India steadily increases defense spending
Filed under: England, India, Military Aviation, S&T, development program, logistics, production program
The headline on this article in the Daily Telegraph is a little misleading once you read it. India is on a path to more then double defense spending in the next twenty years, where it will be higher then the current UK’s budget. For India to exceed Britain’s budget it would take the UK holding spending steady, and actually adjusted for inflation, reducing it. It is certainly possible to imagine that the UK, and the US for that matter, may have to reduce spending as the budgetary reality catches up to them regarding the cost of social services and deficit spending. The other point of the story the money that India is putting into updating and modernizing their military by moving to buying advanced Western weapons rather then relying on Russian and indigenous producers is probably more important then the amount of spending.
The article by David Blair and Thomas Harding can be found here.
India goes with AW for new VIP aircraft
Filed under: Agusta Westland, Contract Awards, India, Military Aviation, Sikorsky, commercial aviation, production program
Like the US Navy, India awarded a contract to Augusta Westland for their new VIP transport helicopter. The contract is worth about $300 M. Sikorsky was one of the unsuccessful bidders with their S-92 aircraft. The EH-101 selected will offer a larger cabin, although it is a more expensive aircraft. US companies have been trying hard lately to break into the Indian market as that country has turned away from its traditional English and Russian suppliers. India has also made a great effort to begin developing a sophisticated, indigenous arm suppliers.
See The Hartford Courant article about this contract here.
India moves to limit middlemen in contracts
Filed under: Boeing, D'Assault, EADS, FMS, India, Lockheed Martin, MiG, Military Aviation, Proposal, SAAB, production program
India already loosened their offset requirements leading to progress on the new fighter contract. Now the government moved to limit the use of Indian representatives or “agents” in helping the foreign companies with their bid. The six teams that submitted proposals are moving to line up Indian companies to support their fabrication and delivery of the aircraft. By limiting these agents the Indian government hopes to make the process more open and increase the ability of non-Indian companies to use their industry.
See Central Chronicle for more.
Six bids for India’s new advanced fighter
Filed under: Contract Awards, D'Assault, India, MiG, Military Aviation, Proposal, production program
With the decision here to relax the off set provisions required for work on Indian defense contracts India received six new proposals for their new advanced fighter aircraft, the MMRCA. See a story here. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, EADS, MiG, SAAB and D’Assault submitted proposals. Aircraft from these companies are currently under evaluation with a decision to be made in the next several months.
India changes offset reqirements
Looking at several major contracts to be awarded in the next ten years, India’s government has decided to relax their offset requirements. See a story here. As previously discussed here, India had been demanding major off set investments that some foreign companies felt were too difficult to meet. Now the government will allow companies to just hold funding to meet the offset requirements. This will make it easier for companies to bid on the contracts.
Renewed helicopters for India
Filed under: HAL, India, Military Aviation, Proposal, development program, production program
India has decided to put out an RFP for light helicopters after all the back-and-forth. See an article here. As previously discussed the planned acquisition was canceled, then planned again, and now it will be for a reduced number than the last attempt. Now rather then going with a 100% foreign buy the contract will be split between a non-Indian company and HAL. One positive of this is that they plan to limit the tech transfer, requirements that recently have been seen as onerous, to only those for the support of the aircraft.
Boeing Indian contract cancelled due end-user agreements
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, India, Military Aviation, production program
India canceled a contract with Boeing for P-8 maritime patrol aircraft due to disagreements over end-user limits on the US technology involved. See an article here. The $2.2 B contract was ready to go for final approval when talks broke down over how to review equipment to prevent technology transfer. India objected to the harsh provisions. This does not mean that the contract could not be renegotiated, but it may be India turns to another provider.
India ends tank program
Filed under: India, Restructuring, development program, production program
India has decided to not continue their indigenous main battle tank program. See an article here. India had developed and put into production their own Arjun system, but have now decided that it is not what they need for the long term. No more production contracts will be placed and they will instead build out the 120 or so on order. They will look to foreign firms for a more advanced system. Read more
India’s indigenous helicopter struggling
Filed under: EADS, HAL, India, Military Aviation, Restructuring, development program, production program
According to this article the Indian Navy is canceling its procurement of Druhz helicopters. This light aircraft made indigenously by HAL is failing to meet the operational requirements. The Navy will now look to buy a new, most likely foreign aircraft, to meet its needs. The Indian Army and Air Force are also planning to buy new aircraft, and the original plan was to make a joint Indian-Eurocopter aircraft but that deal fell apart due to corruption issues. For more on that see this.
Indian Defence Minister stresses good aspects of offset clause
Filed under: India, Military Aviation, Proposal, development program
Bump - According to this article as a way to meet the 30% offset requirement, EADS offered to let India join the Eurofighter upgrade program. India would become part of the program’s member countries, the fifth one to join, and also would have the opportunity to participate in other planned EADS programs.
India’s government currently requires that any contract awarded to a foreign defense company have a 30% offset clause. See an article here. Minister of Defense Antony recently reassured foreign companies that this is not a bad thing. For the new fighter contract currently being bid on by various American, European and Russian companies the offset will be 50%. Some of the offerers are balking at this provision. The Minister rightly points out that this kind of offset will allow the foreign companies to develop capabilities in India that might benefit them in the long run.
Israel to equip IL-76 with AWACS for India
Filed under: Contract Awards, India, Israel, Military Aviation, production program
India has placed an order for 3 more Phalcon Airborne Warning & Control System (AWACS) aircraft. See the story here. IAI will modify the aircraft procured from Uzbekistan with their Phalcon system. India previously ordered three IL-76 AWACS aircraft from Russia. These three aircraft from IAI may end up being their largest contract ever with any source, worth potentially $2 B. Read more
India to buy 384 light helicopters
Filed under: Bell, EADS, HAL, India, Kamov, Military Aviation, Proposal, production program
After canceling an earlier contract for Army helicopters, India is trying it again. This time though they are buying 259 for their Army and another 125 for the Air Force. See an article here. For information on the previous contract action see this. It is expected that Bell, Eurocopter, Augusta and Kamov will bid on the contract. The Indian government had for years relied on Russian and British equipment, but is now turning to America and other nations for their procurements. Based on past other procurements we will see similar aircraft to those that were proposed for the US Army’s Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) program which was won by the Eurocopter EC-145 aircraft.
Boeing to bid on India’s new fighter
Filed under: Boeing, India, Military Aviation, production program
Boeing confirmed that they will submit a proposal to India for a new fighter. See the story here. Boeing will bid the F/A-18 against competition from Russia, Sweden, France, the UK and Lockheed Martin. The contract is for 126 aircraft, and if Boeing won would be a major coup for them, because as we previously wrote here their defense business is declining.
Indian C-130J ordered
Filed under: Contract Awards, FMS, India, Lockheed Martin, Military Aviation, production program
The Department of Defense ordered the six Indian C-130J aircraft from Lockheed Martin. See the article here. As in the case of most Foreign Military Sales (FMS) India just piggy-backed on the current production contract. This gives them the lowest price possible due to production quantities and stability. The total contract is worth over $1 B, but the aircraft part is about $600 M.
Iraqi Oil For Food scandal reaches Indian Navy
Filed under: Contract Awards, India, crime, logistics, training
A contract awarded to buy training for Indian Navy simulators was put on hold due to allegations of improprieties with Indian Naval officers. See an article here. It turns out that the scandal started with an investigation into Indian companies related to the Iraqi Oil for Food bribery scheme. Now the contract is one of many that the Indian legislature is supposed to investigate. For previous articles about this kind of issue see this and this. In the last few years corruption has been a major issue in the awarding of defense contracts, both to foreign and Indian firms.
Shhh!! Don’t tell Congress
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, HAL, Military Aviation, Northrop Grumman Corp., Protest, production program
HAL announced today in this article that they expect their MOU with Boeing to bear fruit with exports to America. See this previous story for more on the MOA. HAL believes that they will make parts and components for Boeing for such US military programs as the F-15, F/A-18 and AH-64. Based on the furor over the tanker award to Northrop-Grumman and EADS you would think Congress would protest the outsourcing of such jobs to a foreign country.
India seen as future large weapons buyer
Filed under: India, Lockheed Martin, Military Aviation, production program
Lockheed Martin has expressed their belief that India will be one of the largest, future weapon markets. See Reuters for a story from the Singapore Airshow. With a projected market of $20 Billion over the next decades Lockheed plans to bid on whatever work it thinks it can get. It recently won an award for C-130 aircraft. See this previous post.
EADS and Tata ink agreement
Filed under: BAE Systems, EADS, India, Sikorsky, Tata, commercial aviation
Tata just does not make the cheapest car in the world, but has now begun forging agreements with foreign defense companies to bid on Indian contracts. See The Financial Times for more on this. Tata has joined with EADS to begin preparation for bidding on a communication contract. They have signed with Sikorsky to make helicopter cabins, and is also in talks with BAE. This is a sensible way for the large company to begin getting into the defense business. Of course, with the US companies the export controls may limit what they can do.
India plans to revamp defense contracting policies
Stung by the recent bribery and corruption issues related to large hardware contracts, India plans to update its policies and procedures to make it more easy for the foreign companies to understand. See IndiaPRWire.com for the actual release. One key stumbling block is the large offset required in the new policy. Some of the foreign manufacturers might balk at the amount of money required to be invested in India.
Indian investigators claim former Navy chief received kickbacks
In the continuing saga that is Indian defense contracting comes word that the former head of the Navy, Admiral S M Nanda is being investigated for kickbacks as part of the deal to buy the former Russian aircraft carrier, Admiral Gorshkov. See The Times of India article for further sordid details. It turns out that the admiral’s son was acting as a broker for various deals including this one.
India to recompete helicopter contract
Filed under: EADS, HAL, India, Proposal, commercial aviation, production program
According to AFP here, India will put out for rebid its utility helicopter contract. India had previously awarded a contract to Eurocopter, a subsidiary of EADS, to buy 197 aircraft. This was scrapped due to what the Indian Government called irregularities, which EADS has denied. The new contract is for 312 helicopters and is worth substantially more.
Lockheed Martin to sell 6 C-130 aircraft to Inda
Filed under: Contract Awards, India, Lockheed Martin, production program
India is planning on purchasing 6 C-130 Hercules transports from Lockheed Martin according to a variety of sources. This contract will be worth $1 Billion. See Agence France Press here for some more information. This may be the precursor to a bigger deal as India is exploring the purchase of 126 advanced fighter aircraft. Previous attempts by the Indian government to make large purchases have been derailed by a variety of corruption issues.
Major upgrade planned for Indian Army artillery
The Indian government released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for 140 light artillery pieces as part of a $2.5 B dollar program to upgrade their artillery. A further 260 other artillery pieces will be procured. See an article about this here. This RFP replaces another contract that collapsed last year under allegations of bribery and kick backs. India also plans to upgrade its armored forces with a purchase of Russian tanks.
United States to try to sell arms to India
The United States, in competition with Russia and Europe, will attempt to sell a significant quantity of weapons over the next several years. This is seen as a way to further a strong relationship with the key South Asian nation. See an article at Defensenews.com here. Obviously this will be a big change for India, as traditionally it has chosen Russia or Britain as its main supplier. The US also has provided significant arms to Pakistan since the 1980’s.
Boeing Signs MOU on Aircraft Production with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL)
Boeing announced on Thursday that it signed a new agreement with HAL that will allow the Indian company to build aircraft components. Currently, Boeing expects less than $20 M in annual business, but the agreement will last ten years and could grow to $1 Billion. See article here.
