Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Energy News .




MILPLEX
Aborted defence deal underlines India's procurement problem
by Staff Writers
New Delhi (AFP) Jan 08, 2014


India's decision to cancel a $740-million helicopter contract with Italian-owned AgustaWestland last week added to an already long list of failed defence deals which have left the military short of crucial equipment.

The deal to supply 12 transport helicopters, which were to ferry India's top-most leaders, was signed in February 2010, but was terminated last week after an investigation in Italy in 2013 brought to light alleged bribery.

Italian authorities arrested Giuseppe Orsi, the chairman of AgustaWestland's Italian parent company Finmeccanica, while India's ex-air force chief S.P. Tyagi is under investigation in New Delhi.

Graft allegations in India's big-ticket defence imports have scuppered other deals in the recent past, stretching back to the 1987 Bofors artillery guns scandal and another deal for 197 helicopters in 2007.

Rahul Bedi, for Jane's Defence Weekly, blames "corruption, lack of decision making and excessive bureaucracy" as the three main problems that block India's military purchases.

After the Bofors debacle, India's artillery upgrade hit another airpocket in 2009 when the defence ministry blacklisted seven firms including front-runners Singapore Technologies and state-run Israeli Military Industries over corruption concerns.

The contract for front-line helicopters capable of operating at high altitude which was cancelled in 2007 has still not been re-issued.

At the same time, India's military needs are growing, with tensions on its western border with Pakistan, an increasingly assertive China to the north and growing ambitions for India's role in world affairs.

In March 2012 then army chief V.K. Singh sent a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh revealing in embarrassing detail alleged procurement deficiencies.

"Tanks are out of ammunition, the air defence is obsolete and infantry is short of critical weapons," Singh wrote, later revealing that he had once been offered a bribe of $2.8 million for a contract.

A report in India's The Hindu newspaper, quoting top personal security officers, said that the cancellation of the AgustaWestland deal "could endanger the country's highest officials".

Bureaucratic holdups

To counter corruption, various measures have been introduced including a requirement for all vendors to sign an integrity pact which promises ethical behaviour.

Bharat Verma, editor of Indian Defence Review magazine, told AFP that this as well as numerous levels of technical screening means that "at least 18 departments" within the defence ministry must sign off on a deal.

Each stage created an opportunity for graft between the Indian dealmakers and foreign vendors who provide most of India's advanced hardware because of the country's weak domestic production.

"The foremost problem is Indians creating a system where foreign vendors are forced to pay bribes," Verma said, adding that bureaucrats and politicians involved almost always go unpunished.

Uncertainties and delays in India's Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), a $10.4 billion deal for 126 fighter aircraft, is a case study in the country's slow progress in modernising its armed forces.

The first international tenders for the project were invited in 2007 and exclusive negotiations began with French company Dassault in January 2012.

Successive deadlines have since slipped by and it now faces new uncertainty with elections due by May this year after which a change of government is likely.

Manoj Joshi, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a Delhi-based think tank, told AFP that a lack of skills and knowledge in India's bureaucracy also led to problems in defence procurement.

"Someone who is heading the animal husbandry on one day is given charge of the defence (bureaucracy) on other. (Our) civilian bureaucracy doesn't have an expertise about the market and product which further complicates the situation," he added.

Joshi was a member of a task force set up by the government in July 2011 to study the processes and procedures related to India's national security and come up with its recommendations to solve them.

Key recommendations from the task force included bringing in military officers to key positions in the defence ministry and introducing strict long-term planning for procurement and expenditure.

"Nothing has been done about its recommendations to the best of my knowledge," Joshi told AFP.

.


Related Links
The Military Industrial Complex at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








MILPLEX
Nexter calls for bidding expense reimbursement
Ottawa (UPI) Jan 7, 2013
Canada's recent decision to scrap its close combat vehicle procurement program has been strongly criticized by contract bidder Nexter Systems Canada. The company, a subsidiary of France's Nexter Group, said it was astonished by the move and that it expected the government to reimburse competing companies for monies expended in the bidding process. "Nexter has invested a great amo ... read more


MILPLEX
United Nations Proclaims "International Year Of Light" In 2015

Suburban sprawl cancels carbon footprint savings of dense urban cores

The entropy of nations

Brazil's Vale revamps power generation investments

MILPLEX
Shell New Zealand to drill in Great South Basin

Abe to offer help in Africa tour as Ethiopia hopes for trade

India urges Asian unity for fair LNG pricing

Chemical may turn flow battery into cheap energy storage container

MILPLEX
Researchers Find Ways To Minimize Power Grid Disruptions From Wind Power

Bolivia opens China-built wind power plant

Austria's wind industry laments new zoning restrictions

Wind energy: TUV Rheinland certifies PowerWind wind turbines

MILPLEX
Solar Biz Helps Floating Doctors Bring Electricity to Indigenous Community

Canadian Solar Connects its Tumushuke 30MW Solar Power Plant to the China State Grid

Yingli Green Energy Supplies 1 MW of Solar Panels to Serbia's Second Largest Solar Project

ReneSola Panels Power 420MW Solar Project in Japan

MILPLEX
Czech environment minister cancels nuke waste repository site survey

Westinghouse Announces Setting of AP1000 Plant Shield Building Conical Roofs

Greenland and Denmark to agree on uranium in 2014: Danish PM

China loans Pakistan $6.5 bn for nuclear plants

MILPLEX
Inexpensive technique could drive down costs of biofuel production

York scientists' significant step forward in biofuels quest

Seaweed Energy Solutions (SES) acquires wild seaweed operation in Norway

Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes minutes in the lab

MILPLEX
China launches communications satellite for Bolivia

China's moon rover continues lunar survey after photographing lander

China's Yutu "naps", awakens and explores

Deep space monitoring station abroad imperative

MILPLEX
China starts fifth national desertification monitoring

Australia endures hottest year on record

7,000-year-old footprints give clues to climate of ancient Mexico

Geoengineering research, ethics, governance explored




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement