ABOUT MYSELF
NOEL AMIYAKUMAR MOITRA
 |
WITH MY WIFE KERMAN |
I am an ex-IAF Officer, who left home in 1966, to
retire in 2000. I have seen one war and one small-scale skirmish and noticed how
people react under stress. I pray that we are never subjected to another war,
even a 'minor' skirmish like Kargil.
I shall be posting between 200-1,000 words a day, as I keep
rather busy; yet, I feel it is necessary for the civilian population at large
to understand what goes on behind the facade of a peaceful existence. I shall
stray from the absolute truth deliberately, though not by much, as I do not
wish to invite the wrath of the Powers That Be under the Officials' Secret Act.
Background
Partition saw Pakistan getting the larger share
of the booty, as the Brits, prior to WW II, were being rubbed raw in the NWFP,
by the Pathans. Hence, the infrastructure to support air operations went to NW
India, which ultimately became part of Pakistan. Pakistan soon became a Military
Dictatorship, whereas India
moved towards a Democracy of sorts, as it was more Socialistic than truly
Democratic. Krishna Menon and Pandit Nehru gradually emasculated the Indian
Defence Forces, seeing what was happening across the Pak border. In fact, the
job a mere Captain would do then is now being handled by a full Colonel, having
graduated upwards through the intermediate ranks of Major and Lt. Col.
The movies now talk of Major General Sa’ab, not the Major of yore.
Since 1947, Pakistan has been under Military
Rule except for a few sporadic bouts of civilian leadership, which have always
been toppled by bloodless coups. There was one casualty, though. Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto was hanged by General Zia, who himself was killed in an air crash
engendered by the Israelis. His daughter, Benazir, herself an ex-Prime
Minister, not once but twice, was assassinated recently by, in all probability,
the ISI, though the word given out was that she was hit by a Militant outfit.
With the Military ruling Pakistan for so long, almost
everything is under their control. Their infrastructure, used primarily by the
population, has been devised by the Military, to support their forces in a war
against India.
Talking only about their Air Force, they have airfields strung along the
tortuous border with India
every 150 Km. These are about 60-75 Km deep and fully fortified. These
airfields are called satellite airfields, the major bases being Sargodha, Jacobabad and Karachi. All these
satellite airfields have been carefully built under a master-plan, which is
something more than what the Indian Air Force has been permitted to do.
Allow me to digress a bit to cite an example. All
runways of these bases are reinforced with dense cement-concrete, bearing a
Load Classification Index of 70 and above. This figure of 70 is mandatory for
any airfield handling big jets of the Boeing-747 class. All Indian military bases
have an index of 40 at best and 30 as a norm. What this means is that runway
denial weapons that will put Indian airfields out of contention need to have a
capacity of damaging runways with an Index of 40 and the French BAP-100 Rockets
are a perfect example, able to damage runways with an Index of 45. But these
Rockets will barely scratch the surface of Pakistani Military airbases. Thus
the cost of acquiring a runway denial weapon to hit Pakistani airbases
quadruples; moreover, fewer numbers can be carried, as they are three-four
times heavier.
The BAP-100 Rockets are carried in batches of up
to 18 and released with intervals of milliseconds, so that craters are made on
the runway every 50-75 metres. Attack aircraft carry up to 4 such groups and
use them in attacks on the runway and then, further onto the taxiways, which can
also used for take-off and landing. The IAF has huge numbers of this weapon
which can only be used to hit taxy-tracks and the main runway denial weapon for
the IAF today is the French Durandal Bomb, of which a maximum of 8 can be
carried by the Mirage-2000, as against the 36 BAP-100 Rockets by the Pakistani
Mirage-V.
The Acquisition Procedure
The acquisition procedure has been simplified and
is freely available on the net. The aim is to make the acquisition procedure
transparent. When a need for any equipment is felt, the requirements are posted
on this site and bids sought from approved Vendors. In case there is only one
vendor, the requirements are modified so that at least two vendors can compete
for the sale. If the equipment called for proves to be unique, a concession is
taken from a Parliamentary Committee to permit a single vendor-purchase. The
bidding takes place in two phases. The Vendors submit the Technical
Capabilities of their product along with a sealed commercial bid. The technical
capabilities are examined to see how close they come to those demanded and the
first selection takes place here, reducing the Vendors to those who profess
that their product meets with the requirements. These Vendors are then invited
to display the capabilities of their wares and a long and laborious assessment
is carried out, reducing the bidders to the least. Once this is over, the
financial documents are opened and read along with the technical report so that
a selection can be made. Generally, the lowest bidder is selected and this
company meets with the acquisition committee to negotiate the deal in its
entirety.
This process was initiated just three years ago.
Prior to that, the process was actually rather arbitrary, with great scope for
underhand dealing. Political requirements for campaign funds would also have a
role to play, as was most probably the case in the Harshad Mehta scandal.
Tehelka exposed the follies of the greedy and it was pitiable to see how little
was required to make someone look the other way. It is hoped that the current
acquisitions will be totally above board, though there is still space for
corruption.
The 15-Year Wish List
Requirements do not pop up from anywhere. It has
to be an item that is on record as desirable ‘in the near future’. What this
means is that a special branch of the Forward Planning Section must have
foreseen such a requirement and put it on record in the ‘15 Year Perspective
Plan.’ Such requirements are found through research, discussions and
information from Vendors of what they have in mind and are testing for both
cost-effectiveness and feasibility. This 15-year plan is an on-going plan with
no start or finish dates, just an estimate of progress in technology applied to
aircraft or air warfare related equipment and when it is likely to come up.
It must be noted that, in the case of an
aircraft, it takes not less than 10 years from the Drawing Board stage to
Operational Status in an Air Force. The F-16 was first thought of in 1967 and,
after a fly-off competition with the F-18, entered USAF service only in 1979.
The Mirage-2000 took much less time-8 years-as the airframe had been proven
with the Mirage-III and Mirage-V. Our LCA has already taken 22 years and will
become operational in 2012, as claimed by an organization that goes by the most
impressive name of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). When
bought, it will be the most expensive aircraft on the Indian inventory, with
all funding provided for by Air Force funds-which factor will not be added to
its intrinsic cost in the world market.
The 5-Year Plan
More concrete plans are drawn up under defined
5-year plans. These plans have a start and end date and also the total amount
of money to be spent in the lustrum. I will not go into the details like Heads,
Codes, etc. The 5-year plan is broken down into yearly plans, as mandated by
priorities. Once a yearly plan is approved by MoD, the acquisitions branch
swings into action. As laid down by the internet-listed arms acquisition procedure,
Requests for Information on targeted products are issued, with a cut-off date.
This is a prelude to the global issue of the all-important Request for Product
(RFP) submission, with, of course, a cut-off date. Vendors submit their bids,
as already explained and one is finally selected. Part of the final choice
includes a demonstration of the product in operation in an Indian
scenario.
The number of contracts can be huge. In the
current programme, they could well exceed three hundred per year, so you can
imagine how arduous the task will be. There are, on an average, two meetings
per working day. If a contract faces a delay due to reasons beyond normal
control-like the Tsunami-an extension is given and the negotiations carry on
into the next financial year, and the money reserved for it is also carried
forward. Contracts that do not reach the negotiation table in time are axed for
that year and the money reserved for it surrendered to MoD, for further
disposal. This contract is negotiated the next year, at the cost of some other
contract, which sets the latter back. This area is the worst-managed part of an
acquisition, with MoD proving to be an intransigent and overly bureaucratic
agency, to the angst of the Defence Force concerned as well as the Vendor.
How We Get There
It is indeed entrancing to see how a particular
type of equipment is ultimately bought:
- A particular item of equipment is found interesting at the junior
levels in an operational directorate or acquisitions branch.
- Details are circulated within the concerned branches at Air Hq,
and Director Level Officers get together to discuss the item and its
utility, if at all.
- If found suitable, it is taken one level higher and Financial
Branch officers are included. Its position in the 15-year wish list is
finalized.
- This is forwarded to the Integrated Defence Staff committee which
acts as the interface between MoD and Air Hq.
- IDS debates the issue before taking it up with MoD.
- MoD accepts the idea or puts forward queries, routed to Air Hq
through IDS.
- Once resolved, MoD initiates technical
discussions and conveys their findings through another agency, called the
T&M, a Service Officer.
- The RFI stage, where Vendors are contacted on a global basis to
submit a preliminary project with a can do/ cannot do clause.
- The Collation stage at Air Hq, where all RFIs are examined,
in-house discussions held re priority and a general concept mooted for the
next stage. Concurrence is required from MoD (Finance).
- The RFP stage, where Vendors bid in two areas-their technical
prowess, to be proved live and the financial bid, which envelopes are
stored securely in one of the many vaults that lie in MoD.
- The Technical Evaluation stage, which is overseen by the T&M.