Reading Between The Lines: The Long Term Implications of DAC Approvals
- In Foreign Policy
- 11:22 AM, Jul 04, 2020
- Soumik Pyne
The Defence acquisition council of India on 02/07/2020 approved Rs38900cr approx $5.18Bn worth of military equipment for the Indian military. This acquisition plan includes Rs31130 Cr worth of Equipment that will be developed/manufactured/assembled within India including a spend of Rs20,400 Cr or $2.72Bn on design and development proposals alone. This article will elucidate how and why some of the items approved yesterday could go far beyond adding just another weapons system to the large and varied arsenal of the Indian military and could in fact structurally change the way the Indian Army defends our borders.
Astra missile
The approval for acquisition of an initial tranche of 248 Astra mk 1 BVRAAM missiles is poised to change things for the Indian Air force in multiple ways. The Indian Airforce is the fourth largest airforce globally by fleet size. That said it is a force that till date has been completely dependent on imports for the primary weapons used in air to air combat today. All air to air missiles currently utilized by the IAF are imports from Russia, Israel and France. This has created a situation wherein different missile stocks have to be maintained for different squadrons given that the Israeli, Russian and French missiles are not compatible with all aircraft across the fleet. The entry of Astra into the arsenal is poised to reduce this dependency as it will be qualified for almost all Russian, Indian and French origin combat aircraft in service. This will reduce logistical costs and help build a common pool of AAMs almost any aircraft in the IAF fleet will be able to use.
While the Indian Air Force will be inducting the 150km range French METEOR BVRAAM into its arsenal as well, fact is the Meteor is a silver bullet which will only be used with the small force of Rafale the Indian Air force will shortly operate .The AstraMk1 due to its universality across the fleet will in all likelihood be the BVRAAM most IAF pilots can ever expect to use to engage targets at standoff ranges greater than 100km, add to that the fact that the ASTRA has a lock on after launch capability and can lock onto and target an opponent aircraft by itself the possibilities for combat usage of the same by the IAF increase manifold .The acquisition cost of the Astra at an estimated Rs 6Cr each is also far lower than the nearly Rs 18Cr each METEOR costs.
The ASTRA is the first of at least four indigenous BVRAAM missiles that should enter service with the Indian Air force by 2030 with the 150km ranged ASTRA mk2, the 220km SFDR missile and a monster 500km Brahmos based AWACS killer AAM also in development.
PINAKA Ammunition
Most haven’t noticed how the Indian Army has slowly but surely boosted its rocket artillery firepower in the last two decades with the induction of seven PINAKA MBRL regiments till date.
Another three Regiments are under order with a total of 22 PINAKA MBRL regiments planned by 2030. In fact, all going well, the Indian Army may treble its Rocket artillery component from 10 Regiments in 2010 to 22 PINAKA + 6 SMERCH regiments by 2030. The basic increase in numbers aside the PINAKA represents a significant upgrade in terms of technology over the old workhorse BM-22 GRAD.
The current order most likely refers to the Guided Extended Range PINAKA which can fire GPS guided rockets up to a range of 90km. These rockets nearly treble the range as compared to the basic Grad while using GPS signals from the indigenous IRNSS constellation to hit targets at longer ranges with greater accuracy. This gives artillery commanders on the ground the ability to support operations across various sectors of an emerging front simultaneously.
The image shows the coverage of how only 3 guided PINAKA could cover operations across the LAC.
Moreover, it is worth noting that while an unguided SMERCH 90km range round costs more than RS 1 Cr a similar ranged guided PINAKA round comes in for only Rs 50Lakh each.
BMP-2 Upgrade
The DAC also accorded its approval for an armament upgrade for the 2600 odd BMP-2 ICVs in service with the Indian Army. This has long been in discussion with the former defence minister announcing an upgrade for all 2600BMP-2 units in service to the BMP-2M standard in 2013. That deal was never signed though as an alternative Rs 60,000cr plan from 2009 to develop and acquire 2600 units of a Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) with the participation of the private sector pushed it to the backburner. The private sector defence firms which evinced interests in the ambitious FICV project included Mahindra and Mahindra, Reliance Defence, L&T, Tata Motors and Bharat Forge. The FICV plan has now stalled with the latest media reports indicating that an OFB +DRDO project product may also join the fray by 2024-25.
This in turn has necessitated that the earlier plan of upgradation of the BMP-2 units be reinvigorated. The BMP-2 upgrade will see the Indian Army maintain a credible reasonably modern IFV capability well into the 2030’s. This upgrade project is now expected to be offered to some private sector participants as the FICV project 7 should help build an ecosystem of privately owned armoured vehicle production in India.
Long Range Land Attack Cruise missile.
The DAC also accorded approval to the development of a 1500km range land attack cruise missile with Surface, submarine and air launched version to be developed. Apart from this Defence reporting website Livefist reported here link that there would be a final series of trials for the 1000km Nirbhay missile this winter after which the long ranged cruise missile would enter service. Livefist also reported on the Range extension program for the Brahmos being well underway which should see a 900km ranged version enter trials soon. The Brahmos development plan is most intriguing and could see the Indian Navy move to secure both seas around the peninsula with 24x7 coverage by land-based 900+km range Brahmos batteries.
During Operation Trident in 1971 the Indian Navy attacked Karachi harbour with Styx missiles launched by Vidyut Class Missile boats, a future war could see all surfaced assets of the Pakistan Navy attacked simultaneously across the length and breadth of the Arabian Sea by Long Range Brahmos Batteries. Similar batteries deployed on the East coast would cover the entirety of the Bay of Bengal and Malacca Straits on a constant basis giving India unparalleled maritime security.
Coverage by six Brahmos LR batteries with five land batteries deployed at Gujarat, Laccadives, A&N Islands, Tamil Nadu, Odisha & a sixth battery on a DDG sailing near Duqm Oman.
MIG-29 & SU-30MKI
The DAC also accorded its approval to a long pending plan to upgrade 59 MIG29 aircraft of the Indian Air force while also giving its approval for the acquisition of a further 21 upgraded airframes from Russia at a total cost of Rs7418cr. A similar acquisition of 12 SU-30MKI along with a package of items to resolve fleet maintenance issues was also approved at a cost of Rs 10730Cr. While 11 planes of the SU-30MKI acquisition will go to replace 11 crashed jets the 12th is most interesting as it is reportedly slated to be turned into a DRDO testbed to test technologies for all upcoming programmes.
This will provide the DRDO its own testbed aircraft for various development programs like the Super Sukhoi which will see a new indigenous mission computer and possibly even an enlarged derivative of the UTTAM AESA Radar incorporated into and tested using this testbed. Also coming up is an indigenous IRST and EW jamming suite that should be test flown on the SU30MKI testbed. This Testbed aircraft will also likely be used to test all new Air launched weapons. Likelihood of it being used to test a 110Kn Engine currently under development for the AMCA also exists.
That said the MIG29 and SU30MKI acquisitions will help the IAF maintain a credible force structure and in fact boost its numbers going forward to 2025 if the LCAMk1A and MMRCA deals are quickly closed as well.
Possible Indian Air force aircraft strength between 2020-2025(both years estimated December numbers)
Software Defined Radios
Apart from this, the DAC also accorded approvals for Software defined radios to be acquired for the Indian Army. It is worth noting this is likely to be a DPSU contract given that in 2019 the Indian Navy became the first of the three services to order 260 SDRs from Bharat Electricals Limited at a total cost of Rs 490Cr only. The Indian Army version of the SDR has earlier been exhibited at DEFEXPO 7 will be a light 4kg unit that will let units share information quickly over a closed encrypted network.
In conclusion, it would be prudent to note that the DAC approval though is just a beginning and each acquisition must now pass through various stages before a contract is actually signed. These are in no way going to alter the conflict in Ladakh as is erroneously being reported on multiple fora. That said these systems once developed and acquired will help increase the overall security of India Manifold and as in the case of the Brahmos-ER help set up an Anti-access area denial network as well.
Image Credits: News On Air
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