Tilting back to PSUs?

Ajay Banerjee 

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 20

Fighter jets, anti-tank missiles,   helicopters, specialised submarine hunting sonars and ship-based torpedoes, all have one thing in common. The Ministry of Defence is seemingly titling back to trusted public sector companies for making such equipment.

To start with, the government has, in its latest move, decided to retract the Request for Proposal (RFP) to procure the ‘Spike’ anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) from an Israeli firm after the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) said it could produce similar ATGMs within India.

The DRDO has now been told to work on the project and has been given four years to develop the missile. The Israeli firm had tied up with an Indian private company to make these ATGM’s. 

Just three weeks ago, the Air Force (IAF) was told to look at more numbers of Tejas as top priority and not just dismiss it off. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) makes these planes and 123 Tejas jets—in two variants—that the MoD is looking at. Forty planes of the base version have been ordered and are under production. The Mark 1-A 

version will have 83 planes with 43 upgrades over the base version. 

It was almost two years ago, in December 2015, that the IAF indicated the requirement of 100 Tejas LCA MK 1-A aircraft, for which a formal order is yet to be placed. 

In 2016, the MoD had opted to have Russian Kamov helicopters to join hands with HAL to make 197 light utility helicopters for the IAF and the Army. The partnership is all set to come up with a financial proposal to make these copters.