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Originally Posted by RajeVenu Yes DRDO is white elephant but you require them to do research and make available updated defence tech because countries are not willing to part with their latest defence tech. Copying or reverse engineering is a big business and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Israel and China are examples which have contributed immensely to defence tech and electronics respectively.
Govt cannot wash its hands off from companies it has promoted and sack its employees maybe USA can but not us.
Vehicle factory Jabalpur doesn't manufacture anything they only assemble materials supplied by TATA and Ashok Leyland. If you visit Rajasthan there are still TMB, Shaktiman, Jonga and 1Ton plying on the roads which have been refurbished after discard from army.
Yes there are RHD Tatra in the Army in fact most of the TATRA assembled in or After 2000 are RHD. Yes there is TOT with BEML for their assembly here and many parts are still sourced ex import. But it is a beautiful vehicle to drive and best used in cross country and desert terrain. Do you know that it has a 12 cyl Air cooled engine and can outrun any modern 4X4 SUV in the desert in spite of high ambient temp. |
The Tatras may be great at what they do, but AFAIK from a news report at the time of the Tatra scandal, they cost the Indian government twice the factory price.
http://m.rediff.com/news/slide-show/...m/20120426.htm
Our bureaucracy and its machinations are so sinister that they will still be paying this huge price even though there has been an exposé of the scam.
A comparable Tata truck doesn't cost anywhere near this much to the exchequer.
There was a time when these machines were sold to us at a discounted price, at times we even paid the USSR in foodgrains. The purchase of these machines was justifiable then, especially because NATO was not interested in selling to us, and developing local from scratch was next to impossible.
But most of the sales agreements have had indigenization clauses which were disregarded, due to vested interest of the bureaucrats and arms dealers.
The army/defense procurement wing send out RFPs every year and hold multi-company trials, but nothing ever comes out of it. Then, after a few years pass, the need for new equipment becomes so pressing that the govt has to pass an executive order and bypass regular procurement procedures. There is clearly a lobby perpetuating this.
DRDO and all the organizations under it really need to be shored up, IMO. The INSAS was a 3 gun system, out of which carbine and LMG are missing in action, more than 15 years after the assault rifle's induction. Even the assault rifle doesn't have full auto mode, as far as I remember.
After 60 years of independence, we haven't even been able to develop a gun!
Countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Israel and Brazil started where we were, but they have left us far behind. The Chinese are in a class by themselves.
We have "indigenous" fighters which have 60% foreign made components, including the engine.
We have an "indigenous" helicopter that is also 40% imported.
Our "indigenous" tanks and howitzers are so bad that the army refuses to buy them.
I think that the time has come for defense PSUs to be converted to PPPs or JVs with private management. Nowadays, there is enough local capital and engineering talent in the private sector for us to maintain our war-worthiness in case of international embargoes.