Assessing India’s rotary wing programmes and requirements>> Already the world’s largest arms importer, India plans to continue its vast investment by spending around $100 billion on upgrading its military hardware and infrastructure over the next decade. According to the SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, India was the largest arms importer for the period 2008-2012. India accounted for 12% of world deliveries, which is double that of China who followed behind in second place in the table of global importers. India is acquiring military kit across all three domains but the helicopter programmes it has in the pipeline are particularly interesting from a geostrategic point of view as well as a defence industrial one. India flying high Asked in a recent Defence IQ survey, respondents indicated that India was the country with the greatest growth potential and offered the greatest investment opportunities for the global helicopter industry. North America (including Canada) and other APAC countries, such as Malaysia, were also mentioned, but India was the clear choice. That should not come as a surprise. With twelve active helicopter programmes in the Defence Ministry’s procurement plans the sector is, perhaps more than any other, one of the most promising and prolific in the global defence industry today. Last year Boeing won an order to supply the Indian MoD with 15 CH-47F Chinook helicopters for its heavy lift requirements as well as grabbing the $ 1.3 billion heavy duty attack helicopter contract. Boeing’s AH-64D Apache helicopter was chosen over Russia’s Mi-28s, although there had been internal disagreement in the Indian armed forces as to who will take ownership of the 22 rotorcraft. The Army put forward its case for the helicopters as a “future” acquisition but the MoD has rejected the claim saying that they will remain under the Indian Air Force (IAF) due to it being classified an “on-going” acquisition programme, meaning the Navy were assigned the rotorcraft. However, since that decision India is going back to Boeing again for an unspecified number of Apache attack helicopters, this time for the Army. The Navy is not being overlooked though with a number of proposals under consideration or due for tender. The requirement for 16 Multi-Role Helicopter’s (MRH) is still on the table, with NH Industries’ NH-90 and Sikorsky’s S-70B Seahawk in contention. The much anticipated Naval Multi-Role Helicopter (NMRH) competition, which will see the acquisition of 120 aircraft and is expected to be the largest helicopter programme in the world, is due to take-off later this year, although this is discussed in greater detail later in this report. The Indian Navy is also has a tender out for 56 light utility helicopters to replace its aging fleet of Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) Chetaks. AgustaWestland, Bell Helicopter, Eurocopter and Russian Helicopters are all looking at the RFP, which seeks an aircraft with a maximum weight of 4,500kg (9,920lb). Building the foundations The Indian government is making no secret of its intentions to bolster its indigenous defence industry for the future, but at present global players are still eyeing significant opportunities in the region. Looking inward, India’s own Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) is working on the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) for use by the Air Force and Army. At the second prototype stage, the LCH is expected to be in service next year with 65 aircraft scheduled for delivery. The LCH project marks the first indigenous attack rotorcraft to be designed and built in India. It’s little wonder India is looking to bolster its indigenous defence industry as it faces unique air security challenges, suffering from an often petulant, nuclear-armed neighbour at its border and an increasingly outdated Cold War air-defence system. Furthermore, at 670.274 billion yuan ($ 106.39 billion), China’s 2012 defence budget was up 11.2% on 2011s $92 billion. It represented another year of double digit growth for China’s military spending, which accelerated 12.7% in 2011 on 2010. It dwarfed India’s 2012 spend, reported to be around $36 billion. While the vast number of helicopters India is acquiring may seem adequate for most strategic eventualities on the surface, what if all the programmes currently ear-marked for the military do not make it past the production line? There’s certainly international pressure to do so, but what about the infamous Indian red tape getting in the way? China, India, Japan, Australia and virtually all of the middle ranking regional powers are all currently engaged in dramatically expanding or modernising their navies. China has spearheaded this naval arms race, feeling that it should have naval capabilities to match its economic might. During the past year the most significant development has been the commissioning of China’s first aircraft carrier – the ex-RussianVaryag. While the limitations of this vessel have been much discussed it serves much more as a symbol of China’s ambitions; by the end of the decade there is the intention to have three carrier battle groups in service. In the face of such a direct threat India cannot stand aside and let its neighbours stack the odds so heavily in their favour. Only time will tell if this is at the expense of some of its rotary wing programmes. Added to this, Lin Zuoming, president of Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), which is China’s principal aircraft maker, told press earlier this month that China is developing helicopters that can fly at twice the average speed of current platforms. India, it seems, needs to stay ahead of the competition on all fronts. As for the red tape, in a recent interview Avinash Chander, the Director General of India’s Defence Research & Development Organisation, said that he hopes to step up cooperation with overseas partners in the future and limit the arduous steps in doing so, which are slowing down the R&D and acquisition process. “As India’s capability and visibility grows, there will be more partnerships,” Chander said. “Increasingly, a major part of the development would be from the Indian side with a small part coming from abroad … If we have to attract overseas partners we must simplify processes so that interfacing becomes faster. The world will not wait. If we delay, they will look for other partners.” India’s helicopter requirements The table above outlines all the current helicopter programmes in play for India, with the competition to supply the Indian Navy with a multirole replacement to its Sea King helicopters perhaps the most significant. Sikorsky’s S-70B Seahawk is vying for the contract along with NH Industries’ NH-90, which with the government rumoured to be ordering another 75 helicopters in addition to the original requirement, the programme is by some distance the one to watch. In Defence IQ’s poll on the programme, respondents were split on choosing which rotary wing aircraft they thought would win the MRH contract. The NH-90’s higher load capacity and longer endurance was underlined but was not deemed sufficient enough to make it the clear choice over the Seahawk, which is expected to be the more economical choice. On balance the S-70B was highlighted as the rotary wing platform of choice, with over 60% of participants backing the US-made helicopter. Although the two platforms were put through their paces by the Navy in 2011, the Defence Ministry is still undecided and has stalled the contract award until December 2013. The companies have been asked to extend the validity of their proposals until the end of the year but no official reason was offered by the Defence Ministry for its decision. While the number of contracts is vast and the money on the table for these new helicopters is eye-opening, the Indian helicopter industry is beginning to crack under the strain. And that despite increasing the number of OEM’s in the space from five to ten over the last decade. “Helicopters in India are being used as if they are fixed-wing aircraft, and are not being exploited for their versatility,” said K. Sridharan, president of the Rotary Wing Society of India (RWSI), underscoring the disparity between government acquisition efforts and strategic requirements. Another contract in the works is the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), which HAL reported that the Indian Army had placed 159 orders for the Dhruv in February 2012. Until the Dhruv Mark III came along all helicopters in the Indian armed forces had conventional cockpits but the new ALH is equipped with a state of the art glass cockpit, allowing for superior performance and greater flexibility through its four Multi Function Colour Displays (MFDs) than in previous models. The Mark III can be adapted for specific missions due to the new cockpit, which includes instrumentation for visualising system status information and a weather radar. Last week European defence and security company Saab announced that it received two orders from HAL for the serial production of an integrated electronic warfare self-protection system for installation on the ALH. The Saab’s Integrated Defensive Aids Suite (IDAS) protects crew and aircraft and enhances the survivability in sophisticated, diverse and dense threat environments. The system provides a timely warning against different types of threats including radar, laser and missile approach warning; and automatically deploys the appropriate countermeasures. While India continues to import many defence components and systems, such as Saab’s IDAS, the DRDO is ambitious and confident that as investment continues to flow into R&D and its infrastructure expands, India will emerge as a dominant defence player on the global stage. “The Indian defence industry is in transition,” said Chander. “It has tremendous potential to move ahead but must also be ready to absorb some level of risk, to upgrade its competitiveness. There are many new opportunities, since the acquisition process has become more proactive … [however] if the “Make (Indian)” category of procurement is to survive, we should work towards global competitiveness and a defence industry that exports. Otherwise, domestic industry will never be competitive in cost.” The Military Helicopter India conference, taking place from 9 – 11 October in New Delhi, will bring together industry, military and government officials to enhance a global understanding of how India is maximising its naval capabilities.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 15:52:14 +0000
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