Obama to push for more defence deals with India in 2nd term

India on Wednesday congratulated Barack Obama for winning a second term in the White House hoping the economic and defence ties between the two countries will be furthered.

Obama has been instrumental in pushing through defence deals worth $10 billion with India in his first term creating thousands of jobs back home. Many of the defence deals with the US are still in offing.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also congratulated Obama – with whom he shares a special equation -for his re-election. “I have no doubt that there is much more we can do together to further strengthen the India-U.S. partnership and thereby advance peace and stability, expand mutual economic opportunities, harness the potential of science and technology, innovation and higher education and empower our people to address global challenges,” Singh said in his congratulatory message. 

Obama has also been pushing for better relations with India as was evident during his four day presidential tour – the longest overseas visit by him as President. Obama, who broke the racial ceiling for being the first Black elected President in the White House, also expressed his solidarity with India in countering terrorism.

As per keen watchers of the defence industry, there will be “renewed thrust” from Obama on signing of more defence deals with India to help the economic crises back home. The total defence trade between the two countries in last 10 years has been $ 10 billion and in 2011 only India has purchased military equipments worth more than $4.5 billion from the US. The big ticket deals signed with the US in the last five years been eight P-8I maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft from Boeing valuing $ 2.1 billion. India is also buying 10 C-17 heavy-lifters from Boeing for $4.1 billion. The six C-130 J special operations aircraft valuing $ 1.2 billion have already arrived in the country and order for six more is in the offing. India is also planning to place an order for M777 ultra light howitzers for $ 700 million to augment its firepower in the mountainous terrain.

The US firms have also emerged as the chosen one for supplying the attack helicopters and the heavy lift helicopters for the Indian Air Force.

In a gesture to reciprocate, the US also eased its US Export Controls and Technology security policies towards India and removed premier Defence Research and Development Organisation and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from the Commerce Department Entity List.

The US earlier this year unveiled a new military strategy for Asia-Pacific under the leadership of Obama giving a more pivotal role to India to counter the rise of China. The US has been all out trying to woo India by stepping up bilateral defence trade and cooperation. The US also underlined its commitment towards the modernization of the Indian Army.

With the US set to pull out its troops from strife-torn Afghanistan by 2014 end, it has been urging India to play a greater role in stabilizing the country. So far India’s involvement in Afghanistan has been limited to economic and soft skills development. The US is keen on New Delhi’s help in training Afghanistan police and Army.

India Russia signs follow-on MTA contract

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), the aerospace major, signed the Preliminary Design Phase (PDP) Contract today in New Delhi with the United Aircraft Corporation — Transport Aircraft (UAC-TA), the Russian partner and their JV-Multirole Transport Aircraft Ltd (MTAL) for the Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA) project as a follow on contract of the General Contract signed between the three parties in May 2012.

File Photos of a model of MTA at DefExpo 2012

“With this HAL and UAC-TA will start the preliminary design work immediately at Moscow. HAL design team consisting of 30 designers will be positioned at UAC-TA”, says Mr. R.K.Tyagi, Chairman, HAL who was present on the occasion. The primary objective of the project is to achieve self-reliance in design, development and production of aircraft of this size and also to manage the programme with international collaboration and large number of global suppliers, he adds.

The contract was signed by Mr. T. Suvarnaraju, HAL’s Director (Design and Development) and Mr. S.Velmozhkin, General Director, UAC-TA.

An Inter Governmental Agreement was signed on November 12, 2007 to design, develop and produce the multi-role transport aircraft in the 15-20 tonne class, jointly by the Indian and Russian agencies (HAL and UAC-TAS) to meet the requirements of 100 aircraft for the Russian Air Force, 45 aircraft for the IAF and 60 for other countries. The total requirement for the present is 205.

On completion of the agreed work share of the PDP Contract in 10 months, Detail Design Phase (DDP) Contract will be signed to complete the design and development of MTA.

The aircraft will be designed for cargo / troop transportation, paradrop/air drop of supplies including ‘low altitude parachute extraction system’ and is to be co-developed by HAL, UAC, and Rosoboronexport of Russia, through MTAL.

HAL will carry out the design and development of its workshare of the MTA at the Aircraft R&D Centre (ARDC) at Bangalore while its Transport Aircraft Division (TAD) at Kanpur will manufacture the prototypes and subsequently the serial production will be undertaken at Kanpur where dedicated facilities are being set up.

HAL’s other R&D Centres and manufacturing Divisions will share development of systems and LRUs and manufacture of components, sub-assemblies and composite structure. HAL will showcase its expertise in design of aircraft as well as systems, manufacturing and flight testing while jointly working with the Russian team in Moscow as well as in India.

HAL has a dedicated Division for manufacture and support of transport aircraft at Kanpur which is the only proven facility in the country for transport aircrafts. This Division has a co-located R&D centre for transport aircraft.

The production of 44 seater HS-748 (Avro) passenger/transport Aircraft commenced at this Division in early 1960s. Eighty nine Avro aircrafts were produced at this Division out of which 22 aircrafts were supplied to civilian customers. The Division is still supporting these aircrafts even after five decades inspite of obsolescence and non-availability of OEMs support thanks to R&D efforts in maintaining fleet serviceability. HAL has undertaken a number of upgrades and modifications to overcome obsolescence and performance enhancement.

Subsequently, production of 19 seater Dornier 228 passenger/utility aircraft started in early 1984. So far 116 aircrafts have been produced for various roles out of which 14 aircrafts were supplied to domestic civilian customers besides export of another two aircrafts. HAL is also exporting complete Dornier 228 aircraft structure to Ruag, Germany with EASA certification. Currently, the Division is supplying aircraft to various defence customers. One aircraft will be exported to Seychelles during this financial year.

The Division is also expecting a number of bulk orders from domestic/foreign customers in near future.

India’s Gorshkov dream delayed by a year

New Delhi, October 10: The delivery date of floating deck cruiser Admiral Gorshkov slipped by a year, Russia made it official on Wednesday, even as India remained non-committal on imposing a financial penalty on the Russian shipyard as it failed to honour the contract that had finalized December 4, 2012 as the delivery date.

 

 

Even as the biggest irritant in the Indo-Russian defence trade – often termed as the “White Elephant” indicating the steep cost escalation of the warships - was far from being removed, both countries firmed up contracts for another 42 Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jets and 59 helicopters.

According to sources, India conveyed its “serious concerns” about the delay of Gorhskov to be rechristened as INS Vikramaditya to visiting Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov during the 12th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation Russia. However, Moscow washed its hands off the delay caused in the project saying it cannot be held responsible for the trial malfunction.

Addressing a joint press conference, Russian Defence Minister Serdyukov said: “The ship encountered big malfunction with the main power plant and the boiler. Right now the ship is relocated to the factory.” The Russian technicians are examining the cause of the malfunction and the 44,570 tonnes Kiev class aircraft carrier at Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk will only begin its trial in April 2013.

The Gorshkov programme had suffered a setback when after 90 days of sailing in the Barent Sea; seven of the eight boilers of the warship did not function at its maximum power limit. Sources indicate that the Russian shipyard might escalate the cost for the refurbishment of the warship as the Russians are claiming that it was the Indian Navy that insisted on bricks insulation for the boilers rather than the traditional asbestos coating and would therefore claim more in the name of dry dock maintenance.

“We have handed over the revised time overhaul and transfer schedule to the Indian side and we believe that transfer of the ship will take place in the 4th quarter of the 2013,” Serdykov added.

While Indian Defence Minister AK Antony insisted that the early delivery of the aircraft carrier was the primary concern of New Delhi, on the issue of imposing penalty on Sevmash shipyard for another delay in the project that has been marred by delays and price escalation saying: “This is not the time to discuss it.” The contract provides for levying a penalty ranging from .5 to 5 percent of the cost of the warship depending on the delay in the delivery.

The acquisition of Admiral Gorshkov has been full of the price escalation saga. Offered as a gift to the Indian Navy in the beginning, the Russians had used the warship to arm-twist the Indian government to cough up more money that was used to bail out the cash-strapped Sevmash shipyard. The soviet-vintage aircraft carrier was built under 1143.4 class aircraft carrier project and these carriers have a history of boiler failures during their service lives. The warship was launched into the sea in 1982 and commissioned into the Soviet navy in 1987. Gorshkov had to be docked in 1994 after a boiler room explosion in 1994. It returned to services in 1995 for a brief time and was finally put up for sale in 1996.

India and Russia signed the contract in 2004 for a package deal of $1.5 billion that included $974 million for its refit and the rest for the 16 MiG-29 K fighter jets. The initial delivery date was in 2008.

However project hit the headlines in 2007 when Russia said that it will not be able to meet its initial deadline of 2008 and pushed it back to 2010 and demanded upped the price to $2.9 billion. After years of strenuous price re-negotiations the deal was re-inked at $2.33 billion in 2010 and December 2012 was fixed as the delivery time.

Pics: General Bikram Singh in Bangladesh

Russia snubs India, postpones defence minister's visit to New Delhi

With the changing world equation, the dynamics of India-Russia and Russia-Pakistan are showing perceptible change. The Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov postponed his scheduled visit to New Delhi ostensibly because he was called by the Russian President Vladimir Putin for an urgent function. However, the most likely reason is seen as the visit of Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who will be in Moscow on October 5. Because of this the visit of the Russian defence minister to India has been rescheduled to October 10.

As India has decided to not put all its apples in one basket and has started exploring more foreign vendors besides Russia, Moscow is also exploring other market options.

While in Moscow there are many things high on the agenda of General Kayani. He will be seeking the Kremlin’s approval for three crucial projects: creation of an engine overhaul facility in Kamra for the 84.4kN-thrust Klimov RD-93, whuch powers the Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) JF-17 ‘Thunder’ Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA), another overhaul workshop for the 12  RD & PE Zvezda JSC-built UPAZ-1 aerial refuelling pods in service with the Pakistan Air Force's four IL-78MKP Multi-role transport aircraft, continued product-support for the four IL-78MKPs; and most importantly, the export approval for 132kN-thrust AL-31FN turbofans required for powering the initial 40 FC-20 (36-single-seat and four tandem-seat) Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft that the PAF wants to procure from China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corp (which is also producing the JF-17).

Here is the statement issued by the Indian Defence Ministry-

"The meeting of the India-Russia Inter-governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) which was to be held tomorrow has been deferred due to the inability of the Russian Co-Chair of the Commission and the Defence Minister Mr. Serdyukov to travel to India as scheduled.  It has been conveyed by the Russian side that the Russian Defence Minister was required to stay in Russia for his urgent participation in a programme of the Russian President.

The IRIGC-MTC meeting will now be held on 10th October, which is an annual meeting at the level of Defence Ministers of the two countries."

Russia to demand more money for Admiral Gorshkov

The memory of the steep price escalation by Russians for the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov was still fresh in the memories of Indian defence authorities, and the latest snags experienced during the trials of the flat top carrier indicates that Moscow will up the price for warship once more.
 

The issue is expected to be at the forefront when Russian Defence Minister Anatoly E Serdyukov visits India next month. The Russians have informed about the glitches during the sea trials of the 44,570 tonnes Kiev class aircraft carrier, rechristened as INS Vikramaditya literally meaning “Brave as Sun”, to the Indian Defence Ministry.

Sources informed The New Indian Express that the Russians are building up case for another price hike for the second hand warship. “The Russians are claiming that it was the Indian Navy that insisted on bricks insulation for the boilers rather than the traditional asbestos coating and would therefore claim more in the name of dry dock maintenance,” added the sources.
 

The Indian Navy’s aim to operate two functional aircraft carriers at a given time suffered a second setback when after 90 days of sailing in the Barent Sea seven of the eight boilers of the warship did not function at its maximum power limit. According to the widely read Russian daily “Kommersant”, the seven boilers were damaged during the trial delaying the delivery of the warship by a year.

The Indian Navy, however, contended that the contract provides for leeway of 3-4 months in case of delay in delivery but beyond that the provisions call for imposing penalty if its delayed beyond it.

The acquisition of Admiral Gorshkov has been full of the price escalation saga. Offered as a gift to the Indian Navy in the beginning, the Russians had used the warship to arm-twist the Indian government to cough up more money that was used to bail out the cash-strapped Sevmash shipyard.  The contract was signed in 2004 for a package deal of $1.5 billion that included $974 million for its refit and the rest for the 16 MiG-29 K fighter jets. The initial delivery date was in 2008.

However project hit the headlines in 2007 when Russia said that it will not be able to meet its initial deadline of 2008 and pushed it back to 2010 and demanded upped the price to $2.9 billion. After years of strenuous price re-negotiations the deal was re-inked at $2.33 billion in 2010 and December 2012 was fixed as the delivery time.

However, the recent development indicates that the leviathan is going to miss its deadline once again.
 

Earlier, the indigenous aircraft carrier project suffered a two years delay when truck carrying important equipment met an accident. Both the aircraft carrier are crucial for the Indian Navy’s policy to gain maritime advantage in the Indian Ocean Region – spread from Gulf of Aden in the east to Malacca Strait in the west – as the force envisages to have one aircraft carrier each for its two coasts.