Rostec, the maker of AK-47 assault rifles and MiG fighter jets, plans to will focus on selling more to India, Indonesia to become one of the world’s top 5 defence firms within a decade

Hong Kong: Asia is a key part of Moscow-based Rostec State Corp.’s plan to become one of the world’s top five defence companies within a decade, according to a senior executive.

Rostec, whose units account for about 70% of Russia’s defence industrial base and include AK-47 assault rifles and MiG fighter jets, will focus on selling more to countries including India, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, Viktor Kladov, Rostec’s director for international cooperation, said in an interview conducted by email on 24 March.

Russia is attempting to diversify its economic, diplomatic and security ties throughout Asia and the Middle East, partly to overcome sanctions imposed by the European Union and US over the Ukraine crisis. Capturing a bigger slice of rising defence budgets in Asia — and market share from competitors in the US, Europe and China — fits with that strategy. US sanctions specifically target Rostec and subsidiaries.

“I believe that we can manage this work,” Kladov said, while attending the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in Malaysia. “Countries are increasingly striving to get access to technologies so as to be able to organize domestic production, and not to depend solely on imports. All this is potentially a vast business volume — this is a worldwide trend.”

China competition

Russia’s ambitions in Asia will put it head-to-head with China, one of its biggest customers and increasingly a competitor as it attempts to establish itself as an arms supplier. China, which used to rely on selling copies of Russian weapons systems, is starting to develop more advanced equipment.

“Since the Russian economy isn’t doing so well, arms exports are a very attractive way to make money, so I am not surprised that they are really aggressive when trying to push their arms exports, particularly in Asia,” said Richard Bitzinger, who studies the military as a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “They may have isolated successes, but they are far from being the supplier of choice.”

Rostec was set up a decade ago when Sergey Chemezov, who was running Russia’s largest arms producer, persuaded the government to bring state-owned assets under a single conglomerate. The company now owns businesses from producers of vaccines to the country’s largest passenger-car maker and had about $22 billion of revenue in 2016.

Putin ally

Chemezov is close to President Vladimir Putin, with links that date back to the 1980s. During Putin’s days as a KGB officer, they lived in the same apartment complex in Dresden, Germany. He is among an inner circle of Russian officials that the US has sanctioned in retaliation over the Ukraine conflict.

To reach the top five defence firms globally — up from the top 10 now — Rostec aims to increase revenue measured in rubles by an average of 17% a year until 2025. Some areas, such as electronics and information technology, are targeting growth of as much as 22.5%, Kladov said.

Defence accounts for 70% of Rostec’s revenue, according to figures supplied by the company, which isn’t listed and releases a limited amount of data. It didn’t provide revenue figures for Asia. Here’s a round-up of Rostec’s activities in the region:

India

Rostec expects to sign a contract with India for the co-production of about 200 Ka-226T helicopters, Kladov said without giving a time frame. The company also hopes to get approval this year for four frigates: two built in Russia and two in Indian shipyards with a transfer of Russian technology. Rostec has already licensed the production of T-90 battle tanks and multi-functional SU-30MKI fighters to Indian partners.

Nitin Wakankar, a spokesman for India’s defence ministry, said he had no comment because the negotiations with Russia aren’t yet public.

Indonesia

Kladov said Indonesia represents “a vast potential for cooperation.” He reiterated his prediction that the government would sign a contract for delivery of Su-35 fighter jets, after which the two sides would work on naval projects and sales of both helicopters and Be-200 amphibious aircraft to fight wildfires. Indonesian Air Force spokesman Jemi Trisonjaya said the defense ministry hasn’t decided on the vendor or the budget to replace a squadron of F-5E Tiger jet fighters.

Thailand

In Thailand, Rostec is trying to break into an arms market that has been traditionally dominated by the US and Europe, because its officers mostly studied in American academies, Kladov said. Rostec plans to deliver four military transport Mi-17V-5 helicopters to Thailand later this year, which Kladov predicted would lead to further sales “provided that financing is available.”

He also saw scope to cooperate in combat aircraft, naval machinery and the civil market, citing last year’s sale of two Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 LR planes mainly for use by the Thai Royal family. Defence ministry spokesman Kongcheep Tantravanich couldn’t be reached on his cell phone.

Philippines

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly questioned his country’s decades-old military alliance with the US and signalled his willingness to buy Russian and Chinese weapons. His government has provided Rostec a “wish-list”’ of arms it seeks to purchase, Kladov said, adding that Russian commercial or state financing could be considered. Philippine defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana didn’t immediately respond when asked about plans to procure Russian arms. In 2007, Russia extended a $1 billion credit facility to Indonesia for purchasing Russian-made military equipment. Bloomberg

AMARINDER WAS TOLD THAT DIRECTIONS HAVE BEEN ISSUED TO THE RBI TO ENSURE ALL ARRANGEMENTS FOR WHEAT PROCUREMENT

CHANDIGARH: Union finance minister Arun Jaitely has assured Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to clear a cashcredit limit (CCL) of ₹20,683 crore for wheat procurement to the Punjab government by March 25.

HT PHOTOChief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and finance minister Manpreet Badal meeting Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Amarinder, who met Jaitley in New Delhi on Wednesday, was told that directions have been issued to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ensure all arrangements for wheat procurement. The state government had sent a proposal to the Centre seeking CCL two months back.

Timely procurement was one of the key promises of the Congress during the poll campaign. “I am sure that there would no problem in the release of the CCL because we have squared the CCL taken by Punjab in the previous rabi season which is prerequisite to get limit for the current season,” said chief principal secretary to the Punjab CM Suresh Kumar, who also accompanied Amarinder and state finance minister Manpreet Badal to Delhi.

Procurement in Punjab would begin from April 1 and state government is expecting arrival of 120 to 125 lakh tonnes of grain in the mandis, out of which state’s five agencies would procure 100 lakh tonnes and the rest would be procured by the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

REWORKING OF TERM LOAN AFTER CABINET APPROVAL

The Punjab government has decided to take up reworking of ₹31,000 crore term loan with the Centre.

Last month, the Centre and state government agreed to convert the mismatch of ₹31,000 crore of the CCL taken in previous procurement seasons. The principle amount of the term loan is ₹12,500 crore and ₹18,500 crore is the interest. “We would take the cabinet’s approval before approaching the Centre,” Suresh Kumar told HT.

Sarbjit Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 21

It is learnt that Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi tomorrow, would tell him that Haryana can’t claim Punjab riverwaters as it had not given water from the Yamuna, which was part of Punjab before the state’s reorganisation in 1966.Sources said Capt Amarinder would present facts and figures before Modi to make a case for the state’s riverwaters. He would ask the Prime Minister to first address other matters related to riverwaters, keeping the SYL canal issue in abeyance.The state government has decided to make the allocation of Yamuna waters to Punjab a major issue. A senior official of the Irrigation Department said Haryana’s Yamuna water share was about 4.65 MAF (million acre feet). It was drawing more than 2 MAF, sources said.The state wants Modi to ask Haryana to give Punjab 60 per cent of the total water that would be available to Haryana from the Yamuna. Haryana has got a share of Punjab’s riverwaters, but it has not given share from the Yamuna.Another matter that Capt Amarinder would raise pertains to the proposed linking of the Sharda and Yamuna rivers. With the linking of the two rivers, Haryana would get about 5.5 MAF. That would meet Haryana’s requirement, a Punjab official said. The Chief Minister would ask Modi to take up the project on priority.Capt Amarinder would also raise the issue of re-measuring the flow of water in the Ravi-Beas rivers. As the flow of water in the two rivers has decreased substantially over the years, the CM would insist that a tribunal should be set up to reassess the availability of water.Besides, the CM would tell Modi that sub-soil water has gone down up to 300 feet in some blocks of the state.

DGP Dhillon heads panel to downsize security to VIPs

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 17

The newly formed Congress government is all set to prune the security provided to VIPs, with 6,000 policemen attached with politicians and police officers likely to be sent back to field duty by next week. Also, the 60 police escort vehicles will now be used for general policing.A state-level review committee under DGP (Law & Order) Hardeep Singh Dhillon was today constituted after Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora told Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh that Punjab had the best police-public ratio in the country, yet there were not enough policemen on the streets to check crime.The committee will submit its report to the DGP, with category-wise recommendations, by March 24.The other members on the committee are ADGPs (Intelligence) Dinkar Gupta, ADGP (Security) BK Bawa, who is member secretary, and IGP (Special Protection Unit) Pramod Ban.The Bureau of Police Research and Development had in 2014 pointed out that 5,811 cops were guarding VIPs in Punjab (the highest in the country). This number later swelled to 12,000. Facing flak, the SAD-BJP government pulled back 4,000 security guards during two drives — the first in 2016 and the second just before the 2017 Assembly elections.Police sources, pointing out that having guards had become a status symbol, said some SP-rank officials had more that 25 policemen serving them. A DSP-level officer, who was well-connected, had 20 gunmen and a Congress leader about 100.Both AAP and the Congress had in their manifestos promised to do away with the “gunmen culture” in the state. Newly appointed Finance Minister Manpreet Badal had yesterday declined police security, the first politician to do so.

Bullet-proof vehicles for Jassi, 2 others

• Security to Harminder Singh Jassi, Congress candidate who lost from Maur, has been upgraded to ‘Z plus’. A relative of Dera Sacha Sauda chief, he escaped two blasts on February 1. He has been given a bullet-proof Scorpio, a mobile jammer and an escort vehicle. Patiala’s Pawan Gupta, chief of Hindustan Shiv Sena, and Panchanad Giriraj Maharaj, head priest of Kali Mata Temple, too have been given a bulletproof vehicle each. TNS

Sanjha Morcha Team Col RS Boparai,President

Col BalbirSingh President Punjab unit, Brig Prahalad singh Chairman and Col CJS Khera gen secy

At the behest of bureaucracy, Parrikar started interfering in the internal affairs of the armed forces, instead of leaving them to the chiefs. It was also during his helmsman-ship that the defence budget touched a nadir, at less than 1.6% of the GDP.

Speculation about the change of the current Defence Minister had been going on even before the recently held elections in many states were announced. With the Goa Governor inviting Manohar Parrikar to form the government, it is no longer speculation.Parrikar remained Defence Minister for less than two and a half years, which, of course, is just a statistic. More important is how his tenure has been as the political head of the Indian military. Before one carries out an analysis, it may be pertinent to have a look at the task a Minister of Defence is required to perform and how his predecessors have fared.Since Independence, the country has had a total of 25 defence ministers, of which six were also prime ministers. Like other ministers, there is no fixed tenure for the defence minister, who is appointed or removed by the prime minster. The minister is often assisted by a minister of state for defence and, less commonly, the lower-ranked deputy minister of defence. The first defence minister of independent India was Baldev Singh, who was appointed even in the Interim Government, from September 2, 1946, and then continued after Independence till 1952.If one were to make a broad statement, it appears to a military person like me that the Indian armed forces have not been singularly lucky in having wise, efficient and professionally knowledgeable defence ministers most of the time. This is despite the fact that the minister has an extremely important role to play in the council of ministers. The reason is that a Defence Minister is a member of the powerful Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) — the earlier avatar was the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs — and which is the highest policy making body in the country on all aspects of national security.If one were to ask the officials of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) the same question, they will either refuse to commit themselves or express happiness at each one of them, because they continued to rule the roost irrespective of who defence minister was! That, in brief and without any further explanation, is the difference between the outlooks of military and civil officials.Returning to who has been the most effective defence minister, I will without any hesitation take the name of Arun Singh, who was only a minister of state as Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had kept the portfolio of defence with himself. The reason was that he appreciated the nuances of security issues; was aware of the requirements of the military and what made it tick; and did not pander to the foibles and intrigues of the generalist bureaucracy.‘Kicking upstairs’ is a well-known phrase; I wonder if there an expression such as ‘kicking downstairs’! Be that as it may, there is also no clarity relating to the inter se importance between a Cabinet minister at the Centre and a chief minister of a state. Even in the past, there have been cases of movements to and from the Centre to the states, and vice versa. Sharad Pawar was appointed Defence Minister on June 26, 1991, but in March 1993 he was moved to Maharashtra as chief minister.When Parrikar took over as defence minister from Arun Jaitley on November 9, 2014, there was a sense of relief as well as optimism. Jaitley, then wearing two hats, had his eyes only on the North Block. The country in general and the military in particular could not understand why these two important ministries had been placed under one incumbent, especially one who had been rejected by the people in the elections and had come by the Rajya Sabha route.The military welcomed Parrikar for being more professional and technically sound than a politician. They reposed their faith in him and expected that he would ensure a better deal for them; would assist them in regaining their pride and élan that had been severely eroded over the past two decades; and were looking forward to moves towards modernisation that had virtually stopped. However, they were disappointed to see that his party colleagues saw him as a provincial politician and he was unable to change the dispensation or the system.Parrikar’s tenure as defence minister had its ups and downs; perhaps more of the latter as far as the military is concerned. At the behest of the bureaucracy, he started interfering in the internal affairs of the armed forces, instead of leaving them to the chiefs of the Services, which is rightly their domain. He made somewhat of a mess of the long-pending and highly emotive issue of granting OROP as it was meant to be, because of succumbing to the balderdash of inadequacy of funds — the excuse given by the Finance Ministry as well as bureaucrats of the MoD. In the bargain, he not only alienated the armed forces but also affected the morale of the forces. Ultimately, while the military continued to struggle to get their dues in financial terms, the bureaucrats, police and other civil administrative services walked away smugly with all kinds of enhancements, perks and the like. Even the so-called NFU is being denied, despite a judicial ruling on the issue!Besides financial matters, it was during the helmsman-ship of Parrikar that the plummeting of the defence budget reached a nadir, with less than 1.6 per cent of the GDP being allotted in this year’s budget. That brings down the military to the same level as it existed in 1962, the outcome of which is well-known to the nation. Even in percentage terms, the year-on-year growth of 5.6 per cent is ridiculously low. In the previous year too, it was equally bad. Other parameters on which the defence budget could be assessed are also dismal, e.g., it is only 12.77 per cent of the Central government expenditure (CGE). The Army, Navy and Air Force have received only 60, 67 and 54 per cent, respectively, of the funds they had sought for modernisation. In addition, out of the total outlay of Rs 2.74 lakh crore, only Rs 86,488 crore has been earmarked for modernisation. What makes it worse is that the bulk of this capital outlay will be used to pay “committed liabilities” of earlier arms contracts, instead of new projects.When a Defence Minister joins the committee culture of the bureaucracy, as Parrikar has done, with recommendations of the committees either pending or extended or lying in cupboards without any action, then all is obviously at a standstill on the security of the nation.Perhaps the worst action that Parrikar took was joining his party colleagues in grossly taking credit for the professionally competent actions of the army in its much publicised surgical strike and virtually politicising the Indian military, which takes pride in its apolitical ethos.Parrikar is a well-meaning, intelligent and highly educated person, but he was perhaps too much of a gentleman to squarely face his well-entrenched colleagues in the party and the government. This resulted in his doing very little to assist the armed forces in many aspects, some of which have been highlighted above.—The writer is a former vice chief of army staff.

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CAPTAIN DECIMATED THE GENERAL BY 52,335 VOTES, THE HIGHEST EVER VICTORY MARGIN IN STATE’S HISTORY; GENERAL LOSES SECURITY DEPOSIT

PATIALA: In the electoral battle between a Captain and a General, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh showed little mercy on his ‘superior’ (going by the army ranks they held) JJ Singh of the Akali Dal . The Captain decimated the General by 52,335 votes, the highest ever victory margin in Punjab assembly polls. Worst still, JJ Singh finished a poor third and forfeited his security deposit.

Capt Amarinder bagged 72,586 votes, almost 70% of total votes polled. General JJ Singh was polled only 11,677 votes, less than Dr Balbir Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party, who bagged 20,179 votes to stand second.

The Capt juggernaut went full steam right from the first round of the counting and the margin kept increasing as the time progressed. After third round, General JJ Singh could see the writing on the wall as the lead surpassed 10,000 votes. “I accept defeat and wish good luck for Amarinder for the victory and on his birthday. I will remain available for Patiala residents for help,” said JJ Singh, as he left the counting hall.

In his four consecutive wins from the seat, Amarinder’s victory margin has been increasing. In 2012, Amarinder won by 42,318 votes and in 2007 polls, his victory margin was 32,695. Amarinder’s first win from Patiala seat was in year 2002 and he became the chief minister at that time.

As Amarinder was busy canvassing in Punjab, his wife Preneet Kaur, daughter Jayainder Kaur and granddaughter Seherinder Kaur, held the fort for him.

Capt Amarinder Singh holds a press conference in Chandigarh. Tribune photo: Pardeep Tewari

Sarbjit Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 11

With the Congress heading towards a landslide win in Punjab, state Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh has proved a saviour for the party. Obviously, the Congress will use the Punjab platform to improve the fortunes of the party in other parts of the country. Had it not done well this time, it would probably have been finished forever in the state.While handing a crushing defeat to the ruling SAD-BJP combine and also rejecting the rookie Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the voters comprehensively trusted the leadership of the experienced Capt Amarinder Singh to give a decisive mandate to the Congress.Earlier, the same voters had rejected the Congress twice–in 2007 and 2012–in a row under his leadership. What made the voters repose faith in the Congress this time was the commitment shown by Amarinder to the party’s cause. He not only devoted full time to the campaign, but reached out to various sections of society, especially youth and farmers to secure a historic win. His unwavering stand over sensitive issues like the SYL canal besides drugs, unemployment, law and order and deteriorating fiscal situation made people give him another chance to set the things right.

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In fact, this time Amarinder was a completely changed person. Whereas he remained a cool campaigner and did not play tough and aggressive against his rivals, he made all-out efforts to take all senior party leaders along besides infusing fresh blood in it in the larger interest of the party. He stuck to his stand of one ticket to one family. He tried hard to pacify the party rebels and to make them withdraw from contesting the elections. That also helped the party to do well. The Congress has done well across the state. But it has performed exceedingly well in Majha.The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which had created history by registering a win second time in a row in 2012, has this time touched a historic low. This is one of its worst electoral defeats in the state.The election has given not one but many lessons to the SAD; most important of these is that deras, tactics and management cannot make a party win.It is people’s perception and trust that takes a party through. The SAD-BJP combine had lost the trust of people on many fronts, including law and order, corruption, economy and governance. The open loot of state resources such as sand and gravel, excesses committed by some halqa in-charges and arrogant conduct of many ministers and party leaders made the people comprehensively reject the party and its partner, the BJP.But above all, the concentration of power in one family and outright promotion of dynastic power axis made people ditch the party.     As far as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is concerned, it failed to understand the complexity of the state politics because of its inexperience. It overplayed the Sikh card that proved its undoing. It did not address the concerns of urban constituency and banked on the rural Malwa, which made it sink.The AAP has finished a poor third in almost all constituencies of Majha and in most constituencies of Doaba. In fact, in the last Lok Sabha election, the AAP was placed at number one in 33 constituencies and at number two in eight constituencies, but in the Assembly elections it will be at number one in less number of constituencies than that.

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