Weekly Defence News Report (WDNR) - February 15-21, 2010

• Defence Offsets worth Rs.49,000 crores to be finalised in next couple of years

February 16, 2010

India will finalise defence offsets worth Rs. 49, 000 crores in next few years, said India’s Minister of State for Defence, Pallam Raju. In a speech delivered in a conference organised by the PHD Chamber at DefExpo–2010, the Minister Said: “There are 41 offset contact worth more than Rs. 49000 crores in the pipeline at various stages of negotiations which are going to materialise in the next couple of year.” So far, the MoD has signed 10 offset contracts worth Rs. 8,200 crores. Apart from state-owned DPSUs and OFs, 31 private companies have received offsets.

• Akash missiles to be deployed in North-East

February 16, 2010

Reports noted that India is planning to deploy surface-to-air Akash missile in North-East. As per the plan, the India Air Force (IAF) will deploy eight squadrons of the missile at the cost of over Rs. 6,100 crores by 2015, with the first squadron being expected to come up by 2011. The deployment is part of Indian defence forces’ plan to step up military preparedness, in move to “counter China’s massive build-up of military infrastructure all along the unresolved 4057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC).” In other measures, the Indian Army is raising two infantry mountain divisions and an artillery brigade in Arunanchal Pradesh. The infantry division, which will have 1260 officers and 35,011 soldiers, is expected to go operational in 2012. The IAF is raising two squadrons of Su-30 MKI, one each in Tezpur and Chabua in Assam.

• Army wants to ‘dump’ Insas rifle

February 18, 2010

Reports noted that the Indian Army wants to ‘dump’ the indigenous assault rifle Insas, developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). A global RFP (request for proposal) has been issued by the Army for a new assault rifle, stipulating that the rifle’s weight needs to be lighter than 3.5 kg. The Insas, which weighs 4.1 kg, may find it difficult to compete in the tender, unless some modification is carried out. The Army’s lack of enthusiasm for Insas is because “it does not measure up its requirements”.

Weekly Defence News Report (WDNR) - January 11-17, 2010

• Astra test-fired successfully

January 12, 2010

India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted two back to back test of the indigenously developed Astra missile. The test which was conducted from ground based launcher follows DRDO’s earlier captive flight trials on Sukhoi-30 MKI. The integrated test of the missile is expected within a year.

Astra is a beyond visual air to air missile. Once operational, India will join the club of the select countries such as US, Russia, Israel and France which have such technologies. The missile is “designed for an 80-km range in head-on mode and 20 km-range in tail-chase mode. As an anti-aircraft missile, it can be fired after receiving a signal from the far away target through its on-board manoeuvres based on radio frequency.”

• CII-KPMG asks for reforms in defence sector

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and consultancy firm KPMG in a joint study report has asked the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to bring more reforms in defence to enable India “to influence its future growth trajectory.” To enable the Indian industry to play a more meaningful role in defence production, the reports asks the MoD to improve “visibility of Government’s order book; increase industry’s inputs and feedback into the request for proposal (RFP) process; take steps to reduce bidders’ costs, allow private sector to take a large role in defence R&D.”. Also the report asks for formulation of an industrialization strategy to increase the private sector’s role in defence industry.

• China tests interceptor missile

January 12, 2010

China’s official new agency, Xinhua reported a “test on ground-based midcourse missile interception technology.” The test “achieved the expected objective”, and is “defensive in nature”, said the report. The test however comes few days after the US’s approval to sell air defence missiles worth $6.5 billion to Taiwan.