DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Is China Ready To Use Military Might in Southeast Asia

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Is China Ready To Use Military Might in Southeast Asia 

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth - DTN Defense News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 11, 2014: China's Harbin (112) guided missile destroyer takes part in a week-long China-Russia "Joint Sea-2014" navy exercise at the East China Sea off Shanghai, China. 

In an annual report to Congress, the Pentagon said China is developing and testing new types of missiles, expanding the reach of its navy and upgrading its air force. China is also investing in military capabilities in cyberspace, space and electronic warfare.

The report said China’s military modernization was driven primarily by potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait, but also by its expanding interests and influence abroad, and increased tensions in the East China and South China seas. In November, China conducted its largest naval exercise to date in the Philippine Sea.

China has been engaged in territorial disputes with several of its neighbors, including U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines. China is currently locked in a tense, offshore standoff with the Vietnam.

In a long-standing U.S. criticism of China’s military expansion over the past two decades, the Pentagon criticized China’s lack of openness about its strategy, which it said has caused concerns in Asia.

“Absent greater transparency from China and a change in its behavior, these concerns will likely intensify as the PLA’s military modernization program progresses,” the report said, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army.


China’s government in March announced a 12.2 percent increase in military spending to $132 billion. That followed last year’s 10.7 percent increase to $114 billion, giving China the second-highest defense budget for any nation behind the U.S., which spent $600.4 billion on its military last year.

Several Asian nations are arming up, their wary eyes fixed squarely on one country: a resurgent China that’s boldly asserting its territorial claims all along the East Asian coast. 

The scramble to spend more defense dollars comes amid spats with China over contested reefs and waters. 

Other Asian countries such as India and South Korea are quickly modernizing their forces, although their disputes with China have stayed largely at the diplomatic level.

*Related Images;

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth - DTN Defense News
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China Announces Surge In Military Spending To Almost $132 Billion

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China Announces Surge In Military Spending To Almost $132 Billion

*China continues years of double-digit rises in military spending to alarm of Asian nations and US

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Telegraph UK
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 5, 2014: China has announced a 12 per cent increase on its military, already the largest in the world, sparking concerns among its Asian neighbours and the US.

Beijing has for years been raising spending on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in double-digit steps, reflecting its military ambitions as it asserts its new-found economic might and its claims in a series of territorial disputes with Japan and others.

"The appropriation for national defence is 808.23 billion yuan (£79 billion), up 12.2 percent," said a budget report prepared for the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's Communist-controlled parliament, which began on Wednesday.

"We will resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests," Premier Li Keqiang said at the opening session.

"We will safeguard the victory of World War II and the post-war international order, and will not allow anyone to reverse the course of history," he said - a phrase China often uses in relation to rival Japan.

Beijing would also "place war preparations on a regular footing" and "build China into a maritime power", Li added.

In comments ahead of the gathering, NPC spokeswoman Fu Ying sought to play down foreign worries about China's defence expenditure.

"Certain countries have been selling the idea of China as a major threat," she said. "Based on our history and experience, we believe that peace can only be maintained by strength."

This year's stated increase follows rises of 10.7 percent in 2013, 11.2 percent in 2012 and 12.7 percent in 2011.

Analysts believe China's actual military spending is significantly higher than publicised, with the Pentagon estimating it at between $135 billion and $215 billion in 2012.

The United States itself remains far ahead as the global leader in defence spending, with Washington approving a 2014 budget of $633 billion in December.

China devotes about three times as much as India to defence, and more than neighbours Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam combined.

Beijing's spending could match that of Washington by the 2030s, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said in February, but added that its capabilities, expertise and ability to project power would require several more years to catch up.

Nonetheless the increases have raised concerns in the US and Asia, particularly in Japan, with the two countries embroiled in an escalating row over East China Sea islands called Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese.

After the latest figure was revealed, Japan expressed concern about Beijing's level of openness about the PLA.

"The transparency of China's defence policy and military capacity, or lack thereof, has become a matter of concern for the international community, including Japan," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

China's actions will both fuel the concern of its neighbours and encourage them to beef up their security cooperation with each other and the US, said Denny Roy, an expert on China's military at the East-West Center in Hawaii.

"This would add to the momentum of something that's already in motion," he told AFP.
In December, the cabinet of Japan's hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to spend 24.7 trillion yen (£144 billion) between 2014 and 2019 in a strategic military shift towards areas of the country facing China - a five per cent boost to the defence budget over five years.

China decried Japan's increase at the time as an issue of "great concern to neighbouring countries in Asia and the international community".

*Related Images By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News;

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Telegraph UK
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - PAKISTAN DEFENSE NEWS: Pakistan Deal For Chinese J-10 Fighters Uncertain

DTN News - PAKISTAN DEFENSE NEWS: Pakistan Deal For Chinese J-10 Fighters Uncertain

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources DefenseNews
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - October 9, 2013: Tough International Monetary Fund conditions on Pakistan and concerns about untested technology likely will delay Islamabad’s plan to buy 36 J-10B Vigorous Dragon multirole fighters from China under a $1.4 billion deal signed in 2009, analysts said.

Current economic conditions “preclude any possibility of acquiring new weapon systems in the next two to three years, at least,” said retired Pakistani Air Commodore Kaiser Tufail, a veteran fighter and test pilot who is now an independent military analyst in Lahore.

Under IMF loan terms, the government faces harsh conditions on raising revenue and controlling spending, including on military equipment.

A Chinese defense delegation visited Pakistan the last week of September to discuss the status of stalled defense deals. Whether this included the J-10 order is unclear.

The J-10B Super-10 is an advanced variant of the J-10A, first fielded in late 2003 with China’s Air Force. The new Super-10 will reportedly be powered by the Chinese-designed WS-10A turbofan engine, which will replace the J-10A’s Russian Saturn AL-31FN. Built by Chengdu Aircraft Industries, the jet is based on Israel’s Lavi indigenous fighter program by Israel Aerospace Industries that was canceled in 1987.

Even if a friendly Arab Gulf state provided financing, Tufail said more used Lockheed Martin F-16Cs from US stocks are preferable, “rather than trying out a new weapon system that is an unknown commodity in the realm of modern-day combat.”

Tufail questioned the wisdom of buying one squadron of J-10s.

To be cost effective “at least three to four squadrons would justify the additional wherewithal and maintenance facilities that would be needed,” he said.

Over-reliance on US high-technology equipment like fighters worries Pakistani officials, and while Tufail said diversification “be explored fully, with China and Russia as suitable sources,” in the case of the fighter, the government may not have another option.

Should a deal occur, however, Tufail foresees no problems with directly or indirectly acquiring Russian equipment such as the J-10’s AL-31FN engine.

The J-10B was first revealed to the public in early 2009. Images appearing on Chinese-language military websites indicate the J-10B had a new nose configuration with an infrared search and tracking system and a “new Diverterless Supersonic Intake configured engine air intake,” also seen on the Chengdu FC-1 Xiaolong (Fierce Dragon), which is co-produced in Pakistan as the JF-17 Thunder, said Richard Fisher, a senior fellow of Asian military affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center.

At least one prototype J-10B has featured the indigenous Shenyang-Liming WS-10A turbofan engine, but it remains to be seen whether all production J-10Bs will feature the WS-10A or the Russian Saturn AL-31F turbofan,” Fisher said.

“I think the JF-17 arrangement has been a workable one so far, and future weapon systems with core Russian and Chinese components can be acquired by the Pakistan Air Force on a similar basis, without difficulty,” Tufail said.

Russia allowed China to supply Pakistan the JF-17s Klimov RD-93 engine despite Indian opposition, and prospects have since improved.

“The thawing of Pak-Russo relations over the past few years is certainly a welcome development, and should help override Indian objections to any military cooperation between Pakistan and Russia,” Tufail said.

Technological advances may also scrap the J-10 deal.

Tufail believes the air force may be turning to the stealthy Chengdu J-20 though this is not presently “anything beyond a mere statement of intent.”

“It is a futuristic aircraft, not yet fully operational, and its capabilities are hardly known, so reading too much into this may be rather premature,” Tufail said.

The J-10B would offer Pakistan some advanced fourth generation capabilities.

“The canted nose cone immediately led to speculation that the J-10B also featured a new fixed antennae phased array radar and this was confirmed in 2011,” Fisher said. “There remains some speculation that this radar may be a ‘passive’ versus an ‘active’ electronically scanned array [AESA], but the key point is that the J-10B is clearly a 4+ generation fighter that also included upgraded cockpit systems and electronic warfare systems.”

But if Pakistan chooses not to become the first customer for an export configured J-10B, at $50-60 million per aircraft it will become attractive to countries like Venezuela, Argentina, Peru, Malaysia and Indonesia, who are looking for an affordable multi-role fighter, Fisher said.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources DefenseNews
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - U.S. FINANCIAL CRISIS: How Will Canada Feel The Effects of The Latest U.S. Economic Crisis?

DTN News - U.S. FINANCIAL CRISIS: How Will Canada Feel The Effects of The Latest U.S. Economic Crisis?

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources CTV News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 3, 2013: As $85 billion in U.S. federal spending cuts begin taking effect, Canadian businesses and politicians are bracing themselves for the impact.

Travellers are being warned of lengthier delays at border crossings as American border patrol officers and air traffic controllers are among the tens of thousands of federal employees who will see their pay and hours reduced as part of the funding cuts.

“This is not a win for anybody, this is a loss for American people,” U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters Friday, fixing the blame for the sequester cuts on the Republicans.

With Canada sending 75 per cent of all its exports to the U.S., its economy relies heavily on the financial health of its southern neighbour.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Friday that while he couldn’t put a dollar figure on the impact, he called the cuts an unnecessary strain to the economies.

“It is regrettable though that the U.S. continues to move from crisis to crisis,” he told reporters.

An Ontario-based company that manufactures baseball bats for a number of major league players fears that the border delays may prevent its products from making it to the U.S. in time for spring training.

“If it takes us extra time to get the product in the hands of the best players in the world, then that’s a problem,” Sam Bat President Arlene Anderson told CTV News.

Similar fears are being echoed by the struggling auto manufacturing sector, where officials warned that a slow down at the border could trigger job cuts.

“This could results in layoffs,” Canadian Auto Worker President Ken Lewenza said. “It could result in temporary shut downs and there’s a tremendous amount of workers out there that don’t get paid during three or four hour disruptions.”

The failure to avert the U.S. spending cuts comes alongside news that the Canadian economy has stalled over the last three months.

Flaherty waned Friday of deeper spending cuts in the upcoming federal budget, though he said the Conservative government remains on track to balance the budget by 2015.

With a report from CTV’s Richard MadanAs $85 billion in U.S. federal spending cuts begin taking effect, Canadian businesses and politicians are bracing themselves for the impact.

Travellers are being warned of lengthier delays at border crossings as American border patrol officers and air traffic controllers are among the tens of thousands of federal employees who will see their pay and hours reduced as part of the funding cuts.

“This is not a win for anybody, this is a loss for American people,” U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters Friday, fixing the blame for the sequester cuts on the Republicans.

With Canada sending 75 per cent of all its exports to the U.S., its economy relies heavily on the financial health of its southern neighbour.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Friday that while he couldn’t put a dollar figure on the impact, he called the cuts an unnecessary strain to the economies.

“It is regrettable though that the U.S. continues to move from crisis to crisis,” he told reporters.

An Ontario-based company that manufactures baseball bats for a number of major league players fears that the border delays may prevent its products from making it to the U.S. in time for spring training.

“If it takes us extra time to get the product in the hands of the best players in the world, then that’s a problem,” Sam Bat President Arlene Anderson told CTV News.

Similar fears are being echoed by the struggling auto manufacturing sector, where officials warned that a slow down at the border could trigger job cuts.

“This could results in layoffs,” Canadian Auto Worker President Ken Lewenza said. “It could result in temporary shut downs and there’s a tremendous amount of workers out there that don’t get paid during three or four hour disruptions.”

The failure to avert the U.S. spending cuts comes alongside news that the Canadian economy has stalled over the last three months.

Flaherty waned Friday of deeper spending cuts in the upcoming federal budget, though he said the Conservative government remains on track to balance the budget by 2015.

With a report from CTV’s Richard Madan

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources CTV News
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - SPECIAL REPORT: Germany Warns UK Against EU Budget Veto

DTN News - SPECIAL REPORT: Germany Warns UK Against EU Budget Veto

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Press TV
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - October 22, 2012: Germany is warning Britain that its threat to veto the European Union’s new budget will force Berlin to cancel next month’s EU budget summit.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has threatened to veto any agreement on the EU’s new seven-year budget other than a complete spending freeze. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reportedly decided that holding talks on the 2014-2020 budget while Britain is almost certain to veto it is pointless, The Financial Times reported. 

A veto will further outrage EU members after Cameron also vetoed an EU-wide financial agreement to help the eurozone crisis back in December and forced the other 26 nations to sign the pact without Britain. 

EU officials are now warning that the second veto can seriously damage diplomatic ties between the 27-member bloc and Britain. 

Merkel has reportedly raised the subject in a telephone conversation with Cameron last Monday. 

Cameron openly said earlier this month that “If there isn’t a deal that’s good for Britain, there won’t be a deal.” 

However, Merkel is apparently trying to persuade him to back her government’s proposal for the EU spending to be capped at one percent of European gross domestic product. 

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Press TV
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Asia's Military Spending To Surpass Europe's For First Time

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Asia's Military Spending To Surpass Europe's For First Time
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Yifei Zhang - IBT
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 26, 2012: 2012 will be a historic moment in the shift of global power from the West to the East. According to expert estimates and figures on military spending, in 2012 Asia's spending on defense will eclipse Europe's for the first time in the modern era.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies, a UK-based think tank focusing on global military and political research and analysis, released its influential "Military Balance 2012" report back in early March.

The report claims that since 2008, financial crises in the West have led to major reductions in defense spending in Europe. Drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq will likely contribute to decreasing numbers in the future. Meanwhile, Asia's continued economic growth, and efforts to modernize and build military forces there, have reinforced higher spending. In the IISS calculations, Europe does not include Russia, and Asia does not include the Middle East, but does include Australasia.

While per capita spending in Europe is still higher, press releases form the institute say that "Asian defense spending is likely to exceed that of Europe, in nominal terms, during 2012." The U.S. accounted for nearly half of all worldwide military spending in 2011, a figure which may be in slight decline over the following years due to defense cutbacks.

IISS says that in real terms, declines in defense spending by 16 out of 28 member states of NATO exceeded 10 percent between 2008 and 2010. Asian spending increased almost 3.2 percent in real terms between 2010 to 2011.

Planned spending on defense, from different countries worldwide, 2011. Graphs from IISS.

Five countries -- China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Australia -- accounted for more than four-fifths of all regional defense spending. A major focus of spending in Asia is geared towards building newer, bigger fleets of warships and aircraft. Further geographic distances, greater territorial distributions of water, and the predominance of air and naval forces in modern warfare are the main factors driving Asian funding for air forces and navies.

Nations such as China and India are developing new and more powerful ballistic and cruise missiles as well as aircraft carriers. All of the five countries above, save Australia, have active space programs aimed at deploying greater systems of satellites for surveillance and communications, as well as plans for building next-generation stealthy super-jets, like the U.S. F-22 Raptor.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Yifei Zhang - IBT
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Defense Spending Bill Includes Provision To Keep Air Guard Jets

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Defense Spending Bill Includes Provision To Keep Air Guard Jets
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources by William Petroski
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 14, 2012: A defense spending bill proposed Monday in the U.S. House would block the Air Force from eliminating F-16 aircraft at the 132nd Fighter Wing in Des Moines until a cost-benefit analysis can be completed.

U.S. Rep. Tom Latham said the legislation would freeze the proposed retirement of Air Force aircraft, including the Iowa Air National Guard’s F-16s. The bill would require the Air Force to finish the cost-benefit study by October, with a review by the nonpartisan General Accounting Office within 120 days of its completion.

The bill is sponsored by the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee, on which Latham serves. The Iowa Republican said he believes a review will ultimately show the 132nd Fighter Wing operates cost-effectively and should continue flying F-16 combat aircraft over the long term. He called Monday’s action a major step forward.

“This is a great victory, and we are going to fight to save the 132nd Fighter Wing,” Latham said in a phone interview from Washington, D.C.

The Air Force has proposed budget cuts that include eliminating all 21 of the Iowa unit’s F-16 aircraft, replacing them with a smaller unit based in Des Moines that would remotely control unmanned aircraft that would be flown elsewhere, such as Afghanistan.

The proposal would eliminate 378 people now serving with the 132nd Fighter Wing, including 81 full-time employees. The unit currently has about 1,000 airmen.

The provision affecting the Des Moines unit is within a subcommittee draft for the fiscal year 2013 defense appropriations bill, which will be considered today.

The measure includes $589 million to “pause” retirements of Guard and Reserve aircraft to allow time for more analysis of the plans.

Latham said he expects to vote in favor of the bill when it reaches the full committee, possibly as soon as next week.

He believes the measure could be passed by the full House of Representatives within the next few weeks. The proposal would then be considered by the Senate.

“I have not talked with the Senate side, but we will be making a strong case with them,” Latham said. “The House position will be very strong.”

In defending the 132nd Fighter Wing, Iowa National Guard officials have noted it has been recognized as one of the top units in the Air National Guard. In addition, Air Guard units operate at about 30 percent of the taxpayer expense when compared to active-duty Air Force units, officials said.

About 270 airmen from the Des Moines-based wing recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan.

“I think there is no question that we can show that it costs much less to maintain readiness with the Guard wing than on the active-duty side,” Latham said.

“We have tremendously experienced pilots and maintenance people that would be lost with the closing. I think a true cost-benefit analysis will justify us maintaining the 132nd Fighter Wing in Des Moines.”

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources by  William Petroski
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: India’s Military Inferiority Complex

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: India’s Military Inferiority Complex
*Indian officials are preoccupied by China’s growing military power. They would do better to fix their own incoherent defense establishment.

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Trefor Moss - The Diplomat

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 24, 2012: Modern India is economically and strategically buoyant, and has every reason to feel confident as the 21^st century progresses. So it’s strange to think that this same confident place is developing an inferiority complex over China’s military power.

Never mind that New Delhi just announced a hefty 13 percent defense budget increase for 2012-13, or that the country is now the world’s biggest importer of military systems. Most Indian commentators seem to have digested these two pieces of news by focusing on the downside: that the country’s $39 billion defense budget remains quite modest compared with the $106 billion military budget at China’s disposal.

The critics should bear two things in mind before giving into defense budget envy. First, a 13 percent increase is actually very generous in the context of an Indian economy that’s only expected to grow by7.6 percent in the coming year. Larger increases aren’t only unaffordable but also strategically untenable, as they would alarm neighboring countries.

Second, the Indian military has long since accepted two facts of strategic life: that the Chinese military will always be bigger; and that it will always be richer.

That doesn’t mean the Chinese military will necessarily be better, and overcoming the comparative disadvantages of wealth and scale is what Indian military strategy, at least vis-à-vis China, is all about. The solution comes in two parts. First, the Indian military knows it has to focus on quality rather than quantity, investing in weapon systems that China, hindered by international arms embargoes, cannot match. It then also means capitalizing on regional unease about China’s rise and on forging smart alliances. China might be more powerful, but India knows it can be more popular.

The Indian media is therefore over hasty in viewing defense matters through the China inferiority lens. The Times of India, for example, headlined last week’s defense budget announcement by bemoaning the fact that the “Military plays catch-up but China [is] a long march ahead.”

That’s a self-defeating way to look at things. The important questions Indians should be asking are whether their government is giving defense the resources it needs – and based on successive double-digit spending increases, you’d have to say that it is; and whether that money is being used wisely to bankroll a coherent military modernization strategy. It’s when you look more closely at this second point that you begin to appreciate that India – not China – is its own worst enemy.

Writing in the Business Standard, Ajai Shukla observed this week that the Indian Army is being starved of funds, while the Navy and Air Force soak up all the investment. Indeed, the numbers don’t look good from the Army’s perspective. The Air Force has a capital expenditure to operational cost ratio of two to one; the ratio for the Navy is about three to two. By contrast, the Army spends six times as much on day-to-day running costs as it does on new equipment.

However, such ratios are a fact of life when you have an army of over a million active personnel whose poor pay and conditions you are attempting to upraise over time. China, with its 2 million increasingly well-paid troops, has exactly the same headache of rising everyday bills eating away at budget increases. And there’s also no getting away from the fact that India, despite its expanding resources, can’t buy everything at once. With several costly Air Force and Navy programs currently underway, such as the procurement of the Dassault Rafale fighter and new naval frigates, the Army has been obliged to wait in line. Now, it can rightfully claim to have moved to the front of the queue.

Of greater concern is the tenacious ineptitude of India’s defense bureaucracy. In the last financial year, as in most others, the Defense Ministry failed to spend all of the cash at its disposal thanks purely to red tape. That’s the first thing that needs to be fixed.

The government then needs to redouble its efforts to introduce a functioning procurement system. More often than not, India’s attempts to buy equipment become tortuous and wasteful. In January, Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh, himself a recent victim of his country’s eccentric bureaucracy, suggested wearily that, “the procurement game is a version of snakes and ladders where there is no ladder but only snakes, and if the snakes bite you somewhere, the whole thing comes back to zero.” His exasperation centered on the army’s efforts, initiated 10 years ago, to buy new artillery; the process has just resulted in the blacklistingof six foreign defense contractors but, as yet, no new guns.

Another example is the acquisition of 75 much-needed Pilatus PC-7 Mk II trainer aircraft, announced last year, which now faces delays – like so many procurements before it – over allegations of irregularities in the bidding process. Worryingly, though perhaps predictably, questions are now also being asked about the flagship Rafale procurement.

Third, the government should re-evaluate the role of the domestic defense industry, which currently does a lot of things badly. It should be made to start doing a few things well. India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) recently complained that it doesn’t have enough money – but that has never been its problem. The agency has a track record of initiating overambitious programs and then executing them poorly, as the travails of the Tejas light combat aircraft, to name but one example, continue to demonstrate. For the sake of both the taxpayer and the military, the Defense Ministry should focus the DRDO and the defense industry on developing a realistic core of indigenous capabilities, and then just import everything else.

So India is wrong to feel inferior just because China has more soldiers and more money. The problem is the incoherence of India’s defense establishment, from industry through to government – therein lies the inferiority. It’s a danger to Indian security that has nothing to do with China, and that’s within India’s own power to put right.

• India, China Show Military Grit
• India Military Eyes Combined Threat
• India Boosts Afghan Military Role
• Will India’s Military Revolt?
• Indian Military Goes French

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Trefor Moss - The Diplomat
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS