Modi government offers to buy 200 foreign combat jets…if they’re Made-in-India - Indian Express

The Indian Air Force is desperately trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan.

By: Reuters | New Delhi | Updated: October 29, 2016 6:13 pm

Dassault Rafale fighter jets fly over the Pyramid of the Louvre Museum as part of a rehearsal of the traditional Bastille Day military parade in Paris, France, July 11, 2016. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

India is offering to buy hundreds of fighter planes from foreign manufacturers – as long as the jets are made in India and with a local partner, air force officials say. A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in India – which the air force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out ageing Soviet-era aircraft – could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the country’s biggest military aircraft deals. After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from France’s Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month, the Indian Air Force is desperately trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration wants any further military planes to be built in India with an Indian partner to kickstart a domestic aircraft industry, and end an expensive addiction to imports. Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 plane in India for not just the Indian military, but also for export.

And Sweden’s Saab has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early contest for one of the biggest military plane deals in play.

“The immediate shortfall is 200. That would be the minimum we would be looking at,” said an air officer briefed on the Make-in-India plans under which a foreign manufacturer will partner local firms to build the aircraft with technology transfer.

India’s defence ministry has written to several companies asking if they would be willing to set up an assembly line for single-engine fighter planes in India and the amount of technology transfer that would happen, another government source said.

“We are testing the waters, testing the foreign firms’ willingness to move production here and to find out their expectations,” the person said.

OPERATIONAL GAPS

India’s air force originally planned for 126 Rafale twin-engine fighters from Dassault, but the two sides could not agree on the terms of local production with a state-run Indian firm and settled for 36 planes in a fly-away condition.

Adding to the military’s problems is India’s three-decade effort to build a single-engine fighter of its own which was meant to be the backbone of the air force. Only two of those Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, have been delivered to the air force which has ordered 140 of them.

The Indian Air Force is down to 32 operational squadrons compared with the 45 it has said are necessary, and in March the vice chief Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa told parliament’s defence committee that it didn’t have the operational strength to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan.

JET MAKERS RESPOND

Saab said it was ready to not only produce its frontline Gripen fighter in India, but help build a local aviation industry base.

“We are very experienced in transfer of technology – our way of working involves extensive cooperation with our partners to establish a complete ecosystem, not just an assembly line,” said Jan Widerström, Chairman and Managing Director, Saab India Technologies.

He confirmed Saab had received the letter from the Indian government seeking a fourth generation fighter. A source close to the company said that while there was no minimum order set in stone for it to lay down a production line, they would expect to build at least 100 planes at the facility.

Lockheed Martin said it had responded to the defence ministry’s letter with an offer to transfer the entire production of its F-16 fighter to India.

“Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world’s only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the world’s largest fighter aircraft supply chain,” Abhay Paranjape, National Executive for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Business Development in India said in an email.

U.S. TOP SUPPLIER
Lockheed’s offer comes on the back of expanding U.S.-India military ties in which Washington has emerged as India’s top arms supplier in recent years, ousting old ally Russia.

Earlier this year Boeing also offered India its twin-engine F/A-18 Hornets, but the level of technology transfer was not clear. India has never previously attempted to build a modern aircraft production line, whether military or civilian. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assembled Russian combat jets including the Su-30, but these are under licensed production.

“We have never had control over technology. This represents the most serious attempt to build a domestic base. A full or a near-full tech transfer lays the ground for further development,” said retired Indian air marshal M. Matheswaran, a former adviser at HAL.

He said the Indian government would be looking at producing at least 200 fighters, and then probably some more, to make up for the decades of delay in modernising the air force.

Indian Express

Nearly two-thirds of people give a thumbs up to Modi govt: Survey

New Delhi: Two years into its term, the Narendra Modi government has been rated by 62 per cent of metropolitan Indians as having done a good or very good job in a survey done exclusively for The Times of India. That's a touch lower than the 67 per cent who voiced the same opinion a year ago. PM Narendra Modi himself was perceived by nearly half the respondents to the survey as a strong leader. Meanwhile, the proportion of those saying it has done a poor or very poor job has risen from 9 per cent to 16 per cent. Modi himself was perceived by nearly half the respondents to the survey (47 per cent) as a strong leader with intent who was being handicapped in delivering on that intent by those around him, a perception that could explain the slightly lower ratings. This also fits in with the finding that just over half (51%) felt that the strength of Brand Modi had eroded since 2014, though about one in five felt it had actually become stronger. As was the case a year ago, the Swachh Bharat programme remains the most popular of the various initiatives launched by this gover nment, with 42 per cent picking it as the best. Make In India came in a distant second at 13 per cent. The failure to create enough jobs was seen as the government's biggest failing with 43 per cent choosing this. Interestingly , the next biggest failing was seen as an overly confrontationist attitude towards the opposition.
Responses to the government's performance on two related areas - black money and corruption - were interestingly different. The government was perceived by just over a quarter of the respondents as having reduced corruption. About 40 per cent said it had made no difference and 23% felt corruption had in fact worsened. On black money, however, there is a less sceptical view that came across. While 40 per cent said the government had not kept its promise on black money, a little over a third felt a good beginning had been made and 15 per cent suggested that the promise had been fully kept. More than two-thirds of those polled approved of the government's foreign policy initiatives and over three-fourths felt the Pakistan policy was either courageous or realistic. Barely one in five expressed the opinion that it was blinkered by ideology. The China policy had similar approval ratings. Less than half of the respondents were willing to give the government any or all of the credit for inflation coming down. About 24 per cent said government efforts had kept prices in check and another 22% said both international factors and government efforts had played a part. About 35 per cent said it was entirely due to international factors and one in five insisted that inflation hadn't come down at all. The expectations from the government in its third year not surprisingly mirror these perceptions with job creation emerging as the top priority , followed by tackling farmers' woes, curbing inflation and boosting the economy . The survey was conducted by IPSOS, a global market research company in India's eight biggest cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad. The 1,348 people polled were aged 18 to 45 and from socio-economic categories (SEC) A and B. There were as many men as women in the sample.

TNN

‘Make in India’ to be at the centrestage of India-Russia strategic relationship - Indian Express

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday. (Source: PTI)

With regard to nuclear energy, Modi said the pace of cooperation is increasing and progress is being made on 12 Russian reactors at two sites in India.

INDIA AND Russia on Thursday agreed to put the government’s flagship “Make in India” programme at the centrestage of their strategic relationship, as New Delhi and Moscow decided to build nuclear reactor components and military helicopters in India. Apart from helicopters, the agreement is expected to result in the construction of 12 atomic plants with the involvement of Indian firms.

 

Russia is the first country to have agreed to take the initiative under the “Make in India” umbrella in two key strategic sectors — nuclear and defence. Sources said that while this move is perceived as a vote of confidence in India’s economy, it also puts a lid — at least, for the time being — on concerns in New Delhi about Moscow’s growing proximity to Islamabad. After bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “The Inter-Governmental Agreement on the manufacture of Kamov-226 helicopters in India is the first project for a major defence platform under the Make-in-India mission. It is, rightly, with our most important defence partner.”

 

The Prime Minister said that the two sides made progress on a number of other defence proposals which would boost manufacturing and readiness with next-generation equipment. On the nuclear field, Modi said, “The pace of our cooperation in nuclear energy is increasing. We are making progress on our plans for 12 Russian nuclear reactors at two sites.

 

The agreement today will increase Indian manufacturing content in these reactors. It supports my mission of Make in India. I thank President Putin for his support.” Putin said Unit-II of the Kudankulam plant in Tamil Nadu, being built by Russia, will be commissioned within weeks and negotiations are at an advanced staged for units III and IV. The two sides inked 16 pacts, which included those on the nuclear and defence sectors.

 

On defence, a joint statement said, “The sides took note of achievements in the field of joint design, development and production of high-technology military equipment. Both sides reaffirmed their intention to expand the scope of such cooperation and to avail of the opportunities provided by the Make in India initiative in the defence sector and directed the concerned agencies to finalise such projects between relevant entities and enterprises of the two countries at the earliest.” On the nuclear front, the joint statement reaffirmed that cooperation on peaceful uses of nuclear energy is a “cornerstone” of the Russia-India strategic partnership.

 

It said that the two sides welcomed progress in identifying the second site in India for an additional six nuclear reactor units to be set up in cooperation with Russia. “They agreed to actively work towards localisation of manufacturing in India under the aegis of Make in India and in tandem with the serial construction of nuclear power plants,” said the statement. Summit-level talks between the two countries at the highest level have been taking place alternately in Moscow and New Delhi since 2000. This time, with Putin by his side, Modi stressed on the need for the world to unite against terrorism “without distinction and discrimination between terrorist groups and target countries”, in an apparent reference to Pakistan. Sharing concern over terrorism, the two sides pressed for a joint fight against the global menace “without selectivity and double standards”, the joint statement said. Putin conveyed Russia’s “strong support” to India’s bid for permanent membership of the UN Security Council, saying it is a “deserving and strong candidate that can bring an independent and responsible approach” within the world body. Without naming Syria, Modi said, “We agree that an early political settlement through dialogue in West Asia is essential for restoring stability and containing extremism in the region. Indeed, all nations must come together, with sensitivity to each other, to address the challenges of our times.” Wrapping up the talks, Modi said that just like he visited Russia twice this year, he looked forward to welcoming Putin in India next year for the BRICS Summit as well as the Annual Summit.

 

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[Indian Express]