EXCLUSIVE Interview of Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju

Ahead of the largest DefExpo beginning tomorrow, Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju spoke exclusively to Defence Express. Here are the excerpts from the interview -

 

Q. Artillery has been one of the biggest lacunae in Indian Army’s inventory. What steps are you taking to fill this gap?

A. The artillery firms got blacklisted many a times. If everybody gets blacklisted acquisition of artillery will get a difficult. We had sought inputs from the Law Ministry on how to proceed further in the artillery acquisition programme. After all capabilities have to be acquired.

Indian Army has placed a substantial order for 100 Bofors guns with the Ordnance Factory Board. Transfer of Technology has already been done by Bofors. The Army has agreed to conduct trials for the guns simultaneously with the manufacturing. Earlier it used to be first manufacturing and then validation. But for the first time the manufacturing and validation of 100 guns will take place simultaneously. 

The guns will be manufactured by OFB Jabalpur. The first prototype should be made in this financial year. If we are successful it will be great. OFB and Army will then jointly improvise upon the guns. We have so far made warships, radar systems, and battle tanks within the country. It will be first time India will be manufacturing artillery guns.

Army will also be involved in this. Army has realized that it is necessary to develop this capability within the country. The barrel of the 155 mm guns will be manufactured in Calcutta.

Q. Earlier, the Main Battle Tank was built indigenously but it took the tank long to earn the approval of the user?

A. Arjun was something that DRDO attempted to do on its own. If you go through the gestation period of tank in other countries they are not short. On top of it the user was not convinced, and they never looked at it as if they were involved in it. But this time we have made sure that the user has got full say in the project since the commencement of the programme. The guns will be much better than the original guns.

Q. There have been reports that the Defence Ministry is working towards the dilution of offset policy?

A. Lot of activities are going on in the country in terms of acquisition. Offsets guidelines have to create enabling environment for the companies to work in the country. We are deliberating on various issues like how the companies can bank the offsets. And various other issues are under consideration and it does not mean dilution of offsets policy, rather we are making it more flexible.

Q. While the LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) is yet to be inducted into the Indian Air Force, the Indian Navy has also expressed disappointment at the delay in the realization of the LCA’s naval variant. Why is it so?

A. LCA had started off as essentially an air force project. Somewhere down the line we said let us make a naval version. It needed major modification. The landing gear had to be made stronger to make the carrier-based operations possible. It is a slow process. 

Naval version of LCA

As the navy is expecting Admiral Gorshkov by this year end, it does not want a situation where it has the aircraft carrier but to aircraft. Hopefully by this year the naval variant should be ready.

Q. The DRDO has announced to test the 5,000 km range Agni-V missile. When is the test happening?

A. The test would be taking place in this calendar year. It will be a big achievement for the indigenous missile development programme.

Q. The Indian Army has been in dire need of the Night Vision Devices. What has been the progress on this front?

A. We have received the Transfer of Technology from Belarus for tanks. The Ordnance Factory Board is working it. It is very important equipment and gives the equipment a lot more versatility by giving it operational capability during night.

Q. The Border Roads construction has been suffering due to lack of environmental clearances. Has there been a breakthrough?

A. Environmental clearances are coming up pretty quickly. Former and present environmental ministers have been pretty sympathetic to our cause. The construction of roads in the border areas is critical for the armed forces and also for the population in the region.