NEW DELHI, 20 août - RIA Novosti

La Marine indienne emploie des ouvriers sous-qualifiés au port militaire de Mumbai (Bombay), où le sous-marin militaire Sindhurakshak a sombré le 14 août faisant 18 morts, a rapporté mardi le journal India Today se référant à une source au sein de l'administration du port.

"Pourquoi tous ces incidents arrivent-ils? Je ne doute pas qu'ils s'expliquent par le fait que des ouvriers mal qualifiés ont accès à des armes sophistiquées, à des systèmes de navigation, etc. Cela présente un danger pour la sécurité de nos navires", a indiqué un ancien responsable des chantiers navals de Mumbai, SK Gorhe, commentant la deuxième grande perte de la Marine indienne en trois ans.

Le sous-marin INS Sindhurakshak a coulé dans le port de Bombay dans la nuit du 13 au 14 août 2013, suite à trois explosions et un incendie à son bord. Dix-huit membres d'équipage se trouvaient à bord du submersible. Les corps de sept sous-mariniers ont été retrouvés. D'après le journal Mumbai Mirror, les explosions à bord du sous-marin seraient dues à un court-circuit provoqué par une erreur humaine lors du chargement de missiles.

Le 30 janvier 2011, la frégate indienne Vindhyagiri a coulé dans le port de Bombay suite à une collision avec le porte-conteneurs chypriote MV Nordlake, qui avait provoqué un incendie. Tous les occupants du Vindhyagiri ont pu être évacués.

Jul 25, 2013 brahmand.com

NEW DELHI (PTI): Deals expected to be worth over Rs 80,000 crore including supply of 126 Rafale combat aircraft are likely to be high on agenda of French Defence Minister Jaen Yves Le Drian during his three-day visit to India from Friday.

India and France have been busy in negotiating the 126 combat aircraft deal for which the French combat aircraft was selected last year defeating its five other European and American rivals and over Rs 30,000 crore Maitri surface-to-air missile projects.

During the visit of the French Minister, the two sides are expected to discuss the two deals in his meetings with Defence Minister A K Antony and other senior military leadership along with ways of strengthening bilateral ties, Ministry officials said here.

The militaries of the two countries have close ties and hold regular exercises with each other. The Indian Army will be visiting a French military base in September for a company-level exercise, they said.

The French Minister will also visit the Gwalior-based Maharajpur airbase, which is home to the French origin Mirage 2000 aircraft.

The Rafale aircraft deal, which is expected to be worth over Rs 50,000 crore, has been moving at its natural pace and had seen hiccups when the French side asked the Defence Ministry to define the role of HAL.

The deal is not expected to be finalised before the end of this year, officials said.

In the recent times, France has been awarded several key tenders by India including the supply of six Scorpene submarines to the Navy and the multi-billion dollar 126 combat aircraft deal.

The contract worth over Rs 11,000 crore for upgrading the fleet of Mirage 2000 aircraft was also awarded to French firm Dassault Aviation.

26/07 LesEchos (Reuters)

Le ministre de la Défense Jean-Yves Le Drian est arrivé jeudi soir en Inde pour une visite de deux jours destinée à "approfondir le dialogue stratégique" entre Paris et New Delhi, a annoncé vendredi le ministère.

Le ministre a prévu de rencontrer à cette occasion les industriels français du secteur de la défense et de s'entretenir avec son homologue indien Arackaparambil Kurian Antony avant de se rendre samedi sur la base aérienne de Gwâlior.

Cette visite survient cinq mois après celle de François Hollande qui avait constaté des progrès dans les négociations sur la vente de 126 avions de combat de Dassault Aviation à l'armée de l'air indienne.

L'Inde a présélectionné le Rafale en janvier 2012 au terme d'un appel d'offres très disputé pour une commande évaluée à quelque 15 milliards de dollars portant sur 126 avions et 63 options potentielles, et discute depuis avec le groupe français des termes du contrat.

July 26, 2013 irdw.org (IANS)

Negotiations on the $10 billion deal for purchase of 126 French Rafale jets for the IAF will be high on the agenda during talks between Defence Minister A.K. Antony and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian here Friday but no contract is due to be signed.

Le Drian, who is visiting India on the invitation of Antony, is arriving on a three-day visit.French firm Dassault Aviation bagged the deal for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) last year after being declared the lowest bidder, piping EAD’s Eurofighter.

While terming the deal “the most important tender in defence history”, a reliable source said Thursday that there was “no target” for the negotiations to be concluded.

No contract for the MMRCA deal would be signed during the minister’s visit, the source said, adding that the contract would come “in due course depending on the speed of the negotiations”.

No time lines have been stressed, the source said.

The MMRCA deal is “complicated” and the contract has “technicalities and legal issues” including offsets and supply chain to be worked out, the source said, adding that France is “confident” of the deal being concluded.

Eighteen of the 126 planes are to be purchased directly from Dassault, while Hindustan Aeronatics Limited (HAL) is to manufacture the other 108 under a licence at a facility in Bangalore.

It will be Le Drian’s second visit to India. He will also visit the Indian Air Force station at Gwalior, to see the French Mirage 2000s being used by the IAF and discuss its upgradation, estimated at Rs.11,000 crore.

He would also interact with pilots, officers and technicians who fly and maintain the fleet.

Le Drian is expected to brief Antony about the French perspective on the global security scenario. Sources said such a briefing has been held by France only for two countries – Britain and the US.

He will present France White Paper on Defence and also give a lecture at the Institute for Defence and Security Analyses (IDSA) Friday on “Indo-French Defence Partnership: the Choice of Strategic Autonomy”.

He will also meet industrialists of the defence sector, members of the French community, and exchange views on global threats and current international issues with high-profile Indian researchers and scholars, as well as Members of Parliament.

July 24, 2013 Source: Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis


On 23 May 2013, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued an Office Memorandum (OM), keeping in abeyance of ‘services’ related provisions from offset guidelines, the latest revised version of which was issued less than a year ago in August 2012. The abeyance of all services, effective from the date of issue of the OM, is applicable to all tenders or Request for Proposals (RFPs) issued after the notification of the OM, and also those tenders issued earlier but the commercial and technical bids are yet to be submitted.

The MoD’s action has created a debate among various stakeholders, particularly the Indian IT and software- related companies which see a loss of business to the tune of $10 billion as consequence of the OM. More importantly, the OM has opened up a new challenge for the MoD in articulating a revised offset policy that would take into account the current gaps in the offset guidelines while satisfying the services sector – a key stakeholder in Indian defence industry and a vital partner from the offsets point of view.

The OM comes in the wake of controversies surrounding the purchase of 12 VVIP Agusta Westland helicopters, in which allegations were made that bribes were paid through bogus software companies which merely worked as front organisations on behalf of middlemen and foreign companies. While the OM is an attempt to prevent such malpractices, it has in the process banned the entire services sector from doing offset business.

This is evident from its annexure, which has gone into every possible minute details in identifying and suspending all such paragraphs in the Defence Offset Guidelines of 2012 (DOG 2012), where the term services surfaces. Consequently, the term ‘Services” which broadly cover a range of activities including software development; software and computer based training modules; maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO); engineering, designing and testing; quality assurance; and training has now become history till the time new orders are issued.

Interestingly, in addition to suspending the complete list of services which appear as the fourth category in the “List of the Products and Services Eligible for Discharge of Offset Obligations”, the annexure has also suspended services-related activities in other paragraphs, including the ones which had been included for the first time in the DOG 2012. Two such paragraphs relate to “vessels of war, special naval systems, equipment and accessories” and “Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises’. Any services related to the above two now stand suspended.

Since the OM talks of its validity “till such time that further instructions are issued”, one would assume that no sooner than later a revised guideline would be issued by the MoD. It is also assumed that the new guidelines would take into account the current gap in the offset policy which is biased in favour of the services sector. In comparison to the defence manufacturing sector which is subject to compulsory industrial licensing and where strict value addition principle is applicable (the latter being made more stringent in Defence Procurement Procedure 2013), the services sector is exempted from such conditions.

The services sector also gets further incentivised by the defence FDI policy which (after the 16 July 2013 meeting chaired by the Prime Minister) allows more than 26 per cent foreign equity in defence manufacturing sector on a case by case basis to be decided by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), India’s highest decision making body on security matters. The CCS decision is to be influenced by the FDI proposal’s credibility in bringing in yet to be defined “modern and state of the art technology” to India. In comparison, the services sector can attract upto 100 per cent FDI without any governmental watch or regulation.

The above imbalance has led to a flurry of offset inflows into the services sector which has in fact become the most preferred area for the foreign companies to choose Indian Offset Partners (IOPs) from, for the discharge of their offset obligations. This has, however, not necessarily led to capability enhancement of the Indian services sector, particularly the companies in the IT and IT enabled Services (IT-ITeS) industry which have already reached a certain level of maturity and international reckoning. Moreover as the VVIP helicopter procurement case shows, the sector is at times vulnerable to malpractice since the government has no wherewithal to see how much real work is being done in India and by the Indian companies.

The crucial challenge for the MoD is now to limit the flow of offsets into the services sector and ensure that value addition takes place in India. On the aspects of limiting offset flows into the services sector it would be ideal for the MoD to stipulate a maximum percentage of offsets that can go into the services sector. This would not only limit the scope for malpractice, but would provide a fillip to the manufacturing sector which constitutes the core of defence industrial base.

On the aspect of value addition by the services sector, the MoD has a real challenge on hand as the services by nature are intangible. The silver lining is that the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), an industry association, has come forward in devising a method by which the intangibles can be measured. The MoD now needs to work with the NASSCOM and other industry players to establish a mechanism and issue the revised guidelines that would thwart bogus companies from doing business in defence.

Last but not the least the MoD also needs to seriously think about the background checking of Indian Offset Partner (IOP). Presently the foreign companies have the complete discretion in choosing the IOPs, with virtually no background checking by the MoD. It is quite surprising that the Defence Offset Management Wing (DOMW) which has otherwise a wider mandate relating offset guidelines and all matters relating to post-offset contract management does not have the authority to ensure genuiness of the IOPs. A little background checking by way of examining the IOP’s annual reports, balance sheet and all such necessary documents would however trigger a fear among the foreign companies who would be more cautious in partnering with bogus companies.


Views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDSA or of the Government of India.

NEW DELHI: July 23, 2013 DHNS - deccanherald.com

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is scheduled to visit Delhi later this week, giving rise to speculations of “forward movement” in India’s biggest defence deal to purchase 126 fighter jets from France.

For the last two years, India and France are locked in price negotiation to purchase the medium multi-role fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF). French major Dassault Aviation’s Rafale fighter planes were selected to replace ageing MiG-21s.

The much-awaited deal, sources said, is on the agenda of bilateral talks between Le Drian and his Indian counterpart A K Antony, including National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon, between July 25-27.

But there is no confirmation on whether an announcement on finalisation of the deal can be expected by the week-end.

The French minister will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and members of the Parliamentary standing committee on defence, sources said. Dassault Aviation had earlier raised questions on the role HAL would play once the mega deal is signed. But the Defence Ministry is understood to have conveyed to the French company that HAL would be the lead integrator and there was no change in conditions mentioned in the original tender.

As per the tender, Dassault will deliver 18 aircraft in fly-away condition whereas HAL will manufacture the rest under licensed production. The top bosses of HAL and Dassault met last month on the sidelines of the Paris air show to discuss the project and iron out differences. “Both chairmen expressed satisfaction on the work already achieved by the integrated teams and renewed their commitment towards successful completion of various projects,” Dassault said in a statement issued in June.

Though the tender was valued at $ 10.4 billion (Rs 42,000 crore), the price is set to escalate in the final commercial contract, making it India’s biggest defence deal. The new price band may be between $ 17-20 billion, but there is no official word. The sliding rupee will also be taken into account for the new price that is being negotiated for two years.

The French minister will be travelling to IAF station in Gwalior, which houses the Mirage-2000 fleet. In 2011, India signed a Rs 10,900 crore (approximately $ 2.4 billion) agreement with French arms majors Thales and Dassault Aviation for upgrading 51 Mirage-2000 fighters.

15/07/2013 Helen Chachaty - journal-aviation.com

Pilatus a annoncé que la formation de l’armée de l’air indienne sur PC-7 MkII avait débuté le 8 juillet dernier à l’Indian Air Force Academy de Dundigal. Ce sont pour l’instant huit « cadets » qui participent à la formation.

L’industriel suisse Pilatus et l’Indian Air Force avaient signé un contrat en mai 2012 pour la fabrication et la livraison de 75 avions d’entraînement basique PC-7 MkII, pour plus de 400 millions d’euros. Quatorze avions ont été livrés depuis, l’admission au service actif ayant elle été prononcée le 31 mai dernier.

Le Pilatus PC-7 MkII est en service depuis 1994. Motorisé par un PT6A-25C de Pratt & Whitney, l’avion d’entraînement basique partage la même cellule et le même système avionique que le PC-9M.

July 12, 2013 idrw.org (The Hiindu)

INS Trikand, the last of the three ‘Follow-On Talwar Class’ frigates built in Russia, was recently commissioned into the Indian Navy at Kaliningrad, Russia by Vice Admiral R.K. Dhowan, the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy, in a glittering ceremony that included both the Indian and the Russian navies.

The commissioning of INS Trikand marks the culmination of a three-ship contract for ‘Follow On Talwar Class’ ships built in Russia, and is therefore a milestone in the Indo-Russian military-technological cooperation. Her sister ships, INS Teg and INS Tarkash, were commissioned last year and are now undertaking operations as part of the Western Fleet. The keel of INS Trikand was laid in June 2008 and the ship was launched in May 2011. Extensive acceptance trials were conducted in the Baltic Sea in April and May 2013.

INS Trikand carries a state-of-the-art combat suite which includes the supersonic BRAHMOS missile system, advanced surface-to-air missiles Shtil, upgraded A190 medium range gun, electro-optical 30 mm Close-in Weapon System, anti-submarine weapons such as torpedoes and rockets and an advanced Electronic Warfare System.

The weapons and sensors are integrated through a Combat Management System ‘Trebovanie-M’, which enables the ship to simultaneously neutralise multiple surface, sub-surface and air threats. The ship also incorporates innovative features to reduce radar, magnetic and acoustic signatures, which have earned this class of ships the sobriquet of ‘Stealth’ frigates. The ship is powered by four gas turbines and is capable of speeds in excess of 30 knots. The ship can carry an integrated Kamov 31 helicopter which is best suited for airborne early warning roles.

INS Trikand is commanded by Captain Ajay Kochhar, a gunnery and missile Warfare specialist, who was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1988. The ship has a complement of about 300 personnel, including officers. The ship will soon undertake her maiden passage to India to join her sister ships of Western Fleet.

July 12, 2013 By  Zachary Keck  - Flashpoints

Amid more frequent military drills in the region, China and India have agreed to hold exercises between their air forces and navies for the first time.

According to Indian media outlets, India and China’s navies and air forces will hold joint exercises in the near future, although the specific date of the drills will be decided by military officials at a later date.

The exercises will be “elementary” in nature at first, with the expectation that larger drills would follow.

The drills would be the first between the navies and air forces of China and India. Starting in 2007, their armies began holding drills, the third edition of which has been scheduled for October in Chengdu in southwestern China.

The announcement comes after a series of diplomatic meetings between the two sides. In May, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made India the destination for his first overseas trip since taking over his new position. Then, last week, Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony became the first defense chief to visit China in seven years.

That being said, there has also been heightened tensions between China and India over the last year. Last year, Delhi took offense to China issuing visas that featured a map in which their disputed border region was included as part of China.

Then, in April of this year Chinese troops crossed over onto the Indian side of the border and set up camp for weeks about six miles inside India.

While that border incursion was ended when Indian and Chinese military leaders reached an agreement in early May, it was learned earlier this week that a second border incursion had occurred in June. In this incident, Chinese troops reportedly crossed the de facto border— referred to as the Line of Actual Control— and destroyed observation posts and cameras belonging to the Indian military.

A new camera supposedly appeared immediately prior to Antony’s visit to China.

More generally, India has been unnerved by the vast infrastructure improvements China has made to the regions surrounding the LoAC, fearing that these could allow Beijing to more quickly mobilize troops for attacks inside India.

In response, Delhi has sought to strengthen its position on the LoAC, including by deploying an additional 40,000 troops.

That being said, civilian leaders from both sides have been downplaying the tension over the border since Premier Li’s May visit to India.

“We need to improve border related mechanisms and make them more efficient,” Premier Li said at the time.

“Both Mr. [Manmohan] Singh and I believe there are far more interests than differences between our two sides. We need to confront issues with a broad mind, and tackle them in a mature way.”

Following Li’s visit, the two sides held another round of border talks aimed at resolving the dispute.

Both sides also expressed optimism about their ability to resolve the border row during Defense Minister Antony’s visit last week as well.

“There is real forward movement on the Border Defense Cooperation Agreement (BDCA)" Antony’s said while in China over the weekend.

“On most of the provisions of the BDCA there is already real consensus. There are some more discussions needed on some of the areas. The discussions will continue and will arrive at a final conclusion within a reasonable time limit. There is really forward movement on that.”

Along with the joint naval and air exercises, India and China said their navies and air forces would enhance education exchanges particularly among young officers.

July 10, 2013 by uasvision.com

July 10, 2013 Hans M. Kristensen - FAS Strategic Security Blog

The U.S. Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) has published its long-awaited update to the Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat report, one of the few remaining public (yet sanitized) U.S. intelligence assessment of the world nuclear (and other) forces.

Previous years’ reports have been reviewed and made available by FAS (here, here, and here), and the new update contains several important developments – and some surprises.

Read more

Click to download full report

10 July 2013 army-technology.com

The Indian Army will induct the first operational squadron of the domestically manufactured Rudra advanced light helicopter (ALH) in August 2013.

An unnamed military source was quoted by The Times of India as saying that the squadron would initially be raised in Bengaluru, and later deployed in the country's western sector.

Commenting on the helicopter, the source said Rudra would offer ground commanders with an edge in the battlefield.

"The ALHs did excellent rescue work in Uttarakhand recently," the source said. "With combat firepower, speed and mobility, they will prove their worth in military operations too."

A weapon system integrated variant of the domestically built Dhruv helicopter, Rudra is designed to carry out both utility and attack missions, as well as offer close air support and protection to the ground forces in the battlefield.

"With combat firepower, speed and mobility, the ALH will prove their worth in military operations."

Fully designed and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) at the Rotary Wing Research and Design Center (RWR & DC), the helicopter features an array of new weapon systems, including a 20mm turreted gun, 70mm rocket pods and Magic Matra air-to-air missiles and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) to enhance the army's aerial firepower capabilities.

Additional equipment includes forward-looking infrared (FLIR) and thermal imaging sights interface, integrated defensive aids suite (IDAS) with electronic warfare self-protection, as well as an automatic flight control system.

The army is initially expected to establish six Rudra squadrons, each comprising ten helicopters, with the first two featuring imported ATGMs, with the next four fitted with the domestically manufactured Nag-Helina ATGMs.

The army's final aim is to equip each of its 13 Corps, comprising three strike and ten pivot, with at least one squadron of the armed helicopters.

As well as army, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has also placed orders for around 16 helicopters.