Moles Or Morons In Indian Defense Establishment

Not so surprising if you are an Indian and have a taste of the official bureaucracy, a file related to Hawk AJT acquirement  has suddenly disappeared from the ministry of defense. As per the old routine ministry has ordered an inquiry to bring the guilty to justice swiftly....(read never)

The missing file dealt with 20 AJT's being procured for  IAF's surya kiran aerobatics team. which has been cooling its heels for last three years due to no jets to practice with.

Readers might remember similar thing happened with another file dealing with MMRCA contract, which went missing and was handed back to IAF by a civilian under very-2 mysterious circumstances.

You can add this to the assertions of the intelligence agency which was quite clear that Mumbai attack of 26/11 was facilitated by a mole in the Government of India. They never caught him.

Followers of this blog may be reminded of the case where a military officer asked a subedar to copy some documents from his computer and gave him the password for the same. This particular person turned out to be a guy working for the enemy and was caught handing over files to the Pakistani embassy worker.

Few years back the army sent its computers for overhaul with the hardidsk with sensitive information to local computer retail shop.

So you can draw your own conclusion as to what is going on in New Delhi. It would be very naive on our part to believe that our establishment is not being targeted (successfully) for infiltration and espionage. Not every agent is James bond or wears a long black overcoat.

Eurofighter Typhoon Frontrunner To Win The $11 billion MMRCA Contract

Eurofighter Typhoon is the front-runner for the USD 11 billion contract Indian Air Force Multi-Role Combat Aircraft deal, a senior official of the BAE Systems has said indicating that if the contract goes through a part of fighter manufacturing would be off loaded to India.

"The negotiation for crucial commercial terms will begin next month," Michael Christie , Senior Vice President, BAE Systems India told a group of visiting journalists at BAE Systems' production centre at Warton, Lancashire, in UK yesterday.

India had short-listed French Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets for the project to acquire 126 fighters, while rejecting American Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin F-16, Sweden's Gripen and Russian MiG-35 fighters.

Dassault and Europefighter have been asked by the Ministry of Defence to extend the offer validity.

"If Typhoon is chosen, the order for the contract will be firmed up in the first quarter of next year and "delivery of aircraft will begin in 2015," Christie indicated.

According to Christie, Typhoon is a generation ahead of Chinese aircraft J10 Thunder.

"China also unveiled a proto-type of J20. But typhoon is one of the most advanced aircraft, The missile capability of the aircraft and radar capability are of a different level," he said.

It is built by a four-nation European consortium - Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain - with Britain and Germany having 33 per cent stake each.

Answering a question on indigenisation of HAWK, Christie said "The indigenisation programme is very successful".

India had contracted to receive 66 HAWK - 26 built in the UK and 42 under licence by HAL in Bengaluru under a 1 billion pound agreement and the contract was widened by New Delhi to purchase 57 more HAWKs under licence production.

Today, the Indian Tricolour is flying proudly outside the BAE Warton production centre, along with the British flag, thanks to the massive Indian order, which is keeping the company going.

Christie said that India is keen to have 70 per cent of the Typhoon to be produced in India and the 30 per cent in the UK.

BAE is keen to make India a partner of the Consortium, Christie said.

Asked whether India could export HAWK, Christie said, the existing agreement does not allow it.

"We are in discussion to find how we can do that". Christie said, adding, "Typhoon has taken us to the next generation of aircraft".

"If India were to finalise the agreement for Typhoon, it will be produced in Bengaluru. They will have to create new space for it in Bengaluru", he said.