Just received this picture of what appears to be the BAE-Bofors FH77-B05-L52 towed gun in Leh, Jammu & Kashmir. On July 28, the MoD officially gave Parliament a list of vendors that have been recommended recently for a blacklist, and it reads like a roll-call of modern gun makers. ST Kinetics and Rheinmetall join the hallowed company of Soltam and Denel.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/29/98337/obama-seeks-to-expand-arms-exports.html
"The F-16 may no longer be top technology for the U.S., but as is the case with much of the aging technology that will be decontrolled"
"India, which currently is seeking 126 fighter-jets worth over $10 billion, 10 large transport aircraft worth $6 billion, and other multi-billion dollar defense sales, could be among the possible beneficiaries"
—-
This will probably make F16 and F18 no 1 and 2 for the MRCA deal.
F-16s and F-18s look best, when they are donated free of cost to paki.
BTW here was Bofors.
i appeal to the opposition to please request the govt to place order on the GUN which ARMY wants and which meets Army requirements, with an assurance to the Govt that they will not create an issue out of the deal!! is it a joke or what? soltam is black listed and so is denel,STK, rheinmetall…. opposition should declare a nation wide bandh call !!!
After blacklisting everybody who makes artillery guns, why doesn't the Indian Government set up a laboratory to design and develop an indigenous gun and extended artillery shells for it ? How can India's military brass feel confident of waging total war when they would have to import any artillery guns that they loose to the enemy ?
If the Chinese can make their own artillery guns, why can't India ?
Ajay Shukla wrote a nice piece making this very same point.
On Arty Guns
The IAS and IPS (read CBI) is telling the Armed Forces who is the boss.
Cost : National Security !
But did we have Jay Chands ealier ?
Just as M-MRCA 126 is to the airforce & the INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier to the navy respectively in terms of priority acquisitions.
So is the 155mm artillery deal to the army. Artillery has always been the king of wars. We cannot let politics get in the way as it has gone on for so long. Wish someone would step up and go for the best in class, BAE-Bofors FH77-B05-L52 period!
To think that less than a decade ago the BJP was going to approve single-vendor deals with Denel, Soltam and BAE for G-6, ATMOS and L52 howitzers respectively. Immediately after Kangress came to power they scrapped all three deals and soon blacklisted the companies involved. This blanket blacklist business reeks of cheap politics, vested interests and MoD bribery from foreign(read Pak-China-Bangladesh) interests who don't want out Army to modernise.
I knew how things would go to the dogs under Congress but even I wasn't expecting it to be this bad. I wouldn't be surprised if MMRCA goes the same route.
Indigenous development and production of weapons system will never happen in a large scale in the country because the Government does not have the will for it. We can build rockets for space explorations and sophisticated supercomputers but we cannot produce weapons for our own defence forces. How pathetic is that?
Why do we have MNCs in Pharma, IT and Automobiles but not defence? Because defence is the exclusive privilege of the public sector. This situation is unlikely to change anytime soon, so imports are the only good option.