist.

But not many are impressed, pointing to huge time and cost overruns in almost all DRDO projects. While the indigenous development of Tejas, Arjun and other weapon systems is certainly to be cheered, the high import content in them remains another source of worry.

Take Tejas, which finally achieved its initial operational clearance last month. It has an American engine, British ejection seat, Canadian canopy sheath and Israeli radar. “A major chunk of its avionics and weapons are also imported. The series production of the Tejas Mark-II version, which is what IAF actually wants, is unlikely to begin before 2022,” said an officer.
The Army, in turn, has inducted 124 Arjun Mark-I tanks, while trials are currently in progress for the Mark-II version with 89 “upgrades or improvements”. The tank is just about 45% indigenous as of now, with its main laser guided missile being the Israeli LAHAT. “Arjun’s missile firing control system, laser target designator, engine transmission, suspension unit and running gear (track) are all foreign,” said an Army officer.

India has fared relatively better on the naval front, with all the 45 warships currently on order being constructed in Indian shipyards. Officials say India has achieved 80-90% indigenisation in the “float” (warship’s structure, hull etc), 50-60% on the “move” (propulsion) and 30% on the “fight” (weapons and sensors) components.

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India’s secrets are in Guangdong

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Published: Wednesday, Mar 13, 2013, 6:15 IST | Updated: Tuesday, Mar 12, 2013, 23:25 IST
By Saikat Datta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

A successful Chinese hacking attack has caused what is arguably the biggest security breach in India with systems of hundreds of key DRDO and other security officials being compromised and leading to the leak of sensitive files related to the cabinet committee on security (CCS), the highest decision-making body for security issues of the government of India.

The other stolen files recovered so far belong to the governments of the United States, Russia, and South Korea.

The leak was detected in the first week of March as officials from India’s technical intelligence wing, National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), working with private Indian cyber security experts cracked open a file called “army cyber policy”. The file had been attached to hacked email accounts of senior DRDO officials that quickly spread through the system in a matter of seconds.

As Indian security experts began to track its origin they discovered, for the first time, that all the sensitive files stolen from the infected systems were being uploaded on a server in the Guangdong province of China.

So far, Indian intelligence has never been able to pinpoint a hacking attack with such accuracy.
As they continued to trace the breach, they discovered thousands of top secret CCS files, and other documents related to surface-to-air missile and radar programmes from DRDL, a DRDO laboratory based in Hyderabad, among many other establishments.

Even the e-tickets of the scientists who had travelled to Delhi in the last week of February were found on the server.

The intelligence officials also discovered documents of deals struck between DRDO and Bharat Dynamics Ltd, a defence PSU which manufactures strategic missiles and components. Some other recovered files were related to price negotiations with MBDA, a French missile manufacturing company.

But the shocking part was the extent of the hacking by the Chinese, believed to be officially sponsored.

The officials began to find files related to the Russian military as well as files that belonged to CSRDC (Centre for Security Research & Development Center) which comes under the United States department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology directorate.
Some files from NASA too have been recovered so far. All this was discovered after cyber security

officials of the Information Dominance Group (IDG) and private Indian cyber security officials began to track down the “NetTraveler Trojan and Key logger” that had infected Indian systems. The other files recovered belong to South Korea, Russia, and the United States.

For a server of its size and capacity, believed to be worth almost Rs150 crore in the open market, it hosted just six domains. This is highly unusual because a server of this size usually has over 10,000 domains.

This meant that this was being used for a specific purpose. Initially, it took time to decipher the files since they were all encrypted. But after the key was found, the decryption of the files began and to their horror, Indian intelligence officials discovered this massive breach of security.

Traced to server:
*Systems of hundreds of key DRDO and other security officials compromised

*Sensitive files related to the cabinet committee on security (CCS) leaked

*Thousands of top secret CCS files and documents related to surface-to-air missile and radar programmes from defence research & development lab discovered

*All sensitive files stolen from infected systems uploaded on a server in China’s Guangdong province

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Corruption will not be tolerated: AK Antony

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PTI | Apr 11, 2012, 02.42PM IST

KOCHI: In the backdrop of the recent storm over alleged corruption in defence procurements, defence minister AK Antony today said the country’s interests were paramount and there will be “no cover up and no vendetta”.

“India’s interests are our only concern. We are not against any company or country. But India’s interests are paramount”, he told reporters on the sidelines of a function at the Indian Coast Guard here.

Replying to questions in the light of Army chief General V K Singh’s recent claim about alleged attempts to bribe him to favour a sub-standard contract, he said “Corruption will not be tolerated. Even if there is suspicion, a probe will be ordered”.

“No cover up, no vendetta is our policy,” he said, adding if there is an iota of doubt, it would be looked into.

Antony said efforts were on to make defence procurement more transparent. “When people do not get contracts, there will be criticism and allegations. Some companies do try to influence officials and if it is proved action will be taken”.

He said six companies from Israel, Russia, Germany and Singapore and two from India had recently been blacklisted.

The Defence acquisition council meeting last week had sanctioned Annual projects, five-year projects and Long Term Plan from 2012-27, he said.

On reported differences between the Army and the Defence Ministry, he said, “Both are functioning from the same building. There is no communication gap, no confrontation. I function as a joint family. I am very comfortable. I respect the armed forces, their commitment, their dedication. I am proud of it”.

Antony said there was so much demand for joint exercises with the Indian defence forces that “everyone wants to do (it) … ,”