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Fiza’ya PAF F-16 Love Affair

Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Defense on February 8th, 2012

Pakistan Fiza’ya

Reference

Introduction

PAF F-16A block 15 #84705showing off the typical Pakistani camouflage scheme.

Pakistan has ordered a total of 111 F-16A/B aircraft. Of these, 71 were embargoed by the US due to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. Of these 71, 28 were actually built but were flown directly to the AMARC at Davis-Monthan AFB for storage.

Over the years, various plans were conceived for these 28 aircraft: Pakistan wanted to get the aircraft or their money back; they were offered to various nations, none of which were interested; ultimately, the US Navy and USAF entered them into service as aggressor aircraft.

After Pakistan’s help in the war on terror, the US lifted the embargo. In 2005, Pakistan requested 24 new Block 50/52 F-16C/Ds (with option for as much as 55 aircraft). Ultimately an order for 18 F-16s was placed with an option on another 18.

Inventory

Peace Gate I

Pakistani F-16A #82702 over the Indus river, near Attock. Note the standard PAF F-16 color scheme.

In December 1981, the government of Pakistan signed a letter of agreement for the purchase of up to 40 F-16A/B (28 F-16A and 12 F-16B) fighters for the Pakistan Fiza’ya (Pakistan Air Force, or PAF). The deal would be split into two batches, one of 6 aircraft and the other of 34. The first aircraft were accepted at Fort Worth in October of 1982, and the first F-16, flown by Squadron Leader Shahid Javed, landed in Pakistan at Sargodha Air Base on January 15th, 1983 as part of a package of 6 ‘Peace Gate I’ aircraft (2 A’s and 4 B’s).

Peace Gate II

The remaining 34 aircraft were delivered under Peace Gate II. The Pakistani F-16A/B’s are all Block 15 aircraft, the final version of the F-16A/B production run, and are powered by the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-200 turbofan. All 40 ‘Peace Gate I & II’ aircraft were delivered between 1983 and 1987. By 1997, 8 aircraft of the initial Peace Gate I & II order have been written off in various mishaps, hence 32 remain in service and despite the embargo, caused by the Pakistan-specific Pressler Amendment (see below), are being fully supported by commercial contracts.

The F-16s were assigned USAF serial numbers for record-keeping purposes, and carry a three-digit PAF serial number on their noses; the F-16A’s being assigned numbers in sequence beginning with 701, and the F-16B’s being assigned numbers beginning with 601. The two digit prefix preceding these numbers is the year of delivery of these aircraft. The PAF Falcons have a slightly altered color scheme, with the dark gray area covering most of the wings and the aft part of the horizontal tailplanes and carry toned-down markings: the national flag (normally a white moon and star on green field) on the tail and roundels on the upper wing surface.

Peace Gate III

Seven years after the first order, in December of 1988, Pakistan ordered 11 additional F-16A/B Block 15 OCU (Operational Capability Upgrade) aircraft (6 Alpha and 5 Bravo models) under the Peace Gate III program. These aircraft were purchased as attrition replacements and fully paid for, but are still awaiting delivery in the Arizona Desert. The reason for this is that Pakistan got involved in a controversy with the United States over its suspected nuclear weapons capability. Intelligence information reaching US authorities indicated that Pakistan was actively working on a nuclear bomb, had received a design for a bomb from China, had tested a nuclear trigger and was actively producing weapons-grade uranium. Furthermore, the F-16A’s of no 9 and 11 squadrons at Sargodha AB have allegedly been modified to carry and deliver a Pakistani nuclear weapon. In addition, Pakistan has steadfastly refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

As a result, in accordance to the Pressler amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act, which forbids military aid to any nation possessing a nuclear explosive device, the United States government announced on October 6th, 1990 that it had embargoed further arms deliveries to Pakistan. The 11 Peace Gate III aircraft were consequently stored at AMARC (Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Center) at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, also known as the Boneyard. There, they were put in ‘Flyable Hold’ for 5 years, during which time 85% of each aircraft’s fuel system was preserved with JP-9, and each aircraft had its engine run once every 45 days. This resulted in the curious situation that most of those aircraft now have more engine run time than air time, the latter being only 6 hours. This low air-time figure, plus the fact that these aircraft are the most modern F-16A/B’s built, is the main reason why countries interested in second-hand F-16s first look at the Pakistani airframes.

Peace Gate IV

In September of 1989, plans were announced by Pakistan to acquire 60 more F-16A/B’s. A contract was signed in the same year under the Peace Gate IV Foreign Military Sales Programs, for the delivery of 60 F-16s for US $1.4 billion or approximately US $23 million a piece. By March of 1994, 11 of these planes had been built and were directly flown into the Sonoran desert where they joined the 11 Peace Gate III aircraft in storage. A further six aircraft were stored by the end of 1994, so that a total of 17 aircraft (7 F-16A’s and 10 F-16B’s) of the Peace Gate IV order are now stored. A stop-work order affected the remaining 43 planes of the Peace Gate IV contract.

The Brown amendment later eased the restrictions on weapon exports to Pakistan, but specifically excluded the F-16s from this release. Pakistan had already paid $685 million on the contract for the first 28 F-16s (11 Peace Gate III and 17 Peace Gate IV), and insisted on either having the planes it ordered delivered or getting its money back.

The saga of the embargoed F-16s

One of the Pakistan AF F-16s stored at Davis-Monthan AFB. This particular airframe was selected for closer inspection by the RNZAF while considering purchasing the PAF F-16s

In March 1996, nine aircraft out of those which had already been manufactured for Pakistan, were sold to Indonesia. However, Indonesia cancelled this order on June 2nd, 1997. This ‘unexpected’ trouble with the Indonesian F-16 deal means a bigger problem to the Clinton administration both with respect to Pakistan and Indonesia. President Clinton had pledged to the Pakistan Prime Minister, Ms. Benazir Bhutto, that the money paid for the F-16s by Islamabad would be reimbursed if the equipment could not be delivered. In trying to come to terms with Islamabad’s demand that Washington would return the money, the Clinton administration went on to see if the planes could be sold to a third country and the proceeds transferred. Interested buyers included amongst others the Republic of China.

At the end of 1997, with chances of finding a buyer close to zero, it was decided to take the PAF F-16s out of flyable hold and into the Boneyard. The airframes were offered to the Philippine Air Force, in view of its modernization plans. However, lack of funds precluded this deal as well.

In May 1998, a rumor suggested that the 28 Pakistani AF F-16A/B aircraft stored at the AMARC could possibly be donated to the Air Force of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a part of the US led ‘Train & Equip’ program. As Pakistan is already taking part in this program (training Bosnian Army Anti-tank missile teams), this is a solution that could satisfy both sides in this long dispute. Again, this proved to be not viable.

After the detonation of five nuclear devices by India in May 1998, in a remote area close to its border with Pakistan, Washington feared that this might escalate the old border dispute between Pakistan and India to a full crisis. In order to keep Pakistan from responding to this challenge, US president Bill Clinton suggested that the 28 stored F-16s would be delivered after all, in batches of 1 or 2. However, the internal pressure on the government proved to strong and shortly after India’s demonstration, Pakistan responded by detonating an unknown number of nuclear devices.

Finally, on December 1st, 1998, the New Zealand Government announced that it would lease-buy the 28 Pakistani F-16s stored at the AMARC. Three days later, the United States said they hoped for an ‘early and fair’ agreement on how to compensate Islamabad for its aborted purchase of US F-16 fighters. President Clinton briefed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on US efforts to compensate Pakistan for the $658 million it paid for the 28 F-16s. US officials said the United States has already paid $157 million of this back to Islamabad, raising the money by selling aircraft components to other countries. New Zealand agreed to pay some $105 million over 10 years to lease the fighters, providing additional funds that could be used to give Pakistan some of its money back.

At the end of 1998, the United States announced it would pay Pakistan $326.9 million in cash and up to $140 million in other compensation to settle the eight-year dispute. The $140 million will include about $60 million in US white wheat that Pakistan will receive during the current US fiscal year, which began on October 1st. The remaining $80 million in compensation will be negotiated by the two sides. The F-16 issue has been a headache for Pakistan, which is grappling to repay millions of dollars on its $32 billion in foreign debt amid a hard currency drought caused by sanctions and the suspension of International Monetary Fund programs.

In 1999 a new New Zealand government was elected who started a major reorganisation of the armed forces. One major element in this was the cancellation of the F-16 contract and the disbandment of its fighter force. The planes stayed in the boneyard for just a little longer.

In 2002, the US finally stopped trying to sell the aircraft and decided to assign them to the USAF and US Navy to fill the Aggressor role. After the demise of the (T)F-16N aggressor force, the US Navy lacked a high-performance aggressor aircraft. Because of the low airframe life of the embargoed Pakistani F-16s, these airframes were ideally suited for the demanding aggressor role. The 28 aircraft were thus evenly split between the USAF and the US Navy, and will take a vital role in DACT training of US forces.

After the attacks on 9/11 the Pakistani government became a major US ally in the war on terror. It was decided to redeliver those aircraft to Pakistan. Untill now, only half of them has been redelivered, with the remainder still to follow.

Peace Drive

On March 25th, 2005, the US Government announced that it had agreed to Pakistan’s request to sell new F-16s. Initially, Pakistan has requested an additional 24 new Block 50/52 F-16C/Ds (with option for as much as 55 aircraft). Not much details are known at this moment about a possible sale of the aircraft to Pakistan. The deal is expected to be concluded by September or October of 2005. As part of the package, it was also agreed that the current fleet of older A/B models would get the MLU update.

As a sign of good gesture, the US agreed to supply Pakistan with a number of F-16s who where build under the Peace Gate III/IV programs.

Finally, after long series of negotiations, on September 30th, 2006 the contract was signed between the Pakistani and US government for the acquisition of 18 new F-16C/D block 52 aircraft and an option for another 18 more. In the deal the re-delivery of the 26 remaining Peace Gate III/IV aircraft was also agreed and the upgrade of those aircraft – and the remaining F-16A/B fleet – to MLU standards.

This order was granted and given a new FMS name at Pakistan’s request. Albeit it already had the Peace Gate program, the PAF decided to choose another name since Peace Gate had too much negative commotion since the embargo of the last batch of aircraft.

/PAF Inventory ProgramModelBlockQty.SerialsDelivered Peace Gate I F-16A Block 15 2 82701/82702 1983 F-16B Block 15 4 82601/82604 1983 Peace Gate II F-16A Block 15 26 83703, 84704/84719,
85720/85728 1983-1987 F-16B Block 15 8 82605, 84606/84608,
85609/85612 1983-1987 Peace Gate III F-16A block 15OCU 6 91729, 92730/92734 embargoed F-16B Block 15OCU 5 91613, 92614/92617 embargoed Peace Gate IV F-16A Block 15OCU 7 92735/92739, 93740/93741 embargoed F-16B Block 15OCU 10 92618, 93619/93621,
94622/94624, 95625/95627 embargoed F-16A Block 15OCU 41 9_742/9_782 stop-work F-16B Block 15OCU 2 9_628/9_629 stop-work Peace Drive F-16C Block 52 12 10901/10912 2010 F-16D Block 52 6 10801/10806 2010 Option F-16C/D Block 52 18 ? 2009-2010

Modifications & Armament

Modifications

The Pakistan Air Force currently has the Block 15 F-16A/B model in operation, which has an upgraded APG-66 radar that brings it close to the MLU (Mid-life Update) radar technology. The main advantage is the ability to use the AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles if they were ever to be released to the PAF. Furthermore, the radar is capable of sorting out tight formations of aircraft and has a 15%-20% range increase over previous models. All the earlier F-16s were brought up to OCU standards and have received the Falcon UP structural modification package.

Armament

Pakistani F-16A with Thompson Atlis II laser designator pod on the 5L chin station, and two Paveway LGBs

Currently, Pakistani F-16s typically carry two all-aspect AIM-9L Sidewinders on the wing tip rails along with a pair of AIM-9P-4’s on the outermost underwing racks, while the Matra Magic 2 (French counterpart of the Sidewinder) can be carried as well. They also have an important strike role, being capable to deliver Paveway laser-guided bombs. Pakistani F-16s are also capable of firing the French AS-30 laser guided missile. The ALQ-131 pod is carried as ECM protection.

Atlis laser designation pod

Pakistan has acquired the French-built Thompson-CSF ATLIS laser designation pod for use on its F-16s. The ATLIS pod was first fitted to Pakistani F-16s in January 1986, thus making the F-16 the first non-European aircraft to be qualified for this pod.

Operational Service

Units

Please refer to the F-16 Units section for an overview of units.

Deployments

Combat

Pakistan was the second nation (after Israel) to use the F-16 in combat. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 in support of the pro-Soviet government in Kabul, which was being hard-pressed by Mujahadeen rebel forces, marked the start of a decade-long occupation. Mujahadeen rebels continued to harass the occupying Soviet military force as well as the forces of the Afghan regime that it was supporting. The war soon spilled over into neighboring Pakistan, with a horde of refugees fleeing to camps across the border in an attempt to escape the conflict. In addition, many of the rebels used Pakistan as a sanctuary from which to carry out forays into Afghanistan, and a steady flow of US-supplied arms were carried into Afghanistan from staging areas in Pakistan near the border. This inevitably resulted in border violations by Soviet and Afghan aircraft attempting to interdict these operations.

Between May 1986 and November of 1988, PAF F-16s have shot down at least eight intruders from Afghanistan. The first three of these (one Su-22, one probable Su-22, and one An-26) were shot down by two pilots from No. 9 Squadron. Pilots of No. 14 Squadron destroyed the remaining five intruders (two Su-22s, two MiG-23s, and one Su-25). Most of these kills were by the AIM-9 Sidewinder, but at least one (a Su-22) was destroyed by cannon fire. Flight Lieutenant Khalid Mamood is credited with three of these kills. At least one F-16 was lost in these battles, this one in an encounter between two F-16s and six Afghan Air Force aircraft on April 29th, 1987. However, the lost F-16 appears to have been an ‘own goal’, having been hit by a Sidewinder fired by the other F-16. The unfortunate F-16 pilot (Flight Lieutenant Shahid Sikandar Khan) ejected safely.

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PAKISTAN REWARDED FOR MUK-MUKAO : 18 F 16 FIGHTERS RELEASED

Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Defense on February 8th, 2012

PAF Receives Final US-Built F-16 Aircraft

A Possible Scenario for Muk-Mukao

 

The muk-mukao, which killed “memogate,” involving the US, Asif Zardari, Husain Haqqani, Nawaz Shariff, Gen.Kayani, Gen.Pasha, Aitzaz Ahsan, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Saudi and UAE officials, and a Team of US State and Defense Department Officials and Cameron Munter happened in Islamabad.  The deal resulted in: 1) the release of F16 D Aircraft as a consolation prize, 2) protection of Zardari’s assets in Switzerland, Cayman, Dubai, Monserrat (Chief Justice was made to compromise on this issue), “slow-down,” or “push under the rug,” of Supreme Court inquiry on Memogate, Mansoor Ijaz is off the hook, Haqqani will not be tried in absentia. World Bank will release a new tranche to cover over 1 Trillion Rupee Budget deficit. 

 


07:49 GMT, February 8, 2012 ISLAMABAD | One F-16 D Block 52 and two F-16 Block 15 MLU (Mid Life Upgrade) aircraft arrived Feb. 3 from the United States at PAF Base Shahbaz. The arrival of the last F-16 D Block 52 aircraft marked the completion of delivery of 18 aircraft of this category. 

The other two F-16 Block 15 aircraft, which arrived today, were earlier sent to USA for Mid Life Upgrade and have been delivered to PAF on time. 

To commemorate the ceremony, a simple ceremony was held at PAF Base Shahbaz, which was attended by large number of PAF officials.

The F-16 C/D Block 52 aircraft is a high tech fighter aircraft equipped with state-of-the-art avionics suite and latest weapons with Night Precision Attack capability.

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The enemy within

Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Defense on February 4th, 2012

Pakistan’s greatest enemy today is the enemy within. “Ameer,” Quaid-e-Azam told Raja Sahib of Mahmudabad in 1948, “You have no idea of the situation here. I am surrounded by traitors”. The situation we face today is much worse. Traitors and foreign agents have captured political power with foreign support. They are busy undermining our political and military institutions and constitute a serious threat to the independence and sovereignty of our country. A lesson to be drawn from the works of Gibbon is that Rome’s enemies lay not outside her borders but within her bosom, and they paved the way for the empire’s decline and fall – first to relentless barbarian invaders from the north, and then, a thousand years later, to the Turks. We must not let this fate befall our country.
Look where Pakistan risks going, in contrast to where she was headed a decade ago. The Supreme Court defied, all our institutions trampled upon by a corrupt ruler, our international prestige debased and a bankrupt economy. Tragedy aplenty: no drinking water, no electricity, no gas, no jobs, no cash, rampant corruption, no hope and Zardari. And to cap it all, the Memogate scandal: a dark, sinister, high-level conspiracy directed at the armed forces, a dastardly, cowardly, despicable criminal conspiracy designed to emasculate and destroy the army as a fighting force, the only shield we have against foreign aggression and the only glue that is keeping the federation together. It was an unsuccessful attempt to undermine the army’s much cherished independence and make significant changes in its decision-making system. The plan was to sweep away the existing system of command and raft of unpalatable generals and merge political and military power.
The affair began with an article published in the Financial Times on October 10, 2011, authored by Mansoor Ijaz, wherein it had been claimed that early on May 9, a week after US special forces stormed the hideout of Osama bin Laden and killed him, a senior Pakistani diplomat telephoned him with an urgent request that Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari needed to communicate a message to White House national security officials that would bypass Pakistan’s military and intelligence channel. After the publication of the said article, former ambassador Husain Haqqani and the presidency of Pakistan dismissed the author’s claim by lightly brushing it aside as mere fantasy. It is now abundantly clear that, if proved, the act in question of the individuals who initiated the said memorandum, the ones who rendered any help or assistance in the matter and those who blessed or approved it, renders them culpable for acts of high treason.
I worry about one thing only: that light may not be shed in full and may not be shed immediately on this sordid affair. A judgement behind closed doors following a secret investigation would not put an end to anything. The apex court, which is now cognisant of the matter, must, therefore, identify the individuals responsible for, or involved in, initiating the process leading to the said memorandum, authoring the same, providing any assistance, whatsoever, in the process or approving the said act. Only then would this sad story really unfold. For people would have to speak up, since keeping silent would make them accomplices. What folly it is to think that anyone can prevent history from being written! Well, the history of this heinous crime shall be written, and not one person with any responsibility in it, irrespective of how high up, will go unpunished.
I realise what storms it is going to stir up, but truth and justice are sovereign over all else, for they alone make a nation great. Political interests or special interests may blot them out momentarily but any nation that did not base its raison d’etre on truth and justice would today be a nation doomed. I am striving for the honour of the armed forces and the greatness of the nation and nothing else. If some corrupt people, who still hold sensitive positions of trust and responsibility, have to be brought to justice and given exemplary punishment to make Pakistan healthy again, why shield them? Why not make a horrible example of them?
I realise that the interests involved are too great and the men who wish to stifle the truth and protect the guilty, are too powerful and, therefore, the truth may not be known for some time. But there is no doubt that sooner or later – perhaps sooner rather than later – every bit of it, without exception, will be divulged. It will be difficult. It will require a great deal of effort, but the truth will be revealed. And those who are combatting the truth will find, to their dismay, that as the poet Euripides said: “Quos vult perdere Jupiter” (Jupiter drives to madness those whose downfall he desires).
President Nixon was not corrupt. Nobody questioned his integrity. Nobody said he had conspired with a foreign power to undermine national interests by secret or insidious means. Nixon was not charged with treason. But for his involvement in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal, he was forced to resign and hounded out of the Oval office. Twenty-five people were sent to prison because of the abuses of his administration, and many others faced indictments, including two attorney generals of the United States and several top officials of the White House. We in Pakistan will not be able to live with ourselves if the real culprit, the man whose duty, honour and raison d’etre it was to obey the law, serve the state and protect the Constitution, goes unpunished.
After the fall of Nixon, David Gergen, a White House advisor to President Nixon, wrote, “the received wisdom is that Watergate teaches us two basic rules about politics. One, never elect a man of low character to high office. Two, if a president and his team do make an egregious mistake, a cover-up is always worse than the crime.”
The story of Watergate should be required reading for every head of state and head of government in every country governed by law. Not in Pakistan. Here corrupt rulers get away with murder. They defy the Supreme Court, resist implementation of its orders, commit contempt of court with impunity, enter into criminal conspiracies with foreign powers and rule the country as if they have done nothing wrong.
“Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.” The crime against the state of Pakistan cries out to heaven for vengeance. It is but one example of the executive’s treachery and contempt for the Constitution, military institutions and the laws of this country. It is a challenge we must all accept. It is a challenge we have every intention of winning. We are in for a real battle. Today, it is a political and moral imperative for all patriotic Pakistanis to expose the traitors, unmask the conspirators, resist foreign intervention in our internal affairs, civil and military, and destroy the roots of evil that afflict Pakistan.
The writer is a former federal secretary. Email: roedad@comsats. net.pk,www.roedadkhan.com

 

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Analysis: India’s military build up may be too little too late?

Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Defense on February 3rd, 2012

Analysis: India’s military build up may be too little too late?

 

By Frank Jack Daniel

NEW DELHI | Fri Feb 3, 2012 6:51am EST

 

(Reuters) – India’s 1.3 million-strong armed forces, hobbled by outdated equipment and slow decision-making, are undergoing an overhaul as defence priorities shift to China from traditional rival Pakistan.

And like a refit of the imposing but dilapidated defense ministry on Delhi’s grand South Block, it’s a plodding process.

Defense chiefs are hurrying to modernize ageing weaponry as China reinforces a 3,500-km (2,200-mile) shared but disputed border through the Himalayas.

It took 11 years to select France’s Rafale as the favored candidate for a $15 billion splurge on 126 new combat jets to replace a Soviet-era fleet of MiGs dubbed “flying coffins” for their high crash rate.

At the same time, feeling encircled as China projects its fast-growing naval power from Hormuz to Malacca, India is rushing to firm up friendships the length and breadth of the Indian Ocean.

India is the world’s largest arms importer with plans to spend $100 billion on weapons over the next decade.

“The Indian military is strengthening its forces in preparation to fight a limited conflict along the disputed border, and is working to balance Chinese power projection in the Indian Ocean,” U.S. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper told the U.S. Senate this week.

That “balance” includes a strategic alliance with Washington that in turn has stoked Chinese fears of containment. It is due to test-fire its nuclear capable Agni V rocket in the next few weeks, with a strike range reaching deep into China.

In 2009, the air force reopened a high-altitude, landing strip in Ladakh last used during a 1962 border war with China. Along with other Himalayan bases, it is now upgrading the strip for fighter operations.

About 500 Indian MiG-21s have plunged to the ground since the 1960s, yet the jet is still in use, raising the question of whether painfully slow defense procurement procedures can come up with new hardware faster than old equipment is sent to the scrap heap.

According to Indian media, Russia delivered the nuclear submarine INS Chakra on a 10-year lease at the end of last month, eight years after India first asked for it.

A shortfall of about 200 planes means the air force is operating at its lowest level in decades – just 33 squadrons against a goal of 45. By the time all the Rafales are delivered, more MiGs will have been decommissioned.

“It’s taken too long,” said Jasjit Singh, a retired commander and director of the think tank Centre for Air Power Studies. “Can we live with a certain shortfall in the force, and for how long?”

India is developing a fifth-generation fighter with Russia and aims to fly it in 2015, as well as a fleet of 272 Sukhois, half of which have already been built.

From a defense perspective, India has traditionally had the upper hand over China’s numerically superior air force, but rapid modernization over the border may have flipped the balance.

Both forces are now smaller than 20 years ago, but China’s has a fast-growing core of 350 advanced combat jets, including its own Sukhois. It also has a stealth fighter program.

India’s military modernization plans are focused on the navy and air force, more than the army, which has traditionally squared off with Pakistan. But with Pakistan’s air force also modernizing fast, India risks losing its edge on two fronts.

In the 1980s, a scandal engulfed the government of then-prime minister Rajiv Gandhi over millions of dollars in kickbacks on artillery contracts for Sweden’s Bofors.

Weapons purchases have since been a tortuous process, with rules rewritten several times to avoid graft.

“There has been a tremendous shortage of artillery systems acquisition after the Bofors scandal,” said Rahul Roy Chaudhury, a South Asia expert at London’s IISS security think tank.

Defense Minister A.K. Antony is known to be very cautious, with no desire to be caught up in corruption scandals that have in recent years returned to haunt the government.

On Tuesday, he made clear no deal would quickly be signed for the Rafale or any other fighters.

“MEETING OF MINDS”

The relationship between India and China is complex, involving as much cooperation as competition. But while the generals and admirals rarely say as much publicly, India fears a repeat of a brief, humiliating 1962 border war and wants to be prepared for surprises.

Seafaring officers from 14 countries from New Zealand to the Seychelles have gathered on remote Indian islands in the Bay of Bengal this week for exercises and a “meeting of minds” about maritime security.

It is one of the largest such gatherings of maritime allies that India has organized, but China and Pakistan were conspicuously not on the guest list.

Predictably, since China is also a major trading partner, India’s assistant chief of naval staff, Admiral Monty Khanna, was at pains to play down China’s absence.

“There are many nations that have not been invited,” Khanna said in New Delhi, adding China would not be discussed at the meeting. “India and China might share a land border but we are quite distant by sea,” he said.

Distant they may be, but increasingly the world’s fastest-growing major economies find themselves jostling as they compete for resources, sea lanes and allies. A lack of friendly engagement increases the risk of misunderstandings.

This week’s exercises are being held on the Andaman Islands, where India is spending $2 billion to set up a military command and from where the contested and congested South China Sea is only a short hop away.

Last year, India’s INS Airavat, an amphibious assault vessel that sailed from the Andamans was challenged in the South China Sea by a radio caller identifying himself as an official of the Chinese navy. Both sides later played down the incident.

“The Indian navy is coy about formally engaging with the Chinese navy because it feels that, if it does, it legitimizes the Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean,” said Roy Chaudhury.

“There needs to be much more communication, especially navy to navy, because they are bumping into each other more and more.”

(Additional reporting by Arup Roychoudhury in NEW DELHI and Sanjib Kumar in PORT BLAIR; Editing by John Chalmers and Ron Popeski)

 

Courtesy Reuters.com

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A simple matter of buying a fighter jet

Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Defense on February 3rd, 2012

A simple matter of buying a fighter jet

Successful execution of even relatively simple tasks eludes India. Its Great Power ambitions are way out of line from its abilities today

On Tuesday, a decade after India decided to equip itself with a new fighter jet—replacing the MiG-21 —the process acquired a sense of finality. For all practical purposes, the French Dassault Rafale is the government’s choice. Each step of the journey—from the initial request for information (RFI) in 2001 to the announcement of Dassault as the lowest bidder—highlights interesting weaknesses in the country’s defence equipment procurement process in particular and strategic thinking in general.

Consider the timeline first. By early 1990s, the backbone of the Indian Air Force (IAF), the MiG-21, had outlived its utility. Apart from outdated avionics and weapon systems, the large number of crashes led to doubts about the jet’s airworthiness. By that time, the Pakistan air force had been operating F-16s for at least six to seven years. The MiG-21 is no match for the F-16. Yet, it took another decade for the RFI to be issued. In all, more than a quarter century will have elapsed between the realization that new planes were required and the first flight of an IAF Rafale across the Indian sky.

 

File photo of French Air Force Rafale manufactured by France’s Dassault Aviation. AP

File photo of French Air Force Rafale manufactured by France’s Dassault Aviation. AP

 

That is not all. By the time the full complement of 126 aircraft is in place, the Rafale would be an “outdated” plane. Early last year, China carried out the first flight of its fifth-generation, stealth fighter, the Chengdu J-20. The J-20 is expected to be inducted in the Chinese air force by 2020. Like the MiG-21 vs F-16 comparison, equating the Rafale with the J-20 is, perhaps, unfair. But that’s the point missed in the entire acquisition process. A country does not buy weapons for current use—those requirements have to be met by the existing stock of weapons—but for future contingencies. That requires careful, and imaginative, planning about future scenarios. While the country’s armed forces—the users of weapons—are keenly aware about these developments, the buyer—the government—is in a time warp. By 2020, India will need a different type of fighter jet—a fifth-generation plane. While India has begun the process to acquire a fifth-generation fighter, it is an open question if by 2020, that plane will be in service with the IAF.

 

This problem could have been avoided easily during the ongoing process. The US had offered India the F-16 and F-18 planes as medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA). India rejected those aircraft and for good reasons. With a little bit of imagination, it could have tweaked the MMRCA contract, imparting it a futuristic direction. The year 2005 marked the high-tide of the Indo-US relations. The civilian nuclear deal had just been agreed on; the countries were truly on the path to a strategic relationship—unlike the phoney expression it has become now—and high-level political negotiations on defence ties would have imparted it greater depth. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the country’s national security leadership could have held a sustained dialogue and asked the Americans for the F-22 Raptor—a fifth-generation fighter. Whether the Americans gave us those planes or not, an effort should have been made to get them and the ball thrown in the US’ court. Had that happened, it would have given India an air power edge and lifted it above the ruck of countries in the region. What needs emphasis here is that chasing equipment made in the US does not mean slavish acceptance of what it dishes out (clearly the F-16 and F-18 are goods past their sell-by date) but getting the most out of such deals. If buying jets from the US helps India further its political interests, then they should have been bought. Period.

That, however, would have required geopolitical imagination and discarding doubts about friendship with the US. Historically, India has never had that kind of leadership. India simply does not have the institutions that enable the grooming of such leaders. The National Security Council—established in 1998—is now anothersarkari department. The one place where such ideas could have flourished—universities—seldom produce scholarly work that can spur strategic imagination—in leaders and citizens alike. The contrast with China is marked. While the latter rediscovers its ancient strategic roots (see Ancient Chinese Thought, Modern Chinese Power by Yan Xuetong, Princeton University Press 2011), powers ahead with its defence modernization plans and, in general, exhibits a confident worldview, India is busy creating roadblocks on the path to its progress. Even relatively simple matters such as sharing river waters with Bangladesh have been blocked by regional leaders like Mamata Banerjee. It is one thing to hanker for a position on the global high table, but an entirely different matter to create conditions to achieve that goal.

To be fair, it is easy to overlook the fact that it is for the first time in two millennia that India—as an independent entity, that is—is enjoying geographic unity, something that has been imagined culturally for long but has existed politically for less than 70 years. Under these conditions, the required imagination—at the level where it is needed most, among policymakers—will always be in deficit. At the operational level, it leads to a sense of timelessness: the false belief that adversaries will exhibit behaviour similar to one’s own; that perspective plans on paper will automatically bear fruit and, generally, that opportunities always abound. The acquisition of aircraft whose utility in the future will be limited is only one aspect of this much greater weakness.

Siddharth Singh is Editor (Views) at Mint.

FLIGHT SAFETY ANALYSIS: 2007-2011

Published March 30, 2011 

SOURCE : IDRW.ORG

Post Aero India 2011 all eyes are now on multi-billion dollar tenders issued by the Ministry of Defence to procure 126 fighter aircraft’s and more than 400 light, heavy and attack helicopters. In this fanfare we often forget the main reasons why these tenders were floated. The 126 MMRCA tender was floated as a stop gap measure to sustain fleet strength depleted due to delay in LCA program and high rate of attrition amongst the forces. Indian military aviation has suffered 54 mishaps during the period 2007-2011(FY) resulting into many casualties. In this analysis we aim present the fact in simplified but detailed manner.

 

Forces wise analysis:

The air force as usual scores the most in mishaps. Plagued with old and obsolete aircrafts like MiG-21 and Mig-27 remain major contributors. Not just old but also upgraded variants of these two fighters have performed poorly in air safety. Indian Navy comes in second facing similar issues with old Sea Harriers. Of the 30 purchased in 1980’s only 11 remain. Indian Army has fared good primarily because of its smaller air arm. The only crash suffered by the Army was that of a Cheetah in February this year. However, if the Cheetah’s and Chetak’s aren’t replaced soon than we may see a rise in incidents. In all Army, Navy and Air force suffered 1, 10 & 42 mishaps respectively.

Type wise analysis:

Fighter aircrafts of the Indian Air Forces fared very poorly with 33 incidents. Again the MiG-21’s and MIg-27’s formed the bulk of losses. Also Indian Navy’s Sea Harrier suffered multiple crashes in 2007 and another in 2009. Of lately older helicopters i.e. the Cheetah and Chetak of both the Navy and Air force showing trends of increase in rate of attrition.  Helicopters accounted for 16 mishaps during the period. The Transport fleet of the Air Forces proved to be very reliable with only 1 loss of an An-32 but this loss accounted for the single largest cause of death with 13 killed in the incident. Trainers and UAV’s crashed 4 times during the period.

 

Aircraft wise analysis:

A comparison of aircrafts contributing to most crashes show that the MiG-21 remains the “Flying Coffin” of the Air force and is followed by MiG-27. The efforts of IAF and authorities of MiG, HAL and ADA don’t seem to be working. Another major contributor is the helicopter fleet of Cheetah, Chetek, Kamov, Mi-8, Mi-17 & Mi-26 who contributed 17 crashes. The pride of the IAF the Su-30MKI has suffered two crashes but still remains one of the safest platform along with Jaguar and MiG-29. The Mirage-2000 suffered no losses during the period. Prior to the Limited Upgrade (LUSH) the Sea Harriers suffered 4 crashes. The MiG-21, MiG-27 and helicopters are areas where there needs to be work done.

 

Facts & Conclusion:

The armed forces of India have lost exactly 3 squadron strength worth of aircrafts over past four years of which more than 1 ½ squadron worth attributed to fighters and a further 1 squadron attributed to helicopters. Statistically, India losses approximately 1 aircraft per month excluding recoverable mishaps. Such a high rate of attrition is not seen in any other frontline military. Also the loss of life is tremendous with 50 deaths mostly that of military personals. Rapid progress needs to be made in air safety by India. Aircrafts like the MiG-21, MiG-27, Cheetah and Chetek needs to be replaced by safer indigenous aircrafts like the Tejas and Dhruv by increasing their annual serial production.

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