Editor's Foreword

352 The MiliTAry BAlAnCe 2010
the Combat Vehicles Research and Development
Establishment.
Efforts by the Army Aviation Corps to replace
obsolete assets, such as Chetak and Cheetah helicopters,
were postponed after the MoD scrapped the acquisition
of 197 Eurocopter Fennec light observation helicopters,
despite four years of trials and evaluations.
The MoD claimed there had been irregularities in the
selection process. In July 2008, a new RfP was issued
to at least four overseas manufacturers, stipulating
that the successful bid would entail an offset requirement
of 50% and the transfer of ‘maintenance-related
technology’ to HAL. Bell Helicopters quickly withdrew
from the tender process, saying the terms of the
RfP did not provide sufficient scope for a competitive
commercial bid.
The army’s ambitious Field Artillery Rationalisation
Plan – under which it intends to acquire a
mixture of 3,600 towed, wheeled and tracked guns
– is already ten years overdue. During early 2008,
the MoD issued tenders for the procurement of
140 ultra-light, 155mm howitzers and 180 wheeled
guns. By August it had withdrawn both tenders,
saying there had been an ‘inadequate’ response
from overseas vendors – although observers
suggested this was likely the result of bureaucratic
delay and unrealistic requirements. By June 2009
it appeared that the only remaining bidder for the
ultra-light programme was Singapore Technologies
Engineering (ST Engineering), which was offering
its Pegasus gun. However, ST Engineering was
one of the seven companies under the spotlight in
the Central Bureau of Investigation’s corruption
probe in mid 2009, so the potential deal had to be
suspended.
In light of India’s growing dependence on gas, oil
and other commodities from all parts of the globe, the
Indian Navy has begun a comprehensive programme
to acquire power-projection platforms, ranging from
aircraft carriers to landing platform dock ships.
Over the next decade, the navy plans to field a fleet
of 140–145 vessels (including two nuclear-powered
submarines). Half of these will be designated oceangoing,
the remainder assigned to coastal duties. The
fleet will be built around two carrier battle groups:
the first based on the much delayed Gorshkov and the
second based on an indigenously designed, 37,500tonne
‘air defence vessel’ (ADV), construction of
which began in 2005. By 2022, the fleet is scheduled to
have grown to 160 vessels, equipped with around 350
fixed-wing and rotary aircraft.
However, the acquisition of the Gorshkov is not the
only naval programme holding up the navy’s ambitious
modernisation plans. The ADV is at least two
years late and several other projects have fallen well
behind schedule, not least due to the inefficiency of
domestic shipyards. Around 39 out of an order book
of 44 vessels are being constructed by Indian contractors.
In July 2009, the MoD acknowledged that the
domestic construction of six French-designed Scorpene
submarines was running at least two years behind
schedule because of difficulties with the ‘absorption
of technologies’. This raised questions about a potential
follow-on order of another six Scorpene vessels.
The navy’s lack of submarines was highlighted in a
report by the CAG, which warned that India faces the
prospect of operating with less than half its current
fleet by 2012, when two-thirds of its submarines are
due for retirement. The report said prolonged refit
schedules meant the submarine fleet had been operating
at as little as 48% capacity between 2002 and
2006. It added that serious problems with inertial
navigation systems and new sonar equipment meant
several vessels were operating at sub-optimal levels.
There were more encouraging developments
with the navy’s plan to acquire two nuclear-powered
submarines, as India finally agreed the lease of an
Akula II-class vessel from Russia. The arrangement,
initiated in 2004, was thrown into some doubt when
the vessel in question, the Nerpa, was involved in an
accident in late 2008 in which 20 sailors and technicians
died through the release of freon gas. Although
the sale of nuclear-powered attack submarines
(SSNs) is forbidden by international treaty, leases are
permitted if a vessel does not have missiles with a
greater than 300km range. India is thought to have
leased the submarine for ten years at a cost of around
US$700m. The confirmation that the lease would
go ahead was followed in July 2009 by the launch
of India’s indigenously built nuclear submarine,
three decades after the programme was initiated.
The 6,000-tonne Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV)
is reportedly based on an original Russian design,
and Russian involvement in designing the ship
and miniaturising its reactor has long been an open
secret. However, military officials have suggested
that it might be at least two years before the vessel is
commissioned, and that ultimately it may be retained
only as a technology-demonstrator rather than as an
operational strategic asset. The hulls of two further
ATV submarines have already been completed and
these ships are expected to be ready by 2017.