India's Defense Upgrades Struggle But Continue With Boeing Bidding On Helicopters

India has embarked on a major technical upgrade to their armed forces by buying overseas, especially new Western equipment. Unfortunately there have been corruption issues that have delayed execution and award of various contracts. With some of them continued technical problems have also caused delays to delivery of new weapon systems.

One of the major upgrades planned is to buy new attack and transport helicopters. The attack helicopter contract has been on-and-off again with one attempt scuppered by no bidder being able to meet the requirements. Another contract for lighter helicopters was canceled due to allegations of bribery. Now Boeing announced that they have submitted a proposal to sell AH-64 attack and CH-47 heavy lift aircraft to India. India had planned to restart the attack helicopter competition.

Both of these aircraft have seen significant use in Afghanistan where the terrain and operating conditions are similar to what India would see in Kashmir and other parts of their borders. The attack helicopter contract alone could be worth up to $500 million so it would be a good contract fo whomever wins it.

The major contract that is undergoing evaluation is for the new fighter. Six companies have submitted proposals and the Indian military is reviewing them. This contract would be a major change in Indian practice where they have normally purchased Russian MiG and Sukhoi aircraft. The new contract will require significant investment in the Indian economy by the winner.

In other news three other contracts signed earlier in the decade to provide increased capabilities are struggling to compete. Two of them are Naval related and seem to have been poorly negotiated or technically more complex then originally thought. These are for taking an old Soviet aircraft carrier and upgrading it with more modern systems and aircraft. This is supposed to be a stop gap while India builds an all new ship. The old Kiev class carrier “Admiral Gorshkov” was purchased and was to be re-fitted in a Russian yard. The work required turns out to be a lot more then planned as well as costing more then originally estimated.

A contract to build French submarines in Indian yards has also fallen behind schedule. This contract for six nuclear powered subs would be a major upgrade to their fleet. Unfortunately the schedule has slipped and the first one won’t be delivered in seven years as planned. These are very complicated construction projects even with buying the design and parts and require sophisticated engineering capability and it is not surprising the first one is being delayed.

The final contract facing issues is one for new jet trainers. The Indian military has required a new one for several years as they don’t really have an intermediate jet trainer. Right now pilots move on from basic aircraft manufactured in India to MiG-21 supersonic jet fighters. This allows them to transition to the MiG-23, 27, 29 and Su-30 advanced fighters flown by front line units. The MiG-21 is tricky to fly and leads to several accidents. India planned to invest in British Gnat trainers to improve the training process. The contract was signed in 2004 and provided for establishing a manufacturing line in India. No aircraft have been delivered yet and the British company BAE Systems may not be able to fulfill the deal. This means India may have to start over with new aircraft further adding to the delays.

India is one of those countries that is in-between when it comes to armaments. They have invested heavily in domestic production and research but have not been able to achieve all of the goals they have set out to do. This has led to a turn to foriegn sources for more advanced weapons. Ideally these would be built in India but this process has contributed to the delays. Add to that corruption and bribery complaints and it adds up to slow progress. Developing and producing a modern defense acquisition program is complicated and trying to reach to far technically is one key way to extend it. That is what India is facing today.