Adnan Faruqi
BANNED
DRDO failure forces buying of costly missiles from US
ndia is left with no option but to go for the US Javelin anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) for the Indian Army, with the indigenous NAG ATGM made by DRDO still undergoing trials, and the Israeli Spike anti-tank missile failing in the trials on certain parameters. Washington has made it clear that the Javelin will be sold through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route only.
The route is far more expensive than conventional purchases through bidding. In the interim, the Defence Procurement Board (DPB) decided earlier this week to purchase second generation Russian Konkurs M anti-tank missiles as a stop-gap arrangement.
This is already in use in the Indian Army.
FMS is a government-to-government agreement for a contract without an open tender, which makes it convenient for critical technologies to be transferred swiftly, thereby hastening up the process. The Hybrid FMS route is a special provision in the US government, given to a buyer country interested in purchasing defence equipment from the United States.
The DPB, which had already placed an order with Moscow for the contract worth more than a billion dollars, revised the contract, which will now be done without offsets, a source told The Sunday Guardian.
The indigenous NAG ATGM, with a 4 km range, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), along with the Israeli Spike were being considered as a replacement for the second generation Russian ATGMs, and the French Milan anti-tank missiles, but Nag is still under trials and is nowhere near induction.
Nag's helicopter version, Helina, will be mounted and fired from a helicopter and has a range of more than 7 km. Launchers for Helina have been cleared.
The original cost of the Nag programme was Rs 388.83 cr, which has been revised to Rs 1,771.43 cr. There is a requirement for about 450 Nag missiles. Other requirements of the Indian Army are that the system should have infrared interference and should comply with electro-magnetic interference and electro-magnetic compatibility parameters.
Last year, Parliament was informed by Defence Minister A.K. Antony about a letter of request being sent to Washington for the man-portable anti-tank weapon, Javelin, which New Delhi hopes to buy with technology being transferred. Javelin was displayed for the first time to the Indian Army in Babina in October 2009, during a joint armoured exercise between Indo-US armies.
Javelin is a fire and forget missile with a lock-on capability before launch and an automatic self-guidance system. It can also adopt a direct attack mode, but has a top-attack flight profile against armoured vehicles, and can also fire at helicopters in the direct-attack mode.
It may be noted that DRDO was in discussion with Israel for providing the Seeker Heads for Nag, which was earlier done by the French company Thales, which, however, refused to transfer technology. Ed Miyashiro of Raytheon has said about the transfer of technology, "Raytheon is committed to ToT, within the guidelines laid down by the US government. What we share, will, in large part, be determined by what sort of arrangements the US and Indian government work out." The 22 kg fire and forget Javelin has rounds and a command launch unit as its components, and is man-portable over short distances. The command launch unit has passive target acquisition and fire control, with integrated day and thermal sight. The ATGM has a range of 2,500 metres.
After Javelin displayed its prowess in India before the Army for the first time in 2009, the Indian Army convinced the Ministry of Defence to acquire the system under the FMS route. The other reason for the FMS was the reluctance of the US Raytheon company, the makers of Javelin, to enter into open bidding, which they see as time-consuming.
DRDO failure forces buying of costly missiles
ndia is left with no option but to go for the US Javelin anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) for the Indian Army, with the indigenous NAG ATGM made by DRDO still undergoing trials, and the Israeli Spike anti-tank missile failing in the trials on certain parameters. Washington has made it clear that the Javelin will be sold through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route only.
The route is far more expensive than conventional purchases through bidding. In the interim, the Defence Procurement Board (DPB) decided earlier this week to purchase second generation Russian Konkurs M anti-tank missiles as a stop-gap arrangement.
This is already in use in the Indian Army.FMS is a government-to-government agreement for a contract without an open tender, which makes it convenient for critical technologies to be transferred swiftly, thereby hastening up the process. The Hybrid FMS route is a special provision in the US government, given to a buyer country interested in purchasing defence equipment from the United States.
The DPB, which had already placed an order with Moscow for the contract worth more than a billion dollars, revised the contract, which will now be done without offsets, a source told The Sunday Guardian.
The indigenous NAG ATGM, with a 4 km range, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), along with the Israeli Spike were being considered as a replacement for the second generation Russian ATGMs, and the French Milan anti-tank missiles, but Nag is still under trials and is nowhere near induction.
Nag's helicopter version, Helina, will be mounted and fired from a helicopter and has a range of more than 7 km. Launchers for Helina have been cleared.
The original cost of the Nag programme was Rs 388.83 cr, which has been revised to Rs 1,771.43 cr. There is a requirement for about 450 Nag missiles. Other requirements of the Indian Army are that the system should have infrared interference and should comply with electro-magnetic interference and electro-magnetic compatibility parameters.
Last year, Parliament was informed by Defence Minister A.K. Antony about a letter of request being sent to Washington for the man-portable anti-tank weapon, Javelin, which New Delhi hopes to buy with technology being transferred. Javelin was displayed for the first time to the Indian Army in Babina in October 2009, during a joint armoured exercise between Indo-US armies.
Javelin is a fire and forget missile with a lock-on capability before launch and an automatic self-guidance system. It can also adopt a direct attack mode, but has a top-attack flight profile against armoured vehicles, and can also fire at helicopters in the direct-attack mode.
It may be noted that DRDO was in discussion with Israel for providing the Seeker Heads for Nag, which was earlier done by the French company Thales, which, however, refused to transfer technology. Ed Miyashiro of Raytheon has said about the transfer of technology, "Raytheon is committed to ToT, within the guidelines laid down by the US government. What we share, will, in large part, be determined by what sort of arrangements the US and Indian government work out." The 22 kg fire and forget Javelin has rounds and a command launch unit as its components, and is man-portable over short distances. The command launch unit has passive target acquisition and fire control, with integrated day and thermal sight. The ATGM has a range of 2,500 metres.
After Javelin displayed its prowess in India before the Army for the first time in 2009, the Indian Army convinced the Ministry of Defence to acquire the system under the FMS route. The other reason for the FMS was the reluctance of the US Raytheon company, the makers of Javelin, to enter into open bidding, which they see as time-consuming.
DRDO failure forces buying of costly missiles
