Light weight combat aircraft FC­1 Xiaolong to be mass produced

BEIJING: The mass production of a jointly developed multi-role combat jet and a wide array of missiles in Pakistan was on the agenda for meetings of the SinoPakistani military top brass in Beijing on Thursday, experts said.

AP FILEA Pakistani­made Shaheen­III missile on display during a military parade in Islamabad.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) topped the agenda, with both countries vowing to protect the $46-billion project by increasing security along its route and strengthening manpower.

A top Chinese official said the CPEC will be made into a “landmark” project.

Pakistan Army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, held separate meetings with Gen Fan Changlong, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) that is headed by President XI Jinping, and Fang Fenghui, chief of the Joint Staff Department under the CMC.

Li Zuocheng, commander of the People’s Liberation Army, and Shao Yuanming, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department, also attended the meetings.

Besides military officials, Bajwa met vice-premier Zhang Gaoli, a member of the elite Standing Committee of the Communist Party’s Politburo.

Song Zhongping, a military expert who served in the Second Artillery Corps (now known as the PLA Rocket Force), said: “Weapon exchanges, including the mass production of FC-1 Xiaolong, a lightweight and multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the two countries, will be furthered after the meeting.”

Song told the nationalistic Global Times tabloid: “China’s authorisation to Pakistan to produce ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, anti-ship missiles and main battle tanks in Pakistan is also on the agenda.”

China’s foreign ministry played down the reports, saying defence cooperation with Pakistan was “normal”.

“China and Pakistan maintain normal defence exchanges and relevant cooperation,” foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing.

Referring to the joint production of aircraft and missiles, Hua said: “from the news release, we didn’t see anything on an agreement on ballistic missile.”

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 16

Soon after assuming office today, the Congress Government transferred 20 IAS officers, including 18 deputy commissioners.The DCs and their new stations are: Diprava Lakra (Bathinda), Dharam Pal (Mansa), Pradeep Kumar Agarwal (Ludhiana), Amar Partap Singh Virk (Sangrur), Gurpreet Kaur Sapra (SAS Nagar), Mohammad Tayyab (Kapurthala), Gurneet Tej (Rupnagar), Kanwalpreet Brar (Fatehgarh Sahib), Amit Kumar (Gurdaspur), Neelima (Pathankot), Rajiv Prashar (Faridkot), Varinder Kumar Sharma (Jalandhar), Vipul Ujwal (Hoshiarpur), Rambir (Ferozepur), Sonali Giri (Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar), Kamaldeep Singh Sangha (Amritsar), Ghanshyam Thori (Barnala) and Kumar Amit (Patiala).Among other IAS officers, Kamal Kishor Yadav has been appointed Director, Local Government, and while the services of Arshdeep Singh Thind have been placed at the disposal of the Department of Cooperation for posting as Managing Director, Markfed.

The Contribution of the dedicated Team of Sanjha Morcha ( Ex-Servicemen Joint Action front) during Punjab  Election campaign  has been appreciated by none other than Capt Amarinder Singh ,Chief Minister Punjab.

Sanjha Morcha spear headed the Campaign and collectively as Team work with other ESM organisation  of Punjab ,Mustered support to Capt Amarinder Singh and MLA’s with two targets 

(A) Save Punjab and its youths,farmers,education and drug evil and business oriented misrule of SAD.

(B) To Save Punjab from rule of outsiders who would have further Plundered Punjab.

(C ) To bring back lost glory of Punjab and bringback status of ESM and their neglected welfare in Punjab State by supporting a able and experienced Administrator.

Sanjha Morcha whole heatedly thank all Veterans especially the JCO’s and Other Ranks to achieve the target and convert their dream to see Maharajah Capt AmarinderSingh as Chief Minister Of Punjab

The Letter of appreciation handed over to

Lt Gen JS Dhariwal,Chief pattron ,Sanjha Morha

Col RS Boparai President,Sanjha Morha

and Col Charanjit Singh Khera,Gen Secy,Sanjha Morha

speaks volumes in few lines. 

Col Charanjit Singh

Gen Secy

Sanjha Morcha

NEWDELHI: India will not have the capability to scour its harbours for potential mines and explosives for at least three years, making them highly vulnerable to enemy action.

A parliamentary report on the country’s naval preparedness has revealed that the Indian Navy will be without a minesweeper till 2021, considering that the existing fleet of six Soviet-origin vessels is slated to be decommissioned by next year.

Naval forces use minesweepers to secure harbours by locating and destroying mines.

In its latest report tabled in Parliament, the standing committee on defence asked the government to make “sincere and concerted efforts” for equipping the navy with the critical capability. The panel is headed by BC Khanduri, a BJP MP who retired as a major general.

“If an enemy submarine mines shallow waters outside a key Indian harbour, we will come to know of it only after a ship blows up. We are Ram bharose (at God’s mercy),” said a navy officer.

India might sign a Rs 32,640crore deal with a South Korean shipyard for building 12 mine counter-measure vessels (MCMVs) in the country by March 31, but the first of those is likely to be delivered only in 2021. Any delay in hammering out the deal could further upset the navy’s calculations, said another officer, adding that securing India’s 12 major harbours requires at least 24 minesweepers. “The MCMVs are slated for de-induction by 20162018… 2016 has already passed, and moreover, building them will take considerable time. The committee feels that the entire process of MCMV procurement will be delayed inordinately,” the report said.

The new MCMVs will be built at the Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) in collaboration with Busan-based Kangnam Corporation under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

Major General Somnath Jha (retd)

Ahmedabad, March 6

A retired Army officer is cycling across the country to pay homage to the defence personnel who laid down their lives for the nation.Major General Somnath Jha (retd) decided to pay homage to each of the around 21,000 Armed Forces personnel, who have lost their life since Independence, by cycling for two minutes for each of them.Jha’s last posting was at Ambala Cantonment, from where he retired in September last year. He spent nearly 37 years in the Army.“I decided to travel across the nation by pedalling two minutes for each of the 21,000 martyrs, thereby travelling for 42,000 minutes across most parts of the country,” Maj Gen Jha, who is currently stationed in Gandhinagar, said.Jha said so far he has covered 30,500 minutes and plans to cover another 11,500-odd minutes by the end of April.While Jha is riding solo, he is being provided logistics support by a team of seven, including his wife Chitra, who are accompanying him on a car. — PTI

INLD bid to dig SYL Canal foiled; Haryana opposition party’s 18 MLAs, 2 MPs booked for violating prohibitory orders, sent to jail till Feb 27

PATIALA/AMBALA: Top leaders of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), including Abhay Chautala, 18 other MLAs and two MPs, were arrested by Punjab Police at Shambhu barrier on the Punjab-Haryana border on Thursday after they, along with several supporters, entered the state to undertake digging of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal.

ANIL DAYAL/HT Punjab Police taking INLD leader Abhay Chautala in custody during a protest at Shambhu barrier on the Punjab­Haryana border in Patiala district on Thursday.

They were rounded up for violating prohibitory orders and were sent to Patiala jail in judicial custody till February 27. A case under Section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Abhay and 72 other party leaders, who courted arrest, after the police refused to allow them to enter the state.

The INLD leaders had threatened to march into Punjab along with their shovel-carrying supporters towards the contentious canal, but heavy force was deployed to thwart their attempt. Punjab Police responded by constructing a 10-feet high wall of iron barricades and deployed about 5,000 armed personnel to stop the protesters from marching into the state. When the INLD workers reached the Punjab-Haryana border at the Shambhu barrier, they were clearly outnumbered by the police. They first tried to climb up the barricades to cross into Punjab, but failed and symbolically started the digging work of the SYL Canal right there. As slogans of SYL being their legal right rent the air, Abhay delivered a short speech. He accused the Centre of being biased against Haryana, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not implementing the court decision on the SYL canal. After his speech was over, Abhay and his supporters turned to go back, but suddenly stopped to have a brief consultation with party leaders.

He then changed his mind and decided to court arrest by entering Punjab.

Police officials held brief parleys with the protesters before making an announcement on loudspeaker that whosoever enters Punjab will be arrested for breaching the prohibitory orders.

Abhay and other party leaders did not resist the arrest and were taken to the Shambhu Serai where a temporary control room of Punjab Police had been set up.

After his arrest, Abhay warned that his party would not allow any Punjab leader who is opposed to the SYL Canal to travel through Haryana.

Earlier in the morning, INLD supporters started gathering at the new grain market in Ambala City for the “Jal Yudh Sammelan”. Though the number of workers at the venue was modest at the start, it began to swell rapidly after 12.30pm.

The venue was packed by the time Abhay arrived. After a quick round of speeches, they started marching on National Highway-1 (also known as GT Road) towards the Punjab border, about 2km from the rally spot.

The party leaders were ferried in tractor-trailers.

Though Haryana Police had made heavy bandobust, they did little to stop protesters from entering Punjab.

No traffic was allowed on the highway from Rajpura onwards and traffic to Ambala was diverted through Sirhind via Landran.

They were stopped by Punjab Police which had deployed 10 companies of paramilitary, antiriot squads at all entry points, besides using a helicopter and drones to keep vigil to avert any untoward situation, director general of police (DGP law and order) Hardeep Dhillon, along with inspector general, Patiala, B Chandra Sekhar, was in command of the operation.

Meanwhile, Punjab Police also didn’t allow All India Sikh Students Federation and Bains brothers’-led Lok Insaaf Party workers to reach the Punjab-Haryana border as they had announced to take the INLD head-on.

C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. — File photo

New Delhi, February 23

A C-130J Super Hercules aircraft of the Indian Air Force suffered damage while taxiing at high altitude Thoise airfield in Ladakh and a Court of Inquiry (CoI) is currently underway.One of the four engines of the aircraft was damaged in the “ground incident” on December 13 and it was brought back to Hindon airbase on the outskirts of Delhi two weeks after the incident, IAF sources said.A high-level CoI is currently underway to investigate “every possible aspect” of the incident which came nearly three years after the crash of a C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft.Sources, however, did not confirm reports that the commander of the aircraft has been relieved of duties. “Action will be taken based on the findings of the Court of Inquiry,” they said.”The aircraft flew back to home base Hindon from Thoise two weeks after the ground incident,” the sources said.The transport aircraft had taken off from Hindon and the ground incident took place while taxiing at Thoise, one of the highest airfields in the world.The IAF had inducted six aircraft of that variety bought from the US at a cost of around Rs 6,000 crore ($1 billion) in 2010.India has already ordered six additional aircraft.In August last year, the Defence Ministry had approved buying one C-130 J Super Hercules aircraft to replace the one that had crashed in 2014 in which five crew members were killed. — PT

NEWDELHI: The Modi government is all set to initiate independent India’s greatest military reforms with the creation of Integrated Theatre Commands based on geographical areas of operation or functionality and a single-point military adviser designated as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). The post of CDS, who will be responsible for acquisition and logistics, was recommended by the Kargil Review Committee headed by K Subrahmanyam after the war of 1999.

South Block sources told Hindustan Times that a discussion on the subject has already taken place between Prime Minister Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. Another meeting is expected after the ongoing round of Assembly elections to fine-tune the structured proposal. In the meantime, the Ministry of Defence is preparing a note on the envisaged structure of the integrated commands which are broadly based on the US military command structure, and proposed division of assets. Once cleared by Parrikar, the comprehensive note will be put up to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for final approval and implementation.

The US has seven geographical and two functional commands, China has seven military area commands with Lanzhou and Chengdu MACs looking after the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India. The Indian military structure is largely derived from the colonial past with the Army and Air Force having seven commands each and Navy three commands apart from the Andamans and Nicobar Command that was created last decade.

Although the theatre command concept is still work in progress, there are strong indications that each command with dedicated military resources will have a geographical area of responsibility with the commander reporting to the defence minister and ultimately the PM.

For instance, Western Command facing Pakistan will stretch from Karakoram pass in Jammu and Kashmir to Kanyakumari with complements of Army, Air Force and Navy meshed together and military objectives defined. On the anvil is a Northern Command that will take care of the military duties on LAC with Nepal and Bhutan. Similarly, Eastern Command will look after the border with Bangladesh and Myanmar. The Strategic Command and Transport Command could be based on functionality with pooled resources. South Block sources said the defence ministry is toying with the idea of creating an Indian Ocean Command, responsible for the western, eastern and southern seaboards as well protecting Indian influence from Gulf of Aden to Malacca Straits at the mouth of the South China Sea.

As each theatre command headed by a four-star general or admiral will have dedicated rather than shared assets, India would have to go in for serious materiel purchases through the Make in India route to equip the geographical formations.

One  way to understand our current military justice system is to read the sections in the Army Act of 1950 dealing with “offences in relation to the enemy and punishable with death” relating to warlike situations. Samples: “shamefully” abandoning a garrison or a defence position, casting away arms, cowardice, assisting the enemy, putting up the white flag of surrender, spreading rumours that may create alarm, a sentry who “sleeps upon his post or is intoxicated” in times of war.

Independent India has got no soldier execu­ted; that does not mean we have not had cowardice or desertion in times of war, or sentries who fell asleep. All it does is to tell us how antiquated the law is. The colonial ring of its language, and some provisions, date many of its provisions to the 1911 Indian Army Act.

There is something inherently authoritarian about the military justice system because the military is a kind of dictatorship functioning within a democracy. Given the requirements of military discipline and the preservation of good order, the system has felt a need to create an authoritarian regime where authority flows from the top to the bottom. Also, questioning an order, or not following the draconian rules, can lead to punishment that would be considered severe by the regular laws of the country.

Good order and discipline are not just about war time, but relate to the daily life of an army man requ­ired to keep the military’s fighting edge keen at all times. For this, there are summary procedures for commanding officers of units to punish jawans up to the rank of a hawaldar. Death sentence may not visit you if you desert, mutiny, steal, strike or threaten superiors in peace time, but you can still get 14 years RI and be cashiered, which means no retirement benefits.

There are other problematic provisions, such as “unbecoming” or “disgraceful conduct” of officers and junior commissioned officers, not too clearly defined, but venture into areas that go against the moral ethos of the armed forces and their sense of honour. Actually, unlike the police or other state instruments, army personnel can be punished for cruelty to civilians, defiling religious places and even infidelity.

The aim of the system is to provide a quick, but fair procedure. Safeguards are built in, but the very nature of the system raises questions. The military courts, or the courts martial, comprise benches of five or three officers with no legal training—even the prosecutor and defence councils are line officers. General courts martial usually have a judge advocate who is supposed to advise the court on the finer points of the law.

It was to tackle issues in the system that the Armed Forces Tribunals were formed in ’07. However, a systemic flaw is checking its intended aim.

In essence, the military is its own police, forensic dep­artment, judge and jury, and this is the biggest weakness of the system. While the summary court-martial is a useful means of maintaining good order, when it comes to more serious crimes, collecting evidence, its presentation and consideration by a non-specialist group can be problematic. The idea that peers are the best judges goes back to the European notion of a jury trial. In India, the system was abolished after a jury acquitted a naval commander of a 1959 murder of a businessman. The Bombay High Court overturned the verdict and tried and convicted him through a bench.

Over time, the infirmities of the system have been app­arent, especially since it has no built-in right to appeal and, given its draconian nature, bears instances of its misuse. To deal with this, the government established the Armed Forces Tribunals (AFTs) in 2007. The members here are mixed—senior retired judges and senior retired military officers.

The big problem, however, is that the AFTs come under the ministry of defence, instead of the law ministry. So the appeals system is run by the very outfit against whom the appeals are usually entered. The key powers to have their judgements and orders impl­emented have been withheld from the Tribunals, and their rulings are simply ignored, if found inconvenient.

Separating the military from society has often been seen as a means of enhancing the military effectiveness of the forces. The Army Act was a manifestation of this. But times have changed, and so have the very nature of warfare and the context of the old rules. Getting soldiers to follow orders must be accompanied by a culture where not only illegal orders are challenged, but instead draconian discipline to get them to follow orders, the officers depend on their self-esteem as professionals and their sense of being part of a team.

There are reports saying the government intends to provide the legal teeth to the tribunals. The MoD and the three services are not very happy about this, but the time has come to bring the military justice system in line with the mores of contemporary society.

(The writer is a Distinguished Fellow, Observer Re

NEW DELHI: 2016 has seen an expanding China-Pakistan nexus resulting in a heightening proxy war against India.

China has made strategic lodgment in POK’s Gilgit-Baltistan and in Pakistan with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Gwadar port.

China openly supports Pakistani radicals at the UN and the NASA photograph of Chinese nuclear attack submarine docked at Karachi during May 2016 indicates the growing China-Pakistan collaboration at sea. China has announced her naval vessels and submarines will be guarding Gwadar port.

China plans to bring its railway inside Nepal and is stoking the fires in Shan State of Myamnar through her proxies, while making major investments in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Chinese media says India’s actions in Kashmir can stir up Muslim organization in northeast, even as Pakistani terror attacks in Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Pampore, Uri, Nagrota, Samba drew no comments from China.

Three defence-related news items of recent past are significant. First, new Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat while telling the media that a two-front war is possible, lamented that of the 73 all-weather roads along the border with China and 14 strategic railways needed along the two-fronts, railway lines exist on paper and only 22 of the 73 roads have been completed over a decade after they were identified;

Second, the government has deferred the long pending demand of the armed forces to create three new commands (Cyber, Space and Special Forces) while asking them to first create capabilities and structures for such operations before going for such expansion, and;

Third, through the Shekatkhar Panel report,the government plans for reforms to turn the Army into one of the finest fighting units in the world with infrastructure and manpower to match. Initiatives include outsourcing few major services to private sector in order to cut costs and use the money better. Major reforms are expected to apply to all levels of the forces. The initiative is also expected to tackle perpetual shortage of manpower, especially in higher ranks.

With respect to border infrastructure, the state remains pathetic, for which the Ministry of Defence can’t absolve itself of blame. Last year saw protests with the Indian Army objecting to alignment of the 2,000-kilometer long road approved along the McMohan Line connecting Mago-Thingbu in Tawang (western extremity of Arunachal Pradesh), to Vijaynagar in the eastern extremity of the state.

The Army’s concern was to link this proposed strategic road to existing road heads south of it. In May 2015, then Minister of State (Defence) had stated that MoD has set itself a deadline of 2017 to complete infrastructure projects in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, and by 2018 put the infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh and the Northeast in place. But not much has progressed.

The logic to defer creation of the Cyber, Space and Special Forces Commands on grounds of “first create capabilities and structures for such operations before going for such expansion” is weird to say the least. If capabilities and structures already existed, these commands would not be required.

The least the pundits of MoD could do is learn how the Chinese military is being re-organized. To refer to these commands as “long-standing demand of armed forces” alone is fooling the public as their establishment was strongly recommended by the Naresh Chandra Committee appointed by GoI.

From public utterances of the political hierarchy, the belief that we have not fought a war since long and are not likely to be fight one is quite apparent. This shows complete misunderstanding of the fact that we are at war and will continue to be so, considering that conventional wars have been overtaken by hybrid warfare, in which cyber, aerospace and special operations have vital roles.

There is urgent need to establish a special forces command under the Prime Minister if we are to bridge the gaping strategic asymmetry vis-à-vis China and Pakistan in terms of sub-conventional capability.

As regards the Shekatkhar Panel, when and how the recommendations will be recommended are anyone’s guess. Suffice to stay for now that there have been umpteen studies in the past that have addressed teeth to tail ratio, cutting army manpower and outsourcing major services to private sector.

Where the hierarchy has always failed is implementation of these studies. In this context, the biggest failing of the government, as all previous governments, is not reorganizing higher defence structures, appointing a Chief of Defence Staff and replacing MoD bureaucrats with military professionals.

Both the K Subrahmanyam headed Kargil Review Committee and the follow up Group of Ministers headed by the then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister LK Advani strongly recommended appointing a CDS and reorganizing higher defence structures.

HQ Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) did come up because of one such recommendation but not as part of MoD (as was intended) but as separate HQ. The indications now are that should the CDS or Permanent Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee come up, he would be without operational powers; implying another puppet appointment for the bureaucracy to play around with.

Sure the ‘surgical strikes’ were executed and may be repeated too. But they are no panacea for subduing the aggressive China-Pakistan strategic nexus unless sustained covert operations are launched at strategic level.

Aside from bridging gaping strategic voids in equipping, major effort has to be made towards ensuring the security of our installations. Findings of the study post the terror attack on IAF’s Pathankot base will need urgent follow up.

The army post at Uri had just a cattle fence and no thermal imager when attacked. There is plenty of noise about ‘Make in India’ but in terms of actual equipping and modernization of the military not much has happened on ground.

In 1995, a Review Committee headed by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had set the goal of 70% self reliance in defence sector by 2005 but in 2014 (19 years later) the state was: only 30% self reliant; as per CAG, indigenous defence equipment was either sub-standard or overpriced; defence equipment held by military was 50% obsolete; proportion of state-of-the-art equipment needed to grow from current level of 15% to 30%, and current cycle including acquisitions drafted under LTIPP) was expected to include procurements worth US$ 100 billion by 2022.

With this backdrop, the fresh goal stated by the government of attaining 70% self-sufficiency in defence requirements by 2027 is more of utopia.

The anti-military constituency has prospered, even hitting consistently at the prestige and emoluments of soldiers, adverse effects of which on national security will emerge in due course.

Unfortunately the government remains intransigent to such issues. The bureaucracy remains all powerful, yet unaccountable; under British era Rules of Business of the government, the defence secretary, not the defence minister, is tasked with the defence of India and the services headquarters continue as “attached offices”.

MoD has no institutionalized set up for strategic thinking and policy formulation. Resultantly, we are without a National Security Strategy which should be the basis of a Comprehensive Defence Review.

It is these two essentials on which our defence procurement in short, medium and long term should be based.

The lack of required focus on R&D, military modernization, management of border defence, poor border defence infrastructure, poor defence-industrial complex and most importantly the un-strategic culture are apparent.

Government would do well to address these issues, to include:

-appoint CDS with full operational powers;

-induct military professionals in MoD and the defence-industrial complex;

-define National Security Strategy and undertake Comprehensive Defence Review headed by the CDS, and;

-CDS to oversee and implement such Revolution in Military Affairs under directions of the Prime Minister, initiation of which may need enactment of an Act of Parliament on lines of the Goldwater Nichols Act and the Berlin Decree that transformed the US and German defence forces respectively.

(Lt General P.C.Katoch (retired) is a veteran officer of the Special Forces)