Tuesday, 28 November 2023
MY PERSONAL DETAILS
ABOUT MYSELF
NOEL AMIYAKUMAR MOITRA
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| 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.
