Geopolitics e mag sep 16

THE INSIDE STORY OF HOW CRPF IS LOSING ITS COHESION AND SHEEN! Vol VII, Issue IV, SEPTEMBER 2016 n `100

DEFENCE n DIPLOMACY n SECURITY www.geopolitics.in

RY E L TIL AR DAY RE U T FEA

DEFENCE DIPLOMACY New Delhi is making common cause with those who can provide it with both geopolitical edge and military might

The world meeting of naval technologies for the future

th 25 EDI T ION

REQUEST YOUR BADGE ON

www.euronaval.fr

WITH THE CODE : PART16

OCTOBER

17th 21st 2016

PARIS LE BOURGET

WWW.EURONAVAL.FR

CONTENTS

COVER STORY MILITARY DIPLOMACY WITH SOUTH ASIAN NEIGHBOURS (P08) India has, in the last decade, astutely built its security ties with the US and Russia to transform its 13.1 million military into ‘lean and mean’ fighting force. But, it quickly needs to address its defence diplomacy issues with its South Asian neighbourhood.

SOUTH CHINA SEA CONUNDRUM (P34)

The issue of South China Sea is not something new. China has been claiming approximately 80 per cent of the South China Sea as her territory.

COVER STORY (P14) COVER STORY (P18)

EVOLVING INDIA-US TIES

OLD EUROPE AND ‘MAKE IN INDIA’

With the signing of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum Of Agreement (LEMOA) in Washington on August 29, 2016 between India and the US, the relationship between these two countries will soar to new heights.

India’s evolving defence relations with the European nations can lead Narendra Modi government to achieve its dream of ending India’s status as the world’s number one defence importer through Make in India initiative.

DEFBIZ MAKING F-16 IN INDIA

DEFBIZ (P54)

India is looking for a second line of fighter jet to be manufactured in India and this presents a huge, equal and unique opportunity to Lockheed Martin and to the Indian industry to work together on the F-16 combat aircraft.

4

WAITING FOR A GREEN SIGNAL!

(P58)

It is now some months since India completed the in country trials of the C295. However, there has been no further news on how quickly the government will move to finalise the contract for these versatile medium transporters from Airbus Defence and Space.

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

CONTENTS

INDIA’S GUNS THROUGH AGES (P40)

Artillery has had a glorious history for over 2,000 years.

ARMY’S ARTILLERY MODERNISATION (P48) India intends to spend almost $2.5 billion for the purchase of 814 artillery systems in the next 10 years.

PERSPECTIVE

K SRINIVASAN EDITOR

Geo- strategic location gives India an added advantage to develop counter strategy to interrupt free navigation through the Northern Indian Ocean if war is forced upon India by China.

TIRTHANKAR GHOSH ASSOCIATE EDITOR

DIRECTOR

CONSULTING EDITOR

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR

M MURLIDHARAN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT

NAVEED ANJUM

SENIOR PROOF READER

RAJESH VAID

RAJIV SINGH RAKESH GERA LEGAL ADVISOR

VASU SHARMA SUBSCRIPTION

GEETA JENA DISTRIBUTION

DESIGNER

MOHIT KANSAL H C TIWARI

THE INSIDE STORY OF HOW CRPF IS LOSING ITS COHESION AND SHEEN!

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER DEFENCE n DIPLOMACY n SECURITY

VOL VII, ISSUE IV, September 2016

MAYANK SINGH

PHOTO EDITOR

Vol VII, Issue IV, SEPTEMBER 2016 n `100

Since July 15, 1916, Boeing has been making the impossible, possible.

PUBLISHER

(P38)

INDIA’S ISLAND TERRITORIES AS STRATEGIC PIVOTS

A BOEING ’CENTURY’ (P62)

HEMANT RAWAT

BHUSHAN KOLI, PANKAJ KUMAR For advertising and sales enquiries, please contact : 9810159332, 9810030533 Editorial and Marketing Office Newseye Media Pvt. Ltd., D-11 Basement, Nizamuddin East, New Delhi -110 013, Tel: +91-11-24372050 - 51

www.geopolitics.in

Y LER TIL AR DAY E TUR FEA

DEFENCE DIPLOMACY New Delhi is making common cause with those who can provide it with both geopolitical edge and military might

Cover Design: Mohit Kansal The total number of pages in this issue is 76

All information in GEOPOLITICS is derived from sources we consider reliable. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. Opinions/views expressed by third parties in abstract or in interviews are not necessarily shared by us. Material appearing in the magazine cannot be reproduced in whole or in part(s) without prior permission. The publisher assumes no responsibility for material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with all advertisements without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian Advertisements Code. The publisher will not be liable for any loss caused by any delay in publication, error or failure of advertisement to appear.

Owned and published by K Srinivasan, 4C Pocket-IV, Mayur Vihar, Phase-I, Delhi-91 and printed by him at Archna Printers 18, DSIDC Shed, Okhla Indl Area Ph-1, New Delhi -110020, Readers are welcome to send their feedback at geopolitics@newsline.in

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

5



LETTERS TO EDITOR

R INTERVIEW

We are looking forward to partnering with companies through ‘Make in India’ RAFIQ SOMANI, Country Manager INDIA, ASEAN & ANZ at ANSYS, in an interview with Geopolitics, talks about the growing aerospace industry and its involvement with a number of digital initiatives launched by the Government of India

What is ANSYS' solution for the Aerospace and Defence sector?

Given the large investments involved in launching new products in the aerospace and defence sector, industry players need simulation solutions that can predict how products are likely to perform in real-world conditions. ANSYS engineering simulation solutions help aerospace and defence companies outperform their competition and launch products faster in a competitive market.

In addition, physics-based simulation, combined with big data analytics, industrial devices, and embedded intelligence, enables our customers to reduce risks and unplanned downtime. This is capable of addressing the entire breadth of applications without compromising the three critical factors to A&D: Accuracy, Robustness and Speed. By combining scalability, superior multi-physics foundation and dynamic architecture, our offerings deliver efficiency and

62

drive innovation, and reduce physical constraints. This helps our customers quickly develop next generation products such as aircraft, space vehicles, complex electronics, and cutting edge technologies, including unmanned systems. This breadth and depth of capability enables the aerospace and defense industry, to meet with confidence, the challenges of evolution in technology today and the revolution in the technology of tomorrow.

Leaders in the A&D industry focus on process and people as much as tools and the ANSYS simulation framework support; training and services are recognised as key enablers for maximising return on investment in physics based engineering simulation. Radar simulation and modelling are other critical focus areas for the aerospace and defence segment. Radars are integral parts of highly complex systems – be it air-traffic control, air-defence, or ballistic-missile

defence systems. The heightened nature of safety and security demanded by these systems make it imperative to evaluate and analyse radar performance, and quantify how radar operations impact system performance.

Our platform accelerates the radar modelling process, enhances integration and cross domain analysis and verification, as well as validates systems under realistic, complex scenarios

What is the scope of engineering simulation and IoT in A&D in India and the world?

Engineering simulation will play a vital role in the aerospace and defence sector, which is seeing increasing product complexity and shorter delivery times.

It is also evident that many of our customers today are moving towards cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Data. Gartner Inc. forecasts that 6.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide in 2016, up 30 per cent from 2015, and that the number will reach 20.8 billion by 2020. Our focus is on delivering engineering simulation solutions that are in line with business priorities in such a connected environment. ANSYS focuses on superior customer engagement by driving innovation, and enabling businesses to create robust and reliable products.

The aerospace industry in India is witness to a growing commercial aviation market combined with large defence investments in the world. Major global aerospace companies have already made their presence here for their R&D activities. Domestic government organisations have under their belt, a number of prospective projects to help meet the country’s aerospace demands.

The number of aeronautics projects running in India, have outnumbered other aerospace projects across the globe.

Several of our Indian customers in the aerospace and defence markets are already innovating and gaining unparalleled competitive advantage by turning to simulation early. Implementation of engineering simulation in the initial stages of product development increases scope of error detection, recognises product limitations, and optimises system performance. By the end of the

August 2016 www.geopolitics.in

R

efer to “We are looking forward partnering with companies through “Make in India” (Geopolitics August 2016). While Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have announced factors that could aide innovators and entrepreneurs through the Startup/Make in India movement, the programmes will succeed only if the PM monitors government officers for account ability. It is essential that government employees, especially those who are part of the tax departments and public sector departments, nationalised banks, etc, are able to discharge their duties efficiently and without succumbing to corruption.

The PM and his team must take suitable and strict action against those who fail to discharge their duties within a reason able time. These minute details are essential for the success of Modi government’s start-up initiative; the benefit of this will be enjoyed by all existing entrepreneurs and future successful businessmen.

Mahesh Kumar, New Delhi All correspondence may be addressed to: Editor, Geopolitics, D-11 Basement, Nizamuddin East, New Delhi-110013.

Or mail to: geopolitics@newsline.in

6

efer to “Private sector arming forces of India through OEM tie-ups” (Geopolitics August 2016). India’s defence sector manufacturing was entirely a public sector industry till 2001 when the then government opened up the military market for the private sector.

It is now 15 years since Indian private industry became defence manufacturers. Most of the companies that entered into the defence market, more or less around 2005, were large and had engineering businesses as their backbone.

The author has highlighted the work done by India’s private sector and its presence in defence manufacturing in the last 15 years. The writeup also focuses on the need to emerge India as a major military industrial base. Since opening up of the defence industry for private sector participation, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has so far issued around 342 Industrial Licences till June 2016 for manufacture of a wide range of

R

efer to “COVER STORY ‘Make in India’ in defence – From rhetoric to reality” (Geopolitics August 2016).

Let me first congratulate you on a beautiful cover designed in which you have intelligently tried/depicted the whole picture of the Make in India initiative. The cover suggests itself that there is still enough work to be done to make this programme a success.

Coming to you August Cover Story, Geopolitics has given an apt scenario of the Make in India programme. In this part of the Cover Story, the author writes that the government has rightly picked on defence as a thrust area for its ‘Make in India’ programme but he also points out that two years later, very little has actually happened on this front. The write up also talks about establishing a defence technology commission as a lot of time and energy of our highly committed and hardworking Raksha

COVER STORY

PRIVATE SECTOR ARMING FORCES OF INDIA THROUGH OEM TIE-UPS To sustain these businesses, the government needs to channelise its orders to the Indian private sector. That will not only help create Indian capabilities, but also help create a workforce that will last forever, a Geopolitics report

I

ndia's defence sector manufacturing was entirely a public sector industry till 2001 when the then government opened up the military market for the private sector. It is now 15 years since Indian private industry became defence manufacturers. Most of the companies that entered into the defence market, more or less around 2005, were large and had engineering businesses as their backbone.

Some feel that 15 years is too short a time for India to emerge as a major military industrial base. Since opening up of the defence industry for private sector participation, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has so far issued around 342 Industrial Licences till June 2016 for manufacture of a wide range of defence items. Over 50 companies have so far reported commencement of production.

The licenses have been issued to the Indian private sector for manufacture of items ranging from military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, radars, electronic warfare systems, ship-borne platforms, and armoured vehicles. Several MOUs and agreements have been signed between Indian and foreign companies for

setting up joint ventures. However, the actual flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) takes time to mature. From August 2014 to February 2016, a total amount of `1.12 crore has come into the country as FDI in defence sector.

In the recent years, many Indian private industries have been involved in a small way with several defence 'Make' projects. These are Integrated Material Management Online System (IMMOLS), Integrated Air Defence Command and Control System (IACCS) Tactical Communication System (TCS), Battlefield Management Systems (BMS) and Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles (FICV). While (IMMOLS) and (IACCS) have been deployed, TCS, BMS and FICV are in the early stages of development. Award of major projects under 'Make' category to Indian private industry is a new beginning in Indian defence industrialization.

Larsen & Toubro, Tata Group, the erstwhile Pipapav Defence and Offshore Engineering Ltd. that is now under Reliance Group of Anil Ambani, Mahindra and Mahindra, Ashok Leyland Defence Systems, Kalyani, Alpha Design, Punj Lloyd, are some of the key Indian players in the defence industry today.

The Indian defence industry's import-export ratio is inferior to countries with a much smaller defence industrial base. The 'Make in India' policy for the defence sector aims to reverse the current imbalance between the import of defence equipment and indigenous manufacture of defence equipment without adversely affecting the requirements, capability and preparedness of the user.

Therefore, achieving self-reliance and reducing dependence on foreign countries in defence is a necessity today rather than a choice, both for strategic and economic reasons. The requirement for domestic production of defence equipment is more than for any other sector because it will not only save precious foreign exchange but will address the national security concerns.

'Make in India' policy aims at facilitating investments and fostering innovations for the manufacturing sector in India. The government being the only consumer, 'Make in India' in defence sector will be governed by the defence procurement procedure and production policy of India. The government policy of promoting domestic defence industry is adequately reflected in the Defence Pro-

Airbus Helicopters awarded a contract to Mahindra Aerostructures to make airframe parts for the AS565 MBe Panther

14

August 2016 www.geopolitics.in

defence items. Over 50 companies have so far reported commencement of production.

The author has mentioned several private sector companies that have been involved in a small way with several defence ‘Make’ projects. These are Integrated Materiel Management Online System (IMMOLS), Integrated Air Defence Command and control system (IACCS) Tactical Communication System (TCS), Battlefield Management Systems (BMS) and Futuristic Infantry Com-

PERSPECTIVE

‘MAKE IN INDIA’ IN DEFENCE FROM RHETORIC TO REALITY

T

he unfortunate disappearance of India’s AN-32 with 29 people onboard has again put the spotlight on the state of affairs in our defence preparedness.

While most leading armed forces of the world suffer accidents, the regularity of these occurrences in India means that we can't just sweep it under the carpet.

Since March 2015, three Jaguars have crashed in Kurukshetra, Nagaon and Allahabad, two Dorniers in Goa and Tamil Nadu, a Hawk trainer in Odisha, a MiG21 in Badgam, a MiG-27 in Jodhpur, a BSF helicopter in Delhi and a microlight aircraft in Meghalaya. The navy suffered the sinking of the submarine INS Sindhurakshak in Aug 2013. There have been accidents thereafter involving INS Konkan, Betwa, Sindhuratna, Kolkata, Ganga, Viraat, Nireekshak and Vikramaditya, etc.

The causes behind these accidents are varied – obsolescence, non-availability of spare parts, faulty maintenance and human error. It is ironic that a country with stellar performance in the hi-tech fields like space, nuclear and information technology has allowed itself to be completely dependent on foreign technology in defence – something that affects our very survival as a nation.

The government has rightly picked on defence as a thrust area for its 'Make in India' programme. Two years later, very little has actually happened on this front.

What needs to be done? Here are ten action steps – some simple, some tough.

 Change the mindset – future wars will be won by technology

Future wars will be fought on computer screens remotely with satellite feed and smart weapons. This will require lesser, younger and nimbler boots on the ground – both military and civilian.

Ministry of Defence (MoD) should aggressively look at cutting the flab in the military and diverting limited financial resources to next-gen technologies. This will require external experts, not military’s internal task forces.

China reduced its standing army by a whopping 1.7 million troops over the last

42

Rolls-Royce & HAL JV company IAMPL’s Thermal Spray System ROLLS-ROYCE

AMBER DUBEY & CAPT VINOD NARASIMHAMURTHY say that Indian defence sector needs radical reforms and should facilitate greater investments from global OEMs, through reforms in FDI limits and a faster procurement procedure and acquisition processes three decades and plans to reduce it by another half a million. The money saved has been put into technology – and its showing results.

 Establish a Commission

Defence

Technology

A lot of time and energy of our highly committed and hardworking Raksha Mantri (RM) is taken up by day-to-day fire fighting, public events, political meetings, non-defence related activities and travel. Future technologies are a completely different ballgame and require undivided attention of a duel empowered leader.

India needs to establish a Defence Technology Commission (DTC), headed by a technical expert and reporting directly to the Prime Minister. Successful similar experiments in atomic energy and space have done wonders for India.

 Engage more with the private sector

DRDO and DPSUs have to shed their age-old distrust, insecurity and animosity towards the private sector, in their and India’s interest. The defence minister has been trying hard – but this mindset change may take another 10-15 years.

Most leading private players have ex-defence personnel in leadership

August 2016 www.geopolitics.in

Mantri (RM) is taken up by day to day fire-fighting, public events, political meetings, non-defence related activities and travel. Future technologies are a completely different ballgame and require undivided attention of a duel empowered leader.

India needs to establish a Defence Technology Commission (DTC), headed by a technical expert and reporting directly to the Prime Minister.

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

bat Vehicles (FICV). While (IMMOLS) and (IACCS) have been deployed, TCS, BMS and FICV are in the early stages of development. Award of major projects under ‘Make’ category to Indian private industries is a new beginning in Indian defence industrialisation.

L&T, Tata group, Pipapav Defence and Offshore Engineering Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., Mahindra and Mahindra, Ashok Leyland Defence Systems, Piramal System and Technologies are some of the key Indian players in the defence industry today.

It is in strategic interest of a nation aspiring to be the regional power to develop indigenous and internationally competitive defence industry base. Even nearly 70 years after independence, India continues to be the largest importer of conventional defence equipment, as per the SIPRI data of the last five years now.

Punit Bhaskar, Kolkata

Successful similar experiments in atomic energy and space have done wonders for India.

The author has also suggested to engage more with the private sector to make the programme a real success. DRDO and DPSUs have to shed their age old distrust, insecurity and animosity towards the private sector, in their and India’s interest. The defence minister has been trying hard – but this mind-set change may take another 10-15 years. Most leading private players have ex-defence personnel in leadership positions. MoD, DRDO and DPSUs should choose private partners carefully and make life hell for the ones who break the trust. There’s no point tarring the entire private sector with a wide brush using corruption cases of the past. The Cover Story has also pointed towards the need of radical reforms.

Pooja Shetty, Bengaluru

GEO Subscription form.qxd

1/4/2012

11:13 AM

D E F E N C E

Page 1

D I P L O M A C Y

S E C U R I T Y

g geopolitics Our readership is, to simply put it, Fortune 500; DIPLOMATS POLICY MAKERS CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WORLD BODIES THE EURO CRISIS: IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIA

geopolitics VOL II, ISSUE VII, DECEMBER 2011

`100

DEFENCE

DIPLOMACY

SECURITY

E

TH KHAN N IMRA PACT IM

RESURRECTING

THE BOFORS GUNS THE F-35

CHALLENGING PROSPECTS

TUNNEL OF PRIDE

An engineering marvel, the Rohtang Tunnel has great strategic significance

SUBSCRIBE

NOW!

Please accept my subscription for 12, 24 and 36 issues of geopolitics Name___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Address_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ph. No.________________________________________________ Payment

Cash

Cheque

e-mail_________________________________________________________

Cheque/DDNo. _________________________________________________

Drawn on_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Date_______________________________________________________ Signature ___________________________________________________ NO. OF ISSUES

NEWSSTAND PRICE

DISCOUNT

YOU PAY

YOU SAVE

12

Rs. 1200/-

15%

Rs. 1020/-

Rs. 180/-

24

Rs. 2400/-

20%

Rs. 1920/-

Rs. 480/-

36

Rs. 3600/-

25%

Rs. 2700/-

Rs. 900/-

Cheque / DDs should be drawn in favour of

NEWSEYE MEDIA PVT. LTD.

Send your subscription to Newseye Media Pvt. Ltd., D-11 Basement, Nizamuddin (East), New Delhi -110 013 Contact us on : +91-11-24372050-51, e-mail: geopolitics@newsline.in

COVER STORY

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the SAARC Summit

HEMANT RAWAT

PIB

MILITARY DIPLOMACY MANTRA:

LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR After China, India is Asia's fastest growing military power this Century. That is an acknowledged fact. India has, in the last decade, astutely built its security ties with the US, also widening its basket beyond Russia to look for arms and defence systems to transform its 13.1 million military into ‘lean and mean’ fighting force. But, it quickly needs to address its defence diplomacy issues with its neighbourhood, even as it aspires to be permanently on the high table at the United Nations (UN). A GEOPOLITICS REPORT

T 8

he South Asian 'Big Brother' (China) has robust ties with five of its nine neighbours.

New Delhi has zero defence diplomacy with Paki-

stan except to sort out military and border conflicts. This is an imperative, as India readies itself to bid for a permanent seat on a reformed, expanded UN Security Council, whenever that

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

happens. Here is a quick look at India's military diplomacy with its neighbours — arms supplies, defence exchanges, capacity building, joint exercises and influence.

COVER STORY

PAKISTAN

India and Pakistan are the only two South Asian that cannot see eye-toeye on anything. Even a non-issue could trigger a major military fall-out between the two nuclear-powered nations. The neighbours — they were one country till 1947 — have fought three major wars in 1947-48, 1965 and 1971; have had a sector battle in Kargil in 1999; and almost came to a nuclear stand-off in 2001-02 in the aftermath of the terror attack on Indian Parliament, suspected to be by groups owing allegiance to Pakistan. All of these conflicts have been too bitter. India had come up trumps in each of the wars and battles.

It is only obvious that they really cannot have any defence relations, except as enemies. For this reason, the two nations have bare minimum contact among their defence establishments — a Tuesday ritual of Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) talking over the hotline about issues on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and a couple of diplomatic talks erratically held about territorial disputes such as Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek. The two DGMOs met in December 2013 for the first time in over a decade, but there were no tangible results, except reiteration of their November 2003 Ceasefire Agreement along the 778-km LoC, violated nearly 200 times in 2013 alone.

Arms supplies can't happen even in their military leadership's dreams and there isn't any defence exchange, except may be to have military attaches at their respective high commissions.

Their officers and men get to interact while overseas, as part of some UN peace-keeping force around the globe or when they train in some foreign military academies. Their troopers on the ground interact through sweet box exchanges during Independence Days and during festivals such as Diwali and Eid. The recent efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to boost ties are limited to symbolic invites to swearing-in ceremonies and family weddings. But this doesn't have any influence on their 'Blow Hot, Blow Cold' attitude towards each other's military. The August 15 Independence Day address by Modi has changed the narrative on Pakistan for India and the world. Taking a cue from Modi's references to human rights violations in Balochistan and in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir (PoK), even the US has made noises on the issue, aligning its position on PoK with India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi being warmly received by the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in Afghanistan

PIB

AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan is in India's immediate neighbourhood, though they do not share borders. Afghanistan is the gateway to the Central Asian nations for India and hence, of critical strategic importance. Afghanistan being part of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a factor why India has shown keen interests there, apart from the fact that stability or instability there would have a direct bearing on India's security. It has so far spent $2 billion in military training and development aid there, and is also actively engaging the Afghan political and military leadership. Afghan former President Hamid Karzai was in India in August 2016 and left after endorsing Modi's views on Balochistan. His earlier 2013 requests for lethal weapons, including mortars, battle tanks and light howitzers, apart from military aircraft such as AN-32 and Mi-17 helicopters, and military trucks may not have moved forward, but India has now gone ahead and delivered Mi-25 attack helicopters to the Afghan Army.

India had earlier maintained that it would not provide any lethal weapons, but had agreed to supply three Cheetah helicopters modified to suit the Afghan requests by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The two nations already

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

have an effective Security Cooperation Agreement, which is Afghanistan's first with any country this Century. The two nations cooperate closely on all security matters concerning the region, particularly in areas of counter-terrorism, Afghan National Army (ANA) training and joint exercises.

In December 2013, ANA's Special Forces were in India's Rajasthan to train in counter-terrorism operations in conditions and terrain simulated to feel like Afghanistan. India hosts ANA officers and men at its defence training academies. A set of over 50 officers passed out of India's Dehradun-based Indian Military Academy (IMA) this December, when about 20-odd former Afghan officers, right from the Cold War era, also visited IMA. In the post US draw down in 2014, India wants to play a very active role in building ANA's capacities and capabilities. Afghan President Ashraf Gani's India visits in 2015 and Modi's reciprocal trips to Afghanistan in 2016 have only helped to boost their ties, even militarily. The supply of four Russian-origin attack helicopters to Afghanistan seems to have cemented it further.

BHUTAN

For all practical purposes, Bhutan, a landlocked nation in India's North, has

9

COVER STORY

the protection of its southern neighbour. The Indian Army provides the much-deserved advice on all military matters to the Royal Bhutan government and maintains a training mission, called the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT), for the last half-acentury to train the 8,000-odd military force of this Himalayam kingdom. In fact, Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is an alumnus of the New Delhi-based National Defence College. India has a large role and influence in Bhutan's military matters, even secretly guiding it in bilateral border talks with China. Royal Bhutan Army and Royal Body Guards men are regularly sent for basic training at the Pune's National Defence Academy and the IMA. India's Border Roads Organisation, a Ministry of Defence (MoD) establishment, has one of its divisions, Project Dantak, operating from Bhutan since 1961, responsible for construction and maintenance of over 1,500 km of roads and bridges, apart from the Paro airport and a unused airfield at Yangphula. The Indian Air Force (IAF) also carries out air maintenance of Bhutan through its Shillong-based Eastern Air Command, as it happened during a recent rescue operation of five injured Bhutanese soldiers in September 2013.

That apart, Bhutan had in 2003-04 carried out military drives to flush out Indian insurgent groups such as the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) that had set up bases and camps inside Bhutanese territory since the 1990s.

Bhutanese armed personnel's INSAS rifles, mine protected vehicles and even military transport helicopters have either been supplied by India or are being maintained by India. The two forces regularly hold joint exercises and training programmes.

NEPAL

After Bhutan, Nepal is the only other South Asian nation in which India's military influence runs very deep, though the recent political developments there have had a negative impact on diplomacy with India as a whole.

Both their Armies confer the honorary rank of General to each other's Army chiefs since 1965 — a clear sign of how the two forces have an umbilical cord-

The Indian Army provides the much-deserved advice on all military matters to the Royal Bhutan government and maintains a training mission, called the IMTRAT, for the last halfa-century to train the 8,000-odd military force

like ties. If that seemed symbolic, consider the fact that Indian Army has a whole regiment of nearly 30,000 Gorkhas, both those settled in India and coming from Nepal, serving in 35 battalions in the ratio of 30:70. To ensure a steady flow of Gorkha soldiers into these battalions, Indian Army operates three recruitment centres. India also has over 80,000 Gorkha ex-servicemen in Nepal for whom it runs pension payout offices and medical centres all over the Himalayan nation. The two armies regularly exercise together. Under 'Exercise Surya Kiran', a battalion-sized force participates in counter-insurgency training operations. Nepal Army officers regularly get trained at Indian military academies and at defence colleges. Their strong ties have resulted in the two nations having an open border.

India is a major source of weapons, including lethal ones such as the INSAS rifles, for Nepalese Army. In mid-2013, India decided to resume military supplies to Nepal after an eight-year hiatus beginning 2005. Nepal has in 2013 also sought a $20 million military aid. The two nations have a defence cooperation agreement under which they collaborate on training, joint exercises and military supplies, for which a subsidy of 70 per cent is accorded by India. Under the 10th Indo-Nepal Bilateral Consultative Group meet held in April 2013, India had agreed to send 216 light vehicles, 154 heavy trucks, 25 Mine Protected Vehicles, four ambulances and some lethal weapons to Nepal. Thus, India holds vast influence over landlocked Nepal and its Army. But the recent political turmoil of Mahadeshis hasn't gone well for India in Nepal. The result of that uncertainty needs to be weighed a few years down the line from now.

PIB

MYANMAR

Prime Minister Narendra Modi handing over Dhruv ALH to Nepal's PM Sushil Koirala on November 25, 2014.

Union Minister for External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs, Sushma Swaraj and is also seen

10

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

After taking unsure steps in engaging the military junta in Myanmar since the 1990s, India has, in the last six years of democracy in its eastern neighbourhood, ramped up military ties with Naypyitaw, as part of its overall strategy to counter China's moves in the region. In indication of how things would shape up in the near future, Myanmar's Naval chief and its Army chief were in India within a span of just six months in 2013. First to come calling was Myanmar's Navy chief in July 2013 when India agreed to help its eastern neighbour, the gateway to South East Asia, in building offshore patrol vessels at an Indian shipyard, apart from

COVER STORY

the then Indian Air Force N A K Browne have all visited Naypyitaw since May 2012, the first time in 25 years that such high level visits have took place in a span of 18 months. In June 2015, Indian troopers had retaliated to a strike by socalled Naga insurgent groups in Manipur, by tracking them and carrying out a surprise attack on their camp, said to be inside Myanmar border, killing over 30 rebels. Since then, Myanmar has promised to support India against such insurgent group activities, which came even as recently as in August 2016 when India's Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj was there on a visit.

PIB

BANGLADESH

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the President of Myanmar Htin Kyaw during a joint media briefing in New Delhi

scaling up training to Myanmar armed forces. Swe had then met with his then Indian counterpart Admiral D K Joshi, apart from the then Army Chief General Bikram Singh and the then Defence Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur. India also agreed to double the number of vacancies for training Myanmar Navy officers and sailors from the present 50 and to extend a corresponding increase in personnel from the army and the air force of Myanmar, including training pilots to fly the Russian-origin Mi-35 attack helicopters, as part of the capacity building plan. India has previously supplied military hardware to Myanmar, including four Islander maritime patrol aircraft, naval air defence guns, 105mm light artillery guns, armoured personnel carriers, mortars, grenadelaunchers and rifles. But Myanmar has asked for much more, including radars, sensors and sonars for its naval frigates and corvettes. And India has responded by supplying sonars to Myanmar. This scaling up of ties between the two nations has led to Myanmar military taking strong action against Indian insurgent groups that had taken shelter in the forests on its side along the two nation's borders, a sign of growing Indian military influence on Myanmar.

The two navies also carry out a coordinated joint patrol in the Bay of Bengal, which began in March 2013 for the first time. Myanmar also sends in its warships to the Milan multilateral naval exercise that Indian Navy hosts at Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands biennially. The Myanmar Army chief

and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar Defence Services was on a four-day visit to India in December 2013 when he met with the military top brass, apart from calling on Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, who is also the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed forces. He was also the chief guest and reviewing officer at the Passing Out parade of India’s officers training academy at Gaya in Bihar, apart from meeting with the Kolkatabased then Eastern Army Commander and present Army Chief Lt Gen Dalbir Suhag. Myanmar's importance for India can be gauged from the fact that then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, then Defence Minister A K Antony, then Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid and

Seeking closer cooperation on the counter-terrorism front, the Indian armed forces are working to ‘build capacity’ of the Bangladesh military, ranging from training and exercises to military supplies and technology

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

This nation was born in 1971 with all the military help that was required by its nationalist movement from India.

Indian military was behind training irregulars called the Mukti Bahini (Liberation Force) of what was the then East Pakistan. New Delhi also marched a part of its force right into then East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh after the war, to force the Pakistani armed forces to surrender. But that assistance only brings 'on and off' goodwill for India and its armed forces in Bangladesh based on who is in power.

When Bangladesh observed 40 years of its liberation in 2011, Dhaka for the first time honoured Indian military officers, thereby openly acknowledging the covert and overt military assistance from its neighbour. In April 2013, the then Bangladesh Army Chief General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan was in India for four days when he met with the entire gamut of military leadership in New Delhi, aiming to enhance the military ties. In 2012, the then Indian Air Force and Indian Army Chiefs visited Dhaka in quick succession when they decided to increase their exchange, joint counter-terrorism exercises and training programmes that have been in progress since 2009. In 2011, the Prime Ministers of the two nations visited each other's national capital when they discussed ramping up of military ties. In 2010, India gifted two 3.7-inch howitzers to Bangladesh Army and a high-tech laboratory of 50 computers to train its neighbour's army troops. In terms of arms supplies and military influence, India scores a zero with Bangladesh, which relies more on China, Russia, the US and the UK. In June 2015, India's Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag was on a two-day visit to Bangladesh to boost bilateral military cooperation,

11

PIB

COVER STORY

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina witnessing the exchange of agreements between India & Bangladesh, in Dhaka on June 06, 2015. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is also seen

12

SRI LANKA

India has traditionally enjoyed greater military ties with Sri Lanka, which itself is not a push over in the region, considering its vast experience gained in the two decades of intense war-fighting against the then formidable Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In the late 1980s, Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) had been sent to Sri Lanka, based on the 1987 accord signed between then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J R Jayewardene. The IPKF got sucked into the internal strife in the island nation. During the two decades of war between the Sri Lankan government and

MOD

which came close after Modi visited Dhaka to seal the historic land boundary agreement. Seeking closer cooperation on the counter-terrorism front, the Indian armed forces are working to ‘build capacity’ of the Bangladesh military, ranging from training and exercises to military supplies and technology.

Bangladesh is another country in India's neighbourhood where China has made some strategic inroads over the last several years. India has also been holding direct army-to-army staff talks with Bangladesh since 2009 to chalk out the cooperation between the two forces in the years ahead. The importance of the talks can be gauged from the fact that India has similar staff talks with just a handful of countries, which include the US, the UK, Israel, France, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. If India wants to be the most important friend of Bangladesh, it should consider selling arms to it. This will be a win-win option for both the neighbours.

This will reduce the need for the Bangladesh Army to go for arms from China, from where Pakistan too sources many of its arms. Indian arms to Bangladesh will also help in checking both China and Pakistan. This will also contribute to more interactions between the armed forces of the nations and boosting of Indian goodwill in Bangladesh, as many of their soldiers would come to India for training. This will really help in building friendship and trust for a long time.

the LTTE, India assisted Colombo by ensuring a naval blockade of the island nation's northeastern parts that were the military insurgent group's stronghold to prevent gun-running through the seas. In 2000, India had sold a Sukanya class patrol vessel to the Sri Lankan Navy, after it had served the Indian Navy as INS Saryu for nine years.

Sri Lankan Navy renamed it as SLNS Sayura and now uses it as the flagship of the force. Sayura has to its credit major naval victories against the Sea Tigers during the war that was finally won in 2009 with the killing of LTTE supremo Vellupillai Prabhakaran. Indian military also helped the Lankan defence forces in establishing air defence and coastal radars in the island nation as a counter to the LTTE's air and naval strikes on Lankan installations. India has desisted from supplying lethal weapons to Sri Lanka, primarily due to the strong political sentiments against it in Tamil Nadu, its southern province.

While Sri Lanka's military personnel — from army, navy and air force — get trained at Indian military academies and schools regularly, this process has been widely opposed by a section of the Indian population, particularly political groups in Tamil Nadu. This protests have only forced Sri Lanka to send its men to Pakistan for military training instead. India is also now preparing to sell two warships to Sri Lanka, which has been challenged in a court in Tamil Nadu. In November 2013, Indian Navy chief visited Sri Lanka when he attended the Galle security meet that debated the Indian Ocean region's issues, apart from meeting the island nation's mili-

Tactical operations by Indian-Sri Lankan Army during the Joint Training Exercise at Aundh Military Camp, Pune

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

COVER STORY

tary and political top brass. Since then, Indian security apparatus leadership had been attending Galle meet every year, and there was a visit by India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in 2014 and then Indian Navy Chief Admiral R K Dhowan in 2015. At the same time, Indian Navy's INS Shivalik stealth frigate docked in the Colombo port as a goodwill gesture in November 2013. India is also restoring the Kankesanthurai port and naval facilities in northern part of the island nation, primarily as a counter to China building the Hambantota. Sri Lanka, for all practical purposes, sees India as its 'Big Brother' and hence, New Delhi's opinion, both military and geopolitical, has a major influence in Sri Lanka, particularly on matters relating to its internal strife and demands for Tamils' rights. Earlier this year, India and Sri Lanka joined hands to sign a maritime security agreement with Maldvies, an atoll nation in the Indian Ocean, aimed at making their naval operations seamless. India has been sending its officers to Sri Lanka to get trained in internal conflict warfare tactics from the well-experienced force.

MALDIVES

Since the atoll nation's freedom from the British in 1966, India and Maldives have enmeshed their security ties to the extent that New Delhi literally takes care of its south western neighbour, as it did in 1988 when it flew troopers on military transport planes there to thwart a coup by a group of 80 armed Lankan Tamil militants on speedboats.

Since then, India has been regularly basing its warships, Dornier maritime patrol planes and military helicopters to maintain security in Maldives' Exclusive Economic Zone in the Indian Ocean and to prevent any piracy or terror groups attempting a run-over of the atoll nation. In April 2006, India gifted a fast attack craft to the Maldives National Defence Force's Coast Guard. Since 2009, India had begun integrating the atoll nation into its coastal security network by arranging radars on 26 of Maldives' atolls and linking it up with India's own coastal radar chain network.

It is also gifting three Hindustan Aeronautics Limited-built Advanced Light Helicopters, two of which have already been presented. India is also providing capacity-building assistance to the MNDF by getting its officers and personnel trained in its academies and institutions. India's then Defence Minister A K Antony has visited Maldives twice in

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President of the Republic of Maldives Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom PIB

India and Maldives have enmeshed their security ties to the extent that New Delhi literally takes care of its south western neighbour, as it did in 1988 when it flew troopers on military transport planes there to thwart a coup

2009 and in 2012, while Maldives' then Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim was in India in December 2013 when he held extensive dialogue with the Indian leadership to continue with the already robust military ties between the two nations. The armed forces of the two nations hold their regular joint exercise

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

'Ekuverin'. The last exercise took place at Belgaum in India in 2015. In October 2014, both countries, along with Sri Lanka, held their joint Coast Guard/Naval exercises, christened Dosti. In April 2016, a year after Modi had cancelled his bilateral visit to Maldives due to the political turmoil in the island country, New Delhi and Male patched up ties and signed a crucial action plan on defence cooperation in April 2016 during the visit of Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom. New Delhi is viewing its relationship with Male from the strategic and security prism, and the new action plan has been developed in the wake of growing Chinese influence in the island country. The defence action plan is an important component of the India-Maldives bilateral relationship and the shared strategic and security interests of the two countries in the Indian Ocean region. The Action Plan envisages an institutional mechanism at the level of the Defence Secretaries to further bilateral defence cooperation. — Geopolitics Bureau

13

COVER STORY

INDIA-US TIES SOAR TO NEW HEIGHTS THROUGH LEMOA

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar during a joint news conference at the Pentagon DEFENSE.GOV

With the signing of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum Of Agreement (LEMOA) in Washington on August 29, 2016 between India and the US, the relationship between these two countries will soar to new heights. A GEOPOLITICS REPORT

E

ven the slightest of doubts over India's strategic and security interests enmeshing with that of the US have disappeared permanently. India and the United States have signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum Of Agreement (LEMOA) in Washington on Aug 29, 2016.

The LEMOA envisages the facilitation of logistics support, supplies and services between the armed forces of India and

14

the US on reciprocal basis and this service will include food, water, billeting, transportation, petroleum, oils, lubricants, clothing, communication services, medical services, storage services, training services, spare parts and components, repair and maintenance services, calibration services, and port services.

Reciprocal logistic support would be used exclusively during authorized port visits, joint exercises, joint training, and

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts, an Indian defence ministry statement issued after the signing of the agreement said. Though the agreementt does not create any obligations on either nations to carry out joint activity, it does significanty enhance the operational capacity of the Indian armed forces, including in their response to humanitarian crises or disaster relief.

The agreement got signed in Wash-

COVER STORY

ington, when the American Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar held their third pow-wow in nine months. The Indian defence minister's visit to the US capital was advanced in part to conclude unfinished business before the makeover in Washington, which will also see personnel changes at the Indian Embassy.

The two sides had wanted to tick off on the long-awaited and intensely-negotiated agreement pertaining to bilateral military logistics cooperation. This agreement is the centrepiece of the US-India defence agenda that has gotten more extensive with each passing year.

Said to have been customized to India's specific needs, the LEMOA is the most important and the easiest to do among the three foundational agreements that the US sees as the basis of long-term military cooperation with India. Though US is keen to upgrade the semantics of the relationship, the term "alliance" seems unacceptable to India yet, primarily out of concerns that this might be construed as adversarial by neighbour China.

Washington is also likely to persuade India to make some forward movements on the two remaining agreements -- Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) -- although New Delhi has been wary of such arrangements precisely because of the risk of such leaks. The two agreements -- dealing with communication matters -- would enable US to share advanced military communication technologies and products with India for equipment New Delhi purchases from Washington.

The US is now India's number one defence partner in terms of hardware supplies and operational exercises, pushing down even the Russians, purely based on the number deals that the two sides have signed in the last five years and the number of varied joint exercises that they conduct together.

Given the intense military engagement, the three foundational bilateral agreements only seem inevitable, although New Delhi has sought customised versions specific to its unique status as a "major defence partner," albeit as a "nonally".

The India-US decision to "in principle" sign the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in April 2016 marked a big leap of faith, for India's defence diplomacy in particular. As India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi put

it during his address to the US Congress in June 2016, the India-US relationship has this day and age overcome the hesitations of history; with comfort, candour and convergence defining their conversations.

There are theories abound on why India agreed to sign the LEMOA and signal it as the first step towards the entwining of interests and security concerns vis-a-vis China's growing aggressive stance in the South China Sea and beyond. China's bids to contain India and to curb New Delhi's urge to emerge as a regional power in Asia was another reason. It all started with the "technical hold" on India's attempts to designate the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Maulana Masood Azhar as a terrorist at the United Nations. It has now culminated with China becoming the only barrier in India's membership to the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group earlier this year.

There are theories abound on why India agreed to sign the LEMOA and signal it as the first step towards the entwining of interests and security concerns vis-a-vis China's growing aggressive stance in the South China Sea and beyond

Ties between India and the US have dramatically improved since the end of the Cold War. In 2015, U.S. President Barack Obama became the first US president to visit India twice during his presidency, when he was the chief guest at India's Republic Day celebrations on January 26. In June 2015, the two sides had signed the new Framework for the U.S.India Defense Relationship to deepen bilateral defence ties over the next 10 years.

During his visit, the two sides released a joint statement where they affirmed "the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea." This was probably the first time ever India has put its stamp on a bilateral document that had a mention of South China Sea. That in itself was a very significant change

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

in its approach towards both US and China, as earlier India has stayed away from getting into any role or part in the emerging conflict situation in South China Sea. Since then, at least the US naval officials have been talking in private about the possibility of Indian and American warships carrying out joint patrols in the South China Sea, where India has commercial interests in the form of oil and gas explorations in waters under the Vietnamese control.

Those are clear signs of maritime collaboration between India and the United States increasing. The commander of U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry B Harris, went on record to say that he envisages a near future when warships of both nations sail together. The closer maritime ties with US has also spawned new relationships for India, with Japan and Australia, in the Indian Ocean region.

It is in this spirit that India is testing the frontiers of the American word that just about anything it has is on the table for India -- from the most advanced jet fighters to aircraft carrier technology to drones. Indeed, the General Atomicsmanufactured Predator drones are the next item on India's military shopping list in the US, not that the two sides have already struck deals relating to heavy strategic lift aircraft, anti-submarine warfare aircraft, and Harpoon missiles, among other items.

India is vying to become one of the first countries to import armed Predator Avenger drones from the US, a move that would allow it to remotely drop a bomb on any square inch of Pakistan. The unmanned aircraft manufactured by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems are sleek, fast, killing machines. From New Delhi they could hunt militants across Pakistan, and become a strategic consideration in border standoffs with China.

If approved, the drones would be another sign of the growing defence ties between Washington and New Delhi: India was the second-largest buyer of US arms in 2014, up from virtually nothing five years ago. The Avengers also represent a small but significant tilt in the strategic dynamics of a region with three nuclear powers and about 40 percent of the world's population.

India's membership in the Missile Technology Control Regime, a prerequisite for buying the drones, becoming a reality earlier this year, it is now just a matter of time before the Avengers - about 100 of them -- are supplied to India by the US. US officials had remained steadfast in supporting India as the 35th member of

15

COVER STORY

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the US President Barack Obama, during the Joint Press Interaction in New Delhi

PIB

the MTCR. Predators are the very drones the US deploys frequently in the Afghan-Pak border to eliminate terrorists wanted worldwide for attacks that have killed or maimed several thousands in the recent years.

During the June summit meeting between Modi and Obama, the US thanked India for the substantive contribution to and active participation in 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, and welcomed the offer to host a Summit on Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism in 2018. The United States and India will work together to combat the threat of terrorists accessing and using chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological materials, the joint statement issued then had noted.

Obama welcomed India's application to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and re-affirmed that India is ready for membership. The United States called on NSG Participating Governments to support India’s application when it comes up at the NSG Plenary. The United States also re-affirmed its support for India's early membership of the Australia Group and Wassenaar Arrangement.

The two countries have completed the formulation of a roadmap for cooperation under the 2015 US-India Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region, which will serve as a guide for collaboration in the years to come. The two nations have resolved that the United States and India should look to each other as priority partners in the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean region.

Earlier this year, the two nations help their first Maritime Security Dialogue.

16

Owing to mutual interest in maritime security and maritime domain awareness, the two sides have also concluded a technical arrangement for sharing of maritime "White Shipping" information.

Both Modi and Obama have affirmed their support for US-India cooperation in promoting maritime security. They reiterated the importance they attach to ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight and exploitation of resources as per international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and settlement of territorial disputes by peaceful means.

The two nations have enhanced military-to-military cooperation between the two countries especially in joint exercises, training and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR). They now explore agreements which would facilitate further expansion of bilateral defence cooperation in practical ways.

In consonance with India's 'Act East Policy' and growing relations among India, US and Japan, Indian Navy ships participated in the 20th edition of Exercise Malabar-2016 along with the US Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) in June. Indian and Amercian navies have regularly conducted the annual bilateral exercise named 'Malabar' from 1992. Since 2007, Malabar exercise has been held alternatively off India and in the Western Pacific. The 19th edition of the exercise, Ex MALABAR-15, was conducted off Chennai and included participation by the JMSDF. Under the 20th edition of the exercise, the harbour phase was at Sasebo and the sea phase in the Pacific Ocean. The primary aim of this exercise is to increase

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

interoperability amongst the three navies and develop common understanding of procedures for Maritime Security Operations. The scope of MALABAR-16 includes professional interactions in harbour and a diverse range of activities at sea, including complex surface, sub-surface and air operations.

The Indian Navy ships participating in the exercise are from the Eastern Fleet and include INS Sahyadri and INS Satpura, indigenously built guided missile stealth frigates, INS Shakti, a modern fleet tanker and support ship and INS Kirch an indigenous guided missile corvette. The ships have embarked one Sea King 42B ASW helicopter and two Chetak utility helicopters.

The US Navy was represented by ships from CTF 70 of the USN 7th fleet, which is based at Yokosuka, Japan. The CTF included the aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis (CVN 74), Ticonderoga class Cruiser USS Mobile Bay and Arleigh Burke class destroyers USS Stockdale and USS Chung Hoon, all with embarked helicopters. In addition, one nuclear powered submarine, carrier wing aircraft and Long Range Maritime Patrol aircraft also participated in the exercise.

The JMSDF was be represented by JS Hyuga, a helicopter carrier with SH 60 K integral helicopters and Long Range Maritime Patrol aircraft, besides other advanced warships for specific parts of the exercise. Additionally, the Special Forces (SF) of the three navies also interacted during the exercise.

Apart from the naval exercise, Indian Air Force too flew its Sukhoi aircraft and a midair refueller IL-78 to the US for the prestigious 'Red Flag' joint exercise with the US Air Force in April-May 2016.

The Red Flag exercise at Alaska was an advanced aerial combat training exercise hosted at Eielson Air Force Base (a successor to the previous Cope Thunder exercise series) held in the Alaska region. The main phase of the exercise had was with a mix of combat and support elements participating from IAF, USAF and USN. The Red Flag exercise saw the IAF's potent SU-30 MKI aircraft participating in Offensive Counter Air Ops in which they provided escort cover to the strike elements. Apart from this, the IAF Jaguars DARIN II undertook integrated strike missions dropping practice bombs over the world renowned JPARC Air to Ground Range). Both these fleets performed their roles exceptionally well. There were three missions commanded by Indian Airforce in this exercise. Mission commanders of both the Jaguars and Su-30s were in-

COVER STORY

volved in planning, execution and conduct of debrief.

The exercise was played under multiple simulated scenario designed to provide realistic settings. The overall demarcation is between Red Force (simulated as the Defensive force component fighting to protect own airspace and assets) and the Blue Force (simulated as the Offensive composite package). The Red Forces was mainly constituted by the 18 Sqn Aggressor Sqn flying the F-16s. The IAF along with the other USAF (F-15, F-16, F-22) and USN (F-18) constituted the Blue force. During the exercise IAF also flew as a part of the Red Force alongside the Aggressors which was a first of its kind.

The United States will continue to work toward facilitating technology sharing with India to a level commensurate with that of its closest allies and partners.

The two nations have reached an understanding under which India would receive license-free access to a wide range of dual-use technologies in conjunction with steps that India has committed to take to advance its export control objectives.

In support of India's 'Make in India' initiative, and to support the development of robust defense industries and their integration into the global supply chain, the United States will continue to facilitate the export of goods and technologies, consistent with US law, for projects, programs and joint ventures in support of official US-India defence cooperation.

The two nations are also committed to enhance cooperation in support of the 'Make in India' initiative and expand the co-production and co-development of technologies under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI). The establishment of new DTTI working groups to include agreed items covering Naval Systems, Air Systems, and other Weapons Systems. The two nations have announced the finalization of the text of an Information Exchange Annex under the Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Cooperation.

The two nations have emphasised that cyberspace enables economic growth and development, and the two sides have reaffirmed their commitment to an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable Internet, underpinned by the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance. They are now committed to deepen cooperation on cybersecurity and have welcomed the understanding reached to finalize the Framework for the US-India Cyber Relationship in the near term.

The two countries are now committed to enhance cyber collaboration on critical

IAF and USAF technicians learning from each other during Ex Red Flag 16-1at Eielson Air Force Base Alaska

MOD

infrastructure, cybercrime, and malicious cyber activity by state and non-state actors, capacity building, and cybersecurity research and development, and to continue discussions on all aspects of trade in technology and related services, including market access.

With regard to the continued threat posed to human civilisation by terrorism, the two nations have condemned the recent terrorist incidents from Paris to Pathankot, from Brussels to Kabul. They resolved to redouble their efforts, bilaterally and with other like-minded countries, to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism anywhere in the world and the infrastructure that supports them.

India and US have committed to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats from extremist groups, such as AlQa’ida, Da’esh/ISIL, Jaish-e Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, D Company and their affiliates, including through deepened collaboration on UN terrorist designations. Recognising an important milestone in the U.S.-India counterterrorism partnership, the two nations have finalised an arrangement to facilitate the sharing of terrorist screening information.

The last Parrikar-Carter meeting took place in April this year when the American defence leadership was hosted both in Goa and in Delhi by the Indian side.

They visited the Indian Naval Base in Karwar and the INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier. They also visited the USS Blue Ridge which was conducting a port call in Goa during Carter's visit.

The United States and India share a

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

deep and abiding interest in global peace, prosperity, and stability. Bilateral defence cooperation is a key component of the strategic partnership between India and the United States. Carter's visit marked the 4th meeting between him and Parrikar within a year, demonstrating the regular ministerial-level oversight of the robust and deepening bilateral defense relationship.

They have agreed to initiate two new DTTI pathfinder projects on Digital Helmet Mounted Displays and the Joint Biological Tactical Detection System, apart from the two regarding an external power source for troopers and the NBC protection suites decided upon in 2015. The Jet Engine Technology Joint Working Group (JETJWG) and the Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Cooperation (JWGACTC) have met in the recent months and are making progress.

They agreed to work towards greater cooperation in the field of cutting-edge defense technologies, including deepening consultations on aircraft carrier design and operations and jet engine technology. They noted the understanding reached to conclude an information exchange annex (IEA) to enhance data and information sharing specific to aircraft carriers.

The result of this agreement is that India could gain from obtaining latest aircraft carrier technology called the EMALS from General Atomics in the near future for its second indigenous aircraft carrier that could be 65,000-tonne in displacement and go nuclear for power it.

17

COVER STORY

OLD EUROPE AND ‘MAKE IN INDIA’

PIB

CLAUDE ARPI analyses India's evolving defence relations with the European nations and how determined Narendra Modi government is to end India's status as the world's number one defence importer through Make in India initiative

PM Narendra Modi and the President of France Francois Hollande at the release of the stamp commemorating 50 years of Indo-French Space Cooperation in Paris

T

he theme of Aero India, organised at Yelahanka Airport in Bengaluru in February 2015, was 'Make in India'. How many amongst the 700 participating foreign firms from 49 countries (particularly European) realised that the world of arms sales would never be the same?

Big players had come to Bengaluru with impressive armadas of equipment (and staff ), hoping that business would continue as in the past. Soon most became aware that the time had come to take a fresh look at future India’s requirement in aerospace, defence, civil aviation and defence manufacturing. Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ flagship alters all previous rules of the game.

The Prime Minister made it clear that India wanted to “build an industry that will have room for everyone - public sector, private sector and foreign firms.” In

18

others words, no more State monopolies; Indian private sector could take part in the new stakes.

There is no doubt that the distance to be travelled will be long, but the Modi Government seems determined to end India’s status as the world’s number one defence importer; the Prime Minister announced that 70 per cent (from the current 40 per cent) of hardware will be manufactured domestically by 2020. April 2015 was perhaps a turning point. Till that time, discussions were still on between France and India to buy 126 Rafale planes from Dassault (108 planes to be manufactured by HAL in Bengaluru).

But the negotiations had reached a dead-end. Modi's decision to purchase 'off-the-shelf' was a quick and smart move. He brought onto the negotiating table, the IAF's 'critical operational necessity', while dropping the Medium

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) framework.

However, subsequent lengthy discussions with Dassault demonstrated that the Indian government was determined to include a transfer for technology, through the offset process, even for a socalled ‘off-the-shelves’ deal. Eventually in September 2015, President Francois Hollande of France had to agree to a 50 per cent offset on the deal.

Brief History of Indo-French Defence Relations

Though at the time of India’s Independence, the relations between France and India were not too cordial (due to Paris’ colonial policy), the sales of French armament during 1950s and 1960s were relatively large: 49 Ouragan fighter planes (produced by Dassault Aviation), 110 Mystère and 12 Alizée (of Bréguet Avia-

COVER STORY

tion) were in service in 1962.

Further, 150 AMX 13 light tanks were sold to India after an agreement signed in 1957. The total arms sales from France between 1950 and 1962 amounted to $794 million according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) database, which made it the second most important supplier after UK ($ 4,612 million) and before USSR ($ 612 million) and the US ($ 248 million) After the October-November 1962 debacle, India turned its energies towards self-reliance. Paradoxically, though Moscow’s stance vis-à-vis China had been ambiguous, during the following decades Delhi increasingly relied on the Soviet Union for its arms supply. Arms supplies from France nevertheless reached $323 million between 1963 and 1971, while the tally of the Soviet Union touched $7,100 million (and $76 million only for the US).

Paris’s approach was businesslike and restricted to arms sales. During this period, the French sales mainly pertained to Alizé aircrafts, AS-30 air-to-surface missiles, Entac and SS-11/AS-11 anti-tank missiles.

During the next two decades (19711990),the ‘friendship’ with France translated into moderate arms sales; while Moscow supplied $33,622 million of armament to India from 1971 till the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, France was only the third exporter with $2,113 million (after the United Kingdom $7,001 millions). By the end of 1982, India received its first Milans, the reputed Franco-German anti-tank guided missile. The Bharat Dynamics Limited started manufacturing them in January 1985 under a French license.

Although to counter the American F-16 ordered by Pakistan, Delhi decided to purchase 150 Mirage 2000 in December 1981, the final agreement was for 51 planes only. The first planes were shipped in 1985. The contacts between India and France could be said cloudless (except for Paris’ propensity to equate Delhi and Islamabad), but lacking dynamism.

Year 1991 witnessed a new birth for India. After more than 40 years of an economy patterned on the Soviet model, Narasimha Rao, the Prime Minister, had the courage to open up the economy with the results witnessed by everyone today.

The most striking feature of the Indo-French relations was the signature of a Strategic Partnership, inked in January 1998, during President Chirac’s visit to India. This set in motion a closer collaboration in the field of defence. From the friendship mentioned by de Gaulle

in 1962, the relation had become a partnership. By putting proper structures in place, the dialogue was institutionalised.

Amongst other fields, a High Level Committee for Defence at the level of Defence Secretaries, with three specialised subcommittees, dealing with issues related to defence cooperation, was set up. Since then, the Indo-French relations have flourished on the Strategic Partnership banner.

Relations with the United Kingdom

Let us have a look at the relations with the United Kingdom (UK). Partly due to the politics of ‘diversification’ of the Nehru’s government, between 1947 and mid1950s, UK’s share in the defence supply to India fell from nearly 100 per cent to 47 per cent. The setting up of an alliance between the UK and Pakistan in 1954 had resulted in a sharp increase in India’s investment in defence preparedness and as a result arms imports.

The British share of India’s total arms imports reverted to its earlier heights: during the entire decade (1950s), nearly 64 per cent of the total value of India’s arms imports came from the UK; this included: Centurion tanks, the Vijayanta tank (based on the Chieftain design); a cruiser and an aircraft carrier and Sea Hawk aircrafts for the Navy; and aircrafts such as Spitfires, Tempests, Vampires, Hawker Hunters and Canberra bombers for the Air Force.

After the 1962 conflict between India and China, London agreed to provide some arms and equipment for ‘defending India against Chinese aggression’. A 10year £4.7 million loan was offered for the reconstruction of the Mazagon Dockyard in Mumbai and the construction of Leander Class Frigates.

However, from 64 per cent in the 1950s, the 1960s saw a sharp decline of arms imports from the UK, (34 per cent).

The slide continued in the 1970s (20 per cent) and the 1980s (14 per cent); Delhi had by then decided to depend on Soviet defence equipment ‘at friendship prices’.

Even though India continued to source British weapons and equipment such as the Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer, the AW101 transport helicopter, communications networks and naval support systems, UK’s share in India’s arms imports declined further during the following years. During the 1990s, India’s arms imports from UK came down to 6.95 per cent and it dropped to 4.6 per cent in the 2000s, despite the decision to establish a Defence Consultative Group (DCG) headed by India’s Defence Secretary and UK’s

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

Permanent Under Secretary for Defence in March 1995.

The signature of the Defence Equipment Memorandum of Understanding in 1997 was a further step to encourage partnership, joint ventures and joint product development. One of the outcomes was the collaboration between AgustaWestland and Tata Sons to build a facility in Hyderabad for the production of AW119KE light transport helicopters. Likewise, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd and BAE Systems established a joint venture for producing a range of armoured vehicles while HAL has inked an agreement with Rolls-Royce to jointly assemble engines for the Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer. An upgradation of a Strategic Partnership during meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in London took place in 2004. It was then agreed to intensify cooperation in civil nuclear energy, space, defence, combating terrorism, economic ties, science & technology, education and culture.

In September 2011, DRDO and the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory signed an agreement to work on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV).

After coming to power in May 2010, the then Prime Minister David Cameron paid two visits to India where he spoke of a new ‘Special Relationship’ with India.

During his first visit in July 2010, the relations became an ‘Enhanced Partnership for the Future’. During his second visit in February 2013, it was agreed to have a ‘stronger, wider, deeper partnership’.

After the November 2015 UK-India Summit 2015, a Joint Statement noted: “The two Prime Ministers endorsed a ‘Vision Statement’... They also resolved to agree on a new Defence and International Security Partnership which will intensify cooperation on defence and security, including cyber-security, counter-terrorism and maritime security.”

These relations are, however, bound to take a new turn with India’s determination to radically decrease the direct import of armament. Further, the Brexit brings new uncertainties.

The Indo-German relations

India was one of the first countries to grant the Federal Republic of Germany diplomatic recognition after WW II. A German Consulate General was established in Mumbai in 1951 and a full-fledged Embassy in New Delhi in 1952; the same year, an Indian Ambassador to Germany was posted in Bonn. Though Germany is today the world's third-largest arms exporter with an industry employing more than 100,000 people, deals with India

19

COVER STORY

‘Creating cooperation for the long term’ PER H NILSSON, Defence Attache, Embassy of Sweden, India, on Swedish cooperation with Indian partners in several ongoing or planned projects How is Sweden going to contribute in the ‘Make in India’ initiative in the Aerospace & Defence Sector, in skilling its workforce, by ways of association in areas of education, training etc.?

for India-Sweden defence seminars in 2016 focusing on aviation, maritime security as well as combat training and simulation in the army domain.

How

can

India

leverage

Sweden has a long tradition of ‘Makfrom your strength of SMEs/ ing in India’. We have 160 Swedish MSMEs in building its infraenterprises in the country, generating structure and how strategic direct employment for more than tie-ups in this sector can help 150,000 people. Many companies, India in creating a suitable including in the defence sector, such aerospace and defence ecoas Ericsson, Tetra Pak and Saab have system instead of banking on Per H Nilsson already been making in India, and big companies to come and have had many strong partnerships set up as part of their busiwith Indian companies for many years now. ness obligations?

Sweden understands India’s need for selfFor the Swedish government, India is a very reliance as a non-allied country. We had a important and valuable partner in a wide similar situation during the cold war when range of sectors. we established our defence industry. SweThis year, for instance, we are celebratden is committed to partnering with India ing 40 years of production of Recoilless in creating cooperation for the long term. rifles in India through cooperation between Also, we understand that to sell an advanced Saab and OFB. A very good example of how weapon system, is a partnership that must we develop our knowledge and personnel tolast for decades. Thus, we strive to create a gether is the Saab India Technology Centre, sustainable defence industry that will benefit where engineers from Tech-Mahindra and both the countries – India and Sweden.

Saab are working together on many projects, Sweden has a tradition of nurturing including on the Gripen E. Swedish comsmall and medium enterprises that generate panies have also extended their cooperation innovation and maintain growth momentum. in several other ongoing or planned projects Our large defence corporations have been with different Indian partners. working with small and medium enterprises Our two Prime Ministers acknowledged in designing and producing defence systhe potential for successful collaboration. tems. We work in close cooperation between They also agreed that under the rubric of government, armed forces, universities and ‘Make in India’, further cooperation between industries, together developing and designour respective defence industries could be ing advanced defence systems. We are now identified and taken forward appropriately, using this holistic Swedish approach when including in the field of aviation. We have put working together with Brazil in creating an this into action in the Joint Working Group aeronautical ecosystem for Gripen in Brazil. under the MoU on Defence, creating plans remain rather small (4 per cent); one of the reasons being that German export laws impose restrictions on arms exports, though when necessary, German arms companies are able to find loopholes.

According to the SIPRI, Germany controls 11 per cent of global trade in conventional weapons, however, Bonn exports mainly to other European countries like France and Great Britain. The main Indian procurement from Germany was in 1989 when India bought Class 209 diesel engine submarines from HDW. Tanks and

20

a large number of Dornier-228 aircraft were manufactured under HAL license.

From 2000, to 2015, the total armament sales to India were only 349 million dollars according to SIPRI. The defence relations took a new dimension in May 2000 with the signature of an ‘Agenda for the Indo-German Partnership in the 21st Century’ under which regular meetings of both Heads of Government and Foreign Ministers are held, with a special focus on collaboration on fields like energy, science and technology

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

as well as defence.

In an interview to an Indian newspaper in 2010, German Ambassador to India, Thomas Matussek explained that a further momentum was achieved in 2006, when Federal Defence Minister Dr. Franz Josef Jung and Pranab Mukherjee, the Defence Minister, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral defence cooperation; defence was brought into the strategic dialogue.

The agreement envisaged exchange and training of military personnel, a deepened cooperation for joint defence productions, a ‘deliberated’ technology transfer, and the sale of German hi-tech equipment to India. A High Defence Committee (HDC) co-chaired by the State Secretary (German MoD) and the Indian Defence Secretary was set up. The deal for 126 combat aircraft (MMRCA) was of course in everybody’s mind at that time.

Germany expected the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) to win the MMRCA mega deal with the Eurofighter. This, however, did not materialise as India selected the Rafale of Dassault Aviation.

In 2012, Der Spiegel reviewed the defence relations between the two countries: “The country's business landscape is complicated, with corruption playing a prominent role. It isn't uncommon for companies to stumble over the inscrutable maze.

Five years ago, for example, New Delhi cancelled a deal for helicopters produced by the European defence giant EADS on account of corruption investigations.”

Though big German defence manufacturers later participated in various bids and projects in India, this has not translated into large-scale contracts.

Der Spiegel however cited Bremenbased Atlas Elektronik, tank manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Diehl Defence, a Nuremberg-based manufacturer of missile and rocket systems, as some of the German companies working in India.

On April 11, 2013, India and Germany issued a Joint Statement, ‘Shaping the future together’, on the Further Development of the Strategic and Global Partnership between Germany and India. It is a reaffirmation of the 2000 Strategic Partnership, with very few words on defence.

At the end of Prime Minster Modi’s visit to Hannover, Germany in April, 2015, a Joint Statement was issued. Once again, the world ‘defence’ was hardly uttered, though both governments pledged to “Utilise the momentum generated by India’s participation in the Hannover Messe to foster stronger ties between business and industry on both sides in order to

COVER STORY

support India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.”

Only the future will tell us if this could lead to something concrete.

By the beginning of the 1990s, in the trail of L’affaire Bofors, Sweden disappeared from the Indian radars to reappear in 2007 with the MMRCA bid. Stockholm then offered the Gripen from SAAB. The Swedish aerospace and defence manufacturer, however, did not make it to the cut in 2011; Delhi selecting the Eurofighter and the Rafale for the final race.

At the end of 2015, Saab attempted a return and made a new bid to enter the Indian market; this time, SAAB was not only ready to set up a base in India, but also to help developing the next version of the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas and participate in the fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) with Aeronautical Development Agency.

Hakan Buskhe, CEO of SAAB told an Indian newspaper that SAAB wanted to make India its biggest manufacturing hub.

About the ‘Make in India’ scheme, Buskhe remarked: “This is one of the best branding campaigns anyone has done. The 'Make in India' brand has started to become extremely strong around the globe.”

Like other European companies, SAAB may soon discover that the road ahead is bumpy. Does the Modi Sarkar and foreign suppliers understand the same thing by ‘Make in India’? The future will tell us.

What future is there for the European defence industry?

The implementation of the ‘Make in India’ scheme will bring revolutionary changes.

Even those who believed that the ‘off-theshelves’ purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets was a continuation of the old pattern, now realize that the direct purchase of armament is for India, something of the past.

The future lies in true transfer of technology and joint research ventures.

The case of the Rafale deal is telling.

According to a top Indian business newspaper: “France has offered to invest €1 billion to revive India's combat jet engine project, proposing a joint development plan that could see the stalled 'Kaveri' gas turbine powering indigenous Tejas fighters by 2020.”

The offer is part of the offset obligations that Dasssault, Thales and Safran, the three main protagonists of the Rafale deal, need to ‘reinvest’ in India.

In the case of the Rafale deal, the offset will be 50 per cent of the cost, a mindblowing 3 billion Euros. The report also said that several rounds of discussions

PIB

The Swedish Connection

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with his Swedish counterpart Stefan Lofven during the inauguration of 'Make in India Week' centre

have already taken place between India and the French company Safran, which developed the M88 engine that powers the Rafale as well as the Shakti engine for Indian advanced light helicopters.

Due to different reasons, the Kaveri engine was abandoned in 2014; sources close to the newspaper now affirm: “Safran would take on the investment, committing to make the Kaveri flight-worthy within 18 months. The proposal is to integrate the upgraded Kaveri with the Mk 1 A version of the Light Combat Aircraft by 2020.”

And let us not forget that a deal like the Rafale will require several hundreds of SMEs to work with the three main protagonists. New doors will be opened. Another example: in May 2016, for the first time Bonn offered a military deal under the government-government agreement (like the Rafale deal with France).

An Indian defence news portal reported: “While in the past the German government had kept away from contracts being bagged by its arms industries in India, the HDW 214 submarines are being offered as a special case for Indian Navy's requirement of six boats, which are to be made in India at an estimated cost of over Rs 60,000 crore.” Russian and French submarines are competing for the mega P 75I project which will be handled by a private sector yard in India. Likewise, several projects could be envisaged with other European suppliers.

Take the nEUROn project, spearheaded by Dassault Aviation. It is a European

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

programme that has been designed to pool the skills and know-how of Alenia Aermacchi (Italy), Saab (Sweden), EADSCASA (Spain), HAI (Greece), RUAG (Switzerland) and Thales (France) to produce the drone of the future.

Why can’t India participate by bringing in human and financial resources?

There is no doubt that the future lies with committed joint collaborations.

‘Make in India’ does not mean that in the future, ‘foreign’ armament will just be assembled in India, the scheme will have more far-reaching consequences for State enterprises as well as private companies, including SMEs. On October 26, 1953, HS Mallik, the Indian Ambassador in Paris wrote to Nehru: “All of us in the Embassy who have been working on the implantation of the contract with the Defence Ministry here for the supply of Ouragan aircraft were greatly relieved and delighted when we got the news that our four pilots with the four Ouragans had reached Palam safely. I venture to bring to your notice the wonderful cooperation that we have received both from the French officers of the Ministry of Defence, from the Cabinet Minister downwards, and from the French industry.”

This type of cooperation certainly belongs to the past, but the new type of collaboration could also be a win-win solution for India and the European countries.

The author is a French journalist, based in South India

21

COVER STORY

EVOLVED: INDIA-ISRAEL DEFENCE PARTNERSHIP Union Minister for External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Sushma Swaraj meeting the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, in New York. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also seen

PIB

HEMANT RAWAT

India-Israeli defence relations under NDA II regime are witnessing a speedy and visible progress. This regime seems committed to transform the scope of existing mutual beneficial bilateral defence relationship, writes DR ANOOP KUMAR GUPTA

E

volution of India-Israel defence ties witnessed a consistent path of upward trajectory since the beginning despite the consistent pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian posture of Indian diplomacy. Even during the non-relation period between the two countries, Israel had quickly extended military-security assistance to India during its crisis time particularly its military conflict with China in 1962 and with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. India-Israel Defence relations has gained positive momentum after the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1992. Kargil conflict of 1999 proved to be a milestone in bilateral defence ties, when Israel on a very short call

22

supplied much needed military hardware and equipment to India against its war efforts with Pakistan. During UPA I and II regime, defence cooperation between the two countries witnessed no change despites its ‘anti-Israeli rhetoric during the electoral campaign.’ However, India maintained low profile and veil of secrecy in its defence ties with Israel until recently. In the year 2009, the military business between both the countries was estimated approximately 9 billion US dollar which range from spy and armed drones to sophisticated missile defence and radar systems. According to one estimate, India continues to be Israel’s top export market, with annual Israeli defence sales to India averaging some 3 billion dollar

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

for past several years.

India-Israeli defence relations under NDA II regime are witnessing a speedy and visible progress. Modi regime seems committed to transform the scope of existing mutual beneficial bilateral defence relationship. India-Israel defence relationship has been taken ‘out of the closet.’

Previously there has been a tendency in India to keep the military and defence relationship with Israel under the veil of secrecy due to global, regional and domestic sensitivities. Now under the NDA II regime, the mindset of hesitation and secrecy in discussing defence partnership in public domain has been shunned away.

Israeli Ambassador to India, Daniel Carmon could declare openly “The defence

COVER STORY

cooperation for many years has been central pillars of the relationship.”

Both the countries have developed deep military relations as India emerged as a huge market for Israeli arms and military technologies. There emerged a mutuality of interest between India and Israel in cementing defence relationship as both need each others. India’s quest for its military modernisation and its urgent need for procuring relevant military platforms and high end military technology has converged with the search of Israeli military-industrial complex for new market in Asia. Defence sector in Israel is one of the very important and strong segments of its economy. There are 150 active defence companies in Israel dealing with defence manufacture and export. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems are the major state owned defence companies in Israel.

Along with private companies they manufacture various military platforms. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is dealing with aerospace and aviation sector and producing aerial system. Elbit Systems, Elisra, Elta, Israel Military Industry and Israel Weapon Industry are other major defence companies in Israel. Israeli defence companies like IAI, Elbit and Rafael are keenly interested to develop and manufacture UAVs, missiles and other defence equipment through joint venture with Indian counterparts under the ‘Make in India’ programme. Out of 330 foreign companies that participated in Aero-India 2015 in Banglore, 25 defence companies were from Israel. Israel needs Indian defence market for supporting its military-industrial complex. At present, Israel is under pressure to step up its defence sales to improve its flagging economy. It was reported in 2015 that Israel’s arms industry is facing a major crisis as values of its arms export is declining at the rate of at least $1 billion per year.

From India’s point of view, Israel has been liberal enough and always expressed its willingness to share technology and knowledge in defence sector than most other countries. Considering the national security as a paramount concern, Modi regime seems committed to address all hurdles and bottlenecks in the procurement process. That is why it has decided to clear the backlog of defence orders to boost India’s fire power. Decision to purchase 8356 Spike anti-tank guided missile and 321 launchers in October 2014 from Israeli firm Rafael Advanced Defence Systems will facilitate the development of indigenous military-industrial complex.

India also approved the purchase of 10

missile-armed Heron TP drones from Israel in September 2015. Acquisition of these drones will enhance India’s cross border strike capability with minimal risk.

In March 2016, Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has given its nod to various pending defence deals with Israel. This included the deals for Spice-2000 bombs and laser designation pods. India also approved the purchase of two Phalcon Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems (AWACS), four aerostat radars and medium-range surface-to-air missile system (MR-SAM) for army from Israel. It was reported that India is expected to procure Israeli military equipment worth an estimated $3 billion ahead of PM Modi's visit to Israel.

India-Israel defence relationships are not just confined to buyer-seller framework and also include joint development and co-production. Modi regime emphasised on the building and development of indigenous defence sector in India

India-Israel defence relationships are not just confined to buyer-seller framework and also include joint development and co-production. Modi regime emphasised on the building and development of indigenous defence sector in India. Modi regime has raised the FDI cap in defence sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent with the aim of boosting indigenous defence production and to make India self-reliant in defence sector. PM Modi has clearly stated that “the country should work towards increasing domestic procurement from 40 per cent to 70 percent in next five years. And that is why defence is at the heart of our Make in India programme.”

India has invited Israel to become a partner in ‘Make in India’ initiative in defence sector. Israel has also expressed its desire to share cutting-edge weapon technologies with India. Israel expressed its willingness to take part actively in PM Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and offered technological know-how in order to produce certain products in India. Israel has expressed its readiness to invest and transfer high end technology in defence

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

sector in order to take lead from other competitors in Indian defence market.

Successful testing of the jointly developed MR-SAM Barak-8 warship missile system in 2014 and 2015 witnessed a milestone in bilateral cooperation in joint development of advanced weapon system by India’s DRDO and Israel’s IAI. MR-SAM systems are to be produced in bulk by defence PSU Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL). Sale of Spike missiles also would be followed by transfer of technology to defence PSU Bharat Dynamics Limited for large-scale manufacture and production. At present India’s DRDO is engaged in various co-development projects with Israeli defence firms such as Elbit, Elisra, IAI and many others.

Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems and Kalyani group of India decided to setup a joint venture unit named ‘Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems’ to build and develop high end technologies and weapon systems in India. It was reported that this venture will work on providing various technologies and systems ranging from Missile Technology and Remote Weapon Systems to Advanced Armour Solutions. It could begin with the production of Spike anti-tank guided Missile. Another agreement to establish joint venture in defence sector has been announced between Rafael Advanced Defence Systems of Israel and Reliance Defence Limited of India at Defexpo India 2016 exhibition in Goa. Reliance Defence and state-owned Israeli defence contractor Rafael Advanced Defence Systems stated in their joint statement that they were setting up a joint venture in India to produce air-to-air missiles, air defence systems and surveillance balloons or aerostat for Indian military over the next ten years. During the 12th meeting of the high powered joint working group in July 2016, both the countries discussed joint research and development projects in fields like high-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), micro-satellite surveillance systems, armoured vehicles and different types of missiles and precisionguided munitions.

India-Israel cooperation in defence sector regarding co-development and coproduction could become a catalyst in promoting a vibrant and dynamic indigenous defence-industrial eco-system in India. Aerospace and defence are the thrust areas in ‘Make in India’ initiative with regard to generation of skilled jobs and creation of self-reliance in defence production. Focussing on the indigenisation and robust private sector participation, Defence procurement Procedure, 2016 has

23

COVER STORY

Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during a meeting in Tel Aviv

PIB

introduced a new acquisition category called Indigenous Design Development and Manufacturing (IDDM). Commenting on the impact of India-Israel defence ties, distinguished scientist at DRDO, W Selvamurthy stated that “India could use Israel as a spring board as it looks to produce indigenous defence products that can be sold in the global market.” Rafael has expertise in products like Python and Derby in the air-to-air missiles system, Spyder range in air defence systems and the Barak missiles family of surface-toair missiles. Rafael’s joint venture with private Indian firms will offer the entire range of products in these fields to the Indian Armed Forces. Joint ventures with Israeli company Rafael “will enable the development and production of high end technology systems within the country.”

Rafael-Reliance strategic partnership not only “will mark the entry of Reliance Defence in the complex field of air-to-air and air defence systems manufacturing in India” but also will give a big thrust into the field of indigenous production and development of high precision and stateof-the-art weapon systems in India.

Expansion of military-industrial base in India will provide further impetus for creating a space of opportunity for skilled job in defence sectors. At present, India is importing 60 per cent of its required defence equipment from foreign vendors.

PM Modi had categorically stated in this regard that “today we are spending tens of billions of dollars on foreign acquisitions.

There are studies which show that even 20 per cent to 25 per cent reduction in imports could directly create an additional 1 lakh to 1.2 lakh highly skilled job.” Israel’s defence engagement in joint research and development with public and private

24

sector in India will be beneficial in not only in creating aerospace and defence ecosystem but also building a skilled work force. It was estimated that joint venture between Rafael and Reliance will generate more than 3000 skilled jobs in India. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State for skill development and entrepreneurship, stated at Aero India 2015 in Bengaluru “The Indian aerospace sector would need at least one million skilled workmen every year in the coming years.” Strategic Manufacturing Sector Skill Council and Aerospace and Aviation Sector Skill Council has been established for skill development in Aerospace and Defence sectors which will further give a boost to already existing industry-academia linkages.

Conglomeration of systemic, national and individual factors suggests a positive development of India-Israel defence relationship. These include India’s thrust for its military modernisation and Israel’s willingness to participate in ‘Make in India’ at the national level, reported positive chemistry between the current leadership of both the countries at individual level and positive US perception of emerging India-Israel defence ties at structural level.

Nonetheless, there are also limit to bourgeoning defence cooperation between India and Israel at national and structural level. Israel has to face tough competition with foreign vendors in lucrative Indian defence market and learning from the past experience, India would not be ready to put all the eggs in Israeli defence basket. United States, France, Russia and other defence companies of foreign origin are also looking desperately to enter Indian defence market. In her quest for maintaining strategic autonomy in defence procurement and defence acquisition,

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

India would prefer to maintain diversification of defence equipment and technology sources. Defence experts have also expressed their concerns regarding India’s recent growing ‘over dependence’ on Israel for defence related high end technologies. Transparency related issues could be another factor in India-Israel defence ties.

Earlier in 2012 India had black listed Israel Military Industries (IMI) and barred it from bidding for defence contracts in the country for ten years in connection with a 2009 bribery scandal. Issues related to delays or lack of progress in India-Israel joint ventures and reported lack of transfer of technology by Israeli companies has also raised eye brows of many in strategic community. India’s concerns over the huge delay and exorbitant costs regarding the production of medium-range surfaceto-air missile (MR-SAM) systems called Barak-8 have also been reported. At the sub-system level, any Israeli defence engagement with Pakistan and China and India’s deep engagement with Iran could have its bearing on the positive development of India-Israel defence relationship.

Israel’s diplomatic engagement with Pakistan and reported transfer of arms by Israel to Pakistan might create apprehension in the minds of Indian foreign policy establishment. However, Israel has strongly denied selling any military equipment to Pakistan.

Despite these limitations at national and sub-system level, India-Israel defence partnership is moving swiftly in a positive direction and expected to remain so in the near and mid-term period. India-Israel cooperation in defence fields shall increase in coming days. Not only India has displayed its keenness in Israeli military platform and high end technology but Israeli companies are also looking forward for Indian private and public partners for joint venture in defence research and development. However, there is a robust need to channelize the full potential that existed in the field of India-Israel defence cooperation where sky is the only limit.

Nonetheless, the thumb rule in the long run should be not only the building of indigenous cutting-edge technology with public-private synergy that will give boost to the development of self-reliant military-industrial complex in the country but also reducing the ‘over dependence’ on overseas technologies which could impair the strategic autonomy.

The Author has a doctorate in International Relations from JNU, New Delhi.

He had also been a visiting researcher at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

COVER STORY

INDIA-RUSSIA DEFENCE COOPERATION:

PIB

THE WAY FORWARD

Russian President Vladimir Putin presenting a page from Mahatma Gandhi's diary containing Gandhiji's handwritten notes to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

R

ussia, has occupied a special place in the list of the Modi Government's foreign policy priorities. Historically, New Delhi and Moscow have largely enjoyed a crisis-free relationship, with defence having emerged a major area of cooperation between them. During the Cold War, the former Soviet Union was a major partner of India in the security area, with the 1971 Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation having played a pivotal role in institutionalising such security ties between the two countries. This can be gauged from the fact that the former Soviet Union fully supported India's stand on the Kashmir issue in the Security Council and helped in building its defence capabilities by exporting 60-70 per cent of India’s defence imports.

However, the disintegration of the

Soviet Union and the end of Cold War brought about a new world order led by the US in the 1990s. This transformational shift in the balance of power and geopolitics came to have profound impact on India-Russia bilateral ties for many reasons. More specifically, though Russia inherited the status of the Soviet Union; it was not in the position of playing the same role in international politics as its predecessor did. In fact, having reduced to the status of a regional power and facing acute economic crisis, Russia focused on improving ties with the west, and it also indicated its inability to honour defence and other deals that the former Soviet Union had signed with India. Thus, for New Delhi, it was not only the loss of a time tested friend – the Soviet Union, but the supply of military spare parts was also seriously disrupted. In turn, with the aim of expanding sources of its

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

As one of the main objectives of the Modi Government is to promote joint defence production with other countries in line with the ‘Make in India’, New Delhi sees Moscow playing a vital role in realising the government’s ambitious programme, writes SUMIT KUMAR defence imports, New Delhi focused on adapting to the new international order by improving ties with the US and other western countries, which further slowed cooperation between India and Russia.

Though failing to garner favourable response from the West through its proAtlantic policy, and Moscow geared into improving ties with India as a part of its Asia policy, it was only in 2000 when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Vladimir Putin succeeded in laying the foundation for transforming the bilateral ties into a strategic partnership, which was further upgraded to a “special and privileged” in 2010. This in turn accelerated cooperation between the two countries in many areas including defence. For instance, during President Putin’s visit to India 2000, Russia agreed, among other defence issues, to transfer technology and licensed production of 140

25

Minister of Defence and General of Army of Russia Sergey K Shoygu and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar signing a Memorandum of Understanding in New Delhi

SU-30 multi-role fighters. In 2004, both the countries finalised the agreement on the transfer of Admiral Gorshkov to India.

When the UPA Government came to power in the same year, the two countries further consolidated the deepening bilateral ties in the defence area. In 2007, an intergovernmental agreement was signed in Moscow on joint development of an advanced multi-functional fighter aircraft of the fifth generation. Addressing India’s concerns over its ageing Russian defence systems, Russia consented to upgrade military systems like 21 km range BM-21 multi-rocket system and other similar ones. During President Medvedev’s visit to India in 2010, the two countries also agreed to jointly develop a fifth generation fighter aircraft – Sukhoi T- 50. Consequently, these defence and other agreements led sections of defence experts, diplomats, journalists and others in both the countries to argue about the coming back of Cold War bonhomie between the two countries.

However, this hope was soon dashed to ground when India and Russia faced some serious differences on many defence related issues. Moscow disliked the transforming relationship between India and the US, especially following the 2008 Civil Nuclear Agreement between

26

two countries. Sections of experts and analysts in Russia began to argue that Indian foreign policy had undergone a defining shift, with India having decided to focus more on improving its ties with the US than with Russia. On the other hand, India expressed its displeasure over Russia’s decision to sell attack helicopters to Pakistan, without taking into account of India’s security concerns.

New Delhi also raised its concerns over the increasing supply of Russian systems to China, which equally brought India’s security under deep strain.

Not only this, the most important segment of India-Russia defence ties – the supply of weapons and other defence systems – also faced a severe crisis. The Indian Government expressed reservations about transparency in defence deals, raised questions about the quality of Russian spares parts supplied to India. In the meantime, Russia lost some important Indian defence deals to other countries including the US, Israel and France. For instance, Russia lost a deal for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, a worth of $20 billion, to France’s defence company Dassault Rafale. Since the deal was the largestever defence procurement deal of India at that time, Russia reacted angrily to

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

PIB

COVER STORY

India’s decision by cancelling the April 2011 joint naval exercises “INDRA” at the last minute. Russia also cancelled a joint army exercise with India in June 2012. The procurement of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov became a classic example of the widening differences between Indian and Russia. Russia’s failure to deliver the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov on time annoyed New Delhi because it forced India to pay Russia $2.34 billion, against the originally agreed price of $947 million.

During President Putin’s visit to India in December 2014, he agreed with Modi on a vision for strengthening the IndiaRussia partnership over the next decade.

President Pranab Mukherjee attended the 70th anniversary of the victory in the World War II and an Indian contingent also participated in the military parade at the function held in Moscow. When Prime Minister Modi went on a state visit to Moscow in December 2015, he did every right thing to show the high value that India accords to its ties with Russia.

Since then, New Delhi and Moscow have witnessed deepening cooperation in a wide range of areas of their common interests. Of course, defence cooperation has received much attention of the two countries. This is clear from the number of defence agreements signed between

COVER STORY

India and Russia. For instance, in December 2014, the two countries signed the Agreement on Training of Indian Armed Forces Personnel in the Military Educational Establishment of the Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation. This in turn would help the armed forces of the two countries forge deep engagement with each other. They can effectively share their ideas and experiences about how to deal with security issues like terrorism and others. This agreement would enable the Indian armed forces to identify their capabilities and weakness against a major global military power. Last year, the Indian government announced the purchase of five S-400 air defence systems from Russia, costing around $6 billion. An agreement was signed between the two governments to manufacture Ka-226 helicopters. New Delhi and Moscow are in serious talks on jointly developing the fifth-generation and it has also been reported that both the sides are committed to equally contribute to this project accounting for $4 billion.

Efforts have been taken to facilitate the way for many mega projects including the upgradation of Sukhoi-30 MKI jets into Super Sukhois with advance avionics and weapons and other which have been stalled for many years.

Undoubtedly, it would be naive to believe that two countries have accelerated defence cooperation in recent times for the sake of honouring their old friendly relationship. In fact, both the countries have their own compelling reasons to do so. So far as India is concerned, it has focused on the modernisation of its military. However, India’s any efforts in this direction cannot bring much success without the active support of Russia, mainly for two reasons. First, as majority of the weaponry and defence equipment India possess are Russia-made, Moscow’s role is indispensable in India’s military modernisation programmes. Second, Since Russia is one of leading countries in the manufacturing of arms, fighter aircrafts, missiles and other defence hardware, India needs to deepen its engagement with Russia to get access to best of available defence systems in the world. This was precisely one of the reasons why Modi said during his visit to Moscow that “Russia has been India’s foremost defence partner through decades, accounting for a majority of our defence equipment... Even in the current environment, despite India’s improved access to the world market, Russia remains our principal partner.” Cementing ties between Russia and Pakistan have not gone unnoticed in India. The Indian

defence establishment has taken note of the fact that while there is already a China-Pakistan alliance working against India, the emerging engagement between Islamabad and Moscow can further pose great threat to India’s security. Thus, the current boost to the defence engagement with Russia will also help India to contain the growing engagement between Russia and Pakistan.

As one of the main objectives of the Modi Government is to promote joint defence production with other countries in line with the ‘Make in India’, New Delhi sees Moscow playing a vital role in realising the Modi government’s ambitious programme. In fact, Russia has already expressed its willingness to strengthen the defence partnership with India under the ‘Make in India’ initiative. So, while only the public sector has been involved in defence cooperation between the two

Moscow sees the modernisation programme of the Indian military as an opportunity to revive its economy, especially when India is forecast to spend $250 billion over the next decade

countries to date, and the Russian defence establishment has treated India as a market for licensed production, the new initiatives will encourage joint manufacturing of defence products in India and motivate the private sector to play a role in developing a strong defence manufacturing base in India. This will ultimately reduce India’s reliance on defence imports.

Moscow sees the modernisation programme of the Indian military as an opportunity to revive its economy, especially when India is forecast to spend $250 billion over the next decade upgrading its military and Russia wants to seize the opportunity to become a major part of this mission, expressing its readiness to work jointly with India on defence manufacturing.

Though there have been some developments towards bridging the gap between Russia and Pakistan, it is

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

equally true that Moscow continues to share New Delhi’s interest in promoting peace and security in Afghanistan and Central Asia, thereby it has remained committed to not allow Islamabad to succeed in reviving the Taliban regime in Afghanistan again, as the environment of insecurity and political unrest would have far-reach consequences for both India and Russia. Both the countries also have the shared interest in promoting the multi-polar order in Asia, where China wants to establish its hegemony. This has become quite evident from Beijing’s recent behaviour in the South China Sea and elsewhere in this continent.

Counterterrorism is another area where two countries find a convergence of interest. The two have strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms, stressing the need for an effective global effort in dealing with the terrorist menace.

They have also called for the elimination, once and for all, of all terrorist “safe havens,” presumably referring to Pakistan.

Since Russia has been facing a recognition crisis as a global power ever since it was hit with sanctions by western countries and was ousted from the G8, it believes that close engagement with a country like India, which has emerged as a major power in world politics, can help it in regaining its lost status of global power.

While these shared security interests, indeed, present a prosperous future prospect for India-Russia partnership, it is also true to emphasis the fact that much of the securities ties between the two countries also depend on the extent Russia deepen its military ties with China and Pakistan, as the supply of Russian weapons to these two countries which are India adversaries can tilt the balance in their favour. The future of relations largely also depend on what extent the two countries their defence ties from buyer and sellers to that of co-producers and how Russia continues to see expansion of India-US security relations.

Notwithstanding these structural constraints, the two countries continue to enjoy considerable trust in their bilateral relations. Thus, it should be hoped that under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Modi and President Putin, the shared security and other interests would continue to deepen and widen the areas of engagement between the two allweather friends.

The writer is an ICSSR Doctoral Fellow at UGC Centre for Southern Asia Studies, Pondicherry University

27

COVER STORY

DYNAMICS OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CENTRAL ASIA & INDIA

PIB

Throughout India’s history, connectivity with Central Asia has been extremely important. Central Asia has been India’s principal door to connect India with Europe.

NIVEDITA DAS KUNDU analyses the importance of India’s flourishing bonhomie with the central Asian nations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev at Akorda President's Palace, in Kazakhstan

I

n Soviet times the Central Asian region was called Sredniaia Azia (Middle Asia). Sredniaia Azia includes Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In India, scholars mostly use the term ‘Central Asia,’ while some Russians have not yet dropped the old term ‘Middle Asia.’ Another term, ‘Greater Central Asia’, is of more or less recent coinage. The emergence of 15 independent states as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, has offered new challenges and opportunities for India to broaden its bilateral and multilateral relationships with Central Asian States. However, in the changed situation there was a need to shift its focus from the larger canvas of the

28

Soviet Union to a smaller canvas to renew and build close ties with each of these five new Republics.

Throughout India’s history, connectivity with Central Asia has been extremely important. Central Asia has been India’s principal door to connect India with Europe. These Countries have deeply influenced India’s history, culture and polity. It is with Central Asia that India continued its longest association and the most extensive people-to-people ties. Today, Central Asia gets significant priority under India’s foreign policy. Both India and the States of Central Asia have economic complementarities in terms of human resources and markets, which if exploited can broaden cooperation and increase opportunities

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

for joint ventures in banking, insurance, agriculture, information technology and in pharmaceuticals sector.

India is trying to exploit its expertise in the construction of small and medium-sized hydroelectric plants in Central Asia, mainly in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which have substantial hydropower potential. The region has potential as a significant energy source for India. The main hydrocarbon deposits in the Central Asian Republics are in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. India and Uzbekistan signed an agreement to conduct oil and gas exploration in Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan has also agreed to allocate geological territory to Indian companies to explore its hydrocarbon resources. The work is in progress between GAIL (Gas Authority of India Limited) and Uzbekneftogas to build facilities in Uzbekistan to produce LPG (liquefied petroleum gas).

In the field of defence, India had acquired six Ilyushin-78 in-flight refuelling aircraft from Uzbekistan. Indian aircraft are being regularly serviced at the Chekalov Aircraft Plant in Tashkent, (Uzbekistan) which is indicative of the potential for cooperation between India and Uzbekistan in the aviation sector. Indian experts have been involved in repairing military aircraft in Tajikistan too. Ayni Airbase in Tajikistan happens to be India’s first and only foreign military base. Ayni the Air Force Base, is also known as Gissar Air Base, is basically a military air base in Tajikistan, which used to be a major military base during the Soviet period. India’s close relationship with Tajikistan helped India to create Ayni airbase, though it took almost 10 years for India after the disintegration of the Soviet Union to establish this strong connection with Tajikistan. (India has spent almost $70 million between 2002 and 2010 to renovate the Ayni base). India has also extended the Ayni runway to 3,200 metres and installed

PIB

COVER STORY

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the Signing Ceremony of the Agreements, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in 2015

state-of-the-art navigational and air defence equipments there. India is very serious about the development of the Ayni air base project to gain a strategic foothold in Central Asia and improve its C3I (Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence) network. However, this base is still dormant without any fighter jets and Tajik and Indian government both have ruled-out in January 2011, any possibility of deployment of Indian forces at Ayni. The importance of Tajikistan for India cannot be overlooked in any way.

India and Tajikistan wanted to go beyond Ayni airbase, hence, a hospital was constructed with the support of Indian government, inside the Tajik area bordering Afghanistan. India is now also looking for bigger security role for itself in Tajikistan.

India and Central Asian State of Turkmenistan are also closely connected with each other. Both the countries share historical and civilisational ties. India had close links with the present-day Turkmenistan since Kushan Empire. The territory of Turkmenistan was located at the crossroads of seven caravan routes and it became an important trade link between India, Central Asia and Europe from the very early times. India and Turkmenistan share close political understanding between each other on key regional and international issues.

India-Turkmenistan energy cooperation is moving smoothly particularly in the implementation of the TAPI project.

TAPI is expected to meet the growing energy needs of South Asia. TAPI gas pipeline project has been described by the participant countries as the 'Pipeline of Peace' and a ‘Reflection of Desire’. The implementation of TAPI project will bring

Central Asia and South Asia much closer in enduring energy project, integrating regional countries for development and prosperity. TAPI can support by providing natural gas for fulfilling the economic development plans and for implementing clean energy programme. TAPI can become a best example of growing regional integration process. There is huge scope for further enhancing multi-faceted cooperation between India and Turkmenistan from economy and trade to culture,

India and Central Asian State of Turkmenistan are also closely connected with each other. Both the countries share historical and civilisational ties. India had close links with the present-day Turkmenistan since Kushan Empire

science, technology and education. Two countries have already established mechanisms for boosting cooperation in various fields. India-Turkmenistan Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation has been meeting regularly every year. Simultaneously, a Joint Working Group on Energy was also set up to facilitate for smooth energy cooperation.

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

India-Kazakhstan cooperation is also going on smoothly for many years now.

India was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relationship with Kazakhstan. Strategic Partnership agreement between India and Kazakhstan was signed during President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazerbayev’s official visit to India in the year 2009, signing of strategic partnership increased comprehensive cooperation in all spheres, including political, economic, science and technology, military and technical cooperation in counter-terrorism mechanism, education and human resources development. India and Kazakhstan also signed number of Agreements and MoUs in the areas of oil and gas, in nuclear energy sector and on space sector. Kazakhstan is also the largest trade partner of India in Central Asia today. Both India and Kazakhstan understand the need for using their vast experience, international exposure and synergy to work jointly. In the energy cooperation, besides downstream projects, Indian companies are working in petrochemical sphere too in Kazakhstan.

India and Kazakhstan is also working on cooperation in health and medical sector. The Joint Committee on S&T is now working jointly on biotechnology, nanotechnology, solar energy and catalyses as the priority areas. To facilitate more student and teacher exchanges, an agreement on cooperation in the field of education is under consideration. Many specialists, experts and scholars from Kazakhstan attend ITEC (Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation Programme) courses every year. At present, exchange in the area of tourism is also going on smoothly. The visit by the President of Kazakhstan NurSultan Nazarbayev as the Chief Guest for India’s Republic Day celebration in the year 2009, symbolizes the importance attached by Government of India to Kazakhstan and it is expected that the relationship will thrive in the coming years too.

The overall outlook on the region suggests that for India, there is an enormous scope and potential to engage in a meaningful and fruitful politico-economic cooperation with all the States of Central Asia. India and all five Central Asian States got immense potential to offer to each other, but there is a need to place these realisations on the fast track.

Nivedita Das Kundu (Ph.D) is a Eurasia specialist. Associated with York Centre for Asian Research and Centre for Refugee Studies at York University, Toronto, Canada

29

COVER STORY

MARITIME DEFENCE DIPLOMACY IN THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION The Indian Navy has emerged as an indispensable tool of diplomacy in recent years, making it an imperative for Indian policymakers and naval thinkers to consider anew the role of naval forces

Warships of world navies line up off Vishakapatnam for the International Fleet Review organised by Indian Navy in February 2016 MOD

F

or long, India had only focused on its land borders in the West and in the North, as areas of potential threat to its security and interests. That thought process was borne out of its concerns against Pakistan and China that have had a traditional rivalry with India. But that thought has clearly changed since 2008.

For, two significant events took place that year. One, Mumbai on India's West coast came under a terror attack from 10 terrorists, who had inspiration in Pakistan, leaving over 160 people dead, including nine of the terrorists. That list of victims included many nationalities

30

that it became an international tragedy.

Second, India was instrumental in floating an Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, on the lines of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium, which had member-states from South Asia, South East Asia, West Asia and Eastern Africa as members.

Those two events of 2008 signify the importance that Indian Ocean Region has to India's security and national interest. India is in an enviable geographical position, astride the world's third largest water body called the Indian Ocean, through which passes world's most strategically important sea lanes.

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

More than 80 per cent of the world's seaborne trade in oil transits through Indian Ocean choke points, with 40 per cent passing through the Strait of Hormuz (just 34 kilometres wide), 35 per cent through the Strait of Malacca (just three kilometres wide) and eight per cent through the Bab el-Mandab Strait.

Global analysts give due attention to the security of these bottlenecks, but remain optimistic about the vast expanse of water that connects them: the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea at the mouth of the Malacca Strait.

Between the Straits of Hormuz and Malacca, the only truly major navy that op-

COVER STORY

erates in the Indian Ocean is the Indian Navy, if you don't consider the US Central Command in Qatar.

Besides keeping a watchful eye over the international shipping lanes that run through the northern Indian Ocean, the Indian Navy is also the gatekeeper of two more choke points near its offshore island chains of Lakshadweep and the Andamans. All Pacific-bound shipping from the Persian Gulf, or the Red Sea, converges on a 200-km wide funnel called the Nine Degree Channel (named after its latitude) that is straddled by India's Lakshadweep island chain. Given these islands' strategic control over the shipping lanes, the Kochi-based SouthWestern Naval Command established a naval base on Lakshadweep called INS Dweeprakshak (means Island Protector).

In the Bay of Bengal, 1,200 kilometres from the Indian mainland, sits another strategically key island chain called the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These too dominate the international shipping lane that runs past them, through the 200-km wide Six Degree Channel, before entering the Malacca Strait.

Over the last two decades, India has transformed the Andamans from a military base into the most-important Andaman and Nicobar Command. This expanding presence, with a growing complement of naval, air and ground assets, is India's first tri-service command.

In 2012, Indian Navy opened INS Baaz, a listening post so to speak, at the southernmost tip of Indian territory called Indira Point. INS Baaz is a naval air base that can operate a variety of maritime reconnaissance planes. Indira Point, and by default INS Baaz, sits right at the mouth of the Strait of Malacca.

For these geographical reasons, the Lakshadweep and Andamans give India a double stranglehold over these international shipping lanes and make it the natural master of the northern Indian Ocean.

As geo-strategist Robert Kaplan noted: "India stands astride the Indian Ocean... the world's energy interstate, the link for megaships carrying hydrocarbons from West Asia to the consumers in the burgeoning middle-class concentrations of East Asia. India, thus, with the help of the Indian Ocean, fuses the geopolitics of the Greater West Asia with the geopolitics of East Asia — creating an increasingly unified and organic geography of conflict and competition across the navigable southern rim of Eurasia."

Once, the US was a major power in the region, though it is no littoral state in the

Indian Ocean. The relative decline of US power in the region has left a void. This void is increasingly being filled by China and India, both eager to secure their position as major powerbrokers in global affairs. It's this confluence of events and interests that is starting to make strategic developments in the region of particular interest.

Almost all the world’s major powers have deployed substantial military forces in the Indian Ocean region. The US Navy has a considerable presence in the region, despite its role in both Iraq and Afghanistan reducing drastically in the recent years. The island of Diego Garcia continues to be a major air-naval base and logistics hub for its Indian Ocean operations.

The anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and the task of safeguarding the oil flow through the Persian Gulf are all reasons for the US Navy to have a presence as part of multiple task forces.

France, meanwhile, is perhaps the last of the major European powers to maintain a significant presence in the

Almost all the world’s major powers have deployed substantial military forces in the Indian Ocean region. The US Navy has a considerable presence in the region, despite its role in both Iraq and Afghanistan reducing drastically in the recent years

north and southwest Indian Ocean, with naval bases in Djibouti, Reunion, and Abu Dhabi. In fact, France is clearly a littoral state in the Indian Ocean Region, for Reunion is represented in the French Parliament.

India has in the recent years begun to publicly assert that the net security of the Indian Ocean region is its responsibility, the vast oceanic waters being its backyard. On simple terms, New Delhi never stops from mentioning that Indian Ocean is the only one of the five oceans in the world that's named after a nation, that's India.

China and India both have genuine aspirations of developing blue water na-

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

val capabilities through the development and acquisition of aircraft carriers and an aggressive modernisation and expansion programme. While India has been ahead of China in terms of its surface maritime warfare capabilities, Beijing has beat New Delhi to acquiring better underwater capabilities.

China's aggressive soft power diplomacy has widely been seen as arguably the most important element in shaping the Indian Ocean strategic environment, transforming the entire region's dynamics. By providing large loans on generous repayment terms, investing in major infrastructure projects such as the building of roads, dams, ports, power plants, and railways, and offering military assistance and political support in the UN Security Council through its veto powers, China has secured considerable goodwill and influence among countries in the Indian Ocean region.

And the list of countries that are coming within China’s strategic orbit appears to be growing. Sri Lanka, which has seen China replace Japan as its largest donor, is a case in point—China was no doubt instrumental in ensuring that Sri Lanka was granted dialogue partner status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

But where China has led, India has certainly been following. India imports about 70 per cent of its oil through the Indian Ocean Region to its various ports.

As a consequence, it has been enhancing its strategic influence through the use of soft power, by becoming a major foreign investor in regional mining, oil, gas, and infrastructure projects. In addition, India has aggressively expanded its naval presence, reportedly to include the establishment of listening posts in the Seychelles, Madagascar, and Mauritius; in late 2009, it successfully co-opted the Maldives as part of its southern naval command's coastal radar chain, following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

China is often accused of engaging in a String of Pearls strategy to surround India. Judging by India's naval buildup, though, the truth could actually be equally balanced. China sent its warships into the Indian Ocean region for the first time in 2007 on the pretext of anti-piracy operations. That had shown to the world China's capability to continue to maintain its fleet in the Gulf of Aden over the last decade. Beijing also used this opportunity to establish naval links with nations such as Seychelles and Djibouti.

India, on the other hand, has strengthened its ties with Seychelles and Mauritius. India had in 2014 exported its

31

COVER STORY

President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries with Naval Officers during International Fleet Review 2016 MOD

first warship to Mauritius and has been providing that nation with both naval and air assets to protect its exclusive economic zone in the Indian Ocean region. In July this year, INS Trikand, India's BrahMosfitted Frigates, called on Port Louis, as part of a two-month long deployment in the region. India has a strong and longstanding relationship with Mauritius.

The bilateral defence cooperation includes the fields of training, hydrography and Maritime Domain Awareness.

The Indian Navy regularly undertakes surveillance and patrol missions in the Seychelles and Mauritian EEZ by deploying ships and aircraft in joint operations with their officers. India is also involved in training and capability enhancement of the maritime forces of the small island nations of the Indian Ocean region, offering course at its military institutions, apart from deploying trainers and training platforms in the island territories.

With Maldives and Sri Lanka, India has begun a naval exercise involving the three nations called 'Dosti' that is, due to its geo-strategic significance, important for the Coast Guards of the three friendly countries to ensure the safety and security of the Indian Ocean for all sea-farers.

On India's East, in the last over two decades, Indian leaders had to justify their naval modernisation programme to its Indian Ocean littoral neighbours, though there was no precedent of any untoward behaviour in the past. Adopt-

32

Over the last two decades, India has transformed the Andamans from a military base into the most-important Andaman and Nicobar Command

ing a more rational approach and sensing the necessity of convincingly articulating its aims in Indian Ocean Region since the 1990s, India offered to hold joint naval exercises with ASEAN states such as Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, which continue till this day.

Training programmes and liaison visits led to further confidence building between India and Southeast Asia. It was these initiatives that led to the changed bilateral scenario. Acceptance of the benign stature of India would contribute to the long term stability of the region. India has also, more than once, sent its warships and airplanes carrying support and

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

relief materials to several of the Southeast Asian nations, including Myanmar and Bangladesh, at times of natural calamities such as the tsunami, cyclones, floods and earthquakes.

Another big defence diplomacy initiative of India has been the 'Indian Ocean Naval Symposium' (IONS), a voluntary initiative that seeks to increase maritime co-operation among navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region by providing an open and inclusive forum for discussion of regionally relevant maritime issues. In the process, IONS endeavours to generate a flow of information between naval professionals that would lead to common understanding and possibly cooperative solutions on the way ahead.

That the launch of so important a regional initiative in February 2008 was able to meet with such wide acceptance across the length and breadth of the Indian Ocean was in itself a unique phenomenon. There are 35 members — navies of the IONS — who have been geographically grouped into the four sub-regions: South Asian, West Asian, East African, and South East Asian and Australian.

The IONS is a maritime security construct on similar lines of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium. The inclusiveness of this forum means that all the principal maritime agencies of states in the IOR are members, unless they desire otherwise, thereby involving participation by almost

COVER STORY

all the littorals in the region to address cooperative maritime issues.

The principal objectives for the IONS construct is to promote a shared understanding of the maritime issues facing the littoral nation-states of the Indian Ocean and the formulation of a common set of strategies designed to enhance regional maritime security; to strengthen the capability of all littoral nation-states of the Indian Ocean to address present and anticipated challenges to maritime security and stability; to establish and promote a variety of trans-national, maritime, cooperative-mechanisms designed to mitigate maritime-security concerns within the Indian Ocean; and to develop interoperability in terms of doctrines, procedures, organisational and logistic systems and operational processes, so as to promote the development of regional naval capacities for speedy, responsive and effective Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) throughout the Indian Ocean region.

However, after the initial visibility of IONS in the region and active participation of naval leadership of the region in the forum, not much has been heard about IONS in the Indian Navy circles. In 2014, a naval commanders’ conference had reviewed the Indian Navy's Foreign Cooperation Road Map, with specific emphasis on what has been achieved, and the way ahead. Foreign cooperation being a vital component of our strategy of 'shaping the maritime environment', the then Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan said that this area be addressed at multiple levels with due impetus. Stressing that Indian Navy is an important asset to India's diplomatic outreach; he provided further directives for the Indian Navy to chart out the 'Maritime Cooperation Roadmap', aligned to the policies of the government, emerging maritime challenges and maritime security needs of the IOR littorals. He further highlighted that Indian Navy needs to be seen as a dependable partner and the "first port of call" for the friendly navies in the Indian Ocean Region.

Another interesting multilateral forum that India is a part of is BIMSTEC, which stands for Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. BIMSTEC is a regional organisation comprising seven member-states lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.

This sub-regional organisation came into being in 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,

Sikorsky Multi-role helicopter fly past over USS Normandy, a Ticonderoga class Destroyer in Indian Ocean during Exercise Malabar

MOD

Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand are its members. The uniqueness of this forum, with strong Bay of Bengal littoral links, is that it neither has Pakistan nor China - two key rivals of India - in it as member-states or as observers. In fact, India needs to give more focus to BIMSTEC, in fact more than even SAARC, where anti-India forces have worked hard to scuttle every move that would provide the region as a whole some greater economic and security benefit.

In fact, Indian Navy has a unique defence diplomacy event in the biennial maritime congregation at Port Blair called Milan, which is a get-together of littoral navies of the Indian Ocean region from South East Asia and Australia. Hosted by the Andaman and Nicobar Command, Milan fosters co-operation through naval exercises and professional interactions, besides providing an excellent opportunity for participating navies to come together in a spirit of collaboration and to enhance mutual understanding.

Milan made modest beginnings nearly two decades ago when it was first held in 1995. The first edition saw participation of four littoral navies. The event achieved strident success during the ensuing years owing to the high standards of professional content in the interactions. The growing participation over the years bears ample testimony to the success of this multilateral naval initiative.

From an event of sub- regional context, Milan has now grown into a prestigious international event and encompasses

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

participation by maritime forces from not just the Bay of Bengal and South East Asia, but the larger Indian Ocean Region.

The Indian Navy underlined its growing prowess at the International Fleet Review (IFR) in February 2016. Though it was largely a ceremonial inspection of naval warships by the head of the Indian State, it provided an opportunity for the Navy to showcase its might and rapidly expanding capabilities.

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the IFR, Indian Ocean remains his government’s priority given the country’s 1,200 island territories, and its huge Exclusive Economic Zone of 2.4 million sq km and the region serving “as a strategic bridge with the nations in our immediate and extended maritime neighbourhood.’’

The Indian Navy has emerged as an indispensable tool of diplomacy in recent years, making it an imperative for Indian policymakers and naval thinkers to consider anew the role of naval forces. Despite a general understanding among Indian political elites that it was the littoral dominance by European powers that led to their colonial ascendancy in India, the focus on land frontiers led to the dominance of the Indian Army in the national security discourse. Yet despite the Navy’s marginalisation, it was largely successful as a tool of diplomacy is now no more in doubt, as Indian Ocean region becomes too important for India that ignoring is risking its future.

— Geopolitics Bureau

33

COVER STORY

SOUTH CHINA SEA CONUNDRUM SL NARASIMHAN highlights the South China Sea issue, India’s sensitivities, reaction of the countries involved, compare India’s reaction and suggest a course of action for her to follow

S

outh China Sea issue shot into limelight with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) of the United Nations Council on Laws of Sea (UNCLOS) ruling against China on July 12, 2016.The tribunal concluded that, “there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’.” (See Map 1) As expected, China denounced the verdict and said she does not recognise the PCA's verdict. She also said that the verdict is pushing the parties concerned into a ‘Cradle of War’ and that China may declare an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the South China Sea. The reaction of China to the verdict raised concerns in many countries. Their concerns ranged from China militarizing the disputed areas to her establishing a blockade in South China Sea denying the Freedom of Navigation. Response of India

has been muted. Vikas Swarup, Spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said, “As a state party, we believe that all parties should show utmost respect to the UNCLOS, which established the international legal order of the seas and oceans.”

In this article, it is intended to highlight the South China Sea issue, India’s sensitivities, reaction of the countries involved, compare India’s reaction and suggest a course of action for her to follow.

The issue of South China Sea is not something new. China has been claiming approximately 80 per cent of the South China Sea as her territory. She has also been laying claims to first and second island chains. (See Map 2). The Nine Dash Line mentioned above roughly corresponds to the First Island Chain. In 1974, China forcibly occupied the Paracel Islands in a short conflict with Vietnam killing 70 Vietnamese troops. In 1988, both the countries had a skirmish in the Spratly

Islands in which 60 Vietnamese sailors died. On November 4, 2002, China and other countries claiming a stake in South China Sea signed a Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. However, in spite of the Declaration, there have been a number of incidents in which China came to be termed as the aggressor.

In early 2012, China and the Philippines engaged in a lengthy maritime standoff, accusing each other of intrusions in the Scarborough Shoal. This resulted in the Philippines approaching the PCA. The Chinese navy interfered with two Vietnamese exploration operations in late 2012 that led to large anti-China protests in Vietnam. In May 2014, the induction by China of a drilling rig into waters near the Paracel Islands led to multiple collisions between Vietnamese and Chinese ships.

Indian Naval ships started visiting China from 1999. Therefore, it can be said that Indian Navy has been visiting South Map 1: Nine Dash Line

34

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

COVER STORY

dropped the Block 127 because it encountered the dry wells.

Many experts felt that it is because of China’s interference that India withdrew from these oilfields. However, India made a roundabout on her earlier decisions when in 2014 she agreed to participate in the exploration of oil and gas offshore Vietnam. OVL signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with PetroVietnam as part of the plans. Due to the economic and military reasons mentioned above, India is rightly concerned about the happenings in the South China Sea. China has been very sensitive to other countries carrying out exercises in South and East China Seas. When India, Australia, Japan and USA planned to do an exercise in 2007 China went ballistic. The exercise had to be cancelled. However, a trend of carrying out exercises in East and South China Seas is being seen in recent times.

The Malabar Exercise in which Japan joined India and USA for the first time, took place in the Western pacific as per schedule in 2016.

Starting from 2014, China started reclaiming some of the reefs in the South China Sea at least in seven places. She has reclaimed approximately 3200 acres of land. The progress made on Fiery Reef (See Fig 1) is very significant. In addition to reclaiming land China has also made a runway, which can take all types of aircraft. This is in addition to the runway that China built on Woody Island (See Fig 2) in 1990. She has deployed HQ 9 Air Defence missiles and BZK005 drones that are capable of flying for 40 hours on Woody Island in February 2016. She has also deployed radars in Mischief and Subi reefs.

Post the PCA verdict on 12 July 2016, China has sent air and naval patrols into the disputed areas and also carried out naval and air exercises in South China Sea. All these activities by China have made the countries involved in the issue nervous. The reaction of the countries involved in the dispute has been interesting. Though Philippines claimed victory on the case that she took up with the PCA, her subsequent actions have been one of Map 2: First and Second Island Chains

China Sea from that time. However, Indian commercial vessels have been visiting the South China Sea from earlier. In 2014-15, 18.71 per cent of India’s exports and 30.65 per cent of imports transited through the South China Sea. For 2015-16 the figures were 17.38 per cent and 34.83 per cent respectively.

Militarily, on July 22, 2011, INS Airavat was proceeding from NhaTrang for a port call at the Vietnamese port of HaiPhong.

When she was approximately 45 nautical Miles from Vietnamese coast in the South China Sea she was advised that she was entering Chinese waters by someone identifying himself as Chinese Navy.

In addition, India had bid for exploration in Oil Field Blocks 127 and 128 off the Vietnam Coast. China said countries ‘outside the region’ should stay away from the South China Sea. She also issued adé marche to India’s Ambassador in Beijing in November 2011, and conveyed that China’s permission should be sought for exploration in Blocks 127 and 128 and, without it, ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL)’s activities would be considered illegal.

In the same year, India had invested $50 million in Block 128, but after repeated exploration, it found that due to hard seabed, the prospects of finding oil in the block were low. On April 10, 2012, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that the “OVL’s decision to initiate relinquishment process is based purely on technocommercial considerations.” OVL also

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

appeasement. She sent her former President, Fidel Ramos as a Presidential envoy to soothe the relationship from getting further sour. It is likely that Philippines will start bilateral talks on the issue. How she reacts to China’s pre requisite of not recognising the PCA verdict remains to be seen.

USA’s Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia, Abraham Denmark said that China should follow India’s example of resolving its maritime boundary dispute with Bangladesh by accepting the ruling of a tribunal appointed by the PCA. The United States’ further said, “We support efforts to resolve territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea peacefully, including through arbitration…As provided in the Convention, the Tribunal’s decision is final and legally binding on both China and the Philippines…” After stating that, in the last one month, that is in August 2016, USS Benfold visited China to boost bilateral ties and General Mark Milley, Chief of Staff of US Army while visiting China said, “Washington wanted to maintain open channels of communication with the Chinese military to ‘reduce the risk of crisis or miscalculation and candidly address differences’". Earlier, when the issue was heating up, USA sent some of her naval ships on Freedom of Navigation patrols. Her reaction was termed as too little and too late by many China watchers.

Vietnam just welcomed the verdict. Japan’s Foreign Minister said, “As the Tribunal’s award is final and legally binding on the parties to the dispute under the provisions of UNCLOS, the parties to this case are required to comply with the award.

Japan strongly expects that the parties’ compliance with this award will eventually lead to the peaceful settlement of disputes in the South China Sea”. Taiwan was also affected by the verdict. The PCA mentioned in its judgement that Taiping Island to which Taiwan had laid claims, is just a rock and not an island thereby affecting her claim adversely. Malaysia issued a Press Release in which she stated, “Malaysia believes that it is important to maintain peace, security and stability through the exercise of self restraint in the conduct of activities that may further complicate the disputes or escalate tension and avoid the threat or use of force in the South China Sea”. She stopped short of criticizing China. Indonesia said prior to the Verdict, “Indonesia calls on all parties to exercise self-restraint and to refrain from any action that could escalate tensions. Indonesia invites all parties to continue maintain peace and stability in the

35

COVER STORY

region”. Post the verdict she did not make any statements. Brunei did not respond to the Verdict. From the above it can be clearly seen that even though the countries involved in the issue welcomed the verdict of the PCA, their actions thereafter were contradictory to their early reactions and veered towards avoiding a conflict with China. Only Japan, which is not involved in South China Sea, was harsh in her reaction. That can be attributed to the historically strained relations between Japan and China. India’s reaction has been given out earlier.

Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Minister, visited India from August 12 to 14, 2016 to coordinate the arrangements for the BRICS Summit being hosted by India in Goa and also the G 20 meet being hosted

by China. During the visit, when asked about India’s stance on the South China Sea issue, he said, ‘It is up to India to decide what position to take.’ This statement clearly indicated the sensitivity of the Chinese on this issue.

Earlier, it was highlighted why India was involved in the South China Sea. Even India’s stand has been moving towards softening and ambivalence. When Modi and Obama met on September 30, 2014 they made a Joint Statement, which stated, “The leaders expressed concern about rising tensions over maritime territorial disputes, and affirmed the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea.”This was the first time India directly referred to the issue. However, when Modi visited USA for the third time, the tenor of the Joint Statement on June, 7 2016 had changed to, “They reiterated the importance they attach to ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight and exploitation of resources as per international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and settlement of territorial disputes by peaceful means”. The reference to South China Sea was missing in the latter statement. The stance of India was softened in the failed hope that China may support India’s bid to gain the membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

India’s stand on the PCA verdict will also have an effect on China’s role in the Indian Ocean. That China has an eye on Indian Ocean is evident from the famous statement that General Chi Haotian, the then Chinese Defence Minister, made in 1995 that Indian Ocean is not India’s Ocean. This has been restated in 2015. Senior Captain Zhao Yi said, “If India views the Indian Ocean as backyard,

36

Fig 1: Fiery Reef

Fig 2: Woody Island

then how the navies from United States, Russia and Australia have free navigation in the Indian Ocean”. In 2004, Hu Jintao, then President of China, enunciated the Malacca Dilemma, which meant that passage through Malacca Straits is crucial to China. These statements clearly indicate that Indian Ocean is as important to China as South China Sea is to India. The anti piracy operations off the Somalia Coast offered an opportunity to China to operate in the Indian Ocean much before she intended to. So far, she has deployed 24 Task forces. This has had far reaching implications. PLA Navy has developed long sea legs and gained experience in operating with other navies. Chinese Navy conducted exercises with NATO Danish Ships in November 2015 and with Russian navy in the Mediterranean Sea in May 2015. Anti piracy operations have also facilitated the PLA Navy in increasing

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

the Maritime Domain Awareness in the Indian Ocean. At present, neither China possesses the capability for sustained operations in Indian Ocean nor does India possess the capability to sustain operations in South China Sea. This status could change with China creating the facilities in Djibouti and Gwadar. ManoharParrikar, Defence Minister of India is expected to sign the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the USA when he travels in end August to USA. If that comes through, then it will also enhance the operational capabilities of the Indian Navy.

India has been ambivalent in her reactions to South China Sea issue. On April 18, 2016, the Joint Communiqué of the 14th Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Russian Federation, the Republic of India and the People's Republic of China mentioned that Russia, India and China

COVER STORY

are committed to maintaining a legal order for the seas and oceans based on the principles of international law, as reflected notably in the UN Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS). All related disputes should be addressed through negotiations and agreements between the parties concerned”. During the visit of Ashton Carter, Secretary for Defence of USA in April 2016, the joint statement issued reaffirmed the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, including in the South China Sea. India’s reaction after the issue of the PCA verdict was enumerated earlier. The stance adopted by India will keep China guessing. India declining to be part of a joint patrolling with US Navy in the South China Sea will add to the ambivalence.

That brings up the question as to what should India do hereafter. India needs to draw a lesson from Deng Xiaoping’s 24 Character Strategy given out in 1990.

Deng’s strategy stated, “observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile and never claim leadership.” Later, the phrase, “make some contributions (you suozuowei)” was added. For India to extend her influence in the South China Sea, the Indian Navy needs to build up its capabilities. As per Admiral R K Dhowan, Former Chief of Naval Staff of Indian Navy, 48 hulls are under construction in various shipyards in India. Once these, which include replenishment ships, indigenous aircraft carrier, surface and sub-

Map 3: Diatance between Indira Point and Banda Aceh

surface combatants join the Indian Navy, India will be able to project her power.

But before doing that she needs to extend her influence in the Indian Ocean.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands is termed as the biggest aircraft carrier. These islands are ideally located to dominate the Malacca Straits, which is a mere 215 KMs from Indira Point. (See Map 3) Andaman and Nicobar Command, the first tri service command that was established in 2001 has not progressed, as it should.

Inter service rivalry, and the apathy of the establishment need to be overcome.

It needs augmentation of naval components and air assets.

Secondly, we need to have excellent Map 4: Chahbahar and Gwadar Ports

relations with Sri Lanka and Maldives.

A foothold in Maldives will enable India to dominate the Arabian Sea. Unfortunately, India’s relations with Maldives have not been as they should be. China and Pakistan are making major inroads into that country. The relations with Sri Lanka were held to ransom by the domestic politics until recently. There seems to be a forward movement in mending that relationship. India is already part of the anti piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. During the visit of Mr.Modi to Iran in May 2016, a bilateral contract on Chabahar Port for port development and operations between IPGPL [India Ports Global Private Limited] and AryaBanader of Iran was signed. The contract envisages development and operation for 10 years of two terminals and 5 berths with cargo handling [multipurpose and general] capacities. Chahbahar will enable India to countervail the influence of China that the latter gained by constructing the Gwadar Port. (See Map 4) Chahbahar will have better facilities and be closer to Gulf of Aden and the international shipping lanes emanating from there. With these actions and LEMOA in place India will be able to increase her influence in the Indian Ocean.

In conclusion, India should hedge her reaction to the South China Sea as other stakeholders in the issue have done. She should bide her time and build up her capabilities and take necessary measures to improve her influence in the India Ocean before venturing into South China Sea. The author retired as Commandant of Army War College, India and had previously served as Defence Attache in China

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

37

PERSPECTIVE

INDIA’S ISLAND TERRITORIES AS STRATEGIC PIVOTS & UNSINKABLE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS Geo- strategic location gives India an added advantage to develop counter strategy to interrupt free navigation through the Northern Indian Ocean if war is forced upon India by China, writes BRIG NARENDER KUMAR

O

n July 23, 2016, INS Viraat set sail for the last time from Mumbai to Kochi. Viraat was synonymous with India’s capability to project power and dominate the Northern Indian Ocean Region (IOR). But its decommissioning before INS Vikramaditya could assume operational role displayed MOD’s lack of strategic vision and urgency to fill the operational vacuum at a time when China is leaving no stone unturned to make its presence felt in IOR. At this critical juncture, India will be without an aircraft carrier for next eight months and second aircraft carrier will be operational not before 2023. Operational vacuum in such circumstances can be supplemented by having fully operational military bases on island territories. These military bases in fact are unsinkable aircraft carriers and act as logistic bases to extend the reach and operational endurance of the fleets.

The Navy for long has been demanding three aircraft carriers, one each for the western and eastern sea-boards, with the third being under refit at any given time so that at least one will always remain operational. But the CAG report has junked the notion of even a two-carrier force till 2023.

Geo-strategic location gives India an added advantage to develop counter strategy to interrupt free navigation through the Northern Indian Ocean if war is forced upon India by China. Anda-

38

INS Vikramaditya during the IRF-2016

“Whoever controls the Indian Ocean dominates Asia. This ocean is the key to the seven seas in the twenty first century; the destiny of the world will be decided in these waters.”

—Alfred Thayer Mahan man Nicobar islands and Lakshadweep group of islands giveIndia extended reach and ability to interdict the 6th and 9th Degree Channel. But it would need maritime capabilities to control and deny ocean space. The options India has are to develop minimum three aircraft carriers one each for Bay of Bengal and another for Arabian sea and third one as reserve. A rough guidelines is that each aircraft carrier along with its full complements would require minimum $8 to 10

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

Billion and annual operating costs of approximately $1 billion. Even with this kind of cost the carrier battle group is available for only six months in a year for balance period either India needs second carrier battle group or there will be operational vacuum. To some extent the operational vacuum can be overcome by creating fully operational military bases on islands in territories. Even the carrier battle group can be supplemented by forward bases to effectively dominate Bay of Bengal and Northern Indian Ocean region. Unsinkable static bases are operational 365 days in a year. Military bases on island territories are much cheaper and maintenance cost is also less as compared to carrier battle group.

Each of these bases would need: • Airstrips for operation of combat and transport aircraft.

PERSPECTIVE

• •

Long range maritime surveillance aircrafts and air assets for supporting marine operations.

Preferably deep water port so that logistics and maintenance of sea going vessels can be taken care off.

MOD

•

Anti-aircraft, anti-missile and antisubmarine systems that can facilitate maritime operations.

• Air, space and sub-surface surveillance system to intercept and destroy any intruding missiles (surface and sub-surface launch) and aircraft.

• Comprehensive logistic installation capable of supporting maritime and counter air operations for a specified period.

• Comprehensive capabilities for communication, information and cyber warfare.

• Early warning radar system to detect aircraft and missiles.

• Infrastructure development for marines based on the base when not on voyage.

It may appear a tall order, but the total expenditure of developing such facili-

ty on two to three islands may be equal to the cost of making an aircraft carrier battle group operational. It is not imperative to locate integrated force at these islands during peace time. These assets can be relocated during war or warning period.

The advantage India will gain is that these assets will complement the efforts of aircraft carriers and act as pivots for launching maritime operations during war and natural disasters. India needs to develop maximum three to four such bases in Andaman Sea (North to dominate Northern Bay of Bengal especially Myanmar ports and listening posts along the Arakan Coast, Coco Island and Chittagong. Main Andaman as a command centre and Information Warfare Centre.

Nicobar island to dominate Malacca Strait and SLOCs passing through 6th and 9th degree channels. Similar capabilities are required at least on one or maximum two islands in Lakshadweep. Developing similar capability near Gujarat coast will also be a good idea to pursue. If we look at China and other nations including US, France and UK there is huge emphasis to retain foothold in IOR. US has its major base at Diego Garcia, that is acting as a pivot and key location to launch maritime and even special operations. Similarly, France has two major bases in IOR that is Reunion and Tromelin Island with the capabilities to launch maritime and air operations. China is in the process of developing an island in Maldives that it has taken on lease. India has the advantage of two island groups on east and West coast to be a dominant maritime power in the region.There is a need to examine and focus on exploitation of the Island territories to convert these islands and atolls as unsinkable aircraft carriers.

These military bases would supplement and add punch to maritime power projection capabilities of India. Such capabilities would act as deterrence for a long time. Gen KA Muthanna argues that India’s military diplomacy is yet to catch up with its rising power status and developing capabilities for projection of power is a tool of diplomacy.

Gives Balance to India’s Vulnerability in the Mountains: India has unresolved border disputes with two of its nuclear neighbours. China may be having overwhelming military superiority as a continental power but it remains vulnerable since India is dominating the vital SLOCs that secures economic and energy security of China. Though it may be incorrect to assume that the development of islands as maritime bases is a replacement for the vulnerabilities

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

in the mountains, but one can state that it complements the national efforts as leverage. Sinking couple of ships in IOR will not stop China to develop military operation in mountains but then it is a vital leverage that cannot be allowed to dissipate. Island territories give India the reach and range. Due to its ability to extend its strategic reach, it offers better opportunity for defence cooperation with Indo-Pacific countries. India is in a position to reach fastest and earliest to provide Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) assistance as and when the regional countries do consider. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman had said, “The hidden hand of the market, will never work without a hidden fist.” India needs hidden fist by developing islands as a fist beyond the shores. Other Indian strategists have begun calling for a greater utilisation of the ANC. Retired Indian Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja says India needs to “grow out of its earlier thinking” and “develop the islands as a hub or ‘spring board’” for power projection in the region.

Unsinkable Aircraft Carriers A Vanguard: Indian Ocean gives un-restricted manoeuvre space, reach and depth to India. In fact the geographical position of India lends itself that give access to 38 countries in Asia. It also gives access to India to Asia Pacific region, Atlantic and Arctic Sea. Willy-nilly India can gain access to almost all continents by maritime route.

The forward bases allows India to fight wars either on others shores or on high seas rather than on main land. Fighting forward is a strategic wisdom and fighting on home shore is absence of strategy.

Western observers might expect the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI) to be a cornerstone in India’s maritime strategy; a firewall against threats to the east and a power-projection platform serving India’s interests in the Pacific. And yet, by all accounts the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) is only modestly equipped militarily. With recent reports also suggesting that the United States and India are nearing an agreement on military logistics cooperation after over a decade of talks, the Andaman Islands may become increasingly visible on Asia’s naval landscape over the coming years. Tokyo and New Delhi have broached the subject of possible cooperation on projects that could have military applications in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands soon.

The author is an infantry officer & Senior Fellow, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi

39

FEATURE

INDIA'S GUNS THROUGH AGES

Indian troops undergoing a military training drill in Assam during the Indo-China War in 1962

I

n India, regiment of Artillery was raised in January 1935 as Royal Indian Artillery but its decisive use was in the Battle of Panipat where due to artillery superiority, Babar won a decisive victory and laid the foundation of Mughal Empire in India.

There is little evidence of Indian Kings using artillery as a battle winning arm. The British had realised the importance of artillery and hence did not want any Indian Artillery units in the British Indian Army except mountain batteries of Royal Artillery. These units took part in all operations on the North-West Frontier, Afghanistan, Tibet, Burma, Assam, Malaya, Java and during First World War in Persia, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Gallipoli and Africa.

Early History of Artillery

The first man to appreciate the role of artillery in battle won the Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus. He invented the first light field gun – weighing 650 lbs firing a 4 lb shot. It was so lightly mounted that only two men could handle it in battle.

However, the credit for evolving the modern concept of artillery in battle goes to Napoleon.

In the Indian context, it was Babar whose skilful use of artillery won him two

40

TIME LIFE

decisive victories at Panipat against Ibrahim Lodhi and at Khanwah against Rana Sangha. Babar has described in great detail how guns were cast. Thereafter it was during emperor Akbar’s rule that great strides were made both in equipment and technique. It was for the first time that artillery pieces were mounted on wheeled carriages. A craze for heavy guns also started at this time and at Bidar fort dated 1572 is a gun-Tope Ellahi which is 24 feet 9 inches long with a bore of one foot seven inches. Another gun in the same fort is 24 feet long with a bore of 6 inches. The famous Zamzama, cast in 1757 by the Mughals was 14 feet long with a bore of 9 ½ inches.

The trained battalions in Maratha armies consisted of 408 stand of arms, four field pieces, one howitzer, five tumbnils, 120 bullocks and two native carts.

Each gun had 300 shots ready with it and later 100 rounds of grape or shrapnel which had been invented in Europe. The use of artillery was further refined by Tipu Sultan and later by the Sikh armies under maharaja Ranjit Singh. His Department of Artillery was organised into two sections – Topkhana Kalan (Seize guns) and Topkhana Khud (Field guns) and was placed under a separate Darogha. Considerable improvement was also made in

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

Artillery has had a glorious history for over 2,000 years.

It has evolved into a high tech force without which no battle can be won. With induction of Pinaka, Prithvi and BrahMos missiles artillery has become an arm of decision on the battlefield, writes MAJ GEN SHERU THAPLIYAL (Retd.) the field of ammunition. Spherical cases and shrapnel were added to the ammunition.

The birth of the regiment of Indian artillery

A start was made on January 15, 1935 when ‘A’ Field Brigade was formed. In the following year, an Indian Artillery training Battery was added to the establishment of Field Artillery Training centre at Mathura. The first Indian Officer Commissioned into the artillery from Royal Military Academy Woolwich in 1932 was P S Gyani who later retired as a lieutenant general in 1965. Two others soon followed P P Kumaramangalam who later became Chief of the Army Staff India and A S Kalha, who retired as a brigadier.

Consequent to raising of ‘A’ Field Brigade on January 15, for many years, Gunners Day was celebrated on this day each year.

A Field Brigade had four field batteries with different class composition as under:a. (Madras) Field Battery b. (Punjabi – Mussalmans) Field Battery c. (Rajpur) Field Battery d. (Raighar) Field Battery.

The Regiment of Artillery at that time comprised of field artillery, Air Defence Artillery, coastal Artillery and Counter Bombardment Wing. Later Air Observa-

FEATURE

tion Post wing was also added to the Regiment of Artillery. Anti tank artillery was also a part of it.

Indian Artillery in Second World War: By the middle of Second World War, the strength of Indian Artillery has gone up to 64 units. For enhanced training requirement, two Anti Aircraft Artillery Training Centres were started at Deolali where later on the school of Artillery came up on July 16, 1940. Allotment of Artillery units to various types of divisions also took place at this time. A little known fact of Second World War was a secret trial which required Indian troops to act as guinea pigs to test troops’ reaction under fire of special luminous tipped 25 pounds shells.

A trial area was selected and a platoon of Indian troops was placed there in trenches. Shells were directed on a hillock about 25 yeards behind the troops. Shells landed as hoped for with no short round.

Indian artillery was employed in the campaign in Malaya, Burma, East Africa, Middle East and Italy. Indian artillery was not employed independently but as part of Royal Artillery. 22 Mountain Battery became the first Indian artillery unit to see action in the Second World War. The most famous action was fought by the Gunners War in Bir Hachiem in North Africa against German forces led by Rommel Major (later general) Kumaramangalam won a DSO and two others were awarded Distinguished Service medals.

The performance of the Indian Artillery was praised by Winston Churchill himself on the floor of the British Parliament.

Mention should be made of Hav. (later Sub Maj) Umrao Singh who won a Victoria Cross in Burma.

Post War Events

The end of Second World War saw a disproportionate ratio of anti-aircraft and field branch artillery. Major restructurings were as under:a. Number of field branch artillery units was increased and that of anti-aircraft artillery reduced. b. Part time territorial army units were created to man coastal artillery units.

This system was continued till 1964 when responsibility of coastal defence was taken over by Indian Navy. c. At the time of Independence, Indian artillery comprised of twenty light regiments. d. The performance of Indian artillery was recognised by the British government by conferring the title Royal to it. e. Partition of Indian artillery took place at the time of partition. For this pur-

pose, a Nationalisation Committee was appointed. Its members included Lt. Col. (later Lt. Gen) P S Gyani, Lt. Col. (later General) P P Kumaramangalam and Major (later Brigadier) Y B Gulati. f. India was allotted eighteen and a half regiments while Pakistan got nine and a half regiments. g. A new Indian Artillery Directorate came into being as part of the Supreme HQ of Field Marshal Auchinlek in June 1947. h. Brigadier (later Lt. Gen.) P S Gyani was appointed the first Indian Director of Artillery. He was also the first Commandant of School of Artillery Deolali prior to this.

Artillery in J&K War (1947 – 48)

It was decided to send Indian troops into Kashmir Valley on the morning of October 27, 1947 consequent to signing of the Instrument of Accession by the Maharaja. The nearest battalion to Delhi at that time – 1 Sikh was earmarked to be the first unit to be sent to Srinagar. This battalion could spare only three companies.

Therefore, Sikh troops of Indian Artillery who were in Red Fort at that time was organised into one company and sent along with 1 Sikh. These gunners were from 13 Field Regiment and 2 Field Regiment (SP) both pure Sikh units. These gunners were equipped with four 3.7 inch howitzers and played a stellar role in halting the advance of tribal near Pattan A GS02 – Major S P Kapila, MC from the Artillery Directorate was flown in to be the Artillery Advisor to HQ J&K Force. 32 Field Battery was thereafter inducted into Srinagar and played an important role in the defeat of the raiders in the battle of Shalateng on November 7. Threat to Srinagar was thus removed for ever.

Sector-wise operations

The Valley Sector: Small operations continued in the Valley Sector throughout 1947-48. Artillery participation in all actions – big and small. Most important of these were relief of Leh and the Zoji La operation. Even with paucity of artillery, Indian Forces acquitted themselves creditably.

The Pooch Sector: Artillery played a crucial role in the recapture of Jhangar.

The absence of a suitable equipment to locate hostile guns and mortars was felt throughout. For locating hostile guns, artillery air operation proved a great asset.

The Congo Interlude: Between the J&K war and the Chinese aggression, 120 Heavy Mortar Battery of 35 Heavy Mor-

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

tar Regiment was sent to Congo as part of Indian Peace Keeping Force in 1961.

Then this force was involved in fighting Kantangal rebels. UN Forces launched operations to defeat the rebels and limited artillery support by a battery proved of great help.

The Chinese aggression 1962

Operations of 7 Infantry Brigade in Namka Chu: Artillery support was practically non-existent in this sector. Only one battery of 4.2 inch Heavy Mortar unit 7 Mountain Battery was with the brigade that too without any ammunition. Later two guns of 75 mm Para Artillery were air dropped but they were without dials sights and thus could only be fired over open sights. This casual attitude regarding artillery support cost 7 Infantry Brigade and it was decimated by the Chinese in a matter of hours. This was followed by fall of Towang. There also the story was same as far as artillery support was concerned.

The second Chinese Offensive: After capture of Towang, the Chinese took a logistics pause for twenty days. During this period, HQ 4 Inf. Div. was moved up to Dirong Zong. 62 Infantry Brigades was employed at Sela , 65 Infantry Brigades at Dirang, and 48 Infantry Brigades was deployed at Bomdila. Due to such widespread deployment, artillery was also deployed piecemeal and artillery concentration was brought to bear on Chinese who had outflanked Sela and were heading for the foothills. The artillery units which took part in this phase of the battle were 6 field Regiment, 22 Mountain Regiment.

Later 156 Heavy Mortar Battery and 16 field Regiment and 35 Heavy Mortar Regiment were also inducted but by then it was too late. The Chinese declared a unilateral ceasefire on November 21.

Walong Sector: The artillery support in this sector was grossly inadequate.

There was only a troop of 17 para field Regiment in the whole sector. The result was foregone – the sector was overrun by the Chinese by November 20.

Ladakh Sector: To begin with, there was no artillery support to any of the sectors in Ladakh. On October 21, Troop of 38 Field Battery of 13 Field Regiment was flown into Chushul... later one troop of 32 Heavy Mortar Regiment was air landed at Chushul. Second troop of 38 Field Battery was flown in on October 27. Chushul was attacked by the Chinese during second phase of their operation starting on November 16, and by November 20, they had captured all their claimed areas. Inadequate artillery was the biggest reason

41

FEATURE

Indian artillery used during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965

advance. The Pakistanis launched their counter offensive in Khem Karan Sector but the RCLS of Grenadiers, artillery fire of 4 Artillery Brigades and centurions of 2 Armoured Brigade played havoc with Patton tanks. A total of seventy tanks were destroyed. There were all collected together and were shown to the visitors at Patton Nagar.

Sialkot Sector: 1 Corps offensive in Sialkot Sector stated at 2315 hours on night of September 7/8. For the first time adequate artillery support was available.

Due to a combination of tanks, artillery fire and recoil less guns of infantry, a rapid advance was made by 1 Corps and by the time ceasefire came into force on September 22/23, it had advance nearly 25 kms inside Pakistan and removed all threat to National Highway1.

Post 65 War Reorganisation.

MOD

for this debacle. The only silver lining for gunners was the award of MVC to Capt.

Goswami of 13 Field Regiment in the battle of Chushul.

The war with Pakistan in 1965

Hostilities in Rann of Kutch: Pakistan undertook the Kutch operations due to two reasons. One was to test the efficacy of American Patton tanks and second was to test the Indian resolve. The artillery components of the forces deployed in Rann of Kutch were 11 Field Regiment and later 17 Para Field Regiment. We were handicapped by the limited range of both 25 pounder Guns and 75 mm para Guns. Till then Indian Artillery had only one 5.5 inch gun medium regiment and one 7.2 inch heavy regiment.

Operations in Kutch acted as a catalyst for expansion of Indian Army and specially artillery. However, it fell short of raising more medium regiment which was done only after the 1965 war. When a number of units were equipped with 130 mm medium guns and 100 mm field guns – both Russian equipment.

Operations in 19 Infantry Divisional Sector: Pakistan resorted to large scale infiltration in August 1965. They mistakenly believed that local population will rise in revolt. That did not happen and ably supported by artillery, Indian forces killed and captured the infiltrators. India then planned to capture Haji Pir Pass and establish linkup between Uri and Poonch

42

and put an end to infiltration through Uri – Poonch Bulge. Haji Pir Pass was successfully captured by 1 para on August 27, 1965.

Pakistan offensive in Chhamb Sector: The aim of Pakistani offensive was to launch mechanised operations to capture Akhnoor thus cutting off communications to Poonch Sector and pose a threat to Jammu. Pakistani offensive was halted at Fatwal Ridge just four kilometers from Akhnoor. Pakistani artillery fire was very accurate and effective while Indian Artillery did not cover itself with glory. 161 Field Regiment abandoned its guns – a first of its kind in the history of Indian artillery.

Operations across International Border

In order to relieve Pakistani pressure in Chhamb Sector, India launched two offensives across the international border in Sialkot Sector and Lahore sector. Later an offensive was also launched in the South in Desert Sector.

The offensive in Lahore Sector: The advance from Amritsar was led by 15 Infantry Division on GT Axis. 15 Artillery Brigade deployed close to the border to support this offensive. For the first time divisional locating battery was also deployed to locate enemy guns and effective use was made at air observation post aircraft for diverting artillery fire. Accurate fire by Pakistan artillery and strafing by Pakistan Air force slowed down the Indian

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

a. 130 mm Russian Medium guns were received in 1966 and a number of regiments were raised. Medium regiments played a stellar role in 1971 operations. b. A separate School and Centre for Air Defence Branch was authorised. c. Artillery Institute Committee and Artillery Benevolent Association were started. d. An Officers Welfare Fund was instituted.

1971 war - Creation of a nation – The eastern front

In the Eastern sector, time was of critical importance. War had to be finished before China could ensure a UN Resolution of Ceasefire. The Eastern Command, therefore, followed the concept of expanding torrent – bypass the strong points and head for depth objectives.

In order to achieve this objective, artillery support was of crucial importance.

Throughout the thirteen day war, artillery played its part to perfection and finally the surrender of Pakistani forces took place in Dacca when Lt. Gen AAK Niazi, Eastern Army Commander of Pakistan surrendered to Lt. Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora of Indian Army. It was the largest surrender in history with India having 93,000 Pakistani prisoners. A new Nation – Bangladesh was then created.

The Western Sector:

In the West, Indian Strategy was to remain on the defensive and improve its defensive posture and show to the world that India had no intention of capturing major Pakistan territory. Only limited offensives were launched.

FEATURE

a. In J&K: Mainly limited offensives were launched in Lipa Valley to improve our defensive posture and a large number of posts were captured. b. Offensive in Shakergarh Sector: In order to ensure safety of the National Highway – one, 1 Corps launched its offensive in Shakergarh sector similar to the one launched in 1965. c. Operation in Punjab: Limited offensive tasks with support of artillery were undertaken to improve own defensive posture. d. Operation in the Desert: Limited operations were conducted by 11 and 12 Infantry Divisions. With all support of artillery, all operations were successful.

Operation Meghdoot

The aim of this operation was to forestall Pakistani forces trying to capture the Saltoro Ridge and thus dominate the Siachen Glacier. Operation codenamed Meghdoot was successfully launched on April 13, 1984 and since then the Army is fully in control of this area. Guns and ammunition were air dropped on the main Siachen Glacier where they remain till date to give close support to infantry deployed on Saltoro Ridge in Northern, Central and Southern Glaciers.

Artillery in counter Insurgency Operations in J&K and North East: Right from 1990 till date, artillery has been performing counter insurgency tasks in infantry role both in J&K and North East. Artillery also contributed to a large number of Rashtriya Rifles raised in the 90s and thereafter.

Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala, inspecting a 12 inch howitzer of the Royal Garrison Artillery near Borre

Operation Vijay – Kargil 1999

Reorganisation of Artillery

“Gunners have a glorious tradition of the pursuit of professional excellence and immense dedication. In Kargil, they have further added to their exacting standards.

With systematic and methodical planning and superb innovation, the gunners overcame all hazards and challenges.

Their heroic courage and indomitable resolve to deliver and the supreme sacrifices made by many gallant martyrs in the highest tradition of the Indian Army are indeed laudable.

The gunners fought shoulder to shoulder with the infantry. The exemplary affiliation and camaraderie between the two arms was a major battle winning factor. The contribution of the artillery to victory in Kargil will always be remembered.”

General V P. Malik Chief of the Army Staff December, 1999

ARMY.MOD.UK

Indian Artillery Overseas

Op Pawan – Sri Lanka: From 1987 to 1989, artillery formed part of Indian peacekeeping force in Sri Lanka and performed extremely well in all operations. Artillery in UN Peace Keeping Operations: Artillery component formed an integral part of all UN Peace keeping contingents.

Inclusion of Air Defence Artillery and Air Op into Artillery made it a huge arm. A need was, therefore, felt to take other components out and make them into separate arms. Air OP thereafter became a separate arm and pilots were taken from all arms.

Similarly air defence artillery was made into a separate arm known as Army Air Defence Artillery with its separate centre and school in Gopalpur. Similarly Surveillance and Target Acquisition (SATA) was separated from field artillery although it is still an integral part of artillery.

Change of Raising Day of Artillery

A thought was given to the date of Gunners Day. It was being celebrated on January 15 which also happens to be the Army Day. It was therefore decided that since 5 Bombay Mountain Battery was the oldest artillery unit raised on September 28, 1827 and has been in continuous existence since then, 28 September will

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

become the Gunners Day. At present 5 Bombay Mountain Battery forms part of 57 Field Regiment.

Gunners Chiefs of Army Staff a. General PP Kumaramangalam 8/6/66 to DSO, MBE 7/6/69 b. General OP Malhotra PVSM 1/6/78 to 31/5/81 c. General SF Rodrigues PVSM, 1/7/90 to VSM 30/6/93 d. General S Padmanabhan 01/10/2000 to PVSM, AVSM, VSM 30/9/2002 e. General Deepak Kapoor 2008 to PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC 2010 Artillery has had a glorious history for over two thousand years. It has evolved into a high tech force without which no battle can be won. With induction of Pinaka, Prithvi and BrahMos missiles artillery has become an arm of decision on the battlefield. Its glorious traditions and never say die spirit makes it into a formidable force which way rightly called ‘God of war’ by Napoleon.

The author has been an instructor at the School of Artillery Deolali and is presently working as the Director of Surya Foundation, a defence think tank

43

FEATURE

ARTILLERY MODERNISATION IS GRADUALLY PICKING UP STEAM

Nexter’s Trajan 155 mm / 52 Caliber Towed Gun

NEXTER

Artillery modernisation must be given a major boost so that the army gets the firepower that it needs for future conflict. In conjunction with aerially delivered firepower, the artillery is the only combat arm that can cause large-scale degradation and destruction and ultimately break the enemy's will to fight, argues GURMEET KANWAL Firepower Capabilities must be Upgraded

After a decade of neglect under the two UPA regimes, military modernisation is gradually picking up pace under the NDA government. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has accorded AoN (Acceptance of Necessity) approval to modernisation projects worth over Rs 150,000 crore. In keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy to ‘Make in India’, most of the newly approved weapons systems will be procured with Transfer of Technology (ToT) and manufactured in India or, where feasible, completely indigenously designed, developed and manufactured.

Firepower and manoeuvre are gener-

44

ally considered the two complementary sides of the coin that represents basic battlefield tactics. During future conventional conflict on the Indian Sub-continent, large-scale manoeuvre that can achieve a military decision will not possible in the mountains due to the restrictions imposed by the difficult terrain and in the plains against Pakistan due to the need to avoid escalation to nuclear levels. Hence, if the laid down military aim is to be achieved in a future conflict, India’s firepower capabilities must be enhanced by an order of magnitude, especially in terms of precision guided munitions (PGMs) that can destroy hard targets accurately.

Ground-based firepower resources

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

comprising artillery guns, rocket and missile launchers and aerially-delivered firepower consisting of fighter-ground attack (FGA) aircraft and attack helicopters, must be qualitatively as well as quantitatively augmented to achieve asymmetries of firepower. Similarly, sea-to-land attack capabilities must also be enhanced. The firepower assets available to a field commander must cover the full spectrum of the battlefield from the enemy troops in contact with own troops in the forward zone, the enemy’s reserves and logistics echelons such as ammunition dumps in the intermediate zone, to his strategic reserves, marshalling yards, communications centres, logistics installations and

FEATURE

headquarters in depth.

Modernisation of the artillery has been neglected for over two decades despite the lessons learnt during the Kargil conflict of 1999, in which sustained artillery firepower had undeniably paved the way for victory. Approximately 400 pieces of the 155 mm/39-calibre FH-77B Bofors howitzer were acquired over 25 years ago.

Though India paid for the designs, the guns were never manufactured locally as commissions were alleged to have been paid and the Bofors scam had brought down a government.

Since then, no new guns or howitzers have been introduced into service. The artillery is now equipped with obsolescent weapons and equipment like the 105 mm Indian Field Gun (IFG) and the 122 mm Howitzer, both of which need immediate replacement. The 130 mm Catapult selfpropelled (SP) gun is too old to keep pace with modern armour. The 120 mm mortars have also reached obsolescence. The artillery also requires large quantities of PGMs for the destruction of hard targets such as tanks and bunkers and a potent real-time Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition (RSTA) capability.

And, in view of their performance in Afghanistan and Iraq, the time has come to add UCAVs armed with PGMs to the artillery’s arsenal. Only then will it be possible to achieve future military aims and objectives, including the large-scale destruction of the adversary’s war machinery.

Large-scale Overhaul

Under the army's Field Artillery Rationalisation Plan (FARP) formulated in 1999, the Regiment of Artillery had decided to standardise the calibre of its guns at 155 mm so as to be able to engage targets deep inside enemy lines and to reduce the logistics trail through commonality of ammunition. The artillery plans to acquire a total of 2,820 guns of all types to replace obsolescent guns and to equip the new regiments that will form part of 17 Corps, the Mountain Strike Corps now under raising. The modernisation plan had been stymied by the blacklisting of some firms in the fray. One example is that of the project for the acquisition of 180 pieces of 155mm/52-caliber wheeled self-propelled (SP) guns. The tender was cancelled after the trials had already been completed. The contenders included Rheinmetal Defence of Germany and Konstrukta of the Slovak Republic. Fresh tenders were then issued. The primary contenders were the Teckwin ‘K-9 Thunder’ of Samsung, South Korea, that has now formed a Joint Venture (JV)

KEY ARTILLERY ISSUES Approximately 400 pieces of the 155 mm/39-calibre FH-77B Bofors howitzers were acquired over 25 years ago. Though India had paid for the designs, the guns were never manufactured locally.

The artillery is now equipped with obsolescent weapons and equipment like the 105 mm Indian Field Gun (IFG) that needs immediate replacement.

The artillery also requires large quantities of PGMs for the destruction of hard targets such as tanks and bunkers and a potent real-time reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition (RSTA) capability.

Under the army's Field Artillery Rationalisation Plan (FARP) formulated in 1999, the Regiment of Artillery had decided to standardise the calibre of its guns at 155 mm. with Larsen and Toubro (L&T), and the Russian Rosoboronexport’s tracked gun, which is an upgraded 155 mm version of the 152 mm MSTA-S SP Gun. However, acquisitions are now moving forward. The DAC has accorded approval for the acquisition of 145 pieces of 155 mm/39-calibre M777 howitzer, which has a range of 24 km and weighs 4,000 kg. The weapon system manufactured by the US-based MNC BAE Systems will equip seven regiments in the mountains.

The proposed acquisition will be through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route in a government-to-government deal. The deal was reportedly stuck for want of agreement on the offsets obligations and upward revision in the price intimated to Congress by the US government from $647 million to $885 million. Also, as India was taking too long to decide, some of the factories involved in the manufacture of the M777 had begun to close down.

Hence, it will take a few years before all the guns are delivered. This gun will get inter-sector mobility when the C-47 Chinook medium lift helicopter is also acquired – an acquisition that is at an advanced stage of negotiation.

Several Indian companies are known to be interested in the indigenous design and development of modern artillery systems in conjunction with overseas part-

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

ners. Indigenous efforts to manufacture 155 mm howitzers include that by the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) to produce a 45-calibre 155 mm howitzer called Dhanush. This was initially based on the designs for which ToT was obtained from Bofors in the 1980s, but has matured into an indigenous design during development. The gun has a maximum range of 38 km. The DAC has approved a proposal from the OFB to manufacture a total of 416 pieces of 155 mm/45-calibre Dhanush howitzers provided the prototypes successfully meet the army’s GSQR in user trials. The gun is reported to have successfully undergone technical and user trials and 18 pieces are expected to be handed over to the army by February 2017 for the exploitation phase.

The acquisition of 814 truck-mounted self-propelled (SP) guns has also been approved by the DAC and will be undertaken under the ‘buy and make in India’ category with ToT. While the first 100 guns will be imported, the remaining 714 will be manufactured in India. The total project cost is estimated to be around Rs 16,000 crore. Bharat Forge (partner Elbit of Israel), Tata Power SED (Denel, South Africa) and L&T (Nexter, France) are likely to bid for this contract when the RfP is issued by the MoD. Trials for 180 pieces of 155 mm/52-calibre tracked SP guns for desert terrain have been completed successfully and negotiations are in progress to award the contract to K-9 Thunder, a JV between L&T and Samsung of South Korea. Also, 180 pieces of 130 mm M-46 Russian guns have been upgraded to 155mm/45-caliber with kits supplied by Soltam of Israel.

The maximum range of the gun has gone up from 27.5 to 39 km. India can exercise an option to upgrade another 250 to 300 guns in future as a ‘buy and make Indian’ project.

The single largest artillery acquisition will be of 1,580 pieces of towed 155 mm/52-calibre guns over a period of 12 to 15 years. Of these, 400 guns are to be imported and the remaining 1,180 produced in India with Transfer of Technology (ToT). Over the last eight to 10 years, several RfPs that were floated for this project were cancelled allegedly due to the corrupt practices reported to have been followed by some companies. New tenders were floated for these 155 mm/52-calibre long-range guns for the plains and trials are reported to have been completed. The two contenders are Joint Ventures (JVs) between Bharat Forge and Elbit and L&T and Nexter of France.

The DRDO has embarked on its own venture to design and develop a 155

45

FEATURE

Barracuda: The art of deception oday, as the ability of enemy weapons Tincreased, to identify and attack our assets has so has the need to protect these

assets. The acquisition of expensive weapons delivery platforms by the Indian Army and Air Force in recent years makes it important and imperative to keep them undetected both on the move and while they are static. For these critical and high value assets Barracuda offers MSCN – Ultra Light Camouflage Screens (ULCAS) and Advanced Reversible Camouflage Screens (ARCAS).

For armour, weapon platforms and other high value mobile assets that need to fight on the move, Barracuda offers MCS (Mobile Camouflage systems). These are tailored to each type of equipment, and offer camouflage protection in multiple bands of the electric spectra even on the move. Barracuda is the only recognised supplier of MCS worldwide.

Saab Barracuda is the acknowledged world leader in Signature Management for nearly 60 years. As pioneer in the field of Signature Management, Barracuda puts, at the disposal of its customers, its vast experience of proprietary technology developed in-house including pioneering efforts in development and manufacture of Multi-spectral camouflage nets (MSCN), Mobile Camouflage Systems (MCS), Personal camouflage equipment, Systems for passive protection, etc.

Barracuda is currently supplying a wide range of signature management products to

mm/52-calibre Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) in partnership with Bharat Forge and Tata Power SED, both private sector companies. While Bharat Forge will manufacture the gun, Tata Power SED will provide the electronics. Efforts are also underway to mount a 130 mm gun on an Arjun tank chassis as a replacement for the Catapult, which had a 130 mm gun on a Vijayant tank chassis.

155 mm ammunition is now being manufactured indigenously, but some fuses are still being acquired from abroad.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had observed in Report No. PA 19 of 2015 that the deficiency in “the percentage of critical ammunition in high calibre ranged up to 84 per cent during the five years period of audit. The critical shortages impacted the operational preparedness and training regimen of the Army.”

For over two decades large-scale ammunition shortages have persisted in the ar-

46

a vast number of defence forces in the world, including contracts as sole supplier to the United States Army. Barracuda has traditionally been a major supplier to US Army since the 1970s, meeting the requirements of the US government and NATO Forces, and has the

distinction of serving more than 60 elite armed forces worldwide.

As the acknowledged leaders in the field of signature management, Saab Barracuda is at the forefront of research in signature management.

• 1957 First Synthetic camouflage in the world • 1967 First Radar camouflage • 1985 First Thermal Infrared (TIR)

my’s War Wastage Reserves (WWR). These deficiencies need to be made up expeditiously. Also, the holding of PGMs is extremely low. Only 50,000 rounds of 155 mm Krasnopol ammunition are reported to have been acquired around 2000-01.

From 30 per cent in Gulf War I, the ratio of PGMs went up to 70 per cent in Gulf War II. In Libya it was almost 90 per cent. In future conflicts on land on India’s borders, the requirement of PGMs will be at least 30 to 40 per cent if the desired military objectives are to be achieved. The acquisition of the required number of PGMs must begin early.

MBRLs and Counter-bombardment

Progress on the multi-barrel rocket launcher front has been better than that in the acquisition of tube artillery. A contract for the acquisition of three regiments of the 12-tube, 300 mm Smerch multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL) sys-

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

camouflage • 1993 First Mobile camouflage for vehicle protection • 1994 First Multispectral camouflage VIS/ NIR/TIR/RADAR • 2012 First Integrated vehicle and mission adapted capability For Indian Armed Forces’ requirements, Barracuda brings in international knowledge and the experience of nearly 60 years of pioneering expertise, and has developed tailor-made products. These products are designed and developed after extensive field trials and user interaction. A lot of hard work and engineering goes into the manufacture of signature management screens, particularly Multi-Spectral Camouflage screens. Barracuda can alter to its heart’s desire ultraviolet, visual, near Infra-Red, thermal Infra-Red and radar signatures and fine tune these to suit specific customer requirements for near perfect concealment.

Saab’s products such as the MSCN Screens increase the survivability of military assets of all shapes and sizes, including missile delivery and launch systems, tanks, artillery, command & control posts and aircraft, helicopters, etc. on the ground. MCS protects mobile assets like MBTs, ICVs, APCs, SP AD, SP Arty, radars, missile launchers, and important B vehicles such as IRG vehicles. MCS can be used singly or in combination with MSCN for even better protection when halted.

tem with 90 km range was signed with Russia’s Rosoboronexport in early-2006.

Each artillery division now has a regiment of this potent weapon system. Three regiments of the indigenously designed 214 mm Pinaka multi-barrel rocket system, manufactured jointly by the Tatas and L&T, have also been inducted into service.

While the Pinaka has a range of 37 km at present, the Mark 2 version of the rocket will have a range of 60 km. However, both these weapon systems are not suitable for employment in mountainous terrain.

The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile (Mach 2.8 to 3.0), jointly developed with Russia, has precision strike capability, very high kill energy and maximum range of 290 km. It was first inducted into the army in July 2007. The number of BrahMos regiments has since gone up to three. The fourth regiment to be inducted will have ‘steep dive’ capability for the mountains. These terrain hugging

FEATURE

L&T's K9 VAJRA -T 155mm/ 52 Cal. Tracked Self-Propelled Howitzer

L&T

missiles are virtually immune to counter measures due to their high speed and very low radar cross section. India should consider exporting the BrahMos missile system to achieve foreign policy objectives; for example to Vietnam.

The Grad BM-21 MBRL regiments, which have been in service for almost three decades, are being given extended range rockets that have a maximum range of 40 km. These four missile and rocket launcher weapon systems will together provide a major boost to the artillery’s ability to destroy key targets at long ranges. However, a surface-to-surface missile (SSM) with a range of 500-600 km, which can be fired from the plains to destroy targets in Tibet, is a crucial missing link in planning for a future war in the mountains.

Counter-bombardment (US term counter-fire) capability is also being upgraded, but at a slow pace. At least about 40 to 50 Weapon Locating Radars (WLRs) are required for effective counter-bombardment, especially in the plains, but only a dozen have been procured so far. In addition to the 12 AN-TPQ 37 Firefinder WLRs acquired from Raytheon, USA, under a 2002 contract worth $200 million, Bharat Electronics Limited is reported to be assembling 28 WLRs. These radars, called Swathi, are based primarily on indigenous components with very little import content. 20 radars have been introduced into service after extensive trials.

The radar is expected to match the capabilities of the Firefinder system and is reported to have a detection range of about 40 km. Two additional troops of Heron

Shakti, the ACCCS for tactical and technical fire control is being gradually introduced into service with state-of-the-art communications between the observation post and the gun positions and the fire control centres

UAVs are also in the acquisition pipeline.

Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition (RSTA)

The Surveillance and Target Acquisition (SATA) regiments are equipped with a large variety of RSTA devices. These regiments hold four types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), including the Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Heron UAV and the short range UAVs Searcher MK I and Searcher Mk II. They are also equipped with the indigenously built Nishant UAV and the DRDO is in the process of developing a MALE UAV Rustam. The SATA regiments also hold ELM 2140 Medium Range Battlefield Surveillance Radars (MBFSR) for locating tanks, vehicles and personnel on the battlefield.

In addition, they hold the Long Range

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

Reconnaissance and Observation System (LORROS). While these are functionally efficient systems, the numbers in service are small; this leads to gaps in the surveillance. The requirement is to be able to detect anything that moves, as also permanent emplacements even though they might have been camouflaged well.

Shakti, the Artillery Combat Command and Control System (ACCCS) for tactical and technical fire control is being gradually introduced into service.

It has state-of-the-art communications between the observation post and the gun positions and the fire control centres (FDCs) and, together with modern RSTA systems, it will enable the real-time engagement of targets and provide network centricity to the application of all available firepower resources in a sector. Overall, the Regiment of Artillery, the firepower arm of the army, is proceeding gradually but surely towards achieving First Salvo Effectiveness (FSE) that will revolutionise the engagement of enemy targets in contact with own troops, the enemy’s tactical-level reserves and strategic targets in depth.

Artillery modernisation must be given a major boost so that the army gets the firepower that it needs for future conflict.

In conjunction with aerially delivered firepower, the artillery is the only combat arm that can cause large-scale degradation and destruction and ultimately break the enemy’s will to fight. Any further delay in the implementation of artillery modernisation plans will be extremely detrimental to national security interests. With the new projects now proposed, artillery modernisation will once again gather steam. It is important that the combat potential of the firepower provider of the army be enhanced quickly to the levels required to ensure victory on future battlefields.

Finally, it must be noted that while many modernisation projects have been given AoN approval by the DAC, these ‘acceptance of necessity’ approvals merely amount to the first step in the acquisition process. It can take anything from three to five years before a contract is signed after a Request for Proposal (RfP) is issued, the responses evaluated, JVs formed and technical and user trials of the prototypes are carried out. Hence, it will be many years before the first few regiments are equipped with newly acquired or indigenously manufactured guns and howitzers.

The writer is a Distinguished Fellow, IDSA and former Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi

47

FEATURE

ARTILLERY PROCUREMENT:

BUILDING DOMESTIC INDUSTRY CAPABILITY India intends to spend almost $2.5 billion for the purchase of 814 artillery systems in the next 10 years, 100 of which will be purchased from abroad (with 50 of them assembled in India), and the rest are to be manufactured in India under ‘Make in India’ initiative

A

rtillery is the predominant arm as regards firepower. Undoubtedly, the Regiment of Artillery has a variety of weapons which comprises of guns, rockets and missiles. The 155mm gun needs to be inducted at top speed. Close to $4.2 billion is expected to be spent on modernising the Indian Army's Artillery which would include 1,580 towed guns, 145 ultra-light guns, 100 self-propelled tracked guns, 180 self-propelled wheeled guns, all 155mm.

In total India intends to spend almost $2.5 billion for the purchase of 814 artillery systems in the next 10 years, 100 of which will be purchased from abroad (with 50 of them assembled in India), and the rest are to be manufactured in India under Prime minister Narendra Modi's `Make in India' initiative.

India's army has got delivery of three indigenously-developed 'Dhanush' artillery guns for user-trials. Another three Dhanush guns are being readied for delivery shortly. The Jabalpur-based Gun Carriage Factory handed over the three 155-mm 45-calibre guns to the army recently, its Joint General Manager Sanjay Shrivastava said in Bhopal on July 18.

The Gun Carriage Factory, which works under the Kolkata-headquartered Ordnance Factory Board, has been in existence at least since 1905 under the British rule in India. Dhanush, a towed howitzer, has a strike range of 38 kilometre. It was designed from exiting design and documents running into 12,000 pages delivered to India under the first phase of Transfer of Technology as part of the 1986 Swedish Bofors FH-77B gun deal, the report said, citing an unnamed official.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had on April 27, 2015 informed a Parliamentary Consultative Committee of his ministry that the Dhanush had successfully met all technical parameters during

48

India's Ordnance Factorymanufactured Dhanush gun on display at a defence exhibition HC TIWARI

the winter and summer trials. He said the gun incorporated several improved features than the guns Army currently possessed.

Following the successful summer and winter trials, when it had fired about 2,000 rounds under different extreme weather and terrain conditions, the army had asked for six guns for user trials. The Defence Ministry had in March 2013 placed an order for 114 Dhanush guns for Rs. 1,260 crore ($200 million), subject to it clearing the summer and winter trials. This order is to be completed in three years.

The army has estimated that it requires at least 414 of these guns. The Gun

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

Carriage Factory is expected to ramp up production at the rate of 100 guns a year, to complete the order by 2020. At present, the factory produces three guns a month, making it 36 guns-a-year rate of production. The guns, also nicknamed 'Desi Bofors' by the mainstream media cost Rs. 14 crore ($2 million) a piece.

While the imported Bofors guns had a 28-km range, the indigenously produced Dhanush has a 10-km extended range at 38 km.

Bofors, now owned by United Kingdom's BAE Systems, could not complete the technology transfer for the 155-mm 39-calibre howitzer after the deal got entangled in a graft allegation involving the

FEATURE

STALLION GALLOPS AHEAD

ATAGS GUN 130 mm M-46 gun

unj Lloyd has created a critical ecosysP tem for manufacturing artillery guns.

It is converting the 130 mm gun to 155

mm by replacing several critical aspects of the gun such as the Muzzle Brake, Breech Block Assembly, Barrel and Rammer.

Punj Lloyd has partnered with Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to support them in manufacturing the Dhanush by providing several key components of the gun. It is working closely with DRDO on their new ATAGS gun and has taken the responsibility of designing and developing several ordnance parts for the programme.

The guns have cleared the first phase of user trials.

Component Manufacturing for Artillery Besides large upgrade programmes, Punj Lloyd also undertakes artillery component manufacturing at its state-of-the-art plant in Malanpur. Equipped with high precision, large bed machines, the facility manufactures: • Muzzle Brake • Rammer • Cassette Assembly Presently Punj Lloyd is supplying products to Armament Research and Development Establishment and Gun Carriage Factory.

then political leadership under the Rajiv Gandhi government in India.

The army has been looking to induct 155-mm howitzers for over a decade now and had roped in Israeli Soltam to upgrade the imported Russian 130-mm guns to 155-mm guns at the Gun Carriage Factory. But that project too had got into rough weather, the report said.

The project to develop the Dhanush from the Bofors designs were kicked off in September 2012. The move had come after India had blacklisted four howitzer firms — Soltam, South African Denel,

shok Leyland, the flagship company of the A Hinduja Group, is a pioneer in the design, development and manufacture of special

provement, value addition, warranty support, product upgrade and future tie-ups for other range of vehicles. vehicles for the armed forces for over four In addition, over 3500 vehicles consistdecades. ing of light recovery vehicles, fire-fighting, Ashok Leyland vehicles have served the Field Artillery Tractors and water-bowsers armed forces in a variety of applications starthave been supplied in the 4x4 configuration. ing with the supply of 1200 Hippos in 1970s Chassis for aviation refuellers, mechanical in the GS role as dozer carriers, torpedo runway sweepers and UAVs have joined the carriers and for mounting sophisticated comservices. Ashok Leyland has been providing munications equipment. The company also robust after-market engineering support to the pioneered indigenously developed Crash Fire filed army by conducting on ground training Tenders and Rapid Intervention Vehicles for programmes and service camps for better use at the air force/naval air fields. appreciation of the technology being used.

The development of the futuristic ‘Stallion Over time, the company has invested over Rs. 4x4’ has greatly contributed to the moderni25 million by establishing 15 state-of-the-art sation of the logistics of the Indian army. training centres at strategic locations.

Following this, Ashok Leyland’s Stallion In 2010, Indian Defence market for High Mobility Vehicle was opened to private 6x6 Super Stallion sector and Ashok Leyland took this chassis from opportunity in developing Super Stallion Ashok Leyland 6x6, 8x8 & 10x10 configurations. These vehicles have successfully been inducted into the armed forces after the extensive evaluation. This range of Super Stallion is now being considered for Battery Command Post, Radar Installations, and Missile Platforms apart from already approved as Common Gun Tower (Field Artillery Tractor) and as mobility platform for Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers.

The Indian sub-continent with its 4x4 has grown to a 75,000 strong fleet and diversity and complexity of terrains and condithis has become the veritable backbone of tions provide the ideal proving ground and logistics operations making Ashok Leyland Ashok Leyland’s special application vehicles the largest supplier of logistics vehicles to the have been performing faultlessly in altitudes Indian army. varying form sea level to over 5,500 meters Ashok Leyland took the onus of providing above sea level and in temperatures ranging manufacturing know how by entering into from -40 degrees Celsius to +55 degrees a transfer of technology agreement with Celsius. the Ordnance Factory Board under Ministry Going forward, Ashok Leyland has on the of Defence, Government of India and has anvil a family of modern, reliable war-worthy continuously supported it with product imvehicles, with high commonality of parts.

Singapore Technology Kinetics and German Rheinmetall.

The Indian Army supported the project with technical help from its 506 Army Base Workshop. It also received cooperation from other ordnance factories and public-sector firms such as the Steel Authority of India, Bharat Electronics Limited and several private sector companies.

The success of Dhanush in all the major trials held so far has brought in cheers to the state-owned ordnance factories and much needed hope to all those

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

who wish to see indigenisation and selfreliance in defence sector a reality. Dhanush is 87 per cent indigenous, barring the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) which is from BAE Systems and the sighting system from Sagem. Indian private company Force Motors is developing an APU, which will replace the existing foreign make in the days to come.

The DRDO is developing 155mm/52calibre Advance Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) that will upgrade the 155mm/45calibre Dhanush in future. The Advance Towed Artillery

49

FEATURE

L&T DEVELOPS BIG BANG &T’s contribution to build Artillery prowess Lassociation of India began in the mid-eighties through its with DRDO for critical equipment &

systems, which involved multi-disciplinary engineering, realisation & testing and has matured, more recently through participation in all major RFPs for Artillery Gun Systems In the mid-eighties, having evolved the rocket design, the visionary DRDO leadership felt the need for Industry partners for developing a reliable Launcher system. ARDE took up upon themselves to embark on a novel approach of collaborating with Private Sector, and after meticulous evaluation & due diligence, chose L&T as one among three companies. L&T was entrusted the responsibility of realisation of two Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher Systems (MBRLs), based on the concept and base specifications given by ARDE. Back then, we experimented with new technologies – low voltage DC servos, roller screw mechanisms, telescopic outriggers, back-stopping clutch-brake unit and a real time controller built on a home grown OS to realise a pointing system with exceptional accuracy and stability under dynamic firing conditions.

The PINAKA MBRLs is designed by L&T as a first-of-the-class artillery system that operates in a “silent mode” at firing location based on all electric low voltage battery backed DC servo technology developed in-house. Pinaka Launchers and Command Posts have been serially produced by L&T, having successfully delivered one regiment of equipment and awaiting further orders. L&T has also manufactured subsystems such as for Pinaka Mk-II. L&T has re-built the Grad BM-21 Rocket launchers in service with Indian Army for more than three decades with a new custom made, high mobility chassis, retaining the high mobility and operational features of the original launchers as an indigenous upgrade. In addition, L&T has also provided power sources of low voltage 28 V DC for enhanced Personnel Protection & better efficiency for launcher operation, and manual

override facility in case of electrical power failure. Having successfully fielded the prototype system in NCNC phase, L&T is presently executing the Production order for upgrade of five regiments of Artillery MBRL system.

Tracked SP Gun (Tr SP Gun) Under the Artillery Modernisation Plan, Indian Army plans to induct state-of-the-art field howitzers of 155 mm/52 calibre to add to its artillery prowess and adopt a more modern posture. The army is looking to standardise its equipment profile from different calibre guns to a common 155 mm/52 calibre as it will offer many advantages in terms of standardised ammunition, faster repairs, better maintenance and superior logistics – all key factors to deliver efficiency to the Armed Forces.

Among the most prestigious artillery programmes is the Tracked Self Propelled Gun (Tr SP Gun) programme categorised as a ‘Buy Global’. L&T, as a leading Indian Defence Supplier, was the only Indian company to engage under the ‘Make in India’ initiative and partnered with Samsung Techwin (now Hanwha) of Korea to offer one of best Tracked Self Propelled Guns in the world by suitably adopting and customising the Korean platform to meet the stringent requirements of the Indian Army. Aptly named K9 VAJRA-T, the gun, with an indigenous Ballistic Solution as well as direct fire capability developed by L&T for firing of Indian ammunition, successfully cleared the field trials conducted in the Indian desert in Rajasthan along with other technical trials. At the end of the thorough and prolonged evaluation, the gun emerged as the only successful gun against stiff international competition.

Tr SP Gun programme marks the first successful competitive procurement of a major Artillery Weapon System of 155 mm / 52 calibre in over three decades that can fire shells up to a range of above 40 km since the procurement of Bofors Howitzers in the late 80s which was

Pinaka MBRL designed

by L&T

50

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

a 155 mm / 39 calibre gun system that could fire shells to a maximum range of 24 km. The programme is currently at an advanced stage of procurement.

Towed Gun System (TGS) TGS is the other mega Artillery programme for which Gun systems are under trials and evaluation since 2013. The same is currently at an advanced stage of evaluation. For this programme, L&T inked a strategic partnership with France’s Nexter Systems, the prime bidder for the gun, to offer the “towed” version of its most successful and world renowned truck mounted CAESAR gun system armament.

The TGS offered for trials to Indian MoD, named TRAJAN, is jointly developed by Nexter Systems and L&T that can fire shells over more than 40 km. TRAJAN has successfully completed all field evaluations in various terrain and climatic conditions like, in deserts during summers and high altitude in winters as well as technical evaluations such as DGQA trials, EMI/EMC testing and Maintainability evaluations. L&T took the initiative to invest and develop several systems/ sub-systems including Complete Mobility system including Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) with Driver Station, Complete Hydraulic System, Hydro pneumatic Brake System and Electronic Control units to provide powered assistance to towing truck in up slopes and boggy areas, Ammunition Handling Assistance (AHA) Crane and Gripper for Shells, Ammunition Rack, Travel Lock, Signalisation Bar etc. This adds indigenous fillip to the programme leading to L&T Work share in the Prototype being well over 45 per cent. The final GS evaluation result for the same is expected by mid FY2016-17.

Upcoming Programmes - Mounted Gun Systems & Wheeled SP Gun Besides the Tracked SP Gun and Towed Gun System, L&T is focussed on two other artillery programmes viz., Mounted Gun System (MGS) and Wheeled SP Gun (Wh. SP Gun). For MGS, L&T as the prime vendor has teamed up with a foreign partner to offer an Indian version of the gun mounted on an Indian truck chassis. For the Wheeled SP Gun too, L&T was a bidder in 200708 and plans to bid as a Prime Vendor and is in a strong position with an internationally renowned partner, to offer the best system for competitive trials, by suitably customising the platform to meet Indian Army’s requirements, and await issuance of RFP.

FEATURE

DIRECT HIT: CAESER AND TRAJAN N

exter's CAESAR is a pioneer in its category and is a result of Nexter’s innovation and know-how in Artillery. This system, consisting of a 155 mm / 52 calibre gun mounted onto 6x6 chassis, combines fire power and amazing mobility. Due to its extreme versatility, CAESAR is an alternative to heavy versions such as heavy tracked or wheeled selfpropelled artillery systems. Fitted with up-to-date equipment and functionalities, CAESAR strikes accurately and effectively at long range.

It has an excellent tactical and strategic mobility. Configured at 15.9 tonnes for air transport, it can easily be deployed in a C 130, A 400M or IL 76. Its autonomy of more than 600 kilometres and its road speed of more than 80 km/h makes it agile and reactive. CAESAR® is fitted with a 155/ 52 calibre gun (Joint Ballistic MoU) and it can fire any 155 mm NATO standard ammunition (39 or

52 calibre) and particularly Nexter LU211 shell. It can also fire ERFB shells, BONUS type shells, or VLAP ammunition extending its range up to 55 km. Its five-man (or four-man) crew can make the CAESAR® system ready for action in less than one minute and set it out of action equally quickly, thus avoiding counter-battery firing. Each CAESAR® carries from 18 complete rounds on-board.

The system is equipped with an inertial navigation unit and a ballistic computer, and is autonomous and can be connected with any C4I system.

Nexter Systems, Larsen & Toubro and Ashok Leyland Defence, are partnering to propose to the Indian Army a CAESAR based on the 6x6 Super Stallion chassis from Ashok Leyland. Larsen & Toubro is leading the team, and as prime contractor will absorb the Transfer of Technology from Nexter to assemble and produce in India for the Indian Army.

Trajan 155 mm / 52 Cal. Towed Gun T

rajan is an accurate and powerful 155 mm / 52 Cal. Towed gun system able to support any mechanised and armoured unit.

It integrates the firepower of the Caesar 155 mm / 52 caliber gun into a modern towed gun system fitted with a firing control system, automated implementation such as in/out of action, laying and ammunition handling and loading in order the crew can perform sustained firings with limited efforts.

Trajan reaches a high level of accu-

racy by integrating a muzzle velocity radar (MVR), an inertial navigation unit (INU) and a ballistic computer. Trajan has been designed to reach a high efficiency in all fire actions such as direct support fire, in-depth action fire, counterbattery fire.

Its 155 mm / 52 caliber artillery is fully compatible with all 155 mm 39 / 52 caliber NATO standard ammunition and can fire ERFB shells and smart ammunition (BONUS, SPACIDO...).

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

Guns System (ATAGS), a light-weight long-range automated gun being developed by DRDO with private participation, will be ready for production by 2019 after undergoing six years of development and testing.

According to experts from the artillery, it has been scientifically established that a 155mm/52calibre is an optimum technical parameter within its class in achieving maximum range with highest accuracy. The success of 155mm/42calibre Dhanush under trial is of paramount importance for the futuristic ATAGS programme. This all-Indian project includes private sector players like L&T, Bharat Forge and Tata Power SED. India is already pursuing the purchase of 145 Ultra-Light Howitzers, the M777 from BAE Systems, through the US foreign military sales route. In June this year, the Defence Acquisition Council reviewed the progress in the procurement of 145 ultralight howitzers. The panel directed that the offsets proposals (30 per cent of the deal's worth) of BAE Systems for the M777 procurement to be independently progressed.

Delivery of the howitzers will now be done in India that will substantially reduce cost of transporting the guns from the US. The first 25 M777s will be delivered ready-to-use. Some components of the guns will be manufactured in the US, but assembled in India. The ultra-light howitzers are expected to be assembled locally with BAE proposing to shift its production unit here in partnership with a private firm Mahindra Group.

Recently, Uralvagonzavod Corporation and Bharat Forge Kalyani of the Kalyani Group have signed a MoU providing for the establishment of the coproduction of self-propelled artillery units (SAU) in India. The Russian 2S19 self-propelled guns 'MSTA-S' production 'Uraltransmash' and South Korean K9 Thunder Samsung Techwin Company are competing as part of the tender for the purchase of the self-propelled artillery of the Army.

The K9, also called Vajra-T, has been modified to suit Indian Army requirements, according to industry sources, who did not elaborate on the modifications in the original Korean gun. About 50 per cent of the gun is planned to be indigenised by L&T in India, including the fabrication and machining of the hull and turret structure and 14 indigenously developed sub-systems. The 155-mm/52-caliber self-propelled how-

51

FEATURE

FIRE POWER THROUGH INDUSTRIAL EFFORTS Fire control system for artillery Tata Power SED has adequate experience in integration of various sensors like Inertial Navigation System, Muzzle Velocity Radar and Electro Optic Sights with Ballistic software to enhance accuracy and consistency of the Weapon system for day / night firing. We have integrated these sensors on the Pinaka MBRL and Upgraded L-70 Air Defence Gun. We have designed and also developed Indigenous Fire Control System for MBT Arjun and a T-90 tank Tata Power SED has indigenously developed and productionised a range of Secure Computing platforms including the Rugged Tactical Field Computers for use in Fire Control Systems.

Our systems have been qualified in the various field trials and currently operational across different platforms in the Artillery, Armour and Missile programmes such as Operators Console in Akash Air force & Army Launchers, Pinaka Launcher, 155/52mm Mounted Gun Systems and Fire Control Computer and functioning with high degree of efficiency and accuracy.

Tata Power SED has indigenously developed Ballistic Software for artillery systems like L-70 Air Defence Guns, ZU-23 AD Gun, 155/52mm Mounted Gun System and Control and positioning software for 105mm Mounted Gun System.

We have extensive experience in integration of all elements of a Fire Control System like INS etc, and integration with ACCCS (Artillery Control, Command & Communication System) , having worked on Pinaka, Akash Air Force Launcher, Akash Army Launcher and 155/52mm Mounted Gun System.

Tata Power SED has entered into a teaming agreement with Honeywell Aerospace for indigenous manufacture of TALIN Inertial Navigation System (INS).

A state of the Art facility to manufacture INS is being set by Tata Power SED at Vemgal close to Bangalore for this purpose. This is the first time these INS will be Made in India.

Ballistic Software - The Ballistic Software is an indigenously developed capability that is available with few select countries across the world and Tata Power SED is proud to have garnered this capability so that it can be exploited for all Artillery applications. We have successfully developed the Ballistic software for the Upgraded L-70 Air Defence Gun and the T-90 Ballistic Computer.

We also have the requisite experience in successful integration of our Fire Control System with Project Shakti.

Pinaka Multi Barrel Launcher System Tata Power SED has developed a vehicle mounted Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher System which is an all weather, indirect fire artillery weapon. Its mission is to deliver a large volume of fire in a very short time frame against critical and tactically sensitive targets.

The armament system is accurately operated in azimuth and elevation by means of a microprocessor based all electric position control servo drive system. The man machine interface is housed inside the vehicle cabin. It is possible to operate the launcher by linking it with a Fire Control Computer or by a Launcher Computer or Manually. The initialisation of the launcher is done by an Automatic Gun Alignment and Pointing System or by a Dial Sight.

The Launcher is automati-

Tata’s Pinaka multi barrel Launcher system

52

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

cally stabilised with the help of Electro Mechanical Outriggers enabling it fire Extended Range Rockets. Tata Power SED has successfully designed and developed the MBRL that works with Pinaka Rockets developed by Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune. Tata Power SED undertook the development activity and successfully designed the Launcher and Command Posts.

155mm 52 calibre Mounted Gun System The weapon system is a 155mm, 52 calibre truck mounted gun-howitzer developed by Tata Power SED. The inherent indirect fire flexibility ensures that it can be employed in the traditional gun howitzer roles.

This Mounted Gun System has been pro-actively developed by Tata Power SED keeping in mind the needs of the Indian army.

The weapon system has excellent tactical and road strategic mobility and has a range of 600 km without refuelling, travelling at speeds of up to 75 Km/hr The ordnance has been optimised for the 52 calibre 155mm ballistic system. The projectiles are the extended range type and provide an increased range and target effectiveness when compared with existing systems. The gun system can fire NATO ammunition and other ammunition can also be fired.

The first Mounted Gun System designed and developed by Tata Power SED has an indigenous content of 51 per cent with the Hydraulic System, Fire control System, Undertsructure Assembly and the truck being Indian. This 155/52mm Mounted Gun system has undergone engineering firing at CPE Itarsi.

FEATURE

OFFERING UNMATCHED LETHALITY n the 60s, the Indian Army adopted the Iammunition 120 mm smooth mortar and associated family developed by TDA (called

HOTCHKISS-BRANDT at this time) and Ordnance Factory Board have produced under license this very effective mortar weapon and ammunition.

Following new requirements issued by different armies, and as the performance of the 120mm smooth technology could not be improved any further, TDA developed the 120 RT Mortar, a rifled towed mortar with a large family of rifled ammunition including a long range Rocket Assisted Ammunition.

The 120 RT, 120 rifled towed mortar, is without any doubt the most powerful mortar

SPIKE MISSILE'S HIGH IMPACT

afael’s Spike NLOS is an electro-optically R guided multipurpose missile for ranges of up to 30 km with pinpoint accuracy and

midcourse navigation. The weapon system can be launched from land, air and naval platforms.

Equipped with a variety of warheads, a wireless data link to the missile, unique advantages of hitting non-line of sight (NLOS) targets and the ability to switch between targets and abort missions, Spike NLOS can be operated in both offensive and defensive scenarios. In addition to attacking hidden targets, Spike NLOS can provide real-time tactical intelligence and damage assessment.

Spike NLOS is designed to be integrated into the modern battle arena and can receive target location from an embedded TAS system, external sensors, C4I centre or UAVs. Featuring day/night all-weather target engagement capability, Spike NLOS is the ideal solution for urban, anti-armour and high-intensity combat, as well as asymmetric conflicts and stand-off missions (small group, remote/special operations).

With high reliability and ease of use, Spike NLOS delivers maximum operational flexibility with minimal life-cycle cost.

existing worldwide, offering to its users unmatched lethality, accuracy and range.

It is the most lightweight air- and seatransportable artillery mortar available for use

itzer co-developed by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Samsung Techwin has cleared the evaluation trials of the defence ministry in the global competition.

Although the bids were made under the 'Buy Global' provision of the defence procurement procedure, the K9 Vajra-T gun will be made at its Talegaon plant near Pune by the L&T, if it is chosen as the gun the Indian Army wants. The evaluation process was completed in September 2015.

The contract for these guns would also have a follow-up option clause of 50 additional guns. The first 10 guns are to be supplied to the Army within 18 months of signing, with the balance 90 guns to be supplied in the next two years.

Four companies, including the Tatas, the OFB and the BEML, bid for the Request for Proposals issued in January 2011.

Along with L&T's K9 Vajra-T, an upgraded version of OFB's Russian MSTA-S SP gun participated in the field evaluation trial held from March to August 2013 at the Pokharan Field Firing Range in Rajasthan. Industry sources said that L&T has modified Samsung’s K9 to create the K9 Vajra-T. There are companies including Tata, Punj Lloyd and Bharat Forge in the private sector that are working on supplying artillery systems to the Army. Each one has picked up a foreign partner for technology transfer. Nexter Systems, the French land weapons maker, has signed a "consortium agreement" with India's Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Ashok Leyland Defence to collaborate in manufacturing the Mounted Gun System (MGS) artillery programme of the Indian Army.

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

as force multiplier for operations. Very easy to operate, it can be hooked up simply to any kind of light, medium or heavy vehicle.

With a maximum range of 8-13 km, tactical units can manoeuvre safely, relying on an effective indirect fire support capability that can easily be integrated into a complete artillery chain of command.

The 120 mm RT mortar with its complete range of ammunition has been sold worldwide to more than 20 countries, including NATO countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, France and recently the USA (Marine Corps).

TDA Armements, a French company 100% subsidiary of THALES Group, is a world leader in the field of armament in general and mortar systems in particular. TDA expertise is built on more than 80 years of experience in the field.

The MGS is a regular 155mm gun fitted on a high mobility vehicle. This allows it to move and come into action quicker than a conventional towed gun. The gun is a version of the well-known Caesar artillery system that has been tested successfully in Afghanistan, and is fitted onto a 6x6 Super Stallion chassis from Ashok Leyland.

In a step towards developing the indigenous private sector defence industry, the Tata group has come up with a new artillery gun and has requested the Army to provide its ranges and ammunition for trying out the howitzer. This new artillery system was developed by its defence subsidiary Tata Power Strategic Electronics Division (SED). The newly developed 155mm howitzer is mounted on an eightwheeled Tata military truck for enhanced mobility. The howitzer is essentially a re-engineered version of South African Denel's T5-52 motorized howitzer making use of a Tatra built truck.

The other contenders are the Larsen & Toubro/Nexter Systems partnership that is offering the Caesar, the Kalyani Group/ELBIT Systems partnership that is offering the ATMOS, and the Punj Lloyd/Yugoimport SDPR (a Slovakian gun company) partnership that is likely to propose the NORA. All of these industry efforts have helped in creating a clear capability within India for artillery guns production and this could result in some exports orders too coming India's way in the days to come, even if all of the companies win Indian orders.

— Geopolitics Bureau

53

INDIA PRESENTS UNIQUE

PIB

OPPORTUNITY TO LOCKHEED MARTIN Lockheed Martin is ready to move the entire production line of the F-16s from US to India and export to the world

HC TIWARI

RANDALL L. HOWARD F-16 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT LOCKHEED MARTIN

I

ndia is looking for a second line of fighter jet to be manufactured in India and this presents a huge, equal and unique opportunity to Lockheed Martin and to the Indian industry to work together on the F-16 combat aircraft.That opportunity could be in the form of Lockheed Martin, to not only sell 100-odd F-16, in particular its latest Block 70 version, to India, but also look at exporting the combat plane to customers around the world. That could also mean at least $15 billion worth of export potential for the F-16s out of India and that's a huge business for any Indian industry to grab.

This also provides India a strategic advantage vis-a-vis its traditional rival on its West. Pakistan uses F-16s as the primary

54

and the most important aerial weapon platform against India. More importantly, Lockheed Martin is looking at Indian major Tata as a natural partner in India for any aerospace project.

A Lockheed Martin team was in India in April this year for its first meeting with the Indian Ministry of Defence and the Indian Air Force officials. The company's team had the opportunity to present its offer to India in the presence of a delegation from the Pentagon that time.

Since then, Lockheed Martin has had frequent and adequate number of meetings with the Indian Ministry of Defence on its offer. On August 4 in New Delhi, the Lockheed Martin's F-16 sales team for India explained what it is offering.

Lockheed Martin has told India that it will be ready to move the entire production line of the F-16s all the way from Fort Worth in Texas in the US, to anywhere in India. For that, it was ready to tie-up with an Indian company to transfer that aerospace capability, to bring jobs to India and to create a long-term value to the aerospace industry in India.

At present, Lockheed Martin has

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

got just the lone production line for the F-16 at Texas, while its other production facilities outside the US in the Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey and South Korea have all closed down. But, F-16 supply chain is now spread over several countries. It will become possible in the future for all of the world's new F-16s to be Make in India at an Indian facility that could either fully or partially be owned by an Indian entity. But that would happen provided Indian Air Force chooses to place an order for at least 90 to 100 F-16s to fill the gaps to its combat fleet.

India had in April 2015 decided to scrap a 2007 tender for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft for which it had chosen the French Dassault Aviation's Rafale as the winner. Instead, India decided to go in for just 36 Rafales, thereby causing a natural deficit of 90 aircraft in its inductions plans.

Lockheed Martin, which has sold 4,588 F16s world over, faces competition from its American rival Boeing that has made similar offers for its F/A-18E/F and Swedish Saab's Gripen NG for supplying the aircraft to India. These same aircraft,

DEFBIZ

along with European Consortium Airbus Defence's Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Aviation's Rafale had also competed for the MMRCA tender.

"The offer we have given to the Indian government is unmatched and from our side unprecedented," Randall L Howard, F16 Business Development at Lockheed Martin, said in New Delhi on August 4.

Howard said the company wants to make F 16-Block 70 "for India, from India and export to the world".

The Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth facility has been functional since 1978 and till date, it has delivered 3,616 F-16s to its customers. The Belgium facility began operations in 1979 and has delivered 222 aircraft till 1991. The Netherlands facility too came up in 1979 and till it stopped operations in 1992, had delivered 300 aircraft. The South Korean facility began operations in 1995 and continued operations till 2004, by when it had delivered 128 aircraft.

"But we are offering not only moving the lone production line to India but also meeting the global requirement through the same unit from India," Howard said, adding it is a "win-win situation" for all those involved.

Howard said the company is having multiple discussions with the Indian government, besides the industry, and "they have not been told to go away". Lockheed Martin, he said, believes the production of F-16s in India would bring down its cost, primarily due to its low labour costs and the access to the Asian combat planes market, increasing the possibility of it success to meet the global demand.

According to international analysts of combat planes market, the current global demand is driven by the Asian powers in view of the inherent conflicts in the region, with China's military growing aggressively to enable it to pursue it geopolitical ambitions.

Howard did not reply to questions on the kind of investment the company plans to make in the country and whether it would be looking at a 100 per cent FDI, saying it was too early to discuss this.

Though Howard did not give detailed replies on the export possibilities, company officials, requesting anonymity, said there was the possibility for selling an additional 100 aircraft to the global market in the next five to seven years, particularly nations in West Asia, Europe and Asia, from India, which would also hold partial control over exports.

That brings in the Pakistan question.

"Today, there is no potential Pakistan sale.

That potential sale has expired. I can only

HC TIWARI

ABHAY PARANJAPE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE, INDIA, LOCKHEED MARTIN

speculate about the future," Howard said.

"Going forward, as part of the consideration, the production line will be set up in India. I am now bothered about what's happening at present, not what happened in the past or what will happen in the future. There are F-16 outside of the US as well, isn't it?"

The Block-70 designation to the latest F-16 has been given by the US Air Force, which will continue to fly the aircraft for decades to come - at least four decades.

The new avionics configuration in F-16 Block 70 is the largest leap in the aircraft's combat capability and represents the most significant upgrade till date.

Also, the Block 70 F-16 would have greater lethality, survivability, interoperability, pilot situational awareness, sustainable fleet, improved safety and regional superiority. It would have AESA radar, new weapons, advanced cockpit, Link-16 and improved avionics.

"We have deliveries (of F-16s) right now that take us out toward late 2017. Our company is in conversation with the US government for the next set of deliveries. Once that programme gets formally approved under the US government process, that production programme we believe will deliver airplanes till 2021," Howard said.

In an earlier select media interaction on May 25, Lockheed Martin's Vice President for Aeronautics Strategy and Business Development George Stanbridge said the company had spent quite a bit of time taking a hard look at 'Make in India'.

"We have been thinking through about capacity of our aircraft and the capacity for industrial participation perspective. Our industrial plans, we are still formulating. It has been well over a year

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

of conversation with the US government regarding this."

Asked specifically about an Indian partner, Stanbridge said: "We already have a JV with Tata in Hyderabad. We committed to this many years ago, before we understood the Indian market very well. When someone asks us who will be your partner for the production of the airplane, naturally, we would gravitate to Tata. We know them well and we have worked with them well." On August 4, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics National Executive for Business Development in India Abhay Paranjape said Lockheed Martin was looking at not just assembling F-16s in India, but establishing complete manufacturing base ecosystem in India.

"We are looking at transferring the entire production from our existing facility at Fort Worth, and exporting the aircraft from here. What that means is also that we have vested interest in seeing that this succeeds. We will not only deliver aircraft from here to somewhere else around the world, but also make sure it succeeds."

He noted that for a project of this size and scope to succeed, and for a global company to invest money and effort in such a project, anywhere in the world, there has to be a significant number of the aircraft to be procured.

"As far as closing the Fort Worth facility that is again as soon as India makes that decision, we start that transition. We essentially move that facility here, so we would automatically close that facility in Fort Worth."

Paranjape said a Lockheed Martin team is also visiting to cities in India such as Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Pune, to have conversation with Indian companies to see if they could be integrated into the F-16 supply chain.

If India agrees to the Lockheed Martin's pitch, backed by the Obama administration that would mean New Delhi would have a very important say in who gets to buy the F-16 combat jet. That's a problem staring Pakistan, one of the customers for F-16, even as its ties with the US seem to be growing frosty.

A report on August 4 said Pentagon had blocked a $300-million military aid to Pakistan. The US government's decision in this regard came after Defense Secretary Ashton Carter declined to give a certification to the Congress that Pakistan is taking sufficient action against the dreaded Haqqani network. Miffed with the US decision to block funds for Pakistan to buy more F-16s, Pakistan has said it would consider to buy used F-16 jets from Jordan.

55

DEFBIZ

KORNET-EM

NEW CAPABILITIES OF ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILE SYSTEMS KORNET-EM SYSTEM Main Performance Specifications of the System Firing range, –minimum – maximum

– 150 m – 10000 m

Guidance system

– automatic, – beam riding – guidance

Jamming immunity

– high

Number of targets engaged – 2 simultaneouslyby a salvo – 1100-1300 mm

TNT equivalent of high explosive warhead

– 7

Ammunition load

– 16 pcs

Including ready-to-fire missiles

– 8 Fig.1

A

nti-tank Guided Missile Systems (ATGM) have been developed and produced globally for already half a century. Since then, they became the most popular and wanted type of High Precision Weapons (HPW) thanks to their usability and relatively low cost.

ATGM systems today are not just a specialised anti-tank weapon, they are also efficiently used to engage a wide range of other small dimension targets like lightly armoured and soft-skinned vehicles, various fortifications, manpower and elements of enemy’s infrastructure.

The 3rd generation Kornet-E system developed by KBP and adopted in 1998 features a laser beam riding guidance system. It was the first ATGM system completely jamming proof and capable of firing on the move. As of today the Kornet-E ATGM system with a firing range of 5500 m is the most state-of-the-art specimen of multipurpose tactical short range weapon system which uses mis-

56

Armour penetration by shaped charge warhead

ALEXEI MIKHEEV

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

DEFBIZ

9M133FM-3 ATGM WITH HE WARHEAD

Main performance specifications Flight range

– 150-10000w

TNT equivalent,

– 7 kg

Target sensor

– Impact and – Proximity

Maximum flight speed

– 320 m/s

Weight with launch tube – 33 kg Length of launch tube

– 1210 mm Fig.3

siles with tandem shaped charge warheads for engagement of primarily heavily protected targets (tanks, pillboxes and the like) and missiles with high explosive warheads for engagement of a wide range of targets posing threat on a battlefield.

A future ATGM system must be a versatile defensive-offensive guided weapon, whose portable and combat vehicle transportable modifications ensure a wide range of applications in close range tactical zone in various combat environments.

A KBP-designed versatile KornetEM ATGW meets the latest requirements to a future ATGM system. Its state-ofthe-art engineering solutions endow Kornet-EM system with a series of new qualities (Fig.1 Kornet-EM multipurpose guided missile system with performance specifications).

The use of technical vision with automatic target tracker makes it possible to exclude an operator from missile guidance process and in fact implements the ‘fire-and-forget’ principle without using expensive seekers in the missile. This gives a 5-times increase in accuracy of target tracking during real combat use and high hit probability at any system operating range which is twice higher than that of the Kornet-E ATGM system.

Engagement of targets in automatic

mode reduces psychophysical stress to operators, requirements to their skills and duration of their training.

The block-modular principle of system design traditionally used for the Kornet family makes it possible to install both one and two automatic launchers onto a wide range of relatively inexpensive low load bearing capacity platforms of various origin (1-1.2 tons for single launcher version and 1.7-1.9 tons for double launcher version).

The combat vehicle with two launchers ensures simultaneous salvo firing against two targets, this significantly increasing the system’s firing rate and number of targets handled. Similar to Kornet-E, the Kornet-EM system retains salvo firing capability with two missiles in one beam against one target to get over active protection systems.

The system’s firing range was almost doubled – up to 10 km.

Increase of firing range and accuracy and use of automatic target tracker make it possible to track both slow ground targets and faster targets. This helps the Kornet-EM system meet requirements essentially new for anti-tank guided weapon systems – engagement of small size aerial targets (UAV, helicopters and attacking airplanes).

Efficient engagement of aerial targets by Kornet-EM system is ensured by combination of automatic high precision guidance system and guided missile with thermobaric WH with impact and proximity target sensor and flight range of up to 10 km.

The use of proximity target sensor guarantees reliable engagement of aerial targets at any range. Combined with powerful high explosive warhead the proximity target sensor makes it possible to compensate possible misses by destruction of UAV (or helicopters) by overpressure.

The maximum flight range of the missile being equal to 10 km ensures Kornet-EM system’s advantage in fighting helicopters as it enables the system to fire from a stand-off distance.

The Kornet-EM system includes: • Combat Vehicle with two automatic launchers and operator’s panel with a display; Automatic launcher with four readyto-fire guided missiles there on is fitted with TV+IR sight incorporating high resolution TV cameras and third generation thermal imager, built-in laser range-finder and laser missile

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

9M133M-2 ATGM WITH TANDEM SHAPED CHARGE WARHEAD

Main performance specifications Flight range

– 150-8000

Armour penetration

– 1100-1300 mm

Maximum flight speed

– 300 m/s

Weight with launch tube – 31 kgw Length of launch tube

– 1210 mm Fig.2

guidance channel and an automatic target tracker with laying drives.

• Guided missile with HE warhead with impact and proximity target sensor and an anti-tank guided missile with firing range of up to 10 km (Fig.3 The 9M133FM-3 guided missile. Brief specifications); • Anti-tank guided missile with a maximum firing range of 8000 m and shaped charge warhead armour penetration of 1100-1300 mm which enables the Kornet-EM system to engage contemporary and future tanks bearing in mind the tendency to growth of their armour protection (Fig. 2 9M133M-2 ATGM. Brief specifications).

The Kornet-EM missiles are compatible with portable 9P163M-2 launcher with variable magnification sighting channel (12x and 20x), fitted with a third generation thermal imager.

Comparative analysis of the KornetEM system performance specifications with those of its foreign counterparts shows that in the aggregate the former 3.0 - 5.0 times exceeds the latter in terms of combat efficiency at the same time being simpler in use and maintenance and featuring 3-4 times cheaper ammunition which as an expendable component to great extent defines army operating costs.

57

DEFBIZ

A VERSATILE MACHINE WAITING FOR A GREEN SIGNAL

Airbus C-295

It is now some months since India completed the in country trials of the C295.

However, there has been no further news on how quickly the government will move to finalise the contract for these versatile medium transporters from Airbus Defence and Space AIRBUS

Source: Airbus

I

t is one of the flagship programmes of the Make in India initiative with Airbus setting up a complete assembly line in collaboration with Tata Advanced Systems (TASL), their Indian partners on the deal. The aircrafts — replace the IAFs aged fleet of HS 748s — includes 16 aircraft to be supplied directly in fly-away condition by Airbus and 40 to be assembled in India.

Apart from the Air Force, the country coastguard has also shown considerable interest in acquiring the C295W. While they have received a separate briefing

58

on the project from the Airbus team, it is not part of the present 56 aircraft under the process. It is also likely that there may be additional aircrafts as part of DRDO-Indian Navy collaboration that still in the works.

“TASL has tied up with Airbus to manufacture the C-295 transport aircraft to replace Avro transport jets.

Though we are not Prime partner in this, we will build final assembly for C-295 aircraft, if everything goes well,” said Sukaran Singh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer during the Goa

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

DefExpo.

“With C-295, TASL can claim that the company has managed to get contracts for all three full platforms that the company targeted. In the private sector, TASL is in an interesting position to build final defence products in multiple areas in India. TASL is also focusing on increasing value addition in these platform areas by addressing structures, subsystems and final assembly,” Singh said in one media interaction. Infact this programme is at the heart of TASL’s attempts to become a global player in a complex industry.

But Jean Pierre Talamoni, Head of Sales and Marketing at Airbus Military Aircraft cautions, though. He reaffirms Airbus’ commitment to the Make in India but outlined that establishing an aircraft production from scratch without a commensurate supply chain in lace brought its own problem. “We will have to import and obviously the cost will be destroyed. A full system has to be put in place.”

Nonetheless, Tatas are fortunate that they are going forward with an aircraft that continued to do well even 30 years after the first flight of the CN235/ C295 series. Airbus goes out of it way to talk about its workhorse like capabilities rather than the undoubted sophistication that comes along. They also claim that the maintenance and fuel costs of the C295 are half that of its main com-

DEFBIZ petitor, the Alenia C-27J. Airbus expects to sell close to 25 C295s every year for the next decade and hold at least 70-75 percent of the market. That is minus the 56 for India. Surprisingly sales this year have been few, fluctuating from as few as 5 to as high as thirty.

According to Stephan Miegel, Head of Military Aircraft Services at Airbus Defence and Space, there are 148 C295s and 236 CN235s flying around the world today (A total of 168 have been sold to 23 countries and 25 operators)and these have accumulated 250 000 and 1.35 million flight hours respectively.

“The C295W programme is progressing smoothly and we are confident about the acquisition programmne,” said Fernando Alonso, head Military Aircraft division of Airbus Defense and Space during a recent interaction. During the two days of trade media briefing at Munich some time back it was clear from the many interactions with his team that while India was an exciting market there was nothing exciting about doing business here. The inscrutable ways of the bureaucracy, their unrealistic expectations and the opaque decision-making was galling, to say the least.

Of course they are optimistic and keen to collaborate here and no one will say it on record but at the back of the mind is always the fear of the unexpected happening. Their worst fears were proved right when weeks after the briefing came news that the refueler programme—twice announced and has now been twice scrapped. Both times it is Airbus that has lost out in supplying the A 330 MRTT that literally is being used by the whole world minus the US, Japan and Russia. Therefore, so far so good, the trials are done with, no begins the real hard work of getting the civil servant to sign on the dotted line.

The big advantage for India is the versatile portfolio that the C295 now handles. It has now been adapted for a variety of operations like search and rescue, maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare (ASW), AEW (airborne early warning), firefighting; ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) including radar ground surveillance and SIGINT (signals intelligence); air-to-air refueling, electronic warfare; and VIP transport using rollon roll-off kits( see box). In fact Alonso described the C295 as a ‘winner’ that is the backbone of Airbus DS as it gets the its other programmes, particularly the A400M on track.

The certification of the C295W version with winglets and uprated PW127G engines that was achieved last year (the

PACKS A PUNCH T

he versatility of the C295 and the wide variety use of the aircraft has been put to is a key driver in the sales and acquisition of this machine. It gets you both new and repeat customers.  The first C295 MPA (maritime patrol aircraft) equipped with an updated version of the Fully Integrated Tactical System (FITS) featuring two 24-inch tactile displays was delivered to Oman .They also asked for a spray kit that can be fitted to the aircraft for oil slick dispersal.  Brazil–a seasoned C295 operator (transport)–has ordered three more for maritime applications. This time they are downsizing from the Boeing P-8 to the C295 for their MPA (maritime Patrol Aircraft) requirement.  A prototype water-bombing version of the C295 was flight-tested in 2013. Airbus has an MoU with a Canadian group to develop a fire-fighting version and Airbus has subsequently signed an MoU with The Coulson Group of Canada to fully develop and support a C295W fire-fighting version.

Coulson will adapt the retardant delivery system (RDS) that it has already supplied for C-130s. The system installed in the C295W will consist of two roll-on-rolloff internal tanks, which after the fire season can be easily removed. The highly versatile C295W will then be available for its conventional role as a ramp-equipped, multi-role transport able to carry cargo, troops,paratroops or stretchers.  The C 295 is in intense competition with Alenia and Embraer for that country’s Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue (FWSAR) requirement. That includes exit from the rear ramp of the para rescue personnel, along with rescue equipment.  Airbus is also promoting the combat SAR (search and rescue) and Close Air Support versions of the C295.This machine can carry a wide variety of sensors, including radar and EO/IR (electro-optical/infrared), laser-guided rocket, and missiles.

one likely to be made here), provides a larger payload from hot-and-high airfields; an 8 percent increase in range; and a 5.5 percent fuel saving on a typical mission carrying a five metric-ton payload for 1,100 nautical miles. Most customers now want the winglets for the increased operational margin that makes these new missions possible.

Apart from India, the one other big area of potential for the C295 is Africa.

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

 The C295 prototype for air-to-air refuelling for low-speed receivers–such as transports, helicopters and UAVs is ready and likely to be begin trials this winter. At this year’s Farnborough Airshow Portuguese Air Force aircraft was on the static display showcasing a new air-to-air refuelling (AAR) kit that has been developed mainly for the in-flight refuelling of helicopters, turboprops, and even unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It will also enable the C295 to serve as a forward refuelling platform for ground vehicles. Dry contact flight trials are scheduled at the end of the year when a fully-instrument rigged helicopter joins the program. Up to seven metric tons of fuel can be dispensed; from the C295’s internal fuel tanks, and also from an auxiliary fuel tank fitted in the fuselage.  Airbus DS has also developed a new Defensive Aids Suite (DAS) for the C295 in collaboration with Elbit Systems of Israel. The new DAS was successfully demonstrated in NATO Trials in October.

This includes  a new radar warning receiver (RWR) that adds angle-of-arrival detection in C/D-band  an IR-based passive Missile Warning System (MWS)  a Directional InfraRed Countermeasures System (DIRCM)  Most of all the aircraft is being certified for “Extreme STOL” (short takeoff and landing) operations in wartime or during special operations. This will provide for takeoff runs of well under 500 meters.  Automation of the cockpit procedures is also under development. The idea is to to enhance cockpit operation and improve situational awareness and reduce pilot workload.. It provides for increased automation in many of the aircraft’s functions, such as the setting of flaps, landing gear, speed brakes, lights, general systems, etc.

The company is looking at an Africa tour very much like a South America tour they did last year and the North American tour of 2016. According to Fernando Ciria (head of marketing tactical airlifters and ISR) Africa has wide variety of ageing old fleets that require replaement sooner rather than later (it is almost similar to our own condtion) .The C295 has the potential to cover most of their needs.

59

DEFBIZ

Pasighat Advanced Landing Ground gets operational

I

n a major boost to India’s air capability on the eastern frontier, three Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft landed on an upgraded Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) at Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. This first ALG for fighter aircraft in India, is located barely 100 km from Chinese

border. Pasighat will also be used by the US-built C-130J Super Hercules aircraft.

Pasighat is the fifth reconstructed ALG in Arunachal Pradesh. The strategically located ground was built during the SinoIndia war of 1962 and remained unused after the war.

The new runway surface and other infrastructure built are similar to the other upgraded ALGs that have been inaugurated in the recent months. Replete with facilities such as aprons for ground manoeuvring, Air Traffic Control Tower, perimeter road and a security wall, the ALG will facilitate operations of fixed wing aircraft as well as helicopters of both civil and military operators.

The ALG at Pasighat was taken over by the IAF in February2010. Previously, it was small strip that was partly paved, partly grassy, and reinforced with perforated steel plates. It was utilized in the past for air maintenance sorties and casualty evacuation by the IAF. Commercial helicopter operations were also

being undertaken from the helipads that existed earlier.

Following a MoU between Government of Arunachal Pradesh and Ministry of Defence in June 2009, the IAF had embarked on an ambitious reconstruction plan to upgrade eight ALGs, including infrastructure development at an overall outlay of nearly Rs. 1,000 Crore.

The ALGs at Walong, Ziro, Along, Mechuka and Pasighat have since been upgraded and are operational now. Two ALGs at Tuting and Tawang are expected to be ready by the year end, while the ALG at Vijaynagar would undertake for reconstruction as soon as the road connectivity between Miao and Vijaynagar is restored.

India to buy a new C-130J

Fixing the A 400M A

irbus will begin changing parts of the A400M engines that has been at the heart of many of its problems. While the replacements were to begin September it is believed Airbus has fast tracked the process with each of the 27 delivered

60

aircrafts making their way to Seville one by one to be equipped with a new Propeller Gear Box (PGB) that has been cleared by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

The defect—that had ben underlined earlier in 2016-- impacts two

of the aircraft’s four engines: the ones that turn clockwise. What happened was that cracks were found in the PGB that could potentially result in the release of metal parts into the oil system. In the most extreme of cases that could mean an engine stalling in midair.

Working closely with Avio (an Italian subsidiary of General Electric), to develop a defect-free replacement part, Airbus is offering this as an interim solution. A full definitive fix is expected in 2017.What the present fit will do is allow for aircrafts to be inspected every 750 hours instead of every 200 as is the present case making for a much more regular operational routine.

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

I

ndia is going to purchase an additional Lockheed Martin C-130J transport aircraft to replace the one India lost in an accident in March 2014. The 2014 crash resulted in the loss of all five crew aboard the aircraft. The lost aircraft was the third C-130J delivered to India as part of a six aircraft order placed in 2008. Lockheed Martin has also been contracted to provide sustainment support for India’s C-130J fleet to 2020.

Lockheed Martin joint venture partner Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) produces the empennage and centre wing box for the C-130J.

DEFBIZ

Cooperation on tactical radar for active protection

R

ADA Electronic Industries of Netanya, Israel a developer and provider of tactical radars for the manoeuvre force, will provide its CHR-based RPS-10 radar system to Artis LLC. of Herndon, VA for integration and testing with its “Iron Curtain” close-in Active Protection System (APS).

The Compact Hemispheric Radar (CHR) platform is an S-band, software-defined, pulseDoppler, active electronically scanned array radar.

The radar system, introduces sophisticated beam forming capabilities and advanced signal processing, can provide various missions on each radar platform, and offers unprecedented performance-to-price ratio. It is compact and

mobile, delivering ideal solutions for the protection of combat vehicles by providing hostile fire detection capabilities and providing critical targeting information for APS. The RPS-10 mission is optimised to detect direct fire threats such as RPGs and Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM), and deliver the data in real time to the APS for neutralisation of threats.

Artis Iron Curtain is a close-in APS that defeats rocket propelled grenades and other shoulder-launched threats. It intercepts and destroys a multitude of threats inches from their targets, affording high level of protection with minimal collateral damage. The integration and testing is planned for the first quarter of 2017.

GA-ASI completes latest airborne missile defence test

G

eneral Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA ASI) has executed a missile tracking test as part of the Pacific Dragon (PD) exercise held June 26-28 off the coast of the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) in Kauai, Hawaii.

Pacific Dragon is a trilateral Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) tracking event

between the US Navy, Japan Maritime Self Defense Force, and Republic of Korea Navy. The biennial exercise focuses on improving tactical and technical coordination among its participants, including the detection, tracking and reporting of ballistic targets.

Two Predator B RPA equipped with Raytheon Multi-spectral Targeting Systems-B (MTS-B) Electro-optical Infrared (EO/IR) turrets were used to detect and track a Ballistic Missile (BM) target as part of an ongoing programme with MDA. The Predator B aircraft also participated in exercises with US Navy vessels.

The F-35A is combat ready

T

he F-35A Lightning II fifth generation fighter aircraft has been declared ‘combat ready’. The US Air Force’s 34th Fighter Squadron of the 388th Fighter Wing, based at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the service’s first operational F-35A squadron. The assessement comes post the aircraft meeting all the Initial Operational Capability (IOC).

While the F-35A is declared ‘combat ready’ it is not likely to deploy overseas in the near future, but the aircraft and crews will take part in combat training, to assess and demonstrate the jet’s capabilities and demonstrate its combat readiness.

The Marine Corps inducted their first F-35B squadron at Yuma Air Station in Arizona in June last year. On the production side, Lockheed said it expects to increase deliveries to 53 F-35 aircraft this year.

Through July 19, the company has delivered about 180 aircraft since the programme’s inception.

Elbit Systems Introduces Skylark C

E

lbit Systems has developed the Skylark C, a new highly autonomous Mini Unmanned Aircraft System (Mini-UAS) specifically designed and built for maritime applications.

The new Skylark C transforms and extends the operational capabilities of its land-based counterpart into an organic maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) asset. Skylark C provides the capabilities to inspect maritime activities from a safe distance, observe targets from a bird’s eye view, perform reconnais-

sance over coastal areas and perform continuous covert surveillance, thus extending the vessel’s ISR capabilities with respect to range, rate and quality of information obtained.

The aerial vehicle utilises Elbit Systems’ industry-leading UAS technology and knowhow, featuring an advanced Inertial Navigation System (INS) and a stabilised electrooptical (EO) payload with a high resolution thermal imager and colour daylight camera that enables continuous day/night monitoring in diverse weather conditions.

September 2016

61

www.geopolitics.in

SPOTLIGHT

W

illiam Boeing was 22 years old when Orville and Wilbur Wright flipped a coin to decide who would make that first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C. That same year, Boeing left engineering college at Yale and headed West, where he eventually settled in Seattle. It was there that Boeing and a friend, Conrad Westervelt, a Navy engineer, took a few flights one day in a barnstormer’s biplane over Lake Washington. Afterward, Boeing told his friend he thought they could make a biplane better than anyone in the market. And so they did, in a boathouse on the shores of Seattle’s Lake Union.

The twin-float seaplane was named after their initials—the B & W. On July 15, 1916, Boeing incorporated his airplane manufacturing business.

Boeing’s company later grew to include Douglas Aircraft, North American Aviation, McDonnell, Hughes Space and Communications, and others. These “heritage” companies, too, had been founded by aviation and aerospace visionaries. What they all had in common were men and women who helped give wing to aviation and aerospace discoveries that changed the world— even put humans on the moon.

On June 2, 1923, Boeing pilot Frank Tyndall took the Model 15, a prototype of the first Boeing-designed fighter, on its first successful test flight from Camp Lewis, Washington. Later that year the US

A BOEING

’CENTURY’ Army bought 50 of the Model 15 and gave it the military designation PW-9 (PW stood for pursuit, water-cooled). The US Navy also used the Model 15, calling it the FB-1. Between 1923 and 1928, Boeing built 157 PW-9/FBs, as well as 77 derivatives as NBs (Navy training planes)

Ups and Downs

In spite of Boeing's initial success with the Model 247, the company's failure to serve customers beyond its own airline (later United) forced the rest of the air transport industry to look to the Douglas DC-2 and DC-3. Broken up by the Air Mail Act of 1934, Boeing fortunes lagged. Its military business faded away to almost nothing. The spectre of financial ruin was just over the horizon.

But in August 1934, the US Army Air Corps realised it needed a new multi-engine bomber, capable of flying long distances at altitudes of more than 10,000 feet. Chairman Clair Egtvedt decided to go all in, committing the company’s dwindling resources to design and construction of the Model 299. When the prototype rolled off the factory

floor, bristling with machine guns and capable of delivering 4,800 pounds of explosives, Seattle Times reporter Richard Williams dubbed it the Flying Fortress, a nickname that stuck forever.

By the time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii December 7, 1941, there were B-25Cs on North American’s ramp at Mines Field (presentday Los Angeles International); following the Doolittle Raiders, these B-25s would be some of the first to see combat in World War II

Boeing B-29 bomber makes its first flight. It is one of the most technologically advanced airplanes of World War II and the first heavy bomber to have a pressurised cabin.

The Davis Douglas Co. is founded.

1916

1939 1920

William Boeing begins final assembly of the B & W seaplane in his Seattle hangar. The Boeing Airplane Co. is incorporated.

62

1942 McDonnell Aircraft Corp. is founded.

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

SPOTLIGHT

sibility of fire. Further, in order for the swept-wing design to work, the leading edges of the wings had to be clean and unbroken. Boeing Chief Engineer Ed Wells puzzled over the idea as he commuted back and forth between his offices in Seattle and Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. It was on a train back to Seattle that he came up with the solution: mount the engines in pods beneath and slightly forward of the swept wings. Wind tunnel tests soon confirmed the idea.

Based on Wells’ discovery and George Shairer’s “aha!” moment, the first B-47 rolled off the line at Boeing Plant 2 on September 12, 1947.

Employees move a B & W seaplane at Bill Boeing’s boathouse on Lake Union in Seattle

Starring role fewer than 200 B-17s in service. Boeing and its partners built almost 16,000 bombers in the four years that the world was at war. That in itself was an incredible feat. The aircraft were revolutionary, but the processes by which they were built were also amazing. At the beginning of the war, it took Boeing months to build a single B-17. At the end of the war, the company was building 364 aircraft a month at its factory in Renton. That amounted to approximately a dozen every day.

The Jet Age

Work on jet-powered aircraft began just a couple of years before WW II broke out and the most significant progress was made in Germany, which developed a number of jet

fighters and even a jet-powered bomber. Determined to overtake the war-weary Europeans on jet research after the cessation of hostilities, Boeing engineers redoubled their efforts on an Army specification for a jet-powered reconnaissance bomber informally issued in 1943. Initially, Boeing based its design on the B-29, replacing the Super fortress's four radial engines with four jet engines. But wind tunnel tests showed the new jet engine mounts on the Model 424 induced far too much drag.

Another variant, the Model 432, mounted the engines inside the fuselage forward of the wings.

The "aha!" moment came in May 1945. Boeing's top aerodynamicist, George Shairer, was in Germany at the end

of the war, part of General Hap Arnold's Scientific Advisory Group tasked with evaluating Nazi technology and bringing back to the U.S. whatever they found useful. At a secret German aeronautics laboratory in Braunschweig, Shairer saw wind tunnel models for supersonic jet designs and recalled a pre-war aviation conference where an Italian engineer presented a swept-wing aircraft design concept. "Stop the bomber design!" he wrote to the Boeing office in Seattle.

But while Boeing's engineers knew they had a breakthrough with the sweptwing concept, they were still plagued by the question of how to mount the engines.

Their initial idea of mounting them inside the fuselage was rejected because of the pos-

The Vertol Division’s CH-47 Chinook, a multi-mission, heavy-lift transport helicopter, is designed to serve the U.S. Army and evolves into several versions.

1947

Prior to and during World War II, Boeing Airplane Company built several famous commercial aircraft, such as the Model 247 twin engine monoplane, the Model 314 flying boat (one of Pan American’s Clipperclass aircraft), and the Model 307 Stratoliner, the first airliner with a pressurized cabin.

Boeing’s legendary bombers, the B-17 Flying Fortress (first flown in 1935) and the B-29 Superfortress (1942), played key roles in the Allied war effort in World War II. In the postwar years Boeing continued its military commitments with the six-engine B-47 Stratojet (1947) and eight-engine B-52 Stratofortress (1952) jet bombers.

While Boeing was successfully selling military aircraft, its commercial products lagged behind those of rivals Doug-

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle begins its long reign as an air superiority jet fighter.

1967 1961

Boeing B-47 Stratojet was the world’s first large swept-wing, multi-engine jet and forerunner of all large jets produced today.

1972 McDonnell and Douglas merge into McDonnell Douglas Corp.

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

63

SPOTLIGHT

P-51 MUSTANG This North American Aviation warplane proved as versatile as any of its time, serving during World War II as a fighter, bomber and escort. It was particularly effective at providing long-range, high-altitude escort for U.S. bombers on daylight bombing missions over Europe and in the Pacific. The Mustang's superior aerodynamics, including its pioneering laminar flow wing, allowed it to outperform enemy fighters. The P-51 flew for the first time on October 25, 1940, and it remained in service for the Korean War and for foreign military use well into the 1980s. North American, a Boeing heritage company, built more than 15,500.

las and Lockheed. To compete in the fierce and expanding world market after World War II, the company decided to develop an airliner, powered by turbojets, with enough range to cross the North Atlantic.

After initial hesitation from airlines (most of which had committed to popular and less-expensive propeller-driven airliners from rival firms), but buttressed by sales to the U.S. Air Force in the form of an aerial tanker (the KC-135 Stratotanker), the four-engine plane, designated the 707, went into commercial service in 1958 on a Pan-American transatlantic route.

Just four months after the attack on Pearl Harbour, 16 B-25 bombers took off from the US Navy aircraft carrier Hornet to attack the Japanese homeland. It also marked the combat debut of North American Aviation’s B-25 Mitchell, which would go on to be one of the most versatile, successful and produced medium bomber of the war.

The design of the B-25 began with the North American NA-40, a light bomber prototype that competed against the Douglas DB-7 (A20). The NA-40 did not lead to a production contract but did serve as a basis for design studies that were initiated in March 1939 in response to the Army Air Corps wanting a medium bomber. In September 1939, North American, a Boeing heritage company, was awarded an initial order for 184 of the bombers, which had been named “Mitchell”

in honour of Army Air Corps Gen. William “Billy” Mitchell, a military aviation pioneer and outspoken advocate for US air power. On August 19, 1940, pilot Vance Breese and co-pilot Roy Ferren took the B-25 up on its first flight.

Although designed to be a conventional level-flight bomber, the B-25 would go on to excel in the low-level attack role. The next and final production version was the B25J, which was built to fly both level-bombing and strafing roles that traded the difficultto-aim 75 mm cannon for additional machine guns. It had a total of 14 forward-firing machine guns.

In all, North American built 9,817 B-25s between 1940 and 1945. By the end of the war the Douglas A-26 Invader was replacing the B-25 as a medium attack bomber, but the B-25 continued to serve long after the war as VIP transports and training aircraft, many modified by Hughes Aircraft. They served with the US Air Force until 1960.

In 1960 Boeing purchased Vertol Corporation, then the world’s largest independent manufacturer of helicopters.

As Boeing Helicopters, the unit focused on tandem-rotor helicopters and was responsible for the development of the CH-47 Chinook and CH-46 Sea Knight military transport helicopters (first flown in 1961 and 1962, respectively). Boeing’s work on missiles, which began in 1945, resulted in such weapons as the silo-launched Minuteman intercontinental

The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey’s nacelles can be rotated between helicopter and turboprop airplane flight modes and the V-22 is capable of high-speed flight.

1988

ballistic missile (deployed in 1962) and the AGM-86B/C airlaunched cruise missile (deployed in 1982).

Era of Stealth fighter

In 1991 the US Air Force chose a design offered by a consortium comprising Lockheed (later Lockheed Martin), Boeing, and General Dynamics for a twin-engine advanced tactical fighter with stealth features; the aircraft was named the F-22 Raptor and was first flown in 1997. In 1996 Boeing and Lockheed Martin received US defence contracts to build competitive technology demonstrators for the Joint Strike Fighter, intended as an affordable, next-generation, multirole fighter for the armed services of the United States and Britain.

Boeing in India

Boeing’s relationship with India on the defense front goes back to the 1940s, when the Indian Air Force enlisted two Boeing aircraft — the T-6 Texan or Harvard Advanced Trainer made by North American Aviation, and the C-47 Skytrain military transport, a military variant of the DC-3, made by McDonnell Douglas.

Presently with 10 C-17 Globemaster strategic airlifters and eight P-8I maritime surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft delivered, with orders of four additional P-8I. Boeing is playing an important role in the mission-readiness and modernisation of India’s defense forces. India has also finalised orders for 22 AH-64E

A prototype AH-64D Apache Longbow is developed as the world’s most advanced attack helicopter.

1991 1989

Boeing-built Condor took its first flight. It is a pioneering unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, built entirely of all-bonded composite materials.

64

1992 The McDonnell Douglas C-17 Globemaster III is able to fly anywhere in the world. It can land and take off from rugged airfields.

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

SPOTLIGHT

Apache attack helicopters and 15 CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, that will greatly enhance India’s capabilities across a range of military and humanitarian missions.

Industry Partnerships As a long-term strategic partner to India, Boeing is accelerating the development of an indigenous aerospace and defense ecosystem by contributing to the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Boeing’s industrial partnership programme is focused on capitalizing on India’s competencies to build a supply-chain capability that will be globally competitive.

This will support aerospace and defense programs across the Boeing enterprise.

Soon after, the Indian Prime Minister launched the ‘Make-in-India’ initiative in September 2014, Dynamatic Technolgies and Boeing inaugurated a plant to manufacture critical parts for the Chinook Heavy Lift Helicopters.

In a state-of-the-art facility with TAL Manufacturing Solutions Ltd, Boeing supports manufacture of complex floor beams for the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, one of the most advanced airplanes in the world.TAL also makes ground support equipment for the C-17.

Dynamatic Technologies and Tata Advanced Materials Limited (TAML) have delivered P-8I power and mission equipment cabinets, and TAML is on contract to provide P-8I auxiliary power unit door fairings and composite

tailcones for the P-8I. Avantel has delivered the mobile satellite systems for the P-8I. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has delivered the Indian-designed Data Link II for the P-8I. BEL has also delivered the identification friend-or-foe interrogator, a battle management system that enables the aircraft to distinguish friendly aircraft and forces. BEL is on contract to provide F/A-18 flight deck cockpit panels. Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) has provided the speech secrecy systems for the P-8I. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) has also manufactured F/A-18 gun bay doors, F/A-18 wire harnesses, P-8I weapons bay doors, and P-8I identification friend-or-foe transponders.

Recently Boeing formed a joint venture with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) to collaborate in aerospace and defense manufacturing and potential integrated systems development opportunities, including unmanned aerial vehicles.

Research & Technology and University Partnerships Boeing since 1995 has a research and development (R&D) presence in India, when collaborative research in aerodynamics was established with the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) in Bangalore. This has developed into a series of projects in aerodynamics and advanced analysis methods at NAL, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.

Skilling India Skilled workforce in the aerospace sector is the need of the nation as it moves towards realising the ‘Make in India’ agenda. To address this critical need for skills development, Boeing is partnering with the National Skill Development Corporation India (NSDC) and the Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF) to provide world-class vocational training to frontline factory workers, and also offering on-the-job training for them with its industrial partners.

Boeing-funded curriculums and initiatives have already been launched along with relevant aerospace partners like Rossell Techsys and TAML to train workers on aerospace relevant skills.

Fostering Entrepreneurship Evolved partnerships with academia and industry have resulted in establishing two research centers - Aerospace Network Research Consortium (ANRC) at Bangalore and National Centre for Aerospace Innovation and Research (NCAIR) with IIT Bombay in Mumbai. NCAIR has spurred technology entrepreneurship in aerospace manufacturing for the industry and encouraged a startup culture in the country. Furthermore, Boeing has been able to promote cutting-edge research and technology in wireless networks, developing patents and several research papers at ANRC.

The first production of CH-47F Chinook transport helicopter takes place.

2002

B-47 STRATOJET Boeing produced the world's first large, swept-wing jet for the U.S. Air Force, and its revolutionary design directly contributed to the development of the modern commercial jetliner. The B-47's swept wings were angled back at about 35 degrees; another key innovation was placing the engines on pylons beneath the wings, enclosed in pods. The sixengine bomber flew for the first time on Dec. 17, 1947.

The B-47 was followed

by Boeing's B-52, which became the mainstay heavy bomber for the U.S. Air Force and is still in service today. Every large swept-wing jet is a descendant of the B-47.

Based on the Boeing 767 commercial jetliner, the KC-46 tanker took to the skies for the first time.

2009 2006

Insitu came up with ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system. Insitu later became a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing.

2015 The P-8A Poseidon, a multi-mission maritime aircraft and derivative of the 737-800.

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

65

INTERNAL SECURITY

PLAYING WITH INTERNAL SECURITY The lack of operational and organisational understanding of India’s lead internal Security force, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), has not only cost it in terms of blunting the effectiveness of the force but is also leading to destruction of the structure, ethos and cohesion of the Units.

MAYANK SINGH surveys the documents and speaks with the CRPF officials to unravel sad story of a force being led into disintegration and jeopardising the internal security.

C

ommandant Pramod Kumar’s head got pierced by the bullet while he was with his men to fulfil his Counter Terrorism duty. He was leading his men when he was shot; his men immediately lunged to be all around him means his men were ready to fight for his safety, and were ready to face the bullet themselves. But, soon this might be a thing of the past.

The CRPF Directorate General has issued an order on July 5, 2016 that Annual Change Over (ACO) was being stopped and start rotating the 25 per cent of the manpower in the form of annual transfer. This is the controversial policy which former Director General Dilip Trivedi tried to implement but it was stopped after the then Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was sent a letter titled ‘Regarding Damaging the Structure of the CRPF’ which enumerated the shortcomings of this policy. But, it seems CRPF top brass is ready again to implement in total disregard of strong opposition from the field.

66

CRPF jawan laid to rest

What is the policy being implemented? Now 25 per cent of the manpower of units will be transferred and that too within the four zones which India will be divided as per the deployment. The earlier policy was that a unit used to move as a whole from one deployment to another, in any part of the country.

With new policy most of the units will have the constabulary generally from the same region. This all is being done in the name of mitigating stress among the Jawans. What appears to be simple has deeper repercussions and this has been highlighted by so many.

Before we talk about the voices which gave strong reasons against the new policy let us understand how a body of troops is shaped into a unit and why their integration as a whole, officers and men, is a matter of importance.

Trust into each other is a matter of life and death when troops operate in the Counter Insurgency, Counter Terrorism and Left Wing Extremism areas. It takes time in building trust thus more time is needed to weave the troops to function as a group. “This rotation of 25 per cent of men every year and adding new men every year in the unit will completely destroy the cohesion,” says a senior offi-

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

CRPF

cer handling operations. He adds, “With time, the Commanding Officer, the Company Commander, Platoon Commander and the Section Commander know their troop well and also the troop develops faith in their leaders, thus the operations are led effectively where men are ready to die for each other.” It will affect career, grooming and the discipline.

There have been strong oppositions and that too by respected commanders of the force. Worst is that such policies are not based on any study which would have brought out the operational weakness of the Annual Change Over of the battalion. Primary task for which the force is created is in the interest of the national security.

Commandant Ghanshyam Behwal wrote a very strong letter to Prakash Mishra, the previous head of the force and brought out conspicuous issues which have already cropped up within the five years since ACO was stopped in 2010. “Our gallant force is losing its cosmopolitan character and with this its sheen. This loss is making command and control a difficult task as very discipline of this force is suffering.” His letter has highlighted several important issues like troops developing local interests,

INTERNAL SECURITY

compromise of intelligence and also pressurising the officers with the local politicians and the police.

A Commanding Officer in Maharashtra told Geopolitics that as the number of troops is generally of the same region they gradually develop links with the local police and politicians. He experienced this as his own officer was threatened and blackmailed.

Another Commanding Officer Prakash Rao wrote to Prakash Mishra and highlighted how the discontinuation of the ACO has got direct bearing on CRPF operational performance. He wrote, “The key to success of my unit, apart from hard work by my unit officers, could be attributed to the compactness of the battalion, integrity of section/ platoon because of continuity of troops, high level of inter-personal relation, faith in unit commanders at various levels etc.” He talked about how various operations together had developed confidence and brotherhood within the unit but things have changed. Prakash Rao added, “I could lead the unit effectively because the after-effects of stopping ACO were not visible at the initial stage. Now, I strongly feel that after-effects of stopping of ACO is quite visible on ground and in the given system of transfer, I may not be able to command battalion in the same area of Bijapur effectively with good operational results, how so ever hard work/ planning could I make. CRPF after stopping of ACO is diminishing day by day.”

The July letter from the Directorate General enumerates huge loss/ damage of store, non-availability of intelligence, lack of operational orientation of troops in new area and huge expenditure on ACO as the reasons to discontinue it.

Adding further the letter said, “Further, due to ACO, the battalion commanders were not giving adequate attention on the development of the battalion headquarter/Company locations thereby the living conditions of the jawan was very poor.” As the main task of the force is internal security operations thus keeping operational efficiency in mind the GCs could have been developed by now but even the housing needs have been fulfilled only 12.5 per cent of the requirement. There are issues which have been flagged often but it seems the leadership found stopping ACO as a way to divert the attention even if it costs the force and the national security.

Commandant Rakesh Rao puts it well in his letter. He writes, “Before debating on the ACO, it has to be decided

Commandant Ghanshyam Behwal-Letter

which factor is more important- manpower or material. One can easily visualise that ACO was stopped, giving more weightage to material than manpower.”

In fact, the issue was flagged since 2009 when this was being discussed. Also, the very reason of destruction of the compactness and the operational efficiency was the reason that it was immediately discarded by Border Security Force when Dilip Trivedi tried to introduce it there. Former DGs of BSF went to Home Minister to get this proposal abrogated.

The CRPF officers have been highlighting the issue and have also been giving solutions. One of the earliest letter written to the then CRPF Inspector General (Operations) PM Nair was by Commandant Sudhanshu Singh in 2009.

Sudhanshu Singh also cried on the erosion of regimentation. He wrote, “ACO happens after every three years

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

to a Unit. The vehicles and heavy stores are left behind and the unit moves with their barest requirement to the new location. The logic that lot of breakages takes place during movement is not true as the stores moves in special trains and CRPF Vehicles.”

Geopolitics spoke with many officers to understand the cost and benefit of discontinuing with ACO. Everyone talked about poor welfare measures and living conditions but finally they all acknowledged that the new policy will lead to several problems and also compromise the operational efficiency. One will have to understand the operational involvement of CRPF to appreciate the regimentation.

The Memorandum for 7th Central Pay Commission submitted by Central Reserve Police Force describes it as “A versatile Force, CRPF is entrusted with varied nature of duties within the country and abroad. Generally, 80-89 per cent Force remains deployed on various types of duties. Out of this, 80-85 per cent Force remains deployed in high intensity conflict theatres, fighting Maoist violence in remotely located LWE Areas (39 per cent), militancy in J&K (30 per cent) and countering multiple ethno-centric insurgencies in North East (16 per cent).”

Rest (15 per cent) are deployed for other law and order and miscellaneous duties in different parts of the country.

The Force is being raised to support the changing concepts and scenario of internal security. It is having three NDRF battalions to provide specialised response during management of calamities and disasters. 10 specialised Combat Battalions for Resolute Action (CoBRA) are engaged to tackle Left Wing Extremism.

The definition, concept and doctrine of “Security” and “Enemy” have undergone drastic changes. Whereas, dealing with “Internal Security” has become very complex, demanding and has gained substantial importance in maintaining the sovereignty of the country, similarly, managing “Enemy-within” is no less difficult to handle. Direct wars have returned in a new avatar, called ‘Proxy War’ or ‘Low Intensity Conflict’ propagated by the enemies through unhappy lots of people within. Responsibility of handling internal security scenario of the country arising out of such paradigm shift has mainly fallen on CPMFs and particularly on CRPF which has always remained in the fore-front.

The current deployment of more than 80 per cent of CRPF is also to

67

INTERNAL SECURITY

Commandant Rakesh Rao-Letter

2.1

handle threats having deepening linkbeen tinkered. While country needs that ages with external environment and the CRPF maintains heterogeneous and coinability of state police organisations to hesive character to fit in a multi ethnic effectively deal with existing and emergand multi-cultural society with quickest ing security challenges. adoption of local conditions for it will The CRPF commanders with most set in a natural check and balance while of them at higher ranks, IPS officers are performing sensitive duties as per the groomed in handling law and order matinternal security imperatives. Instead ters rather than Naxalism and terrorism. the focus is elsewhere.

These senior officers have extremely short tenures unsuited for understandDeath attributable to working condiing, formulating and implementing tions during 2009-2014 is given below:policy and operational matters. This has Suicides 207 been highlighted by various researchers Fratricide Cases 036 and specialists.

T.B. Cases 033 The doctrinal change in security has translated not only to extraordinary Malaria Cases 102 increase in the strength, upgrading of Heart attack/Cardiac disease 614 infrastructure, training, technology, reCancer 231 sponsibilities and risk thereto, but also HIV/AIDS 153 to evolve its own doctrine of counter Expired due to other diseases 1544 insurgency to tackle the complicated challenges to internal security which are The leaders of the force have not now borne out of the interplay of subbeen able to resolve internal matter versive, fissiparous and divisive Forces. plaguing the very jugular vein, conEventually, the Force remains overstabulary, of the force. Huge stagnaworked, overstretched and often utilised CHAPTER its – 2 tion has throttled the motivation of the in an adhoc manner compromising personnel but lip services of working to combat worthiness and training preimprove their condition never stopped. paredness.

ORGANISATION Dissatisfaction, demotivation, demorLack of depth is visible in the way alisation and disgruntlement is visible well thought and practiced arrangement at all Security levels. This challenges, fact can be wellthere underof a cohesive unit, authority of comIn response to the overwhelming Internal stood by three court cases filed by the mand and structure of the Force has

has been rapid growth of the Force as reflected below:350

GROWTH IN FORCE

Personnel (in thousands)

300

290

Battalions (in numbers)

263

248

250

219 200

303

186

231

196

167 150

130 107

100

84

76 60

50 15 17 0 1965

68

1976

1986

1996

2004

2008

2011

2014

GROWTH IN LAST 10 YEARS

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in Category

2004

2014

+

Growth %

INTERNAL SECURITY

Commandant Sudhanshu Singh-Letter

SANCTIONED STRENGTH AND VACANCIES Sl. Rank Sanctioned Vacancy No strength 1. GOs (Executive) 4130Â 251 2. GOs (Ministerial) 216 011 3. GOs (Medical) 628 144 4. NGOs (Executive) 286688 17188 5. NGOs (Ministerial) 9363 1029 6. NGOs (Medical) 2305 223 Total 303330 18846

officers of the Force in the Delhi High Court. The stagnation in the ranks is indicated below: RANK

SPAN Awaiting (in yrs) promotion

CT to HC 08

No. % of Stagnating Stagnation

01 to 12 yrs 110712

63.46%

The above Table proves that the eligibility period for promotion from one rank to another in the Force has become totally irrelevant. In fact, personnel having completed twice the eligibility period and possessing all other prescribed qualifications are awaiting promotions with no hope. This is a very serious situation causing demoralisation across the Force with no remedy in sight. Such a situation can never be welcomed in a

YEAR 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

KILLED IN ACTION Officers Men 2 74 39 3 67 1 65 5 65 3 140 29 1 42 1 29 3 27 19 577

INJURED 259 338 251 997 639 1914 211 305 597 226 5737

sensitive organisation like CRPF. Since, CRPF has a hierarchical structure of ranks being Uniformed Service, therefore, to remove stagnation and install proper career progression, this issue should have been resolved years back.

The proxy war has changed the complexion of internal security situation in the country. Units with their hierarchy and lower formations of Company, Platoon and Section will have to be groomed well in order to function together. The Officers of the Force have a great role to nurse and nurture the men under their command. The officer has to bear the shocks of internal administration and

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

STAGNATION IN GROUP-A OFFICERS CRPF Memorandum Ranks Total no. No. of officers % of of posts stagnating in the stagnation rank after completion of required service IGP 17 15 88.23% DIG 138 105 76.08% CO 301 195 64.78% 2-I/C 281 260 92.53% DC 1010 541 53.56% AC

2252

606

26.91%

in addition, act as shock absorbers to keep the men in the right psychological frame. Apart from the welfare, they have to look after men as their own wards living away from the family. If a CRPF unit is made of 1,154 men then it will have a social atmosphere which also needs to be looked after in a way that various emotional needs are managed well. As with every uniformed force, the officers have to make themselves available to the men for emotional anchoring during physical as well as psychological traumas due to prolonged family separation, risk to life and performance of arduous nature of duties in hard working conditions. The officers on-duty and off-

69

INTERNAL SECURITY

duty have to spare no pains and pangs in ensuring this. The men seek shelter and refuge in them, be it peace or an operational situation. The gazetted officers, therefore, assume the nurturance role of educating and guiding the men under their command. While performing this role of a guardian the officers at the same time are expected to maintain distance. The Force thus draws strength through the officers. But, this insertion of stopping Annual Change Over of battalions seems to have been done by

keeping the raison d’etre at bay.

The demotivation and stagnation bare the failure of personnel department of the Force and has failed the Force since decades now. Also, the whims and fancies of so called guradians of the force has been tinkering with the units first by adding an extra seventh company without filling the vacant posts at the officers level and now by realigning the officers within the units in the name of cadre review without doing any study or survey to support this change. It is pertinent to know that this move has been challenged in the court of law.

The mammoth raising of the Central reserve Police Force (CRPF), along with new raisings in other CPMFs, has been in response to the challenging internal security scenarios, dynamics of low intensity warfare and increasing pockets of conflicts threatening the country.

But, this has been unmindful of the increase in the crucial part of support staff. In 2013 CRPF commissioned Accenture Services Pvt. Ltd. to undertake study to design the “Manpower / Resource Augmentation Report for Augmentation of Strength of Dte. Gen., CRPF.” This report was to come up with recommendations about the support staff at the headquarters. Better that it was done by an independent entity which reflected the adhocism and short sightedness in running this force. The report says, “This temporary arrangement of deputing the number of support staff posts at the Directorate General, CoBRA HQ, the 3 Special DG Zonal HQs and the ADG Zonal HQ has not been suf-

Bereaved mother of a martyr

70

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

RANGNATH MISHRA

Official order of CRPF Directorate to start rotation of men

Letters as forwarded by the then Home Minister before ACO was put on hold

ficiently useful and the workload, work efficiency and timeliness of work completion have been adversely affected.”

The same report flagged the urgency by saying, “There is an urgent need to arrive at an appropriate HR Augmentation model for CRPF with estimated number of additional manpower to streamline the operations.” This report has been suppressed.

While sign of burnout, saturation affecting the Force badly has been continuously coming from every quarter but leadership has different priorities.

Abolishing the Annual Change Over of Battalion and dividing the entire country into four zones of area of operation for the force was vehemently opposed by two Special Director General Rank officers, DK Pathak and Aruna Bahuguna.

No collective training, rising adhoc posting right under the DG seems not to be an issue. What should open the eyes of people in Ministry of Home Affairs is brought out well by Commandant Rakesh Rao in his letter to the DG. He writes, “Sense of belongingness among the troops has been a big casualty after stopping of ACO and this is one of the biggest reasons that in recent encounter with naxals, troops ran away from the place of encounter leaving behind their colleagues at the mercy of armed naxals…”. Seems examples like that of Commandant Pramod Kumar, were men and officers stand by each other to face the bullets will be a matter of past.

DIPLOMACY

INDIA AND ASIA’S FLASH POINT

The US and Philippine navies conducting a bilateral exercise in the South China Sea US NAVY

The dynamics evolving in Southeast Asia as well as South China Sea, the narrative should be seen in conjunction, not as an isolated problem. The issue that needs to be clearly highlighted is whether powerful nations can redefine geographical boundaries or there is another aspect to global governance which is more of compliance and order, writes PANKAJ KUMAR JHA

T

he judgement given by Permanent Arbitration Court (PAC) on July 12, 2016 has clearly outlined that the reclamation of islands and unilateral declaration of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) does not hold ground when there is a question of international order and law at the seas. This is supported by the fact that most of the islets, reefs and islands cannot sustain life on its own. PAC adjudicated the ruling in favour of the Philippines, and China came under intense pressure to subscribe to the judgement. However, China took a rather confrontationist attitude with anti–access and area denial manoeuvres. Clearly, China was playing to the domestic audience while

at the same time it was measuring the international repercussion. As usual the diplomatic machinery started to unravel and even many claimant countries adopted a cautious stance so as not to disturb the fragile peace with China.

Philippines undertook diplomatic as well as unofficial parleys to diffuse the crisis in the post judgement phase clearly outlining that military confrontation was not an option. US, on the other hand, outlined that it is still the sole guarantor of peace and security for many smaller nations which subscribe to its existence as the 0nly counter-balance to China. Japan started viewing the conflagration of the issue having a direct impact on the Diaoyu/Senkaku island issue. China reciprocated on the

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

expected lines with dispatching its 230 Chinese ships flotilla to the disputed islands in East China Sea as a fore warning measure. Further, it was perceived that China would announce the Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) as a coercive step but sensing the international response and support garnered by the Philippines, China has adopted a much calibrated approach interspersed with assertive statements.

The sole question remained that whether China would force its way against the minimal resistance of the ASEAN as a multilateral grouping. Subsequent to the ruling, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers meeting was carefully managed by China and the question

71

DIPLOMACY

rose whether ASEAN is on the verge of losing its centrality whenever contentious questions related to regional security came in front of this multilateral forum. ASEAN did get swayed by the dialogue partner’s preferences albeit it did make a statement regarding the developing scenario in the South China Sea in the post judgement phase. However, it would not be wrong to say that ASEAN did not reflect what the four ASEAN claimant states were espousing for, especially Philippines and Vietnam.

It was these two countries and their differences with China which restrained the issue of ASEAN Communique during the Phnom Penh Summit in 2012.

South China Sea, a shallow sea having overlapping maritime claims and exclusive economic zones, rich in fisheries and marine life, corals and exotic aquatic plants, has both geostrategic and commercial utility. The usual reference about the Chinese Cow Tongue means ‘nine dash line’ outlining major areas of South China Sea as the EEZ of China. The problems have multiplied over a period of time when Chinese attacked the Vietnamese vessels in 1988 and the Philippines were dislodged from the Scarborough Shoal by force in 2012 after months of standoff between the Philippines and China.

The question is what if China retains its dogmatic approach what are the possibilities for the ASEAN nations and dialogue partner countries including India. India, in its third maritime strategy document (2016) has claimed South China Sea as its secondary area of interest. However, in comparison to its previous version which was publically released in 2009, the wordings of the latest Maritime Strategy Document clearly outline India’s priorities in the Indo–Pacific region.

The dynamics evolving in Southeast Asia as well as South China Sea, the narrative should be seen in conjunction, not as an isolated problem. The issue that needs to be clearly highlighted is whether powerful nations can redefine geographical boundaries or there is another aspect to global governance which is more of compliance and order.

The recent spurt of island building/reclamation as well as building of air strips, and subsequent positioning of missiles

by China have aggravated problems.

The brinkmanship played from different players in the region including US and China has pushed the region into a powder keg of power struggle. The EP-3 event which happened in early 2000s

72

India & Vietnam signing a Joint Vision Statement on defence cooperation

might be revisited again. In that case the crisis did not aggravate, however, tensions remained, but now the situation is slightly more pronounced and is a result of cumulative inaction both from the side of ASEAN as an organisation and the US as the superpower. US has been to a large extent ambivalent both politically and strategically about the issue. ASEAN as an institution failed to bring China onboard, and failed in cajoling the country to sign the Code of Conduct on South China Sea. South

India’s third maritime strategy document has claimed South China Sea as its secondary area of interest. However, in comparison to its previous version, the wordings of the latest Maritime Strategy Document clearly outline India’s priorities in the Indo–Pacific region

China Sea as a region was dependent on the Declaration of the Code of Conduct promulgated in 2002 which was more of a voluntary declaration, with no compliance or implementation provision.

In the post Global War on Terror phase (post 2001) there are five major things which have happened in the

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

PIB

case of Southeast Asia which in a way influenced the dynamism is existent in the contemporary times. The estranged partners of US became engaged again.

The examples being that of Indonesia and Thailand. Secondly, the role of India in the larger geopolitical set up was seen as indispensable. Thirdly, the smaller powers such as Vietnam and the Philippines were seen as necessary outposts to monitor developments in both Southeast Asia and South China Sea. This was also amplified by the fact that these two economies started showing signs of reinvigoration with a better than average rate of growth. The manufacturing also started to emerge in Indonesia, Vietnam and Philippines, posing competition to China’s state subsidised production and manufacturing. Fourthly, the military modernisation across the Southeast Asia was spurred by the increasing assertive stance by not only China but many other players including the US, India and Japan. The issue of India being an assertive player has been debated within India but then the role of expeditionary and constabulary roles were getting increasingly defined. Lastly, US pivot to Asia policy was a stark reminder that US is and would remain the indispensable player in the region. Further, this as accentuated by informal dialogue mechanisms such as East Asia Summit which subsequently included US and Russia as members. The primacy of China in Southeast Asia was increasingly getting challenged. This was apparent with the increasing reference to Southeast Asian security and the importance of extra regional powers to maintain peace clearly

DIPLOMACY

indicating the negative role played by China. Further, increasing pressure on select Southeast Asian countries to deport Uighurs refugees and border control measures including tensions along the border with countries such as Myanmar and Vietnam reflected the changing mindset. Furthermore, lopsided trade balance with many of ASEAN countries and increasing non-tariff measures adopted to reduce imports from these countries had put the ties on a difficult stance.

The resilience of ASEAN which was challenged and debated by India, Japan and Australia, but reinforced the utility of an institution such as ASEAN. The institutionalisation of ASEAN Defence Minister's Meeting (ADMM+) and ASEAN Maritime Forum have anchored multilateralism into defence and maritime domain, leading to power struggle within the Southeast Asian region. The ASEAN Communique since 2012 have also found increasing reference about South China Sea leading to discomfort to China as one of the claimant countries apart from five other claimants.

Among the other claimant countries, two countries —Vietnam and the Philippines have increasingly challenged China’s dominance in ASEAN led forums particularly on the issue of South China Sea. It is not that there has never been possibility of cooperation between China, Vietnam and Philippines in the past.

Way back in late 1990s, China, Vietnam and the Philippines have discussed possibility of trilateral cooperation in the region both with regard to disasters and joint exploration of the oil and gas in the South China Sea. Vietnam has the largest group of islands under its control followed by China, Malaysia, the Philippines (which also lost one of its island territory-Scarborough Shoal), Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) and Brunei.

The Philippines with its Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with US was increasingly seen as China as a threat to its dominance in Southeast Asia. There were larger nations such as Singapore and Malaysia which have been more accommodative towards Chinese charm.

From India’s perspective, the developments have been supported because of ASEAN’s inaction. The pressure tactics used by China so as to stop the Cambodian Communique to get released was a manifestation that ASEAN still has been divided into three major camps, pro-China, anti-China and neutral players. The ASEAN chairmanship

Chinese presence in South China Sea WASHINGTON POST

now will be increasingly scrutinized accordingly. However, there are still many examples which were perceived to be pro-China but have adhered to the ASEAN consensus. In the current context there are three possibilities which need to be undertaken by ASEAN. Firstly, it should strengthen its dialogue with dialogue partners on specific issues of security. Secondly, the non-traditional security issues have crippled ASEAN in terms of addressing core security issues and developing a Politico–Security Community. Thirdly, ASEAN nations should recognise status quo related to the islands occupied by the claimants and work towards unilaterally adopting the Code of Conduct in South China Sea. For India, the increasing tension in the South China Sea would pose certain questions. As already India has Defence Cooperation agreement or MoU on Defence Cooperation with Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Further India has been engaged in training the Malaysian pilots at Kedak base in the past and also has been the user of Scorpene submarine. Malaysia received the first Scorpene submarine and even provided access to Indian sailors to understand the operational parameters of the submarine. India has order six of these submarines and would like to deploy these in addressing the deficit which is glaring in the context of anti-access and its denial capabilities. With Vietnam the defence cooperation has graduated to the next

www.geopolitics.in

September 2016

level with institutional collaboration in training, defence intelligence, manufacturing of patrol boats and possible exports of BrahMos. Vietnam on its part has consented to docking facilities to Indian ships in select ports. The Defence Cooperation Agreement with Philippines which was signed in 2006 needs further impetus but because of issues related to the compatibility as well as limited naval capability, the possibilities of cooperation are rather limited. However, with Philippines procuring Landing Platform Dock from US while US stationing its bombers, P-3 C Orion and P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircrafts in the Philippines bases. In terms of defence engagement there are also discussion that US should be permitted to position itself in Clark and Subic Bay. Japan has also started undertaking the surveillance sorties and the last Malabar series exercises held in June 2016 near the Northern Philippines clearly outlined preferences for India, Japan and US. Japan on its part has been actively providing aid and assistance to the claimant countries in terms of Patrol boats and training of personnel. This has been seen in the case of the Philippines and Vietnam.

The strengthening of institutions such as ASEAN Defence Minister Meeting plus Dialogue partners (ADMM+) has been felt while the ASEAN Maritime Forum also need boost.

—The author is Director (Research) at Indian Council of World Affairs

73

OPTIQUE

BLUSTER BUSTED

A

fter about a week long bluster, the correspondent of the Australian newspaper, who was writing about unauthorised release of documents relating to India’s Scorpene submarine, has finally been silenced. The gagging of the correspondent, Cameron Stewart, happened through an order from New South Wales Supreme Court on a plea from the French submarine builder DCNS. But that came after he bragged about publishing more documents, this time on the weapon systems of the submarine supplied to India.

There is a lesson for every agent provocateur in the Cameron Stewart episode. In fact, not so much connected to the matter that the New South Wales Superme Court considered, his challenge to India’s Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s comments regarding the safety of the information on the weapon systems of Scorpene was what seemed odd.

In fact, this court order has also silenced the Indian journalists, who were going out of the way to sensationalise the episode. Journalists are always exposed to so much of ‘Restricted’ material from the military worldover that if one starts calling all of those leaks, there would be no enough pages to fill in newspapers.

Cameron Stewart was taking pride in publishing the Scorpene user manual, which is not such a big deal at all, as a news break. Can someone in possession of the user manual of, say, a computer brand, for example, claim to have secret documents from a computer of the same make that you personally possess? Will you actually call that sort of user manual in somebody’s possession a security breach of the computer you own?

The Scorpene document leak story sounded so exciting for Indian journalists because of the number of documents the Australian journalist claimed was out there in the possession of unauthorised persons.

22,400 is such a huge number and the extent of information that was said to have been available - from sensor to systems specifications - widened the possibilities and made it sound like a time bomb ready to explode.

But as they say in the military, no tactical information is a secret any more. The answer to the ‘what’ question has been public for a long time. The most sacrosanct are the strategic information - responses to how, where, when and why - of the particular platform being used. For example, when naval boats are at dock, it is easy to keep an eye on them. And when they sail out, it is not difficult to track them. But what’s difficult for an observer is to guess the destination the boat crew is planning to reach and to decipher their mission.

The Indian Navy and the Ministry of Defence did take the news about the leak of information on its latest submarine floating around freely with a bit

74

a seriousness. But they never panicked. For a week, the DCNS too didn’t seem to have been rattled by the revelations.

The two entities expressed all concerns over the documents being in the public domain. But there is always the fear of the unknown, so powerful that it has the potential to entirely consume rationality at such times. That fear still exists. But it could soon be over, once the Australian newspaper hands over all documents that is in its posession to DCNS, as per the New South Wales Supreme Court order.

The Indian submarine arm will be observing its Golden Jubilee year of celebrations in 2017. The submarine arm is the smallest of the Indian Navy, but it boasts of exploits in maritime warfare that can be easily described as great.

Most submariners, both serving and retired, have now maintained that the information that is out on Scorpene is so generic and was also part of the Naval Staff Qualitative Requirements provided to the submarine builder by the Indian Navy that it is nothing but binding information on the product.

This must not come as a surprise. But specific operational data pertaining to the six Scorpene submarines that India is building will be known only when the boats go out into the sea. As of today, India’s Mazagon Dock is preparing the first Scorpene, Kalavari, to sail out into the Arabian Sea for its first voyage. The sea trials would happen in a month or two from now.

What could be the worst case scenario that Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar talked about when he provided his ministry’s assessessment of the situation recently? What could be considered a compromise of the submarine’s security is the source codes for the fire control system. But the submarine builder, which owns the Intellectual Property, guards that information so vehemently that it is not available to most of the company’s employees too.

As of now, there should be no doubt that India’s Scorpene secrets are safe. Though the availability of so many pages of document on the submarine to people unauthorisedly is a matter of concern, there is still no reason to believe the Scorpenes are sitting ducks. Yes, the source of the so-called leak has to be identified and the person, who let out the information to the unauthorised, needs to be brought to book. The leak sources need to be plugged. All these are the lessons for DCNS and the Indian Navy from the episode.

Military espionage as a vocation will continue forever and there is no reason to believe history will not repeat itself. Yet, there is no room for slackening of information security either. The counter measures and the counter counter-measures need to be in place. tghosh@newsline.in

September 2016 www.geopolitics.in

Unique. Ahead Ahead of of the the Art. Art. Unique.

Unique. Ahead Ahead Unique.

Aheadof ofthe theArt. Art. Unique. of the Art. Unique. Ahead of the Art.

ShinMaywa Industries India Private Ltd. ShinMaywa Industries India Private Ltd. Flat No. 1010,1011 and 1012, 10th Floor, Narain Manzil

Flat No. andRoad, 1012,New 10th Delhi Floor,–110001 Narain Manzil 23,1010,1011 Barakhamba 23, Barakhamba Road,E-mail New Delhi –110001 URL http://www.shinmaywa.co.jp air.sales@shinmaywa.co.jp URL http://www.shinmaywa.co.jp E-mail air.sales@shinmaywa.co.jp

ShinMaywa Advert_for MYB & MAI.indd nMaywa Advert_for MYB MAI.indd Maywa Advert_for MYB &&MAI.indd 11 1

20/11/12 2:18 20/11/12 20/11/12

Postal Reg No. DL(E) 01/5363/2014-16, RNI No. DELENG/2010/35319, Publication Date: 1st of every month, Posting Date: 8-9th every month

THE PRIDE OF VANDE MATARAM FLYING HIGH. HAPPY INDIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY.

www.rafale.co.in

Rafale_IndepD_Inde_210x274_GP_0716.indd 1

OVER

60 YEARS.

TO O FA N I

MYSTERE

5 IV

AIRCRAFT ALIZE

TYPES.

JAGUAR

1

N AT I O N

MIRAGE

2000

29/07/2016 11:58