There's a good reason why the Indian Army’s fleet of ‘Rudra’ light attack helicopters are flying about without missiles in their launchers.

Rudra missile jam resolved for good

There's a good reason why the Indian Army’s fleet of Rudra’ light attack helicopters are flying about without missiles in their launchers.

Negotiations for the purchase of 450 Mistral missiles worth around `3,000 crore have been stuck for the past three years reportedly over an unusual price itemstorage shelters.

The missiles are to equip the weaponised variants of the HAL-built ALH helicopters.

The MoD indicated it would pay only around Rs 200 crore for the missile storage shelters to be built at 11 locations across the country.

The French manufacturer MBDA insisted on a higher price. The number of forward locations where the shelters were to be built were reduced to around five places.

The MoD negotiating team is now believed to be close to taking an approval from the defence minister to revise the benchmark price and end the deadlock.

MoD on a mission to simplify acquisition

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has lately been in the news for some strong statements on Pakistan warning that India’s no first use’ policy on nuclear weapons could be revised in future and that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir was the only issue for discussion.

He has also been walking the talk within the ministry. Especially as he now faces one of the biggest challenges how to fix the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) notoriously lethargic acquisition process and the stalled Make in India’ initiative for the defence sector. The MoD’s procurement bible is the Defence Procurements Procedure (DPP), a handbook which is revised once every few years. Singh has announced the setting up of a committee headed by Director General (Acquisition) Apurva Chandra to review the DPP 2016 and the Defence Procurement Manual (DPM) 2009.

The terms of reference for the 11-member high level committee are to remove procedural bottlenecks and hasten defence acquisition, align and standardise provisions of the DPP and the DPM and include new concepts like life cycle support for equipment, simplify policy and procedures to facilitate participation of Indian industry and incorporate new concepts like life-cycle support, performance-based logistics, ICT, lease contracting and include provisions to promote Indian start-ups and R&D.

Sources say one major thrust area for the committee will be to enhance private sector participation and leveling the playing field with the public sector.

Removing preferential treatment for the public sector is going to be a major area of concern. Other areas the committee needs to look at are on linking the Armed Forces Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan with the DPP and DPM. Serious work needs to be done on issues in the New Make’ category that has yet to kick off. The DPP needs new policies on IT and IT-enabled services, communication and Artificial Intelligence-based programmes as the current timeframes do not suit the new-age offerings.

There is a need for obsolescence management norms and modification in defence offsets, faster acquisition of weapon systems by user-trial harmonisation to reduce trial times. The MoD also needs to solve issues of bank guarantees and inclusion of escrow account payments for large programs.

Clearly, the committee which has to submit its report to the defence minister in the next six months, has a lot on its agenda.

In memory of a departed Naval pilot

The Indian Navy has instituted a trophy named after one of its promising young pilots who died young.

The Lt Simon George Pynummootil trophy recognises the most outstanding pilot officer attending the Dornier Operational Flying Training Course in Kochi.

Lt Simon George, part of the navy’s oldest air squadron, INAS 550 died in a plane crash while flying from Kochi to Kanyakumari in 1985. He hailed from a family of distinguished military aviators, his father Air Marshal PS George had the distinction of flying 45 fighter aircraft types. His uncle CGI Philip was a Group Captain in the IAF and his brother Rear Admiral PG Pynummootil is the present Flag Officer Commanding Goa Naval Area and Naval Aviation.

New Defence secy named

In a major shakeup in the defence ministry, Ajay Kumar took over as defence secretary from Sanjay Mitra who retired on August 23. Mitra was given a three-month extension in May to allow the new defence minister, Rajnath Singh, time to settle in.

Kumar, a 1985 batch Kerala cadre IAS officer has been secretary (defence production) since December 2017. His replacement in the department of defence production, Subhash Chandra, a 1986 batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer is an old MoD hand. He was earlier special secretary in the MoD and also served as joint secretary (Ground and Air Systems) and additional secretary in the DoDP.

Ordnance strike ends

The MoD heaved a sigh of relief when close to 80,000 Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) employees called off their month-long strike on the fourth day after the ministry assured them of taking their concerns on board. On August 20, The OFB unions had embarked on the largest strike in their history protesting the Modi government’s corporatisation plans.

The unions met with Secretary DODP Subhash Chandra on August 24 where it was agreed to recommend to the government, the setting up of a High Level Official Committee to interact with Employees Federations to examine their concerns and other aspects of the proposed new entity.

Corporatising the mammmoth OFB the world’s largest department attached to a defence ministry was an unfinished agenda item of the Modi government’s first term which it is now pursuing with a single-minded focus.