Beginning tomorrow, the world’s best in military aviation will showcase their arsenal at the Yelahanka Air Force Station. The American fleet is certain to be the showstopper.
Defence minister AK Antony’s lament on Monday about aviation and aerospace technologies from foreign countries not being top notch is expected to raise a storm at the eighth edition of the five-day Aero India which is scheduled to take off on Wednesday and run till February 13.
Aero India 2011 may well turn out to be a watershed in terms of hard decisions being taken; because, in the background of Antony’s statement is Indian Defence Review’s expert criticism which is more or less on the same lines and could have well formed the basis of the Union minister’s lament.
In the premier Indian defence journal, Maj Gen (Retd) Mrinal Suman — who retired from the Indian Army in 2003 and currently heads the defence technical assessment and advisory service of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) — prescribes that India, at present, urgently needs FDI in the defence and military aviation sector which is technology-centric with inherent flexibility. He has suggested that FDI could be 26% for low-tech products, while it could be 51%-74% for matured systems, and 75%-100% for cutting edge technologies.
Maj Gen Suman has decried the drastic fall in defence exports from ordnance factories from Rs41.07 crore in 2008-09 to a mere Rs12.28 crore in 2009-10, and has called it “a reflection of the nature of quality items being produced indigenously”.
He has called for significantly increasing FDI and private sector’s participation in defence production and manufacture instead of just restricting to doors and frames of aircraft bodies.
Suman also blasted India’s offset policy which envisages Indian companies to manufacture components worth 30% of any deal bagged by a foreign company as a seller to India. He termed it a “flawed policy” as it was not contributing to upgrading the indigenous technological base.
He instead suggested that the current offset policy be amended to make transfer of technology the preferred mode.
While this is expected to take centre-stage at Aero India 2011, the intensifying contest for winning India’s $10 billion contract to procure 126 medium-weight multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCAs) will undoubtedly be the second most important issue in focus.
Not surprisingly, this is the first time ever that all six contenders for the contract are participating at an Aero India show — Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin’s F-16 Super Viper (both from USA), MiG Corporation’s MiG-35 (Russian), Dassault’s Rafale (French), EADS’s Eurofighter Typhoon (European Union’s) and SAAB’s Grippen (Swedish).
The contest between these six, this time round, will be there for all to see with these aircraft displaying their skills and manoeuvrability to win the hearts of the Indian Air Force and ministry of defence experts who are expected to place a finger on one of them for procurement.
The IAF is procuring the 126 MMRCAs to bolster its depleting squadron strength. The IAF squadron strength is at present below the sanctioned strength — just 34 squadrons as against the sanctioned strength of thirty-nine-and-a-half.
Due to the depleted squadron strength, the IAF’s combat edge/air-superiority over adversaries is under a cloud. The depletion is mainly because most of the aircraft in the IAF’s stable are old and became obsolete in mid-1990s, forcing replacement of a majority by 2010.
Even with the planned MMRCA procurement, the IAF will reach its sanctioned strength only by 2017.
The event will see the largest US participation to date. Top of the line aircraft like the F-16 Fighting Falcon, F/A-18 Super Hornet, C-17 Globemaster III, C-130J Hercules (recently procured by India) and KC-135 Stratotanker will be on display and participate in numerous flight demonstrations.
US ambassador Timothy J Roemer, commerce secretary Gary Locke, assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs Andrew Shapiro and top military officers and US Department of defence officials will be present.
Of course, not to forget, the breath-taking air displays are bound to enthral Bangaloreans, especially on the public days of February 12 and 13 (Saturday and Sunday).
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