Revision as of 08:47, 19 August 2017

Helicopters

Army, not IAF, to get Apache helicopters/ 2017

Army wins tug-of-war with IAF, to get 6 Apache copters worth Rs 4k cr, August 18, 2017: The Times of India

The Army will now finally get its own heavyduty attack helicopters after a bitter tussle with the IAF over the last several years.The defence ministry cleared the acquisition of six Apache attack helicopters, armed with Hellfire and Stinger missiles, and spares and maintenance package at a cost of Rs 4,168 crore.

The 1.3-million-strong Army had earlier sought the government's nod for acquisition of 11 Apache helicopters from the US as “a follow-on contract“ to the Rs 13,952 crore deal inked for 22 such choppers for the IAF in September 2015, as was reported by TOI.

Even after stiff opposition from IAF, the Arun Jaitley-led defence acquisitions council (DAC) on Thursday cleared the Army's whittled down proposal for six AH-64E Apache helicopters, which are manufactured by Boeing.

The DAC also approved a Rs 490-crore purchase of Zorya gas-turbine engine sets from Ukraine for two of the Grigorivich-class frigates being built in Russia. During the Modi-Putin summit in Goa last year, India had agreed to purchase four 4,000-tonne Grigorivich-class guidedmissile stealth frigates at $4 billion from Russia.

While two of these frigates are lying half-constructed at the Russian Yantar shipyard due to a cash-crunch and bilateral problems between Russia and Ukraine, the other two will be built in the Goa shipyard. India will now acquire the Zorya gas-turbine engines from Ukraine and then ship them to Russia for the first two frigates.

As earlier reported by TOI, the deal for the frigates is linked to India's quest to lease a second nuclear-powered submarine (the first INS Chakra came in 2012) for around $1.5 billion from Russia.

As for the Apaches, the Army for long has been pushing for three squadrons of attack helicopters, among other choppers, for its three primary “strike“ corps geared for rapid armoured thrusts into enemy territory . The Army believes it should have “full command and control“ over “tactical air assets“ for rapid deployment along with its strike corps, while the IAF should concentrate on its “larger strategic role“. As of now, IAF's two existing but ageing squadrons of Russian-origin Mi-2535 attack helicopters are supposed to play that role. As per the earlier contract, the 22 Apaches will be delivered to IAF from July 2019 onwards, along with 812 AGM-114L-3 Hellfire Longbow missiles, 542 AGM-114R-3 Hellfire-II missiles, 245 Stinger Block I-92H missiles and 12 AN APG-78 fire-control radars.

The then UPA government had ruled that the first 22 Apaches would go to IAF. But it also held “future“ procurements of attack helicopters would be for the Army , granting “in principle approval“ to its case for raising three squadrons (13 choppers each) for the strike formations-1 Corps (Mathura), 2 Corps (Ambala) and 21 Corps (Bhopal).

Howitzers

M-777 ultralight howitzers/ 2017

Rajat Pandit, Bofors jinx breaks: 155mm artillery guns land today, May 18, 2017: The Times of India

Purchase of Howitzers (artillery guns) by India, 2017; Rajat Pandit, Bofors jinx breaks: 155mm artillery guns land today, May 18, 2017: The Times of India

India has now exorcised the ominous Bofors ghost haunting its artillery modernisation plans for the last 30 years. In the first modern 155mm artillery guns to be inducted by the Army since the 1980s, two of the 145 M-777 ultralight howitzers ordered from the US will touch down.

Defence sources said on Wednesday the two howitzers, which will come in a chartered aircraft from the UK, will be taken to the Pokhran ranges for testing and “compilation of the firing tables“ for subsequent use. “The firing tables, with the guns being tested for different kinds of Indian ammunition with bimodular charges, will take some time to be formulated,“ said a source.

The delivery schedule for the air-mobile howitzers, being acquired under a $737 million deal inked with the US in a government-to-government deal, will quicken from March 2019 onwards. “Five guns will then be delivered every month till all 145 are inducted by June 2021. While the first 25 guns will be imported, the remaining 120 will be assembled in India with artillery-manufacturer BAE Systems selecting Mahindra as its business partner here,“ he added.

The arrival of the M-777 guns, which are primarily meant for the front with China, comes soon after the government also inked a Rs 4,366 crore contract with engineering conglomerate L&T for the supply of 100 self-propelled howitzers in collaboration with its South Korean partner Hanwha Tech Win. These 155mm52calibre tracked guns called K-9 Vajra-T, in turn, are to be delivered within 42 months, as earlier reported by TOI.

The Army has not inducted a single 155mm artillery gun since the Bofors scandal brought down the Rajiv Gandhi government, and derailed all plans for technology transfer and indigenous manufacture.

Subsequent scandals revolving around other global artillery manufacturers (see graphic) , like South African Denel and Singapore Technology Kinetics, further punched gaping holes in the Army's long-range, highvolume firepower. Interestingly , the original Swedish Bofors company is now owned by BAE Systems.

Rifles

See graphic:

Rifles in Indian Army

The use of rifles in the India Army: brief history and requirements as in 2016
The Times of India

Unmanned Air Vehicles

See graphic:

Unmanned Air Vehicles in India

Unmanned Air Vehicles in India; The Times of India, June 26, 2017