DTN News: India To Spend $200 Billion On Defence Systems By 2022

DTN News: India To Spend $200 Billion On Defence Systems By 2022 *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - February 15, 2010: India is set to spend a whopping $200 billion on defence acquisitions over the next 12 years to replace its outdated Soviet-vintage inventory.Boeing announced on Jan. 8, 2010 that the U.S. government has received a Letter of Request from India's Ministry of Defence and the Indian Air Force regarding the potential acquisition of 10 C-17 Globemaster III advanced airlifters. The C-17 Globemaster III ~ A high-wing, 4-engine, T-tailed military-transport aircraft, the multi-service C-17 can carry large equipment, supplies and troops directly to small airfields in harsh terrain anywhere in the world day or night. The massive, sturdy, long-haul aircraft tackles distance, destination and heavy, oversized payloads in unpredictable conditions. It has delivered cargo in every worldwide operation since the 1990s. Capabilities and Functionality The C-17's ability to fly long distances and land in remote airfields in rough, land-locked regions make it a premier transporter for military, humanitarian and peacekeeping missions. It can: *Take off from a 7,600-ft. airfield, carry a payload of 160,000 pounds, fly 2,400 nautical miles, refuel while in flight and land in 3,000 ft. or less on a small unpaved or paved airfield in day or night. *Carry a cargo of wheeled U.S. Army vehicles in two side-by-side rows, including the U.S. Army's main battle tank, the M-1. Three Bradley infantry-fighting vehicles comprise one load. *Drop a single 60,000-lb. payload, with sequential load drops of 110,000 lb. *Back up a two-percent slope. *Seat 54 on the sidewall and 48 in the centerline. According to a study by the India Strategic defence magazine, nearly half of this funding, or $100 billion, will go to the Indian Air Force (IAF) which would need to replace more than half of its combat jet fleet as well as the entire transport aircraft and helicopter fleet. The Army needs new guns, tanks, rocket launchers, multi-terrain vehicles while the Navy needs ships, aircraft carriers, an entire new range of submarines including nuclear-propelled and nuclear-armed. The Army has the largest requirement of helicopters while the Navy needs both combat jets, helicopters, and a fleet of nearly 100 carrier-borne combat jets. The details of the study will be published in March but according to a brief report in India Strategic's DefExpo show daily being published Monday, it is not that India has military ambitions but just that more than 70 per cent of the inventory of the Indian Armed Forces is 20-plus years old, and needs to be replaced as well as augmented with the sophistication of modern technology. There have been few defence deals after the allegations over the acquisition of Bofors in the 1980s, and Russia, which inherited the Soviet military infrastructure, is unable to meet all the requirements. According to official Russian reports, only 10 per cent of the Russian weapons could be described as modern. All the three services as well as the Coast Guard and paramilitary organisations also need satellites and net centricity. Plans to acquire surveillance aircraft, lesser in capability though the IAF's Phalcon AWACs and the Navy's P8-I Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) are also being worked out. Pilotless intelligence aircraft (drones) generally called UAVs, including those armed, are also on the top of the list of the three arms of the forces. The report says that the Pakistani 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai, in which scores were brutally killed and wounded, has given a wake up call to India and that the authorities had realised that 24-hour, 360-degree eyes and ears and preparedness to meet any attack were a necessity. That also meant increased diplomatic and security cooperation with other countries. It may be noted that the only major aircraft to be acquired by the IAF is the Su-30 MKI, some 280 of which have already been ordered in successive follow-on deals that do not involve fresh tendering and are easy to go through procedurally. IAF has a plan to build 45 combat squadrons (about 900 aircraft), up from its maximum effective strength of 39.5 squadrons a few years ago. Many of its aircraft have been phased out due to simple ageing.