quadbikeEADS seems so confident hmmm
MMRCA to be political decision: Eurofighter
With the almost year-long trials for the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender of the Indian Air Force (IAF) expected to end by May, StratPost caught up with Dr. Matthias Schmidlin, the head of the Eurofighter Typhoon campaign in India, who said it was unlikely the trials would end with a single aircraft having a clear lead while recognizing the final result of the MMRCA contest would be a political decision.
“It is my belief that there will be definitely more than one vendor when there is the opening of the commercial envelope. I believe we are in a good position and so I anticipate that we will be going up to the end of this campaign,” he says, adding, “The final decision at the end of the day will be political. We all know that. This is, at the moment, the largest defense contract around the globe. And it will be the largest fighter, combat campaign for the next decade to come. So clearly, this is very strategic for all the vendors in the campaign.”
Acknowledging the contestants would have to satisfy the technical and commercial evaluations before getting to a point where they can be decided upon politically, saying, “Every vendor needs to go through the compliant bid up to that point.”
Schmidlin also thinks the Eurofighter has the advantage of the political inheritance it carries from Europe. “Once we are at this last and final stage: the political element, I’m convinced that the German government is fully committed behind this campaign,” he says.
He goes on to expand the list, saying, “Its also about Italy, Great Britain and Spain.” And notwithstanding the competition offered by the French Dassault’s Rafale in the MMRCA contest, Schmidlin also refers to the French ownership share of weapons supplier MBDA and EADS to submit, “At the end of the day we are certainly a French company to a certain extent as well. So one would get not just four, but five governments supporting this campaign.”
He asserts the advantages this political lineage provides in terms of the relative absence of conditions for sale of the aircraft that may be imposed on India. “It’s not enough to have the best kit in town if you have limitations to use it or if you have limitations for upgrading it. We are less bound than any or at least some of the contenders on end use monitoring and so forth, so what we’re offering is not only support for the self-reliance of the Indian aerospace and defense industry but also on the respective usage of the weapon kit at the end of the day,” says Schmidlin.
He also points out that the Eurofighter Typhoon has done well in various exercises with other contenders in the MMRCA contest, some of whom it has replaced in other air forces, saying, “It’s not a surprise because it was designed to replace a significant number of variants; some of them are in this campaign (MMRCA), (some) in the four nations, and some of the export customers are looking to do the same.”
Elaborating, Schimdlin says, “It replaces a lot of aircraft from different countries. F-18, Mirage, Tornado, MiG-29… Germany had MiG-29s. One Eurofighter is replacing all these Russian, American, French, British aircraft – it’s designed to replace a multitude of different aircraft from different manufacturers in different countries.” He also says there is an easy learning curve for moving to the Eurofighter Typhoon from other aircraft that are replaced. “There has been no big issue at all in moving from a competing aircraft even in this campaign (MMRCA) to the Typhoon in some nations or where we have exported the aircraft. Its really an aircraft that’s very easy to engage,” he says.
And while the Eurofighter Typhoon still has a final phase of trials in which to show this off to the IAF in trials next month in Europe, Schmidlin is not worried on that count. “The Eurofighter Typhoon is an aircraft which is highly agile, multi-role and swing-role. It’s designed to deliver high performance operation and is tailor-made to the Indian requirements, really, to operate in these conditions,” he says, adding, “It has been deployed to much tougher conditions. We won in Saudi Arabia, where there were very stringent trials conducted in hot and sandy conditions. In terms also of cold and hard conditions, we have sold the aircraft to Austria. Very difficult terrain out there with very narrow valleys, very short runways, which require massive performance at high altitudes.”
Offering transfer of technology, licensed manufacture and offsets, Schmidlin points out, “The Eurofighter is the youngest aircraft in this race, with loads of potential for future upgrades and enhancements and we’ve offered India to be part of this undertaking.”
The cost of such an undertaking, the MMRCA, could remain unclear for the near future. Curiously, while both the technical and commercial proposals were delivered by April 28, 2008, with the former being opened at 1500 hours that day, the commercial proposals were ‘locked away and sealed’ to be valid for ‘up to 24 months’, Schmidlin confirms.
And although it is clear that the evaluation is unlikely to be at a stage where the commercial bids are in a position to be opened by the expiry deadline on April 28 this year, Schmidlin finds himself at somewhat of a loss about their status after that date. “According to the DPP (Defense Procurement Procedure), there is a requirement for having valid commercial proposal, and so far – I have to be honest – I don’t know, we have not been officially approached in this regard.”
According to industry sources this eventuality has not been entirely unforeseen and there is a likelihood the vendors will be required to either resubmit their commercial bids or extend their validity. Trade speculation regards this as an opportunity for vendors to adjust their commercial proposals on the basis of their perception of performance in the user trials.
quadbikeNorthrop Grumman to Supply Integrated Bridge Systems for New Indian Navy Fleet Tankers
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been selected to supply integrated bridge systems (IBS) for two new fleet tankers being built in Italy for the Indian Navy.
The IBS orders were placed with Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine unit by the Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri, which is under contract to build the two tankers at its shipyards in Liguria and Palermo. Terms of the contract for the IBS were not disclosed.
Each of the ships will be fitted with a complete Sperry Marine VisionMaster FT™ IBS, including radars, electronic chart display and information systems, adaptive self-tuning autopilots, gyrocompasses and repeaters, speed sensors, echosounders, differential GPS and other navigation subsystems and sensors. All critical systems have been duplicated for built-in redundancy and survivability. Sperry Marine will also supply the ship’s inertial navigation system and data distribution system, which will be interfaced with the combat management system.
Compagnia Generali Telemar S.p.A, Sperry Marine’s sales and service representative in Italy, will be responsible for the installing, commissioning, testing and technical support for the project.
“This important contract win builds on our longstanding relationship as a key supplier to the Indian Navy,” said J. Nolasco DaCunha, vice president of International Naval Systems at Northrop Grumman’s Naval and Marine Systems Division. “We are especially pleased to have this opportunity to work with Fincantieri on this major naval shipbuilding program.”
The 175-meter tankers are being built with double hulls to meet the International Maritime Organization’s requirements for marine pollution control. They are scheduled for delivery to the Indian Navy in 2010-2011.
Northrop Grumman has a well-established relationship with India that spans more than 25 years and has an office in New Delhi.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.
quadbikeAntony to commission indigenously built OPV on Wednesday
Panaji: ICGS ‘VISHWAST’, first-of-its kind, indigenously designed Offshore Patrol Vessel will be commissioned by Defence Minister AK Antony on Wednesday to the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), one of the prominent defence shipbuilding yards, has built the ship which has state-of-the-art navigation and communication equipments.
The vessel, 90 meter in length, has an Integrated Bridge System and is also provided with Platform Management System, a GSL spokesman said.
“Propelled by two MTU engines, this vessel delivers a maximum speed of 26 knots and has an endurance of 4500 nautical miles. The vessel is capable of operating an helicopter. The vessel is also equipped with a 30 mm gun to counter undesirable intruders,” he said.
This is the only vessel in this class in the world with a large range of facilities for Pollution Control, Fire Fighting, Search & Rescue and Patrolling, the spokesman added.
Indian Coast Guard would be using the ship for patrolling and policing maritime zones, search and rescue operation, maritime surveillance, anti-smuggling operation, pollution response against oil spillage and external fire-fighting.
quadbikeArmy turns to HAL for 20 Cheetals in bid to plug chopper gap
Bangalore: After years of delays in finalizing a global tender for 197 new helicopters, the Indian Army has recently decided to buy 20 Cheetal helicopters from Bangalore-based military plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), three people familiar with the matter said.
The army had first floated a global tender for 197 advanced choppers in 2003 to replace its ageing fleet of Cheetahs and Chetaks, also from HAL and in use for at least three decades.
The Cheetal uses the same platform as the Cheetah, even if it has more powerful engines to take troops and weapons to higher altitude regions in the Himalayas and the North-East.
The purchase is the latest of several ad hoc defence deals India has struck in recent years to tide over delays to the army’s modernization plans, often a result of bureaucratic hurdles, cautious decision-making or corruption charges.
“Ad hoc purchases also means you are spending the money allocated for some other aircraft and not necessarily the full funds,” said Deba Ranjan Mohanty, senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a strategic think tank in New Delhi.
Each Cheetal costs about Rs25 crore. The estimated cost for the 197 choppers is nearly $1 billion (Rs4,500 crore).
A spokesman for the Indian Army did not respond to calls or emails sent early March.
The delay in the purchase of the 197 helicopters is because the army had to scrap the contract it had given to France-based Eurocopter SA after allegations of unfair trials by competitor Bell Helicopter, a division of Textron Inc. It floated a second tender in 2008.
“Delays mean using old aircraft on extended life, including training and operations,” said a defence ministry official, one of the three people mentioned earlier. “This will affect operational capabilities.” The official and the two other people familiar with the matter did not want to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the development.
“These ad hoc purchases will affect the modernization plans of the armed forces,” said Mohanty.
Nearly half the weapons in India’s military inventory are obsolete, accounting firm KPMG and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said in a report in January. The defence ministry has had to surrender 3-9% of its capital budget in the previous seven fiscal years as it couldn’t spend all the money allocated to it for weapon purchases, said the KPMG-CII report. India is expected to spend $100 billion (Rs4.5 trillion) by 2022 on buying new aircraft, helicopters, ships, tanks and missiles, it said.
Its most expensive purchase would be that of 126 jet fighters at an estimated $10 billion. Trials are now on for the fighters.
The development of Tejas, the light combat aircraft planned to replace the ageing MiG-21 fleet, has been delayed by at least five years. The government is also yet to finalize the upgradation of 51 Mirage 2000 fighters.
Last week, during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to New Delhi, India agreed to buy 42 additional Sukhoi 30 MkI fighters. This is to fill gaps and beef up capacity of the Indian Air Force’s fighter squadrons. The air force is operating at least six squadrons below its sanctioned strength of 39.5 squadrons of 18 planes each.
Recently, India opted to buy 145 lightweight towed howitzer guns from BAE Systems Plc. after it had to scrap an earlier tender, in which the front runner Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd was blacklisted on charges of corruption.
When planned procurement processes get delayed and are “fast-tracked through ad-hoc purchases, it also means the model of open competition is also suffering,” said Ratan Shrivastava, director for aerospace and defence at researcher Frost and Sullivan. “You go in for whatever is available, which may not be an optimum solution.”
quadbikeUpgrading Migs, which have a short life (certainly the engines), isn’t making much better. Upgrading is not cheap and cost lot of time. We have seen certain Mig21 upgrades which were not a success. I have the same idea about mig29. Just add some more cash and get a Flanker.
If you look at the IAF MIg 29 A/B upgrade underway right now, it significantly increases service life while adding capabilities that makes it equal (atleast in A2A) to the Block 50 F16s. IIRC these were the first Fulcrums sold exported to any country and are as old as they come. The cost of the upgrade is not high by any means either.
quadbikeI think Apache is going to win the IAF tender of 24 attack choppers. The first may arrive by the time Pakistan is getting the Super Cobra.
The chances of them meeting in battle is now real.
quadbikeWhy would the IAF go the Israelis for F-16 familiarity?. If they even give a small hint that they will choose the F-16 in the MMRCA,LM will park couple of jets in India for all the testing they need.
Israel or Singapore or other allied air-forces. I doubt testing the birds for MRCA would be as extensive as what can be done on F 16 I for example. And I am sure PAF pilots already have great experience on the Block 60s 😉
quadbikeDRDO in a fix over Antony remarks on naval plane
Officials in the higher echelons of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are stumped by defence minister A. K. Antony’s written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
The minister had said: “Deficiencies have been detected in the airframe and other associated equipment of the (Tejas Navy) aircraft. The DRDO is working out modalities with various organisations for rectifying these deficiencies by suitable modifications to the engine/airframe design.”
Though no one in the DRDO was willing to go on record, a senior project official of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft in Bangalore said a problem with the “airframe” could not arise simply because the prototype was still being built.
“We have built the external structure. We are now fitting the internal equipment like electricals, hydraulics and plumbing,” he said, adding that the aerodynamics of the naval version of Tejas was the same as that of the two-seater trainer version flown in November last. “But since the structural load on the naval Tejas will be much higher, its airframe will have to be tougher,” he added.
Officials at the DRDO headquarters said they had sent a draft response to the question Antony answered in Parliament. ” We wonder where the mix- up between our response and the minister’s reply could have occurred,” an official said.
As the system for replies to Parliament posers go, the question is first processed by a Parliament cell of the defence ministry and then sent to the department or agency to which it pertains.
Based on these inputs, a draft reply is prepared and then vetted by a designated joint secretary and then the defence secretary. Then it reaches the minister’s office where it is once again examined by his private secretary. For a ‘misinformation’ to pass through scrutiny of so many experienced hands is a rarity.
quadbikeIn a freak accident, the Navy guns down one of its own
It was a misfire that killed Anil Kumar Pradhan, a young sailor with the Western Naval Command. Official versions put it as a rarest of rare incident, but sources indicate a big operational faux pas on one of India’s finest warships.
On March 12, Pradhan, onboard the INS Delhi in Visakhapatnam, came under fire from an anti-aircraft gun on another warship. The 12.5 mm bullet killed him on the spot.
More alarmingly, the mishap occurred on one of the Indian Navy’s finest warships, INS Mumbai. “It’s unbelievable that the incident took place on INS Mumbai. It is the finest warship with a battle hardened crew which simply can not commit any mistake,” said a naval officer on the condition of anonymity.
“But the vital question is about the round which should not have been there in the anti-aircraft gun during the system check. It indicates towards gross negligence on part of the crew of the INS Mumbai. Thankfully, it was a single bullet, otherwise the gun, which is used to shoot down aircraft, would have caused massive damage to the crew and other systems of INS Delhi,” said another officer .
The incident occured soon after the culmination of the joint exercise, Tropex 10, by all the three armed forces, off the Visakhapatnam coast-the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command. “After the exercise was over, some of the ships had anchored at Vizag port and were scheduled to sail for their return passage to the base port, Mumbai,” said a naval officer.
INS Mumbai and INS Delhi were anchored side by side and were scheduled to undergo final systems check before sailing. But apparently during the procedure, the anti-aircraft gun mounted on the deck of INS Mumbai fired accidentally. The bullet directly hit chief radio electrical artificer (equivalent to the rank of chief petty officer) Anil Kumar Pradhan, posted on INS Delhi, and killed him. “There is a procedure to check every single system on the warship before it sails for the high seas. During that exercise the anti-aircraft gun fired, which was loaded with one single round,” the officer added.
Pradhan (31) was unmarried and is survived by his parents. He was a native of Sarangpur district in Orissa. Indian Navy spokesperson, Commander PVS Satish said: “A Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been ordered to investigate the incident, but it’s an extremely rare incident.”
Navy officials also ruled out any doubts regarding the AK-360 anti-aircraft gun. “It’s one of the most dependable guns with the Navy and this is the first such unfortunate incident related to it. The actual cause would be known only after the CoI. But it surely indicates towards a very serious blunder on the part of the crew and command of the INS Mumbai,” said an officer.
Losing Good Men
It’s not just the Indian Navy which has been robbed of good sailors by freak mishaps. On Sunday night, four Indian Army jawans lost their lives when an 81 mm mortar cell exploded at a firing range in Pokhran. A Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been ordered into the incident. The Navy lost two of its pilots earlier this month, when an aerobatic display plane crashed into a building in Hyderabad.
quadbikeI would not be suprised. PAF has had historical relations with the air forces of several MK users….
And I am very sure IAF has very good experience with the Block 50/52s PAF is getting because of its good relationship with the other IAF 😉
Even if you go by the youtube briefings the colonel clearly states that the MKIs are superior to the F 16s and F 15s while the F 22 is much better than the MKI.
Again no controversy. 😉 Wait till we take FGFA to Redflag 😀
quadbikeNext would be re-admission into Russian federation, which may well be a good thing for Georgia, Russia and regional stability, Ukraine to follow.
quadbikeActually I do not think sferrin is whining. He was just pointing out factual inaccuracies in Russian reports that the Russians invented something that was invented by Americans. And also baseless reports on performance of the F 22.
You are basically saying that if some one says in the Russian space thread that its the Russians who put man on the moon, we all have to agree because its the Russian Space thread.
quadbikeNo the F 22 did not participate in Redflag which IAF was in. I think it was USAF F 16s and F 15s, Korean F15 Ks and French Rafales.
quadbikeF-35 was NEVER demoed to IN. Can you show me some proof of IN having seen anymore then a powerpoint preso on this?
Demo as in presentation. I dont know if they used Power Point, Flash or something else.
quadbikeI dont see US offering F-35 anytime in the near future…
They have replied to the RFI and did a demo on F 35 capabilities to the IN.
Yes India is unlikely to get early slots, but IAC 2 is some way away by the time I think F 35 would be ready.
Sign In
