FDI in Defence by Capt Bharat Varma

FDI in Defence by Capt Bharat Varma

Originally Posted in Ani News

Defence expert Bharat Verma on Friday welcomed the Union Government's decision to allow 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)in defence and termed it a bold initiative to help make India a manufacturing hub in defence sector.

" Prime Minister Modi's bold move will change the whole scenario. It will meet our own military requirements. India will become hub of modern defence manufacturing," Verma said.

"Research and scientific knowledge will also come. It's going to bring in sunrise technologies. It will bring in the latest technologies. It will also start exporting planes to jointly countries. When FDI in defence happens, there is spin of civil industries. It will change the scenario of India in defence. It will force defence public sector to be more conversant. So this is a very bold and a positive step," he added.

An Economic Times report had stated that the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) has prepared a draft Cabinet note that proposes to allow up to 100 per cent foreign direct investment in defence as part of its plan to boost domestic manufacturing.

The move comes two days after Nirmala Sitharaman took charge as the new commerce and industry minister. Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had indicated on Tuesday after taking charge of the ministry that he would consider the issue of FDI in the sector.

Currently, only 26 per cent FDI is allowed in defence manufacturing, though the government can clear more foreign investments on a case-to-case basis.

Tejas Completed Advanced Weapons Trails

Tejas Completed Advanced Weapons Trails

LCA Tejas

LCA Tejas

 Originally Posted in New Indian Express

 Photo Courtesy  Tarmak007

Three aircraft from Tejas flight-line have successfully completed advanced weapon trials in Jamnagar as part of the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) campaign, which began in December last year. Sources associated with the project confirmed to Express on Wednesday that the integration process of all new weapons on the aircraft has been completed.

“We have fired all the new weapons in all possible release modes and the results have been satisfactory. We have also completed the integration of a new drop tank as part of the FOC activity. With this, we have successfully completed the carriage, fuel transfer and jettison trials,” an official, who was part of the Jamnagar trials said. It took three Tejas aircraft (LSP-3, LSP-5 and LSP-7) over 30 sorties to complete the weapon trials.

As part of the FOC, the aircraft is now being readied for all-weather trials in Bangalore. “One aircraft is also being readied for night flying with upgraded systems and software. Plans are afoot to take Tejas for hot weather trials in Gwalior next month,” the official added. So far, since its maiden flight on January 4, 2001, Tejas has completed 2,587 sorties logging in over 1,750 hours of incident-free flying.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) Chairman R K Tyagi said that the company is on track in rolling out the first Series Production (SP-1) aircraft. He said ahead of the Initial Operational Clearance in December last year, HAL was working parallel with the Aeronautical Developmental Agency for the finalisation of the production configuration of the aircraft.

“The first SP-1 is in advanced stages of equipping and we will have the ground run by end of June. The SP-1 should start flying by August. The second, third and fourth production aircraft are in various stages of structural build and we hope to deliver four aircraft in the current year to the Indian Air Force (IAF),” Tyagi said.

Indian analysts advise PM of India to strengthen armed forces

Indian analysts advise PM of India to strengthen armed forces

 

Dornier Do-228-201

Originally Posted in Link

1.  Boost indigenous defence R&D and production. Revamp DRDO and its 50 labs, five defence PSUs, four shipyards and 39 ordnance factories. Encourage the private sector to enter arms manufacturing in a major way. India, embarrassingly, still imports 65% of its military hardware and software.

2.  Streamline cumbersome arms procurement procedures to fast-track acquisitions and reduce corruption. Also re-examine the policies for offsets, transfer of technology and ban on agents. Projects for new submarines, howitzers, fighters, helicopters, night-fighting capabilities, air defence weapons and the like have been stuck for years due to politico-bureaucratic apathy.

3.  Reform the country's higher defence management, with measures ranging from creating a chief of defence staff-like post to truly integrating Service HQs with the defence ministry and cross-staffing (posting military officers to MoD at the director/joint secretary-levels).

4.  Ensure faster build-up of both the new mountain strike corps as well as military infrastructure like the long-identified 73 strategic roads and 14 railway lines, helipads and advance landing grounds, along the Line of Actual Control to counter China. Boost force-levels and infrastructure at Andaman and Nicobar Command, apart from creating three new tri-Service commands for space, cyber and special operations.

5.  Complete India's nuclear weapons triad by faster induction of nuclear submarine INS Arihant and its follow-on sister ships with long-range missiles. Land and air legs are already in place with Agni ballistic missiles and fighter-bombers. 

6.  Hike budgeted defence expenditure to at least 2.5% of GDP, instead of letting it wallow around just 1.7 to 1.9%, for adequate military modernization and requisite deterrence against both China and Pakistan. Cut the flab in the armed forces, improve the teeth-to-tail ratio.