Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 10

In a first-of-its-kind meeting, Russian military spares manufacturers are set to meet Indian industry for partnerships to produce equipment in India. The Ministry of Defence wants to improve the maintenance issues on fighter jets Sukhoi-30MKI, Mi-17 helicopters, T-90 tanks and the MiG 29K naval fighters.About 70 per cent of military equipment with the Indian armed forces — the Army, Indian Air Force (IAF) and Navy — is of Russian origin. With Moscow continuing to be the largest supplier of military hardware, this scenario will not change for the next three decades.Repairs and servicing of key equipment are hampered by lack of ready availability of spares. A rather circuitous route through a single agency in Moscow makes it lengthier.The Russian Ministry of Defence had given permission and communicated to India in January about the companies or original equipment manufacturers that have been allowed to sell spares to India directly without seeking permission for each tranche.Russia’s Minister for Industry and Trade DV Manturov will lead the delegation for a two-day meeting in New Delhi (March 17 and 18) wherein they will meet with Indian MoD official and trade captains. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will address the meeting. The matter has been discussed during the summit meeting between PM Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at Goa in October.Russian manufacturers of military equipment source key parts such as engines, avionics and weaponry from producers within Russia and sometimes even Ukraine to integrate them on planes or warships or tanks.All military equipment by the very nature of it needs consumable parts which have “run-life” and need to be changed or overhauled after its specified life. For example, the Sukhoi-30 engine needs to be overhauled after a fixed number of hours — about 800-900 hours of flying.The Sukhoi is serviced and maintained by public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). There are four key suppliers. The Sukhoi has an availability rate of 65 per cent because of delay in spares. The IAF’s operated base repair depots maintain the fleet of Mi-17s.Sources here say once this is done, the HAL, IAF, Navy and the Army can source spares from Russia, have long-term supply contracts and even maintain a small stock on items which have a fixed “run-life”.

Maintenance hurdles

• Su-30MKI jets, Mi-17 helicopters, T-90 tanks and MiG 29K naval fighters have been facing maintenance issues because of lack of spares
• About 70% of India’s military equipment is of Russian origin. Russian makers further source key components from local producers or Ukraine
• The Russian defence ministry has now allowed certain companies to sell spares to India directly without seeking its permission

NEW DELHI: The armed forces, already grappling with critical operational gaps on several fronts ranging from submarines and tanks to fighters and helicopters, have hardly got any funds to go in for new modernisation projects this year.

The Army has got only 60% of the funds it had sought for modernisation in the 2017-18 budget. The Navy and IAF, in turn, got 67% and 54%. Out of the coming fiscal’s total defence outlay of Rs 2.74 lakh crore, incidentally, only Rs 86,488 crore has been earmarked for modernisation. What makes matters worse is that the bulk of this capital outlay will be used to pay “committed liabilities” of earlier arms contracts instead of new projects.

Slamming the government for all this, the parliamentary standing committee on defence on Thursday said this kind of “ad-hocism”, “casual” and “lackadaisical” approach would adversely affect the country’s defence preparedness as well as hit the morale of the armed forces.

Take the case of the 1.3-million strong Army. As opposed to a projection of Rs 42,500 crore, the force got only Rs 25,254 as capital allocation. With committed liabilities to the tune of Rs 23,000 crore, it leaves the force with a paltry Rs 2,254 crore for new projects.

“The Army’s budgetary provisioning is critically short and is likely to affect modernisation as well as operational preparedness,” said the committee, asking the government to give at least Rs 13,000 crore additional capital acquisition funds to the Army because it faces critical shortages of main-battle tanks, artillery guns, missiles, helicopters, assault rifles, bullet-proof jackets, surveillance and monitoring networks.

INS Viraat

After 30 years with the Indian Navy, aircraft carrier INS Viraat was decommissioned on Monday. In its earlier avatar, the warship had won the Falklands War against Argentina in 1982 for the Royal British Navy.It weighs about 27,800 tonnes and served in the British Navy as HMS Hermes from 1959 to 1984. In the late 1980s, the Indian Navy purchased it for USD 65 million and it was re-commissioned in 1987.On its last day in service, the fate of the aircraft carrier remained unclear as to whether it will be converted into a luxury hotel or head to scrapyard to be broken up. The decision is to be taken by the Defence Ministry. 

The flag post stands near the retreat ceremony area on the Punjab government land; the ₹4­crore project was completed by improvement trust

This is the right place for this project as thousands of people come here every day. This will inculcate a feeling of patriotism in their minds. ANIL JOSHI, local bodies minister, Punjab

From page 01 A 120-foot-long and 80-foot-wide Tricolour was hoisted on India’s tallest 360-foot flag post at the border here on Sunday. Till now, the Ranchi had the tallest flag mast at 300 feet.

The flag post stands near the retreat ceremony area on the Punjab government land and the ₹4-crore project was completed by the Amritsar Improvement Trust.

The project was inaugurated by Punjab local bodies minister Anil Joshi at a ceremony attended by officers of the Border Security Force and BJP leaders, including former state chief Kamal Sharma. Officials of the district administration didn’t attend the ceremony due to poll code of conduct.

As the Tricolour was hoisted on the imposing iron mast, it became an instant attraction for the tourists, who took selfies and pictures to capture the flag in the background. Floodlights have been installed around the flag post that will make it visible during the night. The flag will be visible miles away from the border.

Terming this as his dream project, Joshi said he took special permission from the Election Commission for the inauguration. “This is the right place to this project as thousands of people come here every day. This will inculcate a feeling of patriotism in their minds,” he said.

BSF inspector general for Punjab Frontier, Mukul Goel, said, “It is a matter of great honour that the Tricolour has been hoisted on the highest flag post here. We appreciate the effort of the Punjab government.” On there was any objection to the project from Pakistan, he said no reservations were received from the neighbouring country. BSF DIG JS Oberoi was also present.

Mandeep Singh

Vishal Joshi

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, February 25

Nearly four months after its announcement, the Haryana Government today released Rs 50 lakh for martyr Mandeep Singh’s family.A cheque for Rs 25 lakh was issued in the name of the sepoy’s widow, Prerna, and Rs 12.5 lakh each in the name of his parents, Phool Singh and Nirmala.Mandeep died during an anti-terror operation near the LoC in the Machil sector of Kupwara in Kashmir on October 28. His mutilated body was found along the LoC.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had announced Rs 50 lakh and a job to the next of kin. The delay in awarding compensation to the family, living at Anteri village was blamed on the Army. Sources denied reports that there was an official assurance on allotting a fuel station or promoting Prerna, a Haryana Police constable, to DSP.She and other members of the family tried to meet the Prime Minister on Friday to complain about the delay in compensation. She said she refused to accept the compensation in the absence of male members of the family.“I only want a martyr to be treated with respect,” she said. “The promise of a job for Mandeep’s younger brother should be met soon.”

Rs 50 lakh for Maj’s kin

• The CM has announced an assistance of Rs 50 lakh for family of Maj Satish Dahiya, who died battling militants in Kralgund, Kupwara district, on February 14. He also announced christening a government college at Nangal Chaudhary after him.

State govt takes four months to give ex gratia to Machhil braveheart

ANTEHRI (KURUKSHETRA): It took 86 days for the Haryana government to disburse ex-gratia payment to the family of Machhil braveheart Mandeep Singh, whose body was mutilated by terrorists near the Line of Control.

HT PHOTONirmala, mother of martyr Mandeep Singh (seen in a poster above), at Antehri village in Kurukshetra district.

A cheque of Rs 50 lakh was given to the family on Saturday afternoon only after the family members recently met chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and threatened to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

But other promises made by the CM are yet to be fulfilled.

“The chief minister had announced to give an ex-gratia of Rs 50 lakh and a government job to my younger son Sandeep. Apart from that he had also promised to construct a memorial on the funeral ground where my son was cremated. But most of the promises are not fulfilled”, martyr Mandeep’s mother Nirmala told Hindustan Times.

Khattar had visited the family and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 50 lakh to Singh’s kin and promised a government job to a family member.

They also claimed that the CM had also promised a promotion for Mandeep’s wife Prerna, who is a constable with the Haryana police.

“Even when we met the chief minister four days ago at his residence in Chandigarh, he assured the demands will be fulfilled, but he refused to accept the demand for Prerna’s promotion,” she said.

She said the chief minister made it clear that the government won’t be able to promote Prerna. “The CM told us that he alone cannot take the decision (of her promotion) and he needs to discuss the matter with his cabinet colleagues,” Nirmala quoted Khattar as saying.

“But the government should think about the future of this girl who lost everything at the age of 26,” she added.

As they have failed to get any immediate assurances from the chief minister, Mandeep’s younger brother Sandeep has reached Delhi to meet the Prime Minister. “We are going to meet the Prime Minister in Delhi and will return only after meeting him”, Sandeep told HT over phone.

“The government should also think about my sister-in-law. If they can promote a medal winner to the post of DSP, why can’t a widow of martyr get a promotion”, he asked.

In October last year, the 26-year-old Sepoy Mandeep Singh of the 17th Sikh regiment was martyred in a gun-fight with militants along LoC in Machill sector of Kashmir. Militants mutilated his body.

On October 30, when his mutilated body reached his native village, thousands of people, including chief minister, Kurukshetra deputy commissioner Sumedha Kataria and other officials of the district administration reached the village to console the family and assured all the support. But now the family members are running from pillar to post to get what had been assured after Singh’s death.

Haryana chief secretary DS Dhesi said , “The martyr certificate which is an essential document for release of financial assistance was received from the army authorities on February 5 and the compensation has now been released.”

Kurukshetra deputy commissioner Sumedha Kataria said she issued the cheque of Rs 50 lakh on Saturday and the money will reach the family member soon. About the delay, she said, “The file was pending with the Sikh regiment and it took 86 days to complete the process.”

She said there was no delay on the part of the state government.

On other demands of the bereaved family, she said steps were being taken to fulfill them, including the construction of the memorial.

BJP’s Kurukshetra MP Rajkumar Saini demanded of the government to fulfill its promises made to the martyr’s family.

A paramilitary jawan holds a pellet gun in Srinagar. File Photo

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 25

Amid growing concerns among the security establishment of a hot summer ahead, the controversial pellet guns in Kashmir are being fitted with deflectors to avoid casualties and injuries to vital organs, especially eyes.The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Jammu and Kashmir Police faced huge criticism during last year’s unrest over the use of pellet guns, which resulted in eye injuries to over 1,100 youths, with many losing their sight. There was a demand for a blanket ban on the guns as even deaths were reported due to the pellets during the five-month unrest following the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Inspector General, CRPF, Ravideep Singh Sahi said the force had begun installing deflectors on pellet guns and the technology would ensure that vital organs were not hit during any law and order problem. “We have been always ensuring that vital organs are not targeted… These deflectors will further ensure that only the lower part of the body is hit,” Sahi told The Tribune. In Kashmir, 47 CRPF battalions are deployed and are involved in both anti-militancy operations and restoring law and order. In central Kashmir districts alone, which include Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal, 23 battalions are deployed, which possess around 400 pellet guns. This means around 700-800 pellets guns have to be fitted with deflectors. After the injuries during the 2016 unrest, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had set up a committee to review the use of pellet guns. The panel had advised that these be used only in pressing circumstances. The forces had even experimented with Pawa (chilli-filled) guns, but these were not found effective for controlling the crowd. 

How these will work

• Deflectors are being installed at the barrel of pellet guns
• When pellets are fired, deflectors will ensure that only lower part of body is hit
• As such, any serious injury, including that to vital organs, will be avoided

URGENT IAF’s IL­78 tanker fleet plagued by maintenance problems

NEW DELHI: India is set to launch a fresh hunt for mid-air refuellers to expand strategic reach of its air force after two failed attempts to induct new tankers.

FILE PHOTOAn Indian Air Force Ilyushin Il­78 refuelling a mid­air flight.

The Indian Air Force will soon float a tender for at least six midair refuellers that could cost upwards of $2 billion, an air marshal familiar with the development said.

The IAF’s Russian-origin Ilyushin-78 tanker fleet is plagued by maintenance problems and more refuellers are required to stay prepared to counter China in the eastern sector, the threestar officer said.

This will be the third tender for tankers in the last 10 years, with the previous two failing to end up as contracts due to price complications. Ilyushin’s Il-78 and Airbus A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) offered by European aerospace corporation EADS competed for the previous tenders. The scope of the competition will be bigger this time.

A four-cornered contest is in the offing with American, Russian, European and Israeli military contractors eyeing the lucrative deal.

“We look forward to taking part in the competition with our KC-46A multi-role tanker and have had various levels of discussions with the IAF. We are following it closely,” said Robert D Schoeffling, senior manager (global sales and marketing), Boeing Military Aircraft.

The US Air Force awarded Boeing a $2.1-billion order for 15 KC-46A tanker aircraft, spare engines and wing air refueling pod kits in January, following a previous order for 19 planes last August. The KC-46A is a Boeing 767-based refueling aircraft. Boeing will build 179 KC-46 tankers for the USAF by 2027.

Israel will also be a new entrant to the competition. Israel Aerospace Industries’ Bedek Aviation Group has firmed up plans to take part in the contest with its Boeing 767200 multi-mission tanker transport (MMTT).

Bedek’s marketing and business development manager Sharon Katzir said the Israeli firm was in talks with the IAF and would compete for the order.

A Rafale jet at the show

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

Bangalore, February 15

Even as the delivery of the newly acquired fighter aircraft, the Rafale, is scheduled to commence from September 2019, its maker, the Dassault Aviation France, is expecting a bigger order to supplement ‘Make in India’ efforts.Last year, India ordered 36 twin-engine Rafale jets for 7.8 billion euros, the first major induction since the Sukhoi-30 jets started coming in batches since 1997 onwards.Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier said: “We are pushing for more orders… the existing order of 36 is not big enough to have transfer of technology”. The plan is to be in India, he said, adding “India should be ready to be part of the global supply market”.The company, he said, was in race for the additional twin-engine fighter jets needed by the IAF as well as the Navy’s requirement of 57 jets for ship deck-based operations. Yesterday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had announced that 300-400 jets (single engine and twin engine) are needed by the IAF over the next 10 years. On being asked what could be an ideal number for making in India, Trappier pointed to the original tender that was for 126 twin-engine jets. “It will be good if we get an order of some 200, including the 36 of the existing IAF order and 57 that the Navy needs,” Trappier said. 

For India, it is important to go beyond investing all energies in declaring Pakistan a “terror state” or giving any such encomium. It is unrelenting diplomatic and military pressure as well as the economic squeezing of Pakistani interests in a hypersensitive-on-terror world that will help India to shift gears and get tangible results.

Masood Azhar (left) and Hafiz Saeed enjoy impunity despite all diplomatic efforts. AFP

RAJYA Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s appeal to Members of Parliament to declare Pakistan a “terrorist state” and snap all  economic, trade and cultural ties is well meant, though insufficient in changing the essential ground realities. The evidence to nail Pakistan’s complicity in terror is incontrovertible and universally acknowledged, with the hard data since 1998 showing14,741 civilian and 6,274 security personnel killed in terror attacks, which can be directly linked to the progenitors in Pakistan. However, labelling a country unilaterally or even multilaterally does not lead to tangible course-correction. It only appeals to the constituents and cadres, internally. Declarations by forums like the UN, for anointing nations, entities or individuals as “terrorists” or “terror sponsors” is becoming irrelevant. This is due to the sophistry of the procedures involved in the designation and the subsequent inability to enforce tangible restrictions and punitive actions. The UN declaration of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed on December 10, 2008, (resolution 1822), as being associated with Lashkar-e-Toiba and Al-Qaida and for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts of activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of” both entities, mattered little to the Pakistani state. Pakistan allowed a free reign to the fugitive with civil impunity, as the Pakistanis maintained that India ostensibly lacked, “evidence nor any real proof behind their allegations”. That the UN  declared him a terrorist and that the US had placed a $10-million bounty on his head, besides the ban was simultaneously enforced on Hafiz Saeed’s organisation by other countries like UK, Russia, Australia, EU etc. was of no consequence to the Pakistani establishment and narrative. Similarly, the contradictory optics of Pakistan’s “all-weather friend” China vetoing the designation of the Jaish-e-Mohammad Chief, Masood Azhar as a “Global Terrorist” at the UN — is to be contrasted with the shocking delisting and lifting of sanctions against another virulently anti-India terrorist, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, known as the “Butcher of Kabul”. The leader of the Hezb-e-Islami faction, he is infamous for his single-handed plunder and massacre in Afghanistan. The recent pardon inked by the Afghan government led to the lifting of UN sanctions and the political rehabilitation of the warlord, who remains unrepentant, even after his established scale of brutality. In the case of Masood Azhar, unlike earlier when the proposal was initiated by India, the latest proposal to seek his branding as a terrorist was initiated by the US, UK and France. Yet, China thought it prudent to put the same on “technical hold”, even though Jaish-e-Mohammad is already an UN-designated terrorist organisation. China refuses to explain how it distinguishes the leader from the organisation. Donald Trump’s observation of the UN as “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time” reflects the growing irrelevance of such platforms.Even the much-bandied issue of withdrawing the MFN (Most-Favoured Nation) status accorded to Pakistan in 1996 (without a reciprocal status from Pakistan, citing the plausible “non-tariff barriers” made by India), is rooted more in political symbolism than punitive implications for Pakistan. On the contrary, such a move could upset the overtly advantageous trade surplus position to India, besides complicating WTO-level arrangements. So withdrawing MFN, like other forms of “naming and shaming” is more internally appealing than economically or strategically hurtful to Pakistan.The genesis of the Pakistani establishment’s  brinkmanship lies in the genealogical fault lines of its two-nation theory. The creation of Bangladesh still rankles. The necessity of keeping the “K”- bogey alive fuels the essential relevance of the trinity of ruling institutions in Pakistan — army, politicos and the clergy. Lastly, poking India via terror through “non-state-actors”, is a ploy to deflect attention from Pakistan’s own internal challenges like Panamagate and unrest in Balochistan. The only time Pakistan has undertaken a tangible course-correction is when the applecart of the Pakistani institutional structures is threatened with irrelevance, and not through any external condemnation.  Pakistan extracts leniency from the US which overlooks Pakistan’s proven duplicity on terror due to the compulsions of maintaining supply routes for its assets and personnel in Afghanistan. Despite outbursts and diplomatic berating, the US has desisted from declaring Pakistan, a “terror state”.Even the latest report submitted by the dozen odd US think tanks like the Brookings Institution, Hudson Institute, Georgetown University etc. to the Donald Trump administration suggest desisting from designating Pakistan as a “state sponsor” of terror, at least in the first year of administration. While it clearly notes Pakistani duplicity, it also recognises the geostrategic importance of keeping Pakistan afloat, given the lack of alternatives. There is a call for more direct finger pointing of the terror nurseries, sanctuaries and the infrastructure of Pakistan’s supposed “strategic depth”, as a means to exert meaningful reaction, while supporting the country’s democratic framework. The last two times that the Pakistanis retracted from their beaten path was immediately after the 9/11, when General Musharaf did a volte face owing to US pressures which threated to delegitimise the Pakistani establishment and its antecedents. The second time was after the Peshawar school massacre, which targeted the Pakistani military institution. Corrective measures were initiated by Pakistan, albeit, selectively and temporarily. Rather than investing all energies in declaring Pakistan a “terror state” or any such encomium, it is unrelenting diplomatic and military pressure and economic squeezing of Pakistani interests in a hypersensitive-on-terror world that will shift gears. The new US establishment promises a short-drift to diplomatic niceties and ambiguities. It has centred its foreign policy with an overwhelmingly anti-China stand and the Pakistanis would invariably find themselves on a sticky wicket, given its vassal status towards China. So, India may “name and shame” Pakistan with dossiers, it must be live to the thick-skinned real politik which shows that rogue nations can contextualise any negative label given to them, with creative interpretations and myth-making. Historically, the only time a course correction is initiated is when there are prospects of either a regime change, economic combustion or when the ruling “institution” faces spectres of absolute irrelevance.The writer is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

(a)Officers’ Training. For serving officers in the last two years of service and for retired/released officers’ within three years from release or up to 60 years, whichever is earlier. The serving officers, undergoing resettlement training, are treated on duty up to a maximum period of six months but they are not paid any traveling, daily allowance and are not entitled to travel on railway warrant. The officers pay 40% of the course fee and 60% fee is paid by Govt.

(b) PBOR Training. For serving PBORs in the last two years of service. PBORs on training are considered as on temporary duty and are entitled to draw their pay and allowances. 100% course fee is paid by the Govt.

(c) Ex-Servicemen (ESM) Training. The scheme is primarily meant for those Ex-Servicemen (ESM) who could not avail the facility of resettlement training while in service and is extended to the widow/one dependent of an ESM, irrespective of whether his death is attributable to military service or not. Training is organized by RSB/ZSB. ESM would be eligible to undergo training upto five years from retirement/release or 60 years whichever is earlier.