Indian Army’S Dhruv Helicopter the Ministry of Defence (Mod) Considers As India’S Official Defence Budget
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SEE PAge 16 February-March 2017 Volume 14 No. 1 `100.00 (India-Based Buyer Only) EDITION Now Available AERO INDIA 2017 SPECIAL NEW AN SP GUIDE P UBLICATION MEET US AT SP’s HALL AB (AB3.46) Reserve Your Own Copies, Now! [email protected] www.spsmilitaryyearbook.com WWW.SPSLANDFORCES.COM ROUNDUP Ear panel 2016-17.indd 1 08/02/17 9:40 AMTHE ONLY MAGAZINE IN ASIA-PACIFIC DEDICATED TO LAND FORCES IN THIS ISSUE >> LEAD STORY PAGE 5 PHoToGrAPH: SP Guide Pubns EXCLUSIVEE Interview Ashok Kumar Gupta Secretary, Defence Production PAGE 6 Army Air Defence — an update Army Air Defence (AAD) has the responsibility of providing Point AD to the national strategic assets like nuclear plants, oil refineries, military airbases, military industrial complexes, communication nodes, logistic nodes, gun areas, surface- to-surface missiles and so on. Lt General Naresh Chand (Retd) PAGE 8 India’sI Defence Budget 2017-18 The Finance Minister’s overall stated figure of `2,74,114 crore is, however, not what Indian Army’s Dhruv helicopter the Ministry of Defence (MoD) considers as India’s official defence budget. The difference amount between Finance Minister’s and MoD’s figures of `11,724 crore is allocated under what is considered Defence (Civil Estimates) which, inclusive of defence pension of `85,740 crore, does not Army Aviation Turns 30 form part of the official defence budget. Laxman Kumar Behera PAGE 10 A Reality Check ModernisationM of Artillery and Infantry in the Indian Army Lt General V.K. Kapoor (Retd) The Cheetah fatal accident on December 1, 2016, at Sukna Military Station PAGE 13 and the subsequent grounding of the entire fleet for mandatory checks by the Battlefield Management System for the Indian Army — a review Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has further eroded the confidence regarding Successful execution of fast moving the safety of the current fleet, which is the lifeline of troops deployed on the operations, in the future, will require an accelerated decision-action cycle Siachen Glacier and an ability to conduct operations simultaneously within an all arms group. Lt General P.C. Katoch (Retd) LT GENERAL B.S. PAWAR (RETD) support helicopters (10- to12-tonne class) still far cry, notwithstanding the hype of to enhance tactical lift capability and for the government-to-government deal with PLPLUS N NOVEMBER 1, 2016, the special operations. On the plus side it has Russia with regards to the Ka-226T heli- AAppointments — indian Army 9 Army Aviation Corps com- inducted the largest number of the Hin- copter, which at best would be available in pleted 30 years of its existence dustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)-built a time frame of three to four years, pro- India Celebrates Republic Day 14 since its formation in1986. advanced light helicopters (ALH/Dhruv) vided everything proceeds as planned. The News in Brief 15 However, at the end of these30 — approximately 70 Dhruvs are opera- non-availability of this crucial platform Oyears it continues to fly the outdated and tional with the Army Aviation and two in adequate numbers in the next three vintage fleet of Cheetah/Chetak helicop- units of the armed version of the Dhruv to four years is going to seriously impact ters, is faced with a muddled and confused called the Rudra are presently under vari- on the army’s high altitude operations government policy on ownership of attack ous stages of raising. and has very serious consequences for helicopters, and has seen no progress on However, the critical issue of the Chee- national security. The Cheetah fatal acci- the acquisition plans for the tactical battle tah/Chetak helicopters replacement is dent on December 1, 2016, at Sukna Mili- APPLIED FOR 1/2017 SP’s LAND FORCES 1 >> LEAD STORY and the expenditure of `2,74,114 Obsolescence of the weap- tions, with the existing high degree ity. The latter capability (half-front) crore (approximately $42 billion) ons held by the army and the of obsolescence in our weaponry? is for the asymmetric wars men- of the taxpayers money. The total existing voids in infantry combat Many among us seem to feel tioned above which would have defence budget of `2,74,114 crore vehicles and battle tanks and that the region being nuclearised to be fought simultaneously. So if is 1.63 per cent of the gross do- the poor upgradation status is an we do not need to worry about the latter are to be believed then mestic product (GDP) and 12.77 ongoing story which is repeated conventional military operations. If where do we stand today? per cent of the Central Govern- every year. Last but not the least that be so why are we still keeping Our analysis is that as pres- ment expenditure (CGE) without is the extremely poor state of such large armed forces which we ently equipped and configured counting the defence pension. the army aviation helicopter fleet can ill afford to maintain. In fact a we are incapable of fighting a Notwithstanding the above which needs complete replace- 40 division army, a 44 squadron two-front war against our poten- facts, this year s defence budget ment of nearly 200 obsolete air force and a 150 ship navy can- tial adversaries. This should be of is once again woefully inadequate Cheeta and Chetak helicopters. not be maintained on 1.63 per serious concern for the govern- Defence analysts are busy de- for the type of replacements of The gravity of the situation can cent of the GDP and thus mainte- ment. It is high time that the gov- mystifying the defence budget weapons/modernisation required be gauged by the fact that even nance and modernisation of such ernment took a complete review presented by the Finance Minister by the three Services. Currently the wives of the army officers fly- a large force with this allocation is of our defence capabilities and in his budget presentation to the in this editorial we are concerning ing these machines had met the not possible. current security doctrines and Parliament on February 1, 2017. ourselves mainly with the Army s Defence Minister to express their On the other hand, there are take appropriate measures to EDITORIAL We are using the term demystify- requirements. These range from fears and apprehensions regard- other equally competent military protect national interests. ing the budget because the gov- the lowest category of weapons ing the safety of their husbands. analysts who say that in view of Please visit SP Guide Publi- ernment functionaries take a vi- (personal weapons) in the hierar- From time to time our Chiefs unresolved borders we not only cations at Hall AB (AB3.46) dur- carious pleasure to so position the chy of weapons which is the as- and political leaders remind us that need to look after our western, ing Aero India at Bengaluru from figures in the budget that some- sault rifle and the close quarter if there is a conflict in the future we northern and eastern frontiers but February 14-18, 2017. one who wishes to analyse the battle carbine to the crew served will have to fight on two fronts and we also need a separate force defence budget has to go through weapons such as the anti-tank they take pains to put the nation at to cater for insurgencies, terror- a plethora of figures before he can guided missiles, artillery howit- ease by stating that we are ready ism and proxy wars which would derive any meaningful deduction. zers (towed, truck mounted and for all eventualities. Should the present a simultaneous challenge Perhaps this is the reason that self-propelled) air defence weap- people not be told the truth about along with conflicts at the borders, our parliamentarians are unable ons (including shoulder-fired mis- our potential to undertake defen- and this implies not just two-front to discuss the defence budget siles and surface-to-air missiles). sive and offensive military opera- but two-and-a-half-front capabil- Lt General V.K. Kapoor (Retd) PHoToGrAPHS: SP Guide Pubns, HAL Indian Army’s advanced light helicopters (ALH) in flight (left); Rudra ALH-WSI (right) tary Station while coming in to land and is a positive development,but its likely trans- ‘make in India’ policy. This also means that Safran Helicopter Engines (parent com- the subsequent grounding of the entire formation into realty seems a distant dream HAL as the nodal agency on behalf of the pany of Turbomeca) have agreed to estab- fleet for mandatory checks by HAL has fur- in the current situation. The complexities Indian Government will have to negotiate lish in India a support centre for helicopter ther eroded the confidence regarding the involved in this project are far too many separately with third country vendors for engines, catering to their manufacturing safety of the current fleet — this affect is and one will have to wait and watch as to indigenising their components and systems and provision of maintenance, repair and already being felt as the Cheetah helicop- how these will be addressed and resolved especially the engines. overhaul (MRO) facilities — this joint ven- ters are the lifeline of troops deployed on eventually — the prospect of concluding a There has however been a positive devel- ture (JV) is expected to come up this year in the Siachen Glacier. contract for the Ka-226T project anytime opment on this crucial issue emanating Goa.This JV will initially cater to TM 333 soon does not inspire much confidence. The from the recently concluded Farnborough and Shakti engines installed on the HAL- Cheetah/Chetak Replacement Ka-226T helicopter, however, is a suitable Air Show.