DTN News: India Glaring Lapses In Gorshkov, Scorpene, Hawk Defence Deals ~ CAG

DTN News: India Glaring Lapses In Gorshkov, Scorpene, Hawk Defence Deals ~ CAG

*Analysis: Internationally, a project for one year takes ten fold longer in India. Decisions are taken at a snail pace and time is wasted on unneccessary red tape bureaucracy. Defense procurement system is politically corrupt, as an example urgently needed Hawk Mk132 advanced jet trainers for Indian Air Force, which took 30 odd years to acquire at the cost of hundreds of young Indian Air Force pilots life. India is the largest democratically governed country in the world as is an examplery system for other nations to follow suit, but at the same time the system is a curse with too many voices and noises, NO ACTION. India should have for some period a system of administration similar to China, which is straightfoward with no two way decision making that would benefit for the betterment of the country at large. (DTN Defense-Technology News)

*Source: DTN News / The Economic Times ~ Rajat Pandit, TNN (NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - July 26, 2009: : Sleazy wheeling and dealing, huge delays and financial irregularities continue to pervade all defence deals. The Comptroller and Auditor General has now hammered the defence establishment for glaring lapses in the two biggest naval projects — acquisition of Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and indigenous construction of six French Scorpene submarines.

This comes even as India under Russian pressure is getting ready to shell out almost $2 billion (Rs 9,680 crore) over and above what was initially a `fixed price contract' of $974 million for Gorshkov's refit, while the Rs 18,798-crore project to construct six Scorpenes at Mazagon Docks has slipped two years behind schedule, as first reported by TOI.

A senior CAG official, in fact, dubbed the Gorshkov deal as the "biggest defence mess-up" ever, stopping just short of calling it a "scam". ``The defence ministry did not provide us with full cooperation and access to documents for Gorshkov. As for the Scorpene project, undue favour and financial advantage was shown to the French vendor,'' he said.

In its latest report tabled in Parliament on Friday, the nation's auditing watchdog also punched holes in several other major defence projects, including the Rs 8,120-crore project for 66 British Hawk AJTs (advanced jet trainers). Interestingly, this also comes at a time when India is negotiating a follow-on order for 57 more Hawks.

While the desperate need for an aircraft carrier, a modern submarine fleet and AJTs to train rookie pilots cannot be overstated, what the CAG report underlines is a sordid saga of squandering away of public money, without even a hint of long-term strategic planning, whichever be the political dispensation in charge.

If the earlier NDA regime inked the initial $1.5-billion package deal for Gorshkov and the Hawk AJT contract in the run-up to the 2004 general elections, the UPA government in its first avtaar finalised the Scorpene project in October 2005, amid swirling allegations of kickbacks. Coming down particularly heavily on the Gorshkov affair, the CAG report said, ``Indian Navy is acquiring a second-hand refitted carrier that has half the life span and is 60% more expensive than a new one.''

Originally meant to plug the `five-year carrier gap' in the Navy's capabilities from 2007 to 2012, Gorshkov is still a `high-risk' proposition since its delivery acceptance trials may not be completed even by 2012, it added. Russia, as reported earlier, is demanding a whopping $2 billion more over and above the initial $1.5 billion contract of January 2004, under which the carrier refit was pegged at $974 million and the rest earmarked for 16 MiG-29K fighters to operate from its deck.

The CAG report pointed to a 2004 naval assessment that a new aircraft carrier, with a life of 40 years, would cost $1,145 million and take 10 years to build. Gorshkov, in turn, would run for only 20 years. ``The acquisition cost has more than doubled to $1.82 billion in four years,'' said CAG, taking the $1.2-billion figure demanded by Russia in 2007 into account.