Retour aux nouvelles

7 juillet 2020 | International, Terrestre

India accelerates weapons purchases in wake of border clash with China

By:

NEW DELHI — India has accelerated the domestic and foreign purchase of weapons in the wake of a border clash between Indian and Chinese troops.

Sino-Indo relations are suffering after a skirmish with Chinese troops on June 15 in Galwan Valley. India said 20 of its soldiers were killed, as were Chinese soldiers. Chinese officials have not confirmed any casualties.

The Defence Acquisition Council on Friday approved a collection of arms procurement projects worth $5.55 billion, including domestic efforts worth $.4.44 billion. DAC is an apex-level body that falls under the purview of the Ministry of Defence.

“In the current situation and the need to strengthen the armed forces for the defence of our borders, and in line with our Prime Minister's clarion call for ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat' [self-sufficient India], the DAC, in its meeting of July 2 held under the chairmanship of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, accorded approval for capital acquisitions of various platforms and equipment required by the Indian armed forces. Proposals for an approximate cost of $5.55 billion were approved,” the MoD said in a statement.

Under the approval, India will upgrade 59 of its MiG-29 aircraft and buy 21 more from Russia for about $1 billion. In addition, India will order 12 Russian-made Su-30MKI fighters from the local state-owned company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for $1.53 billion.

The government has also approved several indigenous development programs, including ammunition for Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers; an armaments upgrade of BMP-2 infantry combat vehicles; software-defined radios; Nirbhay land-attack cruise missiles; and Astra beyond-visual-range missiles.

The government also approved the emergency purchase of Excalibur artillery rounds for M777 ultralight howitzers from the United States, Igla-S air defense systems from Russia and Spike anti-tank guided missiles from Israel.

It's also granted special financial powers that comes with a ceiling of $71.42 million to rapidly buy weapons. But these fast-track purchasing programs will still involve a multi-vendor competition. Twenty-five of these procurement programs are for the Army and the Air Force; 10 are for the Navy. The Army is likely to buy ammunition for its T-90 tanks, BMP-2 vehicles, air defense guns, artillery guns and small arms, as well as rockets, missiles and mortars. The Air Force is likely to buy air-to-air missiles, air to-ground missiles, smart bombs, chaffs, flares and precision-guided munitions.

As part of the procurement effort, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar visited Moscow from June 22-25 and met with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov and chief of Rosoboronexport Alexander Mikheev.

An MoD official said India requested the immediate supply of spare parts for Su-30MKI fighters, Kilo-class submarines and T-90 tanks, as well as the emergency purchase of missiles and specialized ammunition for Russian-origin fighter jets, tanks, warships and submarines.

Another MoD official said the Indian government plans to sign defense contracts with Russia worth $800 million to buy weapons and spare parts.

DAC-approved projects are expected to be awarded within a year, with technology induction starting after about three years. For fast-track and emergency purchases, induction is to begin within a month and be completed within a year.

Ashok Sharma with The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2020/07/06/india-accelerates-weapons-purchases-in-wake-of-border-clash-with-china/

Sur le même sujet

  • Here’s the robotic vehicle that will carry equipment for US troops

    6 novembre 2019 | International, Terrestre

    Here’s the robotic vehicle that will carry equipment for US troops

    By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has selected General Dynamics Land Systems' Multi-Utility Tactical Transport, or MUTT, for its Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport unmanned ground system program of record. The initial contract for the eight-wheel drive robotic vehicle totals $162.4 million and includes support hardware, user training and technical support. The contract will wrap up at the end of October 2024, according to an Oct. 30 Defense Department announcement. GDLS will produce 624 systems for the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport, or SMET, program under the contract and will begin delivery in the second quarter of fiscal 2021, an Army spokesperson confirmed to Defense News. Four companies were chosen at the end of 2017 to compete to build the robotic vehicle that will help troops carry equipment on the battlefield. A team of Applied Research Associates and Polaris Defense; General Dynamics Land Systems; HDT Expeditionary Systems and Howe & Howe were selected to build 20 platforms each that were issued to two infantry brigade combat teams for testing and analysis of utility in the field. Polaris' MRZR X was evaluated as well as HDT's six-wheel drive Global Hunter WOLF, or Wheeled Offload Logistics Follower. Textron-owned Howe & Howe offered its Grizzly unmanned vehicle, which is powered by an electric engine. HDT's Global Hunter WOLF was recently picked, along with three other teams to include Textron and QinetiQ North America, to compete to build vehicles for the Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light effort. The Army selected those teams from an array of companies chosen to participate in a demonstration event in the fall of 2017 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Other companies that participated in that demonstration included American Robot Company; Lockheed Martin; AM General; Robo-Team NA; and QinetiQ North America. For the SMET program, the Army was looking for a vehicle that can carry about 1,000 pounds worth of soldier equipment. This equates to lightening the load of nine soldiers across an infantry squad. The Army wanted the robots to be able to travel 60 miles over three days and to be able to provide a spare kilowatt hour of power while moving and at least 3 kilowatt hours while stationary. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/10/31/heres-the-robotic-vehicle-that-will-carry-equipment-for-us-troops

  • Turkey hopes new engine deal will power future TF-X fighter jet

    17 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial

    Turkey hopes new engine deal will power future TF-X fighter jet

    By: Burak Ege Bekdil ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's procurement agency has commissioned a local company to develop critical technologies for an engine that the government hopes will power its first indigenous fighter jet. A contract was signed Feb. 14 between two state-controlled companies for the development program. Under the deal, TRMotor, an engine maker, will develop an auxiliary power unit and an air turbine start system for what Turkey hopes will be critical components of an indigenous engine to power the TF-X aircraft. TRMotor signed the deal with the prime contractor of the TF-X program, Turkish Aerospace Industries, another state-controlled defense company. “The program aims to develop critical technologies ... that will enable us [to] possess indigenous engines,” said Osman Dur, general manager of TRMotor. “The [indigenous] TF-X engine is at the moment at its concept design phase.” TRMotor is completely owned by SSTEK A.S., a defense technologies company owned by Turkey's defense procurement agency, the Presidency of Defense Industries, or SSB. This is a milestone contract for the TF-X program,” said TAI CEO Temel Kotil. The deal comes as SSB is holding talks to co-produce an engine with a consortium of the British company Rolls-Royce and Turkish firm Kale Group. In 2017, Kale Group and Rolls-Royce launched a joint venture to develop aircraft engines for Turkey, initially targeting the TF-X. But the £100 million (U.S. $139 million) deal was effectively put on hold due to uncertainties over technology transfer. A year before the partnership, TAI signed a $125 million heads of agreement with BAE Systems to collaborate on the first development phase of the TF-X. Turkey originally planned to fly the TF-X in 2023, but aerospace officials put off the target date to the 2025-2026 time frame. The TF-X program, or MMU in its Turkish acronym, has been crawling over the past years due to technological failures and know-how transfer. Turkish engineers must first select an engine for the planned aircraft before they finalize their designing phase. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2021/02/16/turkey-hopes-new-engine-deal-will-power-future-tf-x-fighter-jet/

  • China-Linked CeranaKeeper Targeting Southeast Asia with Data Exfiltration

    2 octobre 2024 | International, Terrestre

    China-Linked CeranaKeeper Targeting Southeast Asia with Data Exfiltration

    CeranaKeeper, a China-linked threat actor, targets Southeast Asia using custom tools to steal data via Dropbox and OneDrive.

Toutes les nouvelles