All
that the three-year trials process in Italy has produced so far is the
indictment and sentencing of Giuseppe Orsi,
former CEO Finmeccanica; and Bruno
Spagnolini, CEO of AgustaWestland. No material
evidence to date has come to light about any direct or indirect money-trail
that leads to any Indian official or politician, nor of any wrongdoing done by
anyone from either the MoD or the Indian Air Force (IAF). Worse, the material
evidence gathered from the alleged middlemen—Guido Ralph
Haschke, Carlo Gerosa and James
Christian
Michel—clearly show them to be groping in the dark and being totally
unaware of how exactly the MoD’s procurement-related decision-making process
works. For, had they have had even the slightest idea about who had the final
say in selecting the VVIP helicopters, they would have clearly mentioned the
post of Director of the Special Protection Group (SPG) as being the key and
most critical stakeholder of the VVIP helicopter selection process. Yet,
nowhere is the SPG’s Director mentioned in any piece of paper containing the
handwritten notations of these alleged middlemen. Nor is there any material
evidence of any money laundering exercise involving any financial institution.
It
was in August 1999 that the IAF, which is responsible for carrying out VVIP
communication taskings, had proposed the replacement of its then Mi-8T VVIP
helicopters of its Air HQ Communication Squadron due to severe operational constraints, such as the Mi-8T’s inability of to
operate at night and in adverse weather, inability to operate safely at places
in elevations beyond 2,000 metres, and the approaching end of their total
technical service lives (TTSL). Consequently, a global Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued in
March 2002 to which four OEMs—AgustaWestland, Eurocopter SA, Rosoboronexport
State Corp and Sikorsky Helicopters—responded. The IAF’s Technical Evaluation
Committee (TEC) subsequently shortlisted three helicopters and accordingly competitive
flight evaluations were conducted. Since AgustaWestland’s AW-101 was not
certified for operating at an altitude of 6,000 metres, it did not participate
in the flight evaluations. Russia’s Mi-172 could not comply with 7 mandatory
Operational Requirements (OR). After flight evaluations, only Eurocopter’s
EC-225 was found suitable for acquisition. On November 19, 2003
a meeting was taken by Brajesh Mishra, the then Principal Secretary-cum-National
Security Adviser (NSA) to the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on this
subject. In this meeting, Mishra had observed that his main concern was that
the framing of the mandatory ORs had led India effectively into a single vendor
situation. It was also noted that very rarely have India’s Presidents or Prime
Ministers have made visits to places involving flying at an altitude beyond 4,500
metres. In
the meeting it was therefore decided to make the mandatory OR for an operational
altitude 4,500 metres. The higher flying ceiling of 6,000 metres, and the
mandated internal cabin height of 1.8 metres could be made desirable ORs. Later, a letter dated
December 22, 2003 from Mishra to the then Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) of the
IAF, ACM Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy, stating that it was unfortunate that neither PMO nor the
Special Protection Group (SPG) was consulted while framing these mandatory ORs.
Mishra suggested that the CAS and the Defence Secretary may jointly review the
matter to draw up realistic mandatory ORs satisfying operational, security and
convenience requirements of VVIPs, and also set in motion a fast-track process
for selection and acquisition of the replacement helicopters. In pursuance of this
directive, the ORs were deliberated at length between IAF, NSA, SPG and MoD
between March, 2005 to September, 2006 and the indicated changes were
incorporated. No
ambiguity is thus possible: the decision to lower the service ceiling
requirement was official and above-board. It was taken during a meeting chaired
by the PM’s Principal Secretary-cum-NSA, was followed up in writing with the IAF’s
CAS, and was reviewed by the then-Defence Secretary. Subsequently, the revised
ORs were deliberated at length for 18 months by the involved SPG and IAF
authorities before becoming effective, and were all included in the final RFP
document. The
acceptance of necessity (AON) for the procurement of 12 VVIP helicopters was
accorded by the MoD’s Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) under the ‘Buy’
category with 30% industrial offsets on January 3, 2006.
Next,
the RFP was issued to six OEMs on September 27, 2006. Three OEMs—Sikorsky
(S-92), AgustaWestland (AW-101) and Rosoboronexport (Mi-172 ) responded to the
RFP. Rosoboronexport
did not submit the mandated earnest money deposit and the Integrity Pact, along
with the Technical and Commercial Proposals (TCP). It had been made clear to Rosoboronexport
in February 2007 that this was a global tender and hence every contractual
clause would apply to all vendors without exception. As no Integrity Pact and
earnest money deposit were received from Rosoboronexport, the Mi-172’s TCP was
not accepted. Subsequently, a team comprising officials of the
IAF and SPG carried out Field
Evaluation Trials (FET) of the AW-101 in the UK and of the S-92 in the US from January
16, 2008 till February 19, 2008. The FET team submitted its report in April
2008 and recommended the AW-101 for service induction. The IAF’s own internal Staff
Evaluation Report (SER) concluded that the S-92 was non-compliant with respect
to four staff qualitative requirements (SQR)m these being the absence of a
missile approach warning system (MAWS), service ceiling of 4.5km, deficient
drift-down altitude, and deficient hover-out-of-ground-effect parameters. In
addition, the AW-101, unlike the S-92, featured a high tail-boom since it would
allow the VVIP’s motorised vehicles to come right next to the rear-ramp and not
expose the protected persons to a threat from anyone in the vicinity. The SER thus assessed AW-101 to be fully compliant
with all SQRs.
The Technical Oversight
Committee (TOC) constituted by the MoD on August 6, 2008 found that the FETs,
compliance to SQRs and selection of the competing OEMs were all done according
to the prescribed/mandated procedures. A Contract Negotiations Committee (CNC) was subsequently
constituted and it carried out negotiations with AgustaWestland between September
19, 2008 and January 21, 2009. While the CNC was progressing with negotiations,
the IAF recommended the inclusion of Traffic Collision Avoidance System
(TCAS-II) and Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) as additional
fitments for all 12 AW-101s, while the SPG recommended the inclusion of integral
MEDEVAC systems for 8 of the 12 VVIP helicopters. These additional equipment
were considered to be essential for safe and effective operation of the
helicopters in the VVIP transportation role. The CNC, thereafter, recommended contract
signature at a negotiated fixed-price of €556.262 million ($827 million), or Rs.3,550 crore. The draft contract was next submitted for approval by
the Cabinet Committee on National Security (CCNS) and was approved by the CCNS on
January 18, 2010. Consequently, the MoD inked the contract with AgustaWestland for
12 AW-101s each powered by three Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM-322 engines on February 8, 2010.
The
AW-101 procurement contract included specific contractual provisions against
bribery and the use of undue influence. Article 22 of the contract dealt with
penalty for use of undue influence. This clause entitled the ‘Buyer’ to cancel
the contract with the ‘Seller’ and recover from it the amount of any loss
arising from such cancellations. Article 23 of the contract dealing with agents
and agency commission required the ‘Seller’ to confirm and declare that it had
not engaged any individual or firm, whether Indian or foreign, whosoever, to
intercede, facilitate or in any way to recommend to the Government of India or
any of its functionaries, whether officially or unofficially, to award of the contract
to the ‘Seller’ nor had any amount been paid, promised or intended to be paid
to any such individual or firm in respect of any such intercession,
facilitation or recommendation. This clause further entitled the ‘Buyer’ to
consider cancellation of the contract without any entitlement or compensation
to the ‘Seller’ who shall be liable to refund all payments made by the ‘Buyer’
in terms of the contract along with interest. In addition to the
above contractual provisions, Agusta Westland had signed an Integrity Pact with
the Government of India. The validity of this Integrity Pact is from the date
of its signing and extends up to five years or the complete execution of the
contract, whichever is later. Under the Integrity Pact, the ‘Seller’ OEM
committed itself to take all measures necessary to prevent corrupt practices,
unfair means and illegal activities during any stage of the bid or during any
pre-contract or post-contract stage. Any breach of the provisions of the
Integrity Pact entitled the ‘Buyer’ to take actions against the ‘Seller’ which
included forfeiture of the earnest money, performance bond, cancellation of the
contract without giving any compensation, recovery of all the sums already paid
with interest, cancellation of any other contracts with the bidder, and to
debar the bidder from entering into any bid from the Government of India for a
minimum period of five years, which may be extended.
By July 2012 IAF pilots began
AW-101-related flying conversion training in the UK, and the first AW-101 arrived at the Palam air base on December 20, 2012 while the second was
delivered on December 22 and the third on December 24, 2012. Earlier, in October 2012, the MoD’s Defence Secretary wrote to the
Ministry of External Affairs’ )MEA) Secretary (West) to take up the matter of
alleged corrupt practices related the the AW-101 procurement contract with the UK
in view of the alleged involvement of a British citizen (James Christian
Michel), and the fact that the contract was signed with UK-based AgustaWestland. In November 2012, the
MEA’s Secretary (West) replied to Defence Secretary, stating that “the UK
authorities (i.e. the UK Serious Fraud Office https://www.sfo.gov.uk/about-us/) were
waiting for the results of the Italian investigation in order to ascertain
whether there are further actions to take”.
However,
by late 2013 Indian Defence Minister Arackaparambil Kurien Antony single-handedly took the decision to first block progress-payments
to AgustaWestland, then to cancel the contract, and finally to sue for payment
of the surety and performance bonds that the company had placed in escrow, on
the basis of unproven allegations. In doing so, Antony ignored a fundamental legal and
moral principle: that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. This is
unconscionable behavior for a Union Cabinet Minister in “the world’s largest
democracy,” and can only be explained by motives other that a constitutional
duty to his mission. The reality is that Antony, as the upcoming general
election neared, even wanted to put AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica, its
corporate parent, on the government’s blacklist, until he was blocked by the Government of India’s Solicitor-General. By January 2014, the
MoD had cancelled the €566 million contract, as well as encashed €228 million of
AgustaWestland’s €278 million performance bond, which dented the OEM’s cash
position and that of its holding company Finmeccanica. All of this for no other reason than
an Indian minister’s overwhelming pre-occupation with his political future.
So,
what are the results of the Italian investigative efforts thus far? Firstly, they
have only ended up insulting the institution of the IAF. Secondly, they have
denied the much-needed replacement VVIP helicopters that are not only required for
flying India’s President, Vice-President and Prime Minister, but are also meant
for use by the country’s National Command Authority (NCA) in times of
emergencies. In addition, such helicopters are also required to be put at the
disposal of visiting foreign Heads of State/Government. Imagine such an
official guest refusing to fly on-board a Mi-17IV or Mi-17V-5—both of which
generally shunned by civilian VVIPs across the globe due to their deficient
flight-safety features.
Here is what India’s
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) says about the Mi-17 family of
helicopters: “The MGB drives the hydraulic pumps. Hydraulic power is required for
the flying controls. The hydraulic system has OM-15 hydraulic oil. Hydraulic
System has a main and standby system. Both systems have independent tanks,
pumps, accumulators and pipelines. However, both the pipelines feed only a
single booster, which in turn moves the control surfaces. There are a total of
4 boosters in the system. One critical weakness in the system is that if there
is a leakage in the booster, there is a possibility of the entire oil from both
the main and the standby systems leaking out. The emergency procedure for a
total hydraulic failure is to have both pilots flying the aircraft in unison to
a landing. The Mi 17V-5, which is a military version of the Mi-17, is being
flown by the IAF and Border Security Force. As per the Flight Manual of this
aircraft, the crew is to abandon the aircraft in case of total hydraulic
failure. In case they cannot, then they have to resort to flying by both pilots
to land immediately. Therefore, the procedure given in the Mi-17’s Flight
Manual for total hydraulic does not inspire confidence in the pilots. All of
them feel that this aircraft cannot be flown with a total hydraulic failure. They
feel that this aircraft cannot even be taxied on ground with total hydraulic
failure.”
And
finally, to add
insult to injury, Italian state prosecutors will be the only characters in this
sorry story to escape unscathed.
So, if all those pathetic
politicians (both of the ruling national coalition and those of the UPA-1/2
coalitions) in Lutyens’ Delhi are indeed serious about seeking the truth while
ensuring that the prestige of the IAF and the survivability of India’s NCA are
assured, then they better take heed of how Taiwan had overcome a similar crisis
in the not-too-distant past. The details of this case are as follows:
On August 31, 1991 France and
Taiwan signed the ‘Bravo Contract’ to supply six Lafayette-class guided-missile
frigates (FFG) for a total of US$2.5 billion. The buyer of the FFGs was the
Plans Office of the Republic of China Navy (RoCN), acting on behalf Taiwan. The
FFGs were to be built by DCNS. Shortly thereafter, the authorities in Taiwan accused
the French state-owned ELF Aquitaine of having paid bribes through Thomson CSF
(now THALES Group) to persuade both French government and RoCN authorities to
approve the contract and launched an investigation. Taiwan initiated arbitration proceedings against DCNI during the second
half of 2010. The case was
eventually heard by the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Court
of Arbitration. The court found that THALES Group had violated the anti-corruption
terms of the contract and was therefore liable to repay all bribes, plus
associated interest and legal fees. THALES appealed, and the decision was
upheld by the Paris Court of Appeal, ordering THALES Group to pay compensation
to Taiwan in the amount of €630 million (US$913 million). The French government
and THALES Group announced the payment of the fine, with the French government
paying approximately 72.54%, or around €457 million, and THALES Group the
remainder.
The Rebuttals
The Comptroller and Auditor
General (CAG) had submitted a report on the acquisition of helicopters for Very
Very Important Persons (VVIPs) on August 13, 2013. The audit sought to examine
the process of acquisition of VVIP helicopters and its compliance with the
Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), the prescribed procedure for procurement
in the defence services. The report can be read
here:
Key findings and recommendations of the
CAG in this report were obviously derived by officials who were not domain
experts. The findings/recommendations are detailed below as are their rebuttals:
Claim:
The
initial Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by the Ministry of Defence in 2002
mandated an altitude requirement of 6,000 metres. Only one helicopter, the EC-225
of Eurocopter met this requirement. The EH-101 helicopter (later renamed
AW-101) of AgustaWestland did not meet this requirement.
Fact: That’s because that
RFP was based on specifications that favoured only the EC-225 and the Mi-172.
In fact, the MoD had in 1999 estimated that the total acquisition cost of eight
VVIP transportation helicopters would be no more than Rs.793 crore, and this figure pertained to only the Mi-172 helicopter
that did not contain any customer-specified equipment. The MoD had obtained
such cost estimations from Pawan Hans Ltd, which had by then been operating the
Mi-172.
Claim: However, the
first RFP was cancelled due to the emergence of a single-vendor situation. In
the revised RFP in 2006, the altitude requirement was reduced to 4,500 metres,
and a cabin height requirement of 1.8 metres was introduced, making the AW-101
eligible, and the EC 225 ineligible. The
lowering of the altitude requirement was against the ORs of the procured
helicopters, especially in many areas of the north and north east of India. In
addition, the single-vendor situation remained even after lowering the altitude
requirement, because of which the AW-101 of AgustaWestland was selected.
Fact: Totally untrue. At a meeting of
the PMO on November 19, 2003, it was Brajesh Mishra who, acting upon the advice
of the SPG, directed that the desired VVIP helicopter’s service ceiling be
reduced from 6,000 metres (18,000 feet) to 4,500 metres or 14, 000 feet; that
the internal cabin be of the stand-up type, meaning a height increase from 1.4
metres to 1.8 metres; and an increase in the number of VVIP helicopters from 8
to 12. Thus, 3 (THREE) different deviations were sought from the PMO, and NOT
from IAF HQ. A letter to this effect was later drafted by Brajesh Mishra from
the PMO and this letter was dated December 22, 2003 and it was addressed to both IAF HQ and to
the SPG’s Director. As a result of this, from that day itself, the EC-225 got
disqualified since its cabin height was only 1.45 metres.
Insterad, from then on, three contenders remained in the fray, i.e. the Mi-172,
the S-92 and the AW-101, with the latter two having cabin heights of 1.82
metres.
Claim: The revised
SQRs in 2006 made competition more restrictive instead of making the procurement
procedures more broad-based to increase competition. The fresh RFP with revised
SQRs was issued to only 6 vendors as opposed to 11 in 2002.
Fact: This is
spectacularly ridiculous. Can anyone in the CAG or in this world ever explain
how a competitive evaluation process involving 12 contenders can guarantee a
far better deal than a competitive evaluation process involving 6 contenders? Can
even a single such precedence be sited from anywhere else in this world?
Claim: The Field
Evaluation Trial (FET) of the AW-101 was conducted on representative
helicopters and not the actual helicopter. The AW-101 was still at the
development stage at the time of the FET.
Fact: Totally wrong. The
AW-101, known earlier as the EH-101, has been available as a fully developed
and flight-certified helicopter since the 1990s. Furthermore, never in the
history of aviation has any aircraft or helicopter been developed from scratch
as a VVIP platform. Every VVIP helicopter flying today makes use of a platform that
was originally developed for either military/military utility usage and that
has been customised through customer-specified fitments. Similarly, when the
Indian Navy wanted to evaluate the contenders for its LRMR/ASW platform
requirements, it had to evaluate representative candidates like the Airbus A319MPA
and the Boeing P-8A Poseidon.
Claim: Although the
2006 RFP had laid down the necessity of carrying out the field evaluations in
India, they were conducted abroad. The
recommendation and assurance given by the IAF Chief (October 2007) to conduct
evaluation trials abroad lacked justification.
Fact: Necessity, yes; compulsory, no. Deviations
from this requirement have always been allowed over the past 16 years. For
i9nstance, field evaluations of VVIP transport aircraft like the Boeing BBJ and
Embraer EMB-135BJ Legacy
were all conducted abroad in the previous decade.
Claim: Given the low
utilisation levels of the existing fleet of helicopters, the MoD was not
justified in procuring four additional helicopters for VVIPs.
Fact: The existing Mi-8Ts had approached
the end of their TTSLs by 2005 itself and therefore could be used only
sparingly. Instead, most VVIP flying between 2005 and now has been done on
board the IAF’s Mi-17-IVs, 40 of which were bought early in the previous
decade.
Claim: The cost
benchmarked by the Contract Negotiation Committee was much higher than the
offered price, allowing no room for negotiation.
Hence, it provided no realistic basis for obtaining an assurance about a
reasonable cost procurement of AW -101.
Fact: The MoD’s benchmarked cost was
Rs.4,877.5 crore while AgustaWestland’s offer-price was Rs.3,966 crore, meaning
the former figure was 22.80% higher. The final negotiated figure was Rs. 3,550
crore. Therefore, to claim that there was no room for negotiations on the price
issue is blatantly false. Usually, the benchmarked cost has a 20% mark-up in
order to factor in various variables, such as the customisation of the platform
(through the incorporation of special fitments) and the quantum of spares-support
required for a finite period of time, like for a single year or for a
three-year period.
Other Slanderous Claims
The Milan Appellate Court’s judgment
concerning Indian citizens, which relies almost entirely on the testimony of Guido
Haschke, blandly states: “Ultimately, there are no elements of certainty to
affirm this beyond any reasonable doubt that the reduction in the operating
height was made contrary to the public (duty), and then (Air Chief) Marshal
Tyagi carried out specific acts contrary to his duty; it remains, anyway, the
wrongfulness of his conduct, for having offered to cooperate with AW in an
economic operation which prohibited all forms of mediation, and for having
received a large compensation in relation to its institutional activity.”
Now, either Italian
state prosecutors and court judges are spectacularly insane, or they are loathe
to do their homework. For instance, the date on which written directives to revise
the QRs were issued from the Indian PMO to IAF HQ was December 22, 2003 and at that time the IAF’s CAS was ACM Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy.
ACM Shashindra Pal Tyagi took over as the 20th CAS
of the IAF only on December 31, 2004, and had retired on March 31, 2007. The competitive evaluations of the
two shortlisted contenders were done during the tenure of ACM Fali H Major,
while contract signature for Contract No. HQ/S96062/6/ASR was done when ACM P V Naik was the CAS. Furthermore,
if at all the Italian state prosecutors and the presiding Judge of the Milan
Appellate Court were to have done their homework on how exactly the
decision-making process works for military procurements, they surely wouldn’t have
targetted S P Tyagi. All they had to do was study this document:
It is evident from this document that the
primary decision-makers on all technical aspects of production
evaluations/shortlisting within IAF HQ are the VCAS and DCAS Branches, and not
the office of the CAS. The bulk of the work is done by the concerned Project
Director who reports to the DCAS Branch and the final call is taken by the VCAS
Branch. The only job then left for the CAS is to ENDORSE the recommendations
and conclusions. He does not have the authority to either revise or reverse
anything at this stage.
Then we have utterly
false canards being spread by the TIMESNow broadcast TV channel, such as ZAPPA
being a code-word. In reality, Zappa is the surname of Giorgio Zappa, the former CEO of Finmeccanica. Similarly,
this Channel has since claimed that AgustaWestland International Ltd (AWIL) is
not an OEM. In reality, AWIL is indeed the OEM whose helicopter manufacturing
facilities are located in Yeovil, Somerset
in the United Kingdom, where the IAF’s first three already-delivered AW-101s
were built. And just like AWIL, the Italy-based helicopter manufacturing
subsidiary of Finmeccanica SpA is known as AgustaWestland SpA, while the
facility based in The Netherlands is known as Agusta
Westland NV, Netherlands.
The
false canards being spread by TIMESNow can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ7VL7Gh1j0
218 comments:
1 – 200 of 218 Newer› Newest»Will answer all outstanding queries from the previous thread in this one later today. Kindly refrain from reposting the queries from the previous thread.
Sorry to pile up questions Prasun. You have actually summarised this entire narrative before in your blog and it is surprising that after all this time the officials in India are still sitting on their hands as if not knowing how to proceed. Surely those who studied business law would advise the government correctly. I think it is less due to knowledge and more due to laziness that this saga has gone down to this awful mess. Now the question that I would like to ask - if the Mi-17 V5 is unreliable / unsafe to an extent why then are they being ordered in such huge numbers for the military? Surely a soldier's life is worth the same as that of a VIP because a soldier IS a VIP for the nation's security.
After many explanations this is the complete event summary you gave regarding this farce. I guess current ruling coalition is only giving sound bytes, they know the truth, to corner the first family. Dragging the institution on IAF into this politics is very very sad.But, again what else one can expect from these Indian politicians.
Why IAF had ordered this unreliable Mi-17 in such a huge number??
Hi Prasun,
After reading this yet another informative post i would like to suggest an new title for it
"Woh Da Mess (it should be F**** rather)"
LOL
Thanks again for the post
@Prasun
if the mi17 is good enough for military jawans in their 20s and 30s,it is definitely good enough for half dead senior citizen,so called "VVIP" politicians who deserve a gruesome death any way. If there is an accident and some of these cockroaches die there will always be a thousand more to happily replace them.
If i am not wrong, Indira Gandhi was SHOT, Ragiv Gandhi BLOWN UP , Gopinath munde died when his Sx4 crashed and cos he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, YSR Reddy's Bell 430 Helicopter crashed.
They were all immediately replaced by equally shitty people and the world moved on......
As i see it ,the Rashtrapati Bhavan , Governor Houses are nothing more than a glorified Vruddhashrams for political 'have been' s, who are no longer useful to their own parties and are nothing more than adult diaper wearing rubber stamp of GOI
As far as foreign dignitaries are concerned,
If these firangi bastards refuse to sit in mi17 because its 'unsafe' they can bring their own VIP choppers with them and if not, then they can go fuck themselves. Indians can manage very well without such snobs. Those fat greedy maggots need India much more than we need them.
National Command Authority (NCA) is an even bigger farce. We don't even have deployed Nukes! Also Those filthy pakis don't have the balls to launch their rented/mortgaged nukes at us. If they really could they would already have nuked their eternal nemesis 'HINDOO BANIYAs' a million times by now.
You Believe in CAG reports like Muslims believe in Quran.
Both have some facts mixed with a whole lot of Bull shit.
The CAG is like the uncle who himself did nothing in life but has made it his life's Goal to find fault with anything and everything anyone else does.
This single Babu could find faults in The theory of Relativity or Evolution or Gravity if any one in GOI had come up with them.
IAS Babus talking about hydraulic pumps is like a mechanical engineer talking about Genomics and Gene Therapy or Baba Ramdev talking about the economy or treating Homosexuality.
As far as bribes are concerned it doesn't matter whether Senora Gandhi took them in this case or not or That Tyagi fella took it or not.
Neither the Gandhi's nor the higher ups in the Indian military are Saints . If not this then they have taken bribes in a million other things before this. Pigs are meant to be in mud and shit,whether they deserve it or not doesn't make a difference.
Coming to your point about finding out the truth,
Truth is subjective. One person's truth is another person's blasphemy.
Truth is Offensive and Hurtful and no one likes it anyway
Does a fat person like being called fat? Will you call a blind person blind? Will you call an ugly baby ugly in front of his mother?
Let's face it, we are a nation of hypocrite. even the so called father of our nation used to sleep nude with his teenage niece!! He was a Grade 1 pervert. you can Google it. But this perv is on every currency note ever printed by RBI.
Your point about Innocent until proven Guilty only sounds good in theory. Do you sincerely believe Ajmal Kasab was innocent till the day the Judge gave his verdict? Or was he guilty the day we saw him killing people LIVE on TV as if he was playing GTA V in real life?
Were Mao and Stalin innocent just because no fucking court ever said they killed millions of people?
Are you also implying that psycho Colonel Reginald Dyer was innocent as he was not proven guilty by any court?
THE WORLD IS NOT AS BLACK AND WHITE AS YOU WANT TO BELIEVE IT IS.
ITS ALL JUST A BILLION SHADES OF GREY WITH NO ABSOLUTE BLACK OR WHITE.
I can summarize it by saying just this,
SHIT HAPPENS, you gotta learn to live with it and move on coz LIFE ISN'T FAIR, IT NEVER WAS AND IT NEVER WILL BE.
Dear Sir
Your lengthy article makes no real impact to this case
A court judgement is much more weighty than your opinion
Why are you defending crooks anyway
Let the Gandhis suffer
Dear Sir
You should appear on a News channel if you think your arguements have some weight
We too would like to see your face
Your fans and readers would be very pleased to see you
When you Google " Prasun Sengupta " ; nothing comes up
Mr. Shaitan,
Your frustration is seen all over the message posted; chalta hai attitude messes up everything and we end up measuring everything in profit and loss prism. As Prasun pointed out, it is affront to an institution (IAF) and country as a whole, should be able to identify and act on internal and external forces bent on sullying us. After all, it is the honest tay payers' money that is at stake.
Thanks,
Ganesh
@SHAITAN
Your comment is 99% true, but 100% useless...
You mentioned tonnes of problems, but didn't suggested even 1 solution.
As compared to 5 decades ago, Today we live in a much better & transparent country(system). This happened b'coz of toil/struggle of some visionary citizens, who foresaw a better future for us, & we owe the same to future generations...
So be sanguine & don't give up yet bro
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Isro-successfully-launches-seventh-and-last-satellite-for-Indias-own-navigation-system/articleshow/52022960.cms
Apologists for the CBI are now hard at work to justify that the CBI will emerge empty-handed from its investigations into the AW-101 deal:
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-article-by-agustawestland-case-by-rk-raghavan-the-chopper-challenge-for-the-cbi/article8529006.ece?homepage=true
To PIERRE ZORIN: No soldier's life is ever more precious than that of any VVIP anywhere in this world. And most certainly not in India, where till this day not even a National War Memorial exists. Contrast that with the pristine condition in which all the memorials of civilian VVIPs like Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi & Rajiv Gandhi are maintained at the Indian taxpayer's expense! Hell, even the burial ground of the late Dr A P J Abdul Kalam is in a state of utter neglect in Tamil Nadu!!! BTW, just Google about Russian VVIP helicopters & you will find the current Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev using the AW-139 from AgustaWestland without fail, & never any member of the Mi-8/Mi-17 families.
To ARNAB GOSWAMI: Read the court judgement yourself first & then jump to conclusions. Nowhere does the judgement state that financial corruption involving an Indian citizen has been established beyond reasonable doubt. No compelling material evidence has been presented to prove the existence of any money-trail. A mere notation of views, opinions & assessments by the defendants & state approvers does not prove anyone's guilt. Had there been any money-trail, forensic audits would have been available right from the account books of Finmeccanica & AgustaWestland. Unlike in South Asia & the Middle East, the Italians don't have a soft corner for Hawala/Hundi.
Here's what actually happened: AgustaWestland found out after contract signature that it was unable to comply with the 30% direct industrial offsets component. In that case, as per terms & conditions of the contract, AgustaWestland was legally bound to surrender 5% of the contract-value back to the Govt of India--this rule also being mentioned as mandatory in the DPP-2005 guidelines. AgustaWestland also had the option--as per the DPP guidelines--to 'park' its offsets money in an escrow account with an Indian legal firm so that this money could be pumped into direct industrial offsets at a future date. But AgustaWestland chose not to surrender the 5% contract-value to India, & instead resorted to accounting fraud by inflating the cost of direct industrial offset packages involving software development with a Chandigarh-based IT services firm (IDS Infotech), all so that it would not be reqd to 'park' a huge sum of money into the escrow account.
All this can easily be proven if the CBI instead of sending letters rogatory to various countries abroad, contacts the UK's Serious Fraud Office to examine the account-books of AgustaWestland. Once this is done, financial defrauding will emerge with ease & this then will enable the Govt of India to seek liquidated damages from AgustaWestland--a figure that can be adjusted against the amount of money charged by AgustaWestland for providing through-life product-support for the AW-101 fleet. This is what A K Antony should have done. Instead, he panicked & everything from then on went haywire.
Sir, Times now claims that AW accessed the classified papers of IAF from MoD thus compromising the National Security. The channel is known to jump the guns, but how come they can make such claims? And The Nation aka Arnab Goswami is screaming that the whole deal is fraud and how come deal was signed with AWIL when Finmeccanica is the parent company. Either they are onto something or they are as clueless as the whole lot of journalists are.
And why did the Italian court brought the name Gandhi up. What is the family's connection to the deal?
And what about Retd ACM SP Tyagi? Will he be made a scapegoat. A sitting ACM taking a bribe is a serious charge and shouldn't all these hyper journos wait for Inveatigative agencies to complete the probe on his involvement.
Have the Chinese really changed their position and willing for a settlement?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Want-to-resolve-boundary-dispute-early-China-tells-India/articleshow/52028132.cms
Troubles mounting for Pakistan
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/world/asia/afghanistan-pakistan-taliban.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Taliban-must-face-consequences-for-calling-off-peace-talks-US/articleshow/52020998.cms
To MAYUR M MANAPURE: LoLz! That poor sod is mixing apples with oranges. The case where ASQRs & GSQRs were leaked pertained to the Abhishek Verma affair. This Verma chap was then trying to get the agency for selling the AW-139 helicopters to various Indian state govts & he was also interested in bidding for the Army's & IAF's LUH/RSH contracts. Verma is now rotting in jail & he never succeeded in acquiring the acquiring the marketing rights for any helicopter of AgustaWestland. And of course the contract will be signed with AgustaWestland, the OEM. Finmeccanica is only the holding company & serves only as corporate HQ for all its subsidiary companies. If I want to buy 127mm or 76/62 SRGMs, then I will have to sign the contract with the OEM OTOBreda, & not its holding company Finmeccanica. Similarly, if I want to purchase Black Shark torpedoes, then I will have to ink the contract with WASS, the OEM & not with Finmeccanica, which is the holding company of WASS. If I want to buy S-70B2 Seahawk helicopters, then I will be reqd to ink the contract with Sikorsky Helicopters, the OEM, & not with Lockheed Martin which now owns Sikorsky Helicopters.
To MAYUR M MANAPURE: ACM S P Tyagi had the least role to nplay in the VVIP helicopter purchase affair. The bulk of the evaluations & negotiations were conducted when ACM Fali H Major was the CAS of the IAF & the deal was inked when ACM P V Naik was the CAS. The names of Indian citizens don't appear in the judgment narrative of the Italian court. Instead, they appear only on the annexures attached as circumstantial evidence with the verdict document. As for the observation about "Sonia being the driving force behind the deal", what it means is that since she was the chairperson of the NAC, she had the decisive say over the allocation of financial resources for such a major procurement exercise to be given the green light. Iy does not by any stretch of imagination mean that she had specifically insisted on procuring only the AW-101. And it was known by 2005 itself that the AW-101 would emerge tops in competitive evaluations after the US also chose the AW-101 over the S-92 as its Marine-1 platform--this being known as the VH-71 Kestrel. That's the reason I have listed above all the categories with which the AW-101 had 100% compliance with the IAF's & SPG's ORs/QRs. And all those who are no alleging corruption in the selection process are only seeking to malign & irreparably damage the institutional integrity of the IAF. Not a single Indian journalist or MP or govt official or minister or politician has so far examined this angle & all have refrained from defending the IAF. That really shows us all who are India's real friends & who are the traitors. And that's the saddest part of this whole tamaasha.
To SHAITAN: I'm more than aware of the big picture & therefore my stand is a principled one & therefore I have labelled Indian politicians of all hues & parties as being 'pathetic'. What I'm against without any compromise is the unnecessary & avoidable maligning of the institution of the IAF, about which no one seems to care.
Prasun sir: What do you think of this news? Will it improve our procurement process? Sorry for asking so many questions
http://www.businessinsider.in/Exclusive-An-independent-Defence-Regulator-soon-for-strategic-foreign-tie-ups/articleshow/52005234.cms
To RAT: The following reports will give you the reqd context:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/03/afghan-peace-talks-pakistan-credibility-line-taliban-160306061322638.html
http://www.latimes.com/world/afghanistan-pakistan/la-fg-afghanistan-taliban-20160425-story.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Afghanistan-may-take-Pakistan-to-UN-for-supporting-Taliban/articleshow/52014028.cms
Afghanistan is also seeking more ex-IAF Mi-25s from India.
To SHANTANU KUMAR: There are still groping in the dark. the elephants in the room are the DPSUs who will continue to get all major contracts through nomination & not through competition. Therefore, the only solution is to then transform the DPSUs into public-listed companies totally out of the MoD's control. This then will also free the Secretary for Defence Production & Supplies of any conflict of interest, since this Secretary is now a board-member of every DPSU as mandated by the Govt of India's Rules of Business. So, any independent regulator can always be overruled by the duo of the Defence Secretary & his/her Secretary for Defence Production & Supplies.
I have never understood why the Defence Minister has always had the final say over all matters concerning DPSUs, like even the construction of employee housing townships, or construction of a kindergarten inside such a township or a road roundabout. Surely the MoD can do away with such job responsibilities & such financial liabilities.
That is weird, specially when the government is talking about selling stake in DPSUs to private companies on one hand and on the other hand wants to control the organisations so closely.
Sir and what did you think about this laser walls business on LOC. Why build so many fortifications, is it effective? Or some kind of maginot line mentality? Aren't we being too defensive? Also waiting for your replies on previous questions. Sorry for overloading you with questions.
Laser-based intrusion detection/alerting networks are reqd whenever it is physically impossible to construct fences. Especially over riverine terrain in Jammu & Punjab where there are rivers, rivulets & tributaries all along the IB. Can fences be built across rivers? If not, then laser-based perimeter surveillance systems are the next best available means for detecting intrusions over forbidding terrain. Many in India & outside India erroneously believe that the entire IB between India & Pakistan & India & Bangladesh is fenced. This is TOTALLY WRONG as along both borders there are plenty of rivers, rivulets & tributaries & it is physically impossible to build fences across them.
For those interested in going into the details of the Italian court judgment on the AW-101 deal, here's the full document:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/310411653/Italian-Court-Judgment-on-Augusta-Westland#download
And for those who want a translation of this document, they may proceed to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oj9KrlFZmQ
Therefore, everyone can now judge for themselves what this was all about, & no one will from now on feel the need to wait for the so-called 'unseen documents' that are being made out to be by the likes of TIMESNow broadcast TV channel & their moronic programme anchors & discussion panelists.
Sir I was taking about this http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-11-23/news/44389956_1_berlin-wall-security-wall-border-security-force. I mean wouldn't it be better to perform aggressive patrols into Pakistani area just like Chinese do with us rather than to build up walls.
I hope you get the time to answer my previous questions - rest assured I only pipe up every now and then so won't ever be a questionanza from me ;)
regarding the Mi-17 - that's what I meant. If they are unreliable why order in hundreds? Nothing is worse than half way into an operation there is a hydraulic leak! I mean needing to take a leak is bad enough let alone a leaky helicopter!
https://www.rt.com/politics/helicopter-putin-kremlin-aircraft-370/
THE MOST POWERFUL MAN ON EARTH RIDES IN A SOVIET ERA MI8 HELICOPTER
SO MUCH FOR BEING UNSAFE!!
To SHAITAN: LoLz! You've indeed endeared yourself to the Devil since you've forgotten to go into the detail. Putin uses Russia-built helicopters only sparingly when the air-hops don't last for more than 15 minutes. For travel over longer distances both he & his PM use the AW-139. Read all about it here:
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/inside-putins-presidential-helicopter-fleet-1565352505
To PIERRE ZORIN: Why order them in the hundreds? For the very same reason why the S-92 has been ordered for the US President & not for the US Army or USMC or the US Navy. The Mi-17V-5 is a combat platform, whereas the AW-101s of the IAF are not. They are meant to be highly survivable & hence their advanced self-protection suites. In comparison, all that the Mi-17V-5 has are chaff/flare launchers. No MAWS, no TWR, no LWS & no IRCM.
"father of our nation used to sleep nude with his teenage niece "- well, he is 'father' of the nation after all!
That link you gave besides does not say Putin flies in AW-139 for longer distance - it says Medvedev flies in AW-139 Putin hasn't even flown in one of them yet. Tyler Rogway is an informed man.
@prasun da
1. if you remember i had sometime back asked the question about hydraulics problem of Mi17v5 you said best to replace it, but if its not possible what best remerdial measures can be taken
2. the harakiri committed by India by refusing entry to Dolkun Isa and 2 more chinese dissidents proves India indeed is scared of China, so lets just believe it cant ever stand up against China, your POV
3. can i share this particular thread on social media
4. DCNS won RAN deal with conventionally powered Barracuda derivative, can now it be said that IN will go for Barracuda design for its SSN project
5. sometime back i asked why cant IA have theater command, u said wasnt needed but read that now IA is going for these, will these be China specific or both for ChinPak
thanks
Joydeep Ghosh
prasun'da how many T-90s/m IA already inducted? Each year how many T-90 tanks HVF Avadi produce? Also what happened to the DRDO 125mm mk2 APFSDS round? Thanks in advance.
@Prasunjee,
I assume you meant Mi-24s? If we are not using mi-24,s then lets give them all they ask. Why pussy foot around? Mi-24 would help out a lot. What do you think will be the impact of Afghanistan Gov going to the UN? Do you think UN are in a position to help fight against the Taliban?
rat
Dear Prasun,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zbPOE1Nqr8
When Indian industries are going to compete with Israel Industry...
Thanks
S.Senthil kumar
To RAT: Export version of the Mi-24 is the Mi-25. IAF has already referred to it as Mi-25 AKBAR.
To SHAITAN: I have myself seen Putin & Medvedev use the AW-139 together as far back as 2013 & 2014 when they went to visit the Urals Arms Expo. Photos of it are also available on the Internet. Secondly, Bulgaria & all those other countries you had mentioned don't require machines like the AW-101 or S-92 since they do not possess NCA-type administrative structures & protocols. Thirdly, do read up the operational & maintenance manuals of the Mi-17 family of helicopters where it is clearly specified in what stage of flight (after the engines are turned on) hydraulic failures occur. Lastly, the executive transport helicopter shown by that 'well-informed' person as being Putin's preferred choice is not the Mi-8, but the Mi-172. That shows how well-informed the writer of that story is!
To ARH93. About 800. Annhual production rate at HVF Avadi is no more than 12. 125mm Mk.2 APFSDS round is already under series-production.
To LINGARAJ: It will be wrong to assume that just because M K Gandhi was sleeping with his niece or any member of the opposite sex, it would seem that he was indulging in oral sex or sexual intercourse. Any insinuations or assumptions like these will only be seen as attempts of character assassination. Let's therefore leave it at that.
Will upload the remainder of the narrative relating to the AW-101 deal later tonight in which I will expose all the flaws of the CAG report on the AW-101 procurement. Will also explain in detail backed up by material evidence how exactly the collegiate system of decision-making works within IAF HQ whenever it comes to force modernisation, & why therefore it is absolutely impossible for any one man to influence the decision-making process in favour of a particular product. This will prove beyond doubt that the verdict delivered by the Italian Court in Milan on April 6 was the outcome of a kangaroo court trial.
To ANUP: Far more crucial & important is the question of whether or not the IN's six Scorpene SSKs will have any torpedoes at all!!! The SUBTICS CMS of the Scorpene SSKs are all programmed to accept only the Black Shark from WASS, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica. Therefore, if these pathetic politicians have now blacklisted Finmeccanica & don't want to deal with it any more, then will WASS, OTOBreda & AgustaWestland all be barred from getting any contracts from the MoD in future? What then will happen to the product-support of the IN's existing Sea King Mki.42B & Mk.42C NMRHs? Have these pathetic politicians in the corridors of power given any thought to such matters?
Hi
France DCNS has been selected with Bracudda IA for there next platform... It has one of the best stealth, pump jet propulsion and Sonar which is better than competitor.
Indian Navy has similar requirement and with Barracuda design it can become option for NEXT GEN Submarine Program and Also for SSGN design ...
Is russian Single Hull SSGN design as mentioned by you in last post is better and in what sense???
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-hunt-the-next-red-october-russias-lethal-new-subs-15307
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/revealed-russias-next-generation-nuclear-submarines-14295
how these submarines are going to be better than current Barracuda submarine of france which used stealth and Pumpjet Propulsion ???
Prasun ji what is the status of Maitri missile? No update in a while, don't we need such a missile for our smaller ships like Kamorta?
To summarise your long post:
1. reducing the service ceiling to 4500 meters is transparent.
2. No corruption took place.
But in fact;
1. italian court sentenced italians for no reason?
2. why should tyagi met middle men along with his family members?
3. there was money transaction that amounts to corruption. you prefer to call it accounting fraud.
good luck prasun.
the so called accounting fraud itself is corruption every one is talking about.
To ANON@3.12AM: 1) The Italian Court sentenced the two former officials of Finmeccanica on charges of fudging with the account books. It is clearly mentioned in the judgment document. 2) The CAS was on an official visit to Italy at that time & his accompanying host was his Italian counterpart. The only accompanying official from Finmeccanica at the Opera was its CEO Orsi. This is perfectly normal since govt protocols dictate that the financial tabs for such official events be shared by the host govt & the host-country's industry. I don't understand why this should be controversial. Just visit any National Day or Armed Forces Day banquet hosting by the Embassy or High Commission of any country in Delhi & those concerned will discover that such OFFICIAL govt functions are always sponsored by corporate entities hailing from the country that's holding such functions. Even in India's case, very banquet given by any Indian Embassy or High Commission abroad on either August 15 or January 26 is funded by DPSUs or PSUs that are implementing contracts in those countries. In fact, their financial sponsorships are always highlighted in congratulatory posters put up in the banquet hall's entrance. So, if any Indian citizen goes to such functions in Delhi, for instance, does he or she automatically incur any debt from such event-sponsoring companies? C'mon! 3) The Court Judgment only contains an annexure which is a piece of paper drafted by Christian Michel that lists out the quantum of money TO BE PAID. Nowhere in the court judgment is anything written or produced about such money ALREADY having been paid. It is for this reason that not a word appears about any independent forensic audit being undertaken to establish any kind of money-trail. Therefore, by relying on just the testimony of a state approver & failing to back them up with forensic material evidence is the surest proof of a kangaroo trial. Furthermore, not a single Indian citizen was issued any court summons for appearing for cross-examination, nor were any of them approached for having their statements recorded. Couldn't all this been done at the very least in India itself through the Italian Embassy via video-conferencing? Would you like to be tried & convicted in absentia & no effort being made by the prosecution to find out your whereabouts & hear your side of the story? Get real!
Ask any lawyer/advocate/judge & they all will unanimously conclude that this trial by the Italian Court was conducted by people & officials with way-below-average IQ. The only missing testimony was that the Italian state approvers failed to mention Barack Obama as also being one of the recipients of the kickbacks!!! I'm sure had such a statement been made, the Judge would have found it admissible (LoLz)!
To LUDWIG: Nope. What the IN needs are IIR-guided SR-SAMs like the Python-5, or RAM or the VL-MICA or the VL-ASRAAM.
I don't know if you think this is funny but from what you said about MKG you forgot to mention two other forms- anal and digital! Plus, I thought it was very clever when you referred to character assassination given N R Godse went beyond that!
VL MICA, I heard about it for Kamorta, When will it be procured?
To SHAITAN: LoLz! Even the Pope is a mortal human being & is therefore not infallible like God & neither is he blessed with all-knowing wisdom. He is just a human being like the rest of us.
To LINGARAJ: Well, Nathuram Godse went physical full-scale.
To LUDWIG: Most likely a Python-5 in a VL configuration will be procured.
To JON: The US Congress’ Senate Foreign Relations Committee has decided not to subsidise the cost of 8 F-16s for the PAF. Originally, out of the US$700 million acquisition cost, Pakistan was reqd to come up with $270 million, with the remaining $430 million coming from the US side. In addition, the Obama Administration’s State Dept has also decided to withhold $742 million in military aid for this fiscal year.
Meanwhile, watch this interesting ground-report from FATA & see how the US surplus defence articles are being put to use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGM7PqdtWX8
To S SENTHIL KUMAR: ISIS facing Acute Cash-Crunch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_aM80vlht8
Prasun Da, what is your view regarding the matter pertaining to the issuance of Visa to dolkan isa and its reported 'cancellation' ?
Thanks in advance.
Prasun sorry to remind the qs re: subs in the previous post....really curious. Also was viewing AH-64 vs KA-52 videos and Kamov's own video. It seems the Apache is more compact, has better power to weight ratio, service ceiling and combat radius. Otherwise the Ka-52 is a force to reckon with. Why did IAF choose tandem seating version instead of the Ka-52's side by side because the KA-52 did have ejection systems in place for pilot safety should the machine be written off during combat. I noticed too in a comparo, the Mi 28N was heavier although top speed was higher than the AH-64. Vis a vis the AH-64 and KA-52 seem to be the best options? Didn't get a chance to check the Bell attack helicopter. Anyway this is why I am a civilian not a techo so await your comments.Thank you.
hi prasun
Is it confirmed that future ships that cant house the barak 8 system will depend upon a vertical launched missile like the python 5 , mica etc.?
My question is whether they can deal with mach 2 antiship missiles.
What advantage would we get in spending billions over the maitri project when a MR version of the python or derby , can do the job. What would be the radar to go along with that?
Prasun looks like this witch hunt is not about congress, but stogees of Congress still thriving plum postings
Post below by Gen(Retd) V K Singh
Role of the current CAG Shashi Kant Sharma in Agusta Westland deal
The current CAG Sharma was a key player in the #AgustaWestland deal
By Team PerformanceGurus -
April 29, 2016
The current CAG Sharma was a key player in the #AgustaWestland dealThe current CAG Sharma was a key player in the #AgustaWestland deal
While the political tsunami Agusta is hitting all levels of Indian politicians and Air Force officials, a key official of India is perhaps hiding his head like an ostrich, hoping it would miss him. That would be India’s Comptroller and Auditor General Shashi Kant Sharma. In page 9 of the Italian appeal court judgment(see the picture below), there is a seized document (a hand written note) from middlemen on how to share the bribe to the key people – Air Force officials, Bureaucrats in Ministry of Defence and to Sonia Gandhi’s Political Secretary Ahmed Patel (mentioned as AP). This crucial handwritten note was written by the main middleman, currently a fugitive, Christian Michel in March 2008.
Page 9 of the Italian High Cout verdict, showing DG (Acq), which was Sharma
In the bureaucrats section of the above list, there is a name mentioned as DG (Acq) – meaning Director General (Acquisition). In those days, this key post in the Ministry of Defence was held by the current Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Shashi Kant Sharma.
Sharma belongs to the 1976 batch of Indian Administrative Service (Bihar Cadre) and landed in the Ministry of Defence in the middle of 2003 as Joint Secretary (Air). He was the person who initiated this controversial Agusta Westland VVIP purchase and he became DG (Acquisition) in the middle of 2007. He was at this crucial post till 2010 and became Defence Secretary from March 2011 to May 2013.
In the 10 years that Sharma was in the Ministry of Defence, he held key positions and eyebrows were raised when the UPA Government in May 2013 made him the CAG. It was a very unusual move – a Defence Secretary does not get appointed as CAG, as the apex auditor’s major work of auditing is the biggest expenditure department, which is Defence. It is as if you are asked to sit in judgment over your own case where you are the accused.
After serving in the Defence Ministry for 10 long years and now as Country’s Apex auditor – all of a sudden he is auditing the expenditure approved by him for the past 10 years! What an awkward and morally questionable decision by the UPA Government! Was it looking for a pliable guy, as it was fed up with the then outgoing CAG Vinod Rai?
After the Italian Judgment has endorsed this bribe list by incorporating it, Indian agencies have to question each and every person mentioned. This puts the probe agencies in a dilemma as Sharma is now a CAG, which is a Constitutional post. In the interest of justice at least probe agencies have to go to him and take his version.
In the bribe sharing list prepared by middlemen in 2008, there is another key post that is mentioned – JS (Air). After Sharma, during this period, this crucial post was handled by R K Ghosh. This officer is from the IA & AS Service who donned this post from the middle of September 2007 to 2012. It is well known in power circles that Sharma and Ghosh are very close.
As soon as SK Sharma became the CAG, one of the first things he did was to give a plum post to his close friend R K Ghosh by giving him a plum post abroad. From mid-2013 onwards, Ghosh was posted as Senior Auditing Officer in United Nations Head Quarters in New York for three years. This is a tax-free post and is a dream job of every government officer. Now Ghosh is back in his parent Department as Additional Deputy CAG. Cont.....
contd..,,,,
UPA’s crucial purchases including Agusta and the aborted Rafale deals were negotiated by Sharma and Ghosh during their very long stint in the Ministry of Defence. Now the investigating officers who took statements from Air Force officials including the then Air Force Chief SP Tyagi are consulting legal brains of the country on the awkward situation of taking statements from CAG Sharma, who sits on a Constitutional post.
Summary
This post illustrates the difficulties the current government is facing – there are just too many questionable appointments, all of whom cannot be brushed aside.
Is this the template (see picture above) that was used by the UPA for all its foreign dealings? If so, how many more such skeletons are going to tumble out of the cupboard
To SUMIT: Pray look at the bigger picture: the case started with a criminal plot involving payoffs by Finmeccanica to Italian politicians. In the latest judgment, there's absolutely no word about this core issue & all the trash has now been hurled against Indian citizens! Perhaps that Hashke fella was right after all when he had said that the "Indians are morons & will take years to figure it all out". His words are now proving to be prophetic. Instead of uniting Indians across-the-board in defence of the PMO & IAF, this judgment has only divided the Indian polity, with each Indian now suspecting one another.
And why? All because of a verbal testimony by one of the original accused who has since turned approver for the Italian state prosecution. The Italian legal system is now saying via this judgment that a verbal testimony is the gospel truth & therefore no corroborative material evidence is reqd to back-up all that has been alleged. Therefore, the Govt of India, India's investigative agencies & the IAF HQ all be damned!!!
Only folks with a very low sense of self-esteem will lap it all up & will try in vain to conjure up conspiracy theories, like many Indian journalists & broadcast TV channels are now doing, along with political turncoats like Dr Subramanium Swamy. There's a simple solution to all this: the Govt of India should officially ask the Italian judiciary to back-up their verdict against Indian citizens like former CAS, ACM S P Tyagi, with corroborative material evidence. If no such thing surfaces, then the Govt of India should demand that that portion of the verdict dealing with S P Tyagi should be expunged from the records.
The Italian prosecutors had all the time to map out the money-trail originating from Finmeccanica & ending up with their financial beneficiaries. Yet, no such evidence obtained through forensic auditing was ever presented during the trial period. Why?
Why were the testimonies of the Indians accused of corruption not sought by the courts? None of these Indians were absconding & they were all available in India for questioning by Italian state prosecutors. So why were they denied their fundamental right to depose, as required by international law?
Are we therefore to believe that certain vested Italian parties were so powerful so as to influence the Italian judicial system?
And finally, is this Italy's way of exacting revenge against the IAF for having selected the Rafale after rejecting the Eurofighter EF-2000 in which Finmeccanica had a sizeable industrial stake?
Is this yet another plot to further delay the procurement of Rafale MMRCAs?
These are the larger questions that beg answers, & not which Indian took what, when, how much & why. And as for why it is IMPOSSIBLE for any IAF CAS or even a bureaucrat to unduly influence any procurement process, do listen to former the then VCAS, AM Barbora has to say in this interesting analysis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8HiNjYbv2M
To RAD: Warships like corvettes & FFGs will not be targetted by expensive supersonic ASCMs like the Kh-41 Zubr or YJ-18, but rather by subsonic ASCMs like the C-802. Consequently, all that these corvettes require are high-definition early warning optronic IRSTs (radars are therefore not reqd for target acquisition) like the ones already available from SAGEM or ELBIT Systems, & kinetic interceptors like VL Python-5 or VL MICA-IR or VL ASRAAM. Supersonic ASCMs are meant for usage only against carrier battle-groups. As per Russian & now also PLAN warfighting doctrine, 24 supersonic ASCMs are required to simultaneously approach the CBG in order to overwhelm the air-defences. To defeat such a threat from an Indian standpoint, LR-SAMs like the Barak-2 are now available aplenty, since a typical CBG will be escorted by at least 2 DDGs & 4 FFGs.
Maitri SR-SAM is a total waste of resources, both financial & human. All 3 armed services have already taken note of this & therefore none of them now talk about the Maitri being a possible SR-SAM (for the Navy) or SL-QRM-SAM (for the Army) or LL-QRM for IAF. New-generation close-combat AAMs like the Python-5 can go out to 18km when launched from VL cannisters, which is good enough for a SHORADS.
For all those morons/nitwits (like the TIMESNow programme staffers/anchors) & Amit Shah of the BJP--who for the past 3 days have been claiming that AWIL is not an OEM, I have news for them! Just check out the following data from the Somerset Chamber of Commerce & the UK Registrar of Companies:
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/01499533
AGUSTAWESTLAND INTERNATIONAL LIMITED business sector includes aero engine manufacture (all types), aero engine parts and sub assemblies, aeroplanes, aerospace equipment, air cushion vehicle, aircraft, aircraft brake (not brake lining), aircraft galley, aircraft parts and sub assemblies (not electric), aircraft propeller, aircraft seat, airframe, airframe parts and sub assemblies, airscrew, airship, anti-icing equipment and systems for aircraft, auxiliary power unit for aircraft, balloon, control surfaces for aircraft, de-icing equipment for aircraft, dirigibles, doors for aircraft, ejector seat for aircraft, engines for aircraft, flight simulator (electronic), fuel tanks for aircraft, fuselage for aircraft, glider, ground effect vehicles, ground equipment for spacecraft (excluding electronic or telemetric equipment), ground flying trainers, hang glider, helicopter, helicopter rotors for aircraft, hot air balloons, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), jet engine, kite (not toy), landing gear for aircraft, launch vehicle for spacecraft, motors and engines of a kind typically found on aircraft, motors for aircraft, nacelles for aircraft, nozzle for gas turbine aero engine, orbital stations, overhaul and conversion of aircraft or aircraft engines, planetary probes, power control for aircraft, propeller for aircraft, propeller rotor blades, rocket (aerospace), rocket motor, rotor blades for aircraft, safety belt or harness for aircraft crew or passengers, sailplane, satellites, seats for aircraft, space shuttles, spacecraft, turbo-jets and parts for aircraft, turbo-propellers and parts for aircraft, wings for aircraft.
http://www.firstreport.co.uk/Company/01499533/AGUSTAWESTLAND-INTERNATIONAL-LIMITED
Because, if AWIL is not an OEM, then it stands to reason that:
1) the 3 AW-101s already delivered to the IAF are all counterfeits, & not 100% authentic products.
2) The IAF/SPG evaluation team that went to Yeovil were hosted by a non-OEM like AWIL.
3) The flight evaluations that were conducted involved a counterfeit AW-101 helicopter.
4) The UK Registrar of Companies & the Somerset Chamber of Commerce are both lying in their websites about AWIL being an OEM that manufacturers helicopters.
5) Some hustler had to have had very deep pockets indeed to pull off this con-job & that too for selling only 12 AW-101 helicopters to the IAF by constructing for India an entire counterfeit helicopter-manufacturing facility called AWIL for the AW-101s.
I wonder for how much longer these pathetic 'desi' journalists & politicians will persist in projecting India as the world's laughing stock!!!
To JON & RAJ: Now the Pakistanis are claiming that the Hatf-9/Nasr is not a battlefield weapon, but a tactical weapon to be used for a 2nd strike. Watch & absorb this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc7RrYrrPTo
Lolz..., Hilarious, btw, Prasun Da, waiting for your views regarding affair i.r.o issuance of Visa to Dolkan Isa.
To SUMANTA: VMT. The visa issues were all posturing aimed at applying pressure on China. It appears that Beijing has relented, but with what will be known in June with a Nuclear Suppliers' group meeting will be held in Geneva when India's application for joining the NSG will once again be taken up. Let's what China does then. In the meantime, watch this programme aired last night on the PA's armoured/mechanised forces wargames that were held recently in Jhelum:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaATuMq4sVc
Sir ji, check this out -
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-construction-binladin-idUSKCN0XQ1XD
Prassun sir,
I have a sick feeling we are going to end up buying the mi38 for vip transport. the aw101 deal seems to have become too toxic in public opinion for any political party to now buy those choppers.
or is there a chance for the s92 via fms route?
what alternative heli is most likely to be bought in your opinion?
hi prasun
DRDO seems to be working on a qr sam based on the astra , will they again scuttle the vl launched imported sam for small ships .They seem to always put in jeopardy the national security by claims like this.
Does the python 5 have to be modified with rf fuses instead of laser as it will be flying low above the water in a antiship role and could possibly trigger the laser fuze . Is there a version of the vl launched asraam?. will it be cheaper to go for the python rather than the vl mica?.
Sethz said:
Were the AW-101s needed? Yes. Were they procured at a reasonable price - possibly ? Was there financial irregularities that benefited middle men and India citizens in a position to influence the sale - Yes ( per the Italian courts judgement) , including journalists in the Indian print, TV & Internet media. The alacrity with which the author of this blog jumped to the defense of all the stakeholders in the deal is curious to say the least !
Money was paid illegally to secure the AW contract and the easiest and fastest way to get to the bottom of this mess is to offer former CAS TYAGI a plea bargain deal under which he is offered the option to return all his ill-gotten monies (including the monies his cousins made) to the Indian exchequer, as well as for his assistance in the investigation. And let's see who else he drags out of the closet and make an example out of them and ruin their political and professional careers for ever and end this never ending "tamasha" once and for all.
To Anon@7.13PM: The alacrity with which you have accorded sanctity to an Italian judgment that blames Indian citizens for corruption without any corroborative material forensic evidence to prove any wrongdoing is highly bizarre, to say the very least. And not even bothering to record the testimonies & depositions of the Indian citizens was the ultimate travesty of justice!
Money was paid illegally to secure the AW contract and the easiest and fastest way to get to the bottom of this mess is to offer former CAS TYAGI a plea bargain deal under which he is offered the option to return all his ill-gotten monies (including the monies his cousins made) to the Indian exchequer, as well as for his assistance in the investigation.-----------------3 years have already been spent on trying to get material evidence that can prove any kind of wrongdoing. But the combined efforts of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Enforcement Directorate & the CBI have to date been able to come up with ZILCH. Instead, false canards are being spread by practitioners of vindictive politiking, like AWIL not being an OEM, when easily available on-line records prove that AWIL was originally known as EH Industries, the JV UK-Italian industrial consortium created in the 1990s to develop the EH-101 helicopter.
Even if someone confesses to having committed a murder, his/her signed confession cannot be taken as being the gospel truth unless & until it is backed up by forensic material evidence. That's how the law works. Instead, Anon@7.13PM obviously overlooks all this because he/she is most likely a firm believer of the concept of 'Ram Rajya', in which no one is willing to hear pregnant Sita's side of the story & she's condemned to exile (vanvaas) based on mere suspicions.allegations. This is the clearest example of how regressive the average Indian's mindset continues to be. Totally bereft of even an iota of logical reasoning!!!
Parrikar suggested that those involved in the AgustaWestland deal had tried to erase their trail of corruption. “It is for us (government) to prove and prosecute them… for those who have received kickbacks will not leave behind any proof or evidence (of corruption)” he added.
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/agustawestland-chronology-to-be-placed-before-parliament-on-wednesday-defence-minister-parrikar/#sthash.JNBjYwpV.dpuf
Well, Mr Parrikar, that's too bad. Your comments only show you to be totally ignorant about banking practices in the post-9/11 era. You seem to be defending the DRI, ED & CBI--all of whom have obviously been unable to do some basic homework. Haven't you heard anything about the process of forensic auditing? Don't you know that the money-trail through banking channels can NEVER be erased? Your lame excuses about the unavailability of clinching evidence just won't work this time. You have no other choice but to try harder, because that's why the Indian taxpayers are paying your salary.
Dear Prasun,
Now, it is clear that GoI can't prove any wrong doing. Then what will happen? Will a company like AW of international repute, complete the delivery of rest 9 helps? Bcoz GoI has damaged it's reputation, it may want to back off from its contract. What is your view???
Prasun da,
B'coz of this stupid AW-101 corruption saga, what will happen to Indian defence preperdences: Black shark torpedo to Scorpene class submarine.
To SOUBHAGYA: On the contrary, there’s a lot that can be proven concerning the fudging of account-books of AWIL in order to escape from the commitments of 30% direct industrial offsets & of having to surrender 5% of the AW-101 contract-value back to the MoD in case the offsets commitments were not fulfilled. Documentation seized by the ED & CBI from Chandigarh IDS Infotech & responses to the CBI’s Letters Rogatory from the UK, Italy, British Virgin Islands & Tunisia (5 more countries have yet to reply) have already revealed this reality & that’s why I had already commented above on what exactly the provable fraudulent dealings were all about. This was more or less admitted by A K Antony himself in Parliament when he was RM. But neither he nor his successors spelt out in detail how & why AWIL was avoiding its direct industrial offsets commitments. Had the reason come out, it would have revealed that the DPP 2006 regulation mandating only direct (and no indirect) industrial offsets was the main causes for several OEMs trying to dodge the industrial offsets commitments. While any sane-minded RM would have diligently corrected such policy deficiencies, AKA refused to budge because of his Left-oriented mindset which always tended to favour only DPSUs & the public-sector industrial entities, & not the private-sector. Thus, in order to protect & safeguard the original sins, several more sins had to be committed & ir is this spiral that led to the unilateral; termination of the AW-101 contract.
In the example of Taiwan that I’ve highlighted above, it is clear that Taiwan, unlike India, chose not to shoot itself on its foot, i.e. it chose to keep its six La Fayette FFGs in service while at the same time diligently & relentlessly pursued its legal claims for financial damages against the French bribe-givers. This is exactly how any rational, balanced mindset will function, very much unlike the ‘Ram Rajya’ mindsets within India. The UPA-2 govt should have desisted from cancelling the AW-101 contract & instead should have encashed either the performance bond (PB) or the bank guarantee (BG) & this act alone would have forced AWIL to cough-up & come clean with confessional revelations about its fraudulent practices in support of circumventing its direct industrial offsets commitments. Thus, India would have retained the moral & ethical high-grounds & would have dangled both the carrot (of not cancelling the contract) & stick (by encashing either the PB or BG) in front of AWIL. Ultimate proof of my PoV: both the Italians courts in October 2014 & April 2016 pronounced the two Finmeccanica officials guilty of ONLY fudging of corporate account-books of both Finmeccanica & AWIL (i.e. criminal breach of trust) based on available material evidence. None of them were ever charged with or found guilty of having paid bribes to anyone, especially Indian citizens, simply because there was never any such corroborative material evidence to back-up & substantiate such allegations.
To KASHYAP & SIDDHARTH: What do you expect will happen when the country's RM himself has consistently proven that he gives contradictory statements time & again & is therefore highly prone to making flip-flops? Since late 2014 he has been saying during various media-sponsored events that the act of blacklisting has been counter-productive, & yet earlier this week he immediately jumped into the act & blacklisted Finmeccanica & all its subsidiaries based in the UK, Holland & Italy. What it all shows is that when it comes to the crunch, such pathetic politicians reflexively shirk away from their responsibilities by refusing to stand up & be held accountable for their words & actions. They thus want only power, but not responsibility & accountability. And that's exactly why the NDA-1 was unsuccessful in subjecting the Quattrochis to the Indian criminal justice system.
In any case, if India's national security interests are compromised, then no RM can ever be held accountable because the RM will simply point to the Govt of India's RULES OF BUSINESS manual, which states that the responsibility for the defence of India rests solely with the Defence Secretary of the MoD of India, and not with any Defence Minister. Therefore, in the worst-case scenario, AKA, Parrikar or any other politician in any organ of the Govt of India will always invoke this rule of the manual to escape from any accountability/responsibility & by consequence, will never stand trial for criminal negligence. Had Parrikar really been a well-meaning politician, the first thing he should have done was to change this regulation of the manual & he should have made the defence of India the RM's responsibility, & not the Defence Secretary's. But it seems even such elementary matters are too much too expect from folks who pride themselves as being IIT-trained technocrats!!!!!!
So, forget the Mi-38s or S-92. Instead, every VVIP destined to fly on helicopters will continue to make use of 6 of the IAF's earmarked Mi-17V-5s at their own peril, & they will be reqd to devise innovative ways of self-hypnosis (with the help of India's abundant stocks of indigenous Yogis, Sadhvis, Sadhus, Babas, Bhagwans etc etc) so that everytime they place their lives at risk by flying with such helicopters, they will all enter a trance which will make them believe that they're flying on-board the mythical Pushpak Rath (vimana). They should also bear in mind t6hat in the event of a fatal air-crash involving any IAF aircraft/helicopter, there's no chance of claiming life-insurance because the IAF as per govt regulations is indemnified from being subjected to any life-/accident-insurance claims. And it is my earnest hope that these pathetic politicians sooner rather than later start being subjected to such air-crashes when flying on-board the Mi-17 family of helicopters, so that it becomes my turn to proclaim that these are all 'Acts of God' that are aimed at exacting vengeance from immature & ill-intentioned mortal human beings.
Lastly, you will also have noticed that whenever such politicians go on campaign trails & log-in several flight-hours a day, they NEVER make use of the Mi-172s of Pawan Hans. Rather, they prefer to use Dauphin-2s or Bell 412s or AW-139s or Bell 407. That should tell you a lot about the level of trust placed by these pathetic politicians on the M-17 helicopter family.
To GESSLER: Very early in the week itself I had the gut-feeling that certain vested interests in both India & abroad were trying their level-best to take full advantage of the latest Italian Court verdict & with the help of ill-informed turncoats like Dr Subramanium Swamy, were doing their level-best to subvert the procurement of Rafale MMRCAs & by consequence, portray the Eurofighter EF-2000 as an 'ehtically clean' alternative. I made a compelling assessment to this effect & sent it to the PMO & I have strong reasons to believe that both the PMO & the NSA have taken cognizance of this assessment & that explains why the Indian print & broadcast TV media have significantly lowered their coverage of the AW-101 affair over the past 48 hours, i.e. the shut-up call was issued.
Reports alleging financial payoffs to certain media-related Indian citizens have thus to be seen in this context, i.e. promoting the EF-2000 & dissuading India from procuring the Rafales.
Lastly, you will find the following books quite interesting:
http://www.amazon.in/dp/1784784362/ref=pe_386221_130543511_TE_item
http://www.amazon.in/Playing-Edge-MICHAEL-V-HAYDEN/dp/1594206562?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&ref_=s9_cxhsh_co_g14_i1
http://www.amazon.in/Dark-Territory-Secret-History-Cyber/dp/1476763259/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=41%2BOmr%2BdbOL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR106%2C160_&refRID=1CG6FDFFKMR654XEEDAR
To GESSLER: Watch this interesting panel discussion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9sljN0AVdE&spfreload=10
In it, a retired PAF AVM is saying that only the tandem-seat F-16 is capable of carrying out all-weather precision strikes. He also claims that out of the F-16 Block 52s sought by the PAF, only 2 are single-seat Cs while the remaining 6 are Ds. What he doesn't say is that these tandem-seat Ds are meant for use mainly as lead-in-fighter-trainers for those PAF pilots who are destined to fly the JF-17, since the tandem-seat JFT-17 OCU trainer is still not available. Instead, perhaps in order to hide this fact, this AVM is giving his own spin to the story by claiming that the 6 F-16Ds are meant for use as precision-strike platforms against the TTP along Pakistan's western borders.
Dear Prasun,
If blackshark is not going into Indian scorpenes which is the most likely HWT on boards Kalvari class subs?
To VED: As of now only the Black Shark is qualified on the Scorpene. To qualify & certify any other HWT will take years of work & considerable expenditure to reprogramme the SUBTICS CMS. If this is to be done, then the MoD can easily ask TimesNow, Dr Subramanium Swamy, Amit Shah etc etc to all pitch in with their savings monies in order to fund such a programme. Let those who have played a role in sabotaging the procurement of Black Shark HWT also be the ones to fund the alternative solution.
Whose responsibility is to get Black Shark on to Indian Scorpenes? France's or India's?
To SUGAR: What kind of a question is that? Who needs the Black Shark? France or India? Whose navy will be operating the Scorpenes? France's or India's? The job of THALES is only to integrate any HWT's fire-control system with the SUBTICS combat management system, which was originally developed with the Black Shark in mind & that's why all existing Scorpene SSK operators like the navies of Chile & Malaysia use Black Shark HWTs.
Yet another embarrassment for India. thanks to the pathetic politiking & disinclination of both the UPA-2 & this present govt to take hard, pragmatic decisions:
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/un-arbitration-court-rules-india-should-release-italian-marines-2780802/
And the long-overdue clean-up has begun. Clearly the defence portfolio is not the present RM's cup-of-tea:
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/manohar-parrikar-goa-bjp-cabinet-reshuffle-2781236/
Perhaps he too has realised at last that he cannot run the MoD for as long as the Defence Secretary is the sole authority responsible for the defence of India.
You are always correct from the word go. And India can not afford to throw the baby along with the bathwater.
Rajesh Mishra
To RAJESH MISHRA: VMT. Now the Italian Judge who delivered the latest verdict has appeared on NewsX channel to try to justify why he attached all those annexures containing the names of Indian citizens while not even demanding that the depositions of those Indian citizens be recorded!!! Seems like he too is now feeling that injustice has been done.
Pak Federal Interior Minister at IISS in UK on Pakistan’s Security Perspective:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzx8W9nkI7o
Sartaj Aziz at Chatham House on Strategic Vision of Pakistan's Foreign Policy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4krxxRAgOU
Pakistan's COIN Strategies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh4bcXnL5Xk
Prasun Sir,
Is there any update on the HAL LUH? When can we expect the 1st prototype?
Is there any hope of full scale production starting before 2020?
It might be a bit far fetched but is it possible to partner with the Israelis to make an unmanned version of the LUH similar to the MQ-8C Fire Scout?
The Israelis had offered to modify the iaf cheetal if i am not mistaken.
It could be a game changer for the Indian Navy if done correctly it would have immense export potential.
It would be great if we could do this at initial design stage so its easier to make unmanned variant rather than first building a manned version and then trying to modify it.
I would love to read your thoughts about this.
VMT in advance.
Thank you much for the links Sirji.
Must say that I'm quite stirred reading about Parrikar's plans to go back to Goa. So what I'm going to hope now is that whatever stumbling blocks remain in finalizing the Rafale deal and it's license-production component are sorted within the next 3-4 months.
And I must appreciate your assessment sent to PMO regarding the deal.
Thank you once again!
P.S. I've been reading the FHtoRP book...and it appears there definitely is R&D and plans going on for having a family of Heavy Launch Vehicles (HLVs). There is a 2,000kN semi-cryo in development for the Unified Launch Vehicle (ULV) family, but if we keep international trends in mind...any company that makes 2k-kN engines would inevitably go to double the maximum thrust-ratings to 4k-kN eventually. Example would be Scenma-Moteurs (attached image) plans for the future of CNES/ESA rockets as detailed in the .pdf below.
http://postimg.org/image/cnun22gy9/
http://www.education-cva.eu/data/File/actualites/CVA_JBerenbach_CNES_Future_Launchers_19july2010.pdf
Sir,
http://www.oneindia.com/india/drdo-s-hypersonic-vehicle-have-20-second-flight-dec-2054267.html
Why DRDO want to do its own hyper-sonic tests, when ISRO already doing in under RLV-TD, isnt this is better they make a JV with ISRO for dual use of RLV-TD including weaponization of space in future.
Like RLV equipped with gattling gun & IRST that able to launch 2 Air Force pilots which work as bringing down enemy sats in LEO, also can work in hunt & snatch op in space?
With current scenario against Finmeccanica it seems we should instead go for options.
its catch 22 situation.
prasun, exciting news to u.
ufo WAS Spotted near mysore as per some local news channel reports..
may be they detected increased activity there.
Hi Parsunji,
Few days ago I shared this blog link with Bhupen Chaubey from CNNIBN and he on periscope today told me that it was really helpful in understanding the current conundrum. He even did a story today on Agusta Westland case so far. Not full story covered but at least it a start.
Regards,
Srinivasa N
To GESSLER: VMT. Regarding HLVs, there’s no R & D reqd. Instead, it is all about mastering & replicating what has already been achieved abroad decades ago. The real game-changer, however, will be the RLV-TD reusable spaceplane that will be used extensively for both launching low-earth orbiting satellites, as well as for satellite recoveries & for clearing space debris.
To ARPIT KANODIA: That’s because there’s work-separation between the DRDO & ISRO, or else ISRO will be targetted with technological sanctions from members of the NSG & MTCR. But as far as the DRDO goes, it is well behind ISRO in terms of developing hypersonic vehicles. Presently, the DRDO’s only meaningful technology-mastering activity concerns the BrahMos-2, which in reality is the 3K22 Zircon. Developing a weaponised RLV is out of the question since India is now part of a grouping of nations (along with the US & Japan) that is opposing the deployment of kinetic weapons like ASAT interceptors.
To SRINIVASA NANDURI: VMT. Hope Chaubey Ji possesses the common-sense to separate the wheat from chaff. Here’s how the on-going investigations will eventually play out: Both the CBI & ED will conclude that there was no wrongdoing, including by UK-based AWIL, WRT the sale-and-marketing campaign of the AW-101. In fact, it will dawn upon them fairly soon that, for the VVIP helicopter contract, there really was no competition from the day the AW-101 entered the scene simply because it, being a 3-engined helicopter, simply outperformed all other contenders in the crucial parameters concerning flight safety & crew/passenger survivability. Furthermore, AWIL had to be doubly careful in not engaging in any hanky-panky because it was eyeing a far bigger share of the pie, i.e. the IN’s reqmt for 12-tonne shipborne NMRHs. The corruption thus does not involve the MoD or IAFat all. But the CBI & ED being what they are, they will lose sight of the bigger picture where corruption was to have taken place.
And that involves the Italy-based AgustaWestland SPA subsidiary (totally different from AWIL) of Finmeccanica & that too for selling civilian utility/executive transport helicopters like AW-109P, AW-139 & AW-119 to civilian end-users like the Delhi Police, the CAPFs (like BSF & CRPF), Pawan Hans, & various state govts. The combined estimated market for all this, in terms of numbers, is more than 80. And it is here that Abhishek Verma & some politicians wanted to make a killing. Mind you, while all MoD-inked contracts have the Integrity Clause as mandated by the DPP, this does not apply to contracts inked with either the Union MHA, or the State Govts—a point always overlooked by almost everyone, including the CAG & CBI. It is this loophole that folks like Haschke, Verma & Gautam Khaitan were reportedly trying to exploit. But for purposes of mis-direction, Haschke, Gerosa & perhaps even Michel purposely drafted hand-written notes containing the job-titles of senior MoD bureaucrats & IAF officials—all aimed at deflecting the needle of suspicion in the event of anyone in India began smelling a rat.
Simple, elementary arithmetic & common-sense alone will bring the corruption enquiry to a successful conclusion by identifying the motive & the consequent intentions, & not reckless witch-hunting & vindictive politicking. That's what the CBI ought to focus upon, but maybe perhaps that is too much to expect. Shit happens!
To VED: The only option now on the table is to get rid of pathetic politicians who are now belching out all the soundbytes. Once that is done, everything else will fall in place. For starters, this govt must declassify all the MoD files relating to the HDW & Bofors scandals, which will then expose beyond any shadow of doubt what exactly had transpired. But I have strong reasons to believe that this will not happen even under this govt. Why so? Because one of the guys with intimate first-hand knowledge of all that had transpired during the reign of Rajiv Gandhi still roams scot-free. This chap, a Kashmiri called Sanjay Dhar (son of the late D P Dhar), was Rajiv’s Man-Friday & just earlier this year he had been issued a special invitation to 17 Race Course Road to attend a book-launch ceremony there to unveil the book titled THE Z FACTOR, an autobiography of Subhash Chandra Goenka, the founder & owner of the ZEE media group. In this book, the author (Subhash Chandra Goenka) has revealed almost everything about how import-export contracts were awarded by Rajiv & Co in an opaque, nominated manner to only those who had stood by the Gandhi family from 1976 till 1980. In fact, Goenka himself was a beneficiary of such contracts involving export of Palmar Rice (disguised as Basmati Rice to fool the Russians) to the USSR from 1981 till 1984. There were then 2 camps under both Mrs Gandhi & Rajiv that ran this show. One was led by Dhirendra Brahmachari & it included R K Dhawan & some friends of Sanjay Gandhi, while the other group, known as the Kashmiri Group, comprised Dhar, M L Fotedar & Arun Nehru. Now, if despite all this now being in the open, the present-day PM has the gall to launch such a book & that too in his official residence, then what good can one expect from such a political dispensation? Have you ever come across either the US President or the British PM undertaking an official book-launch affair in their official residences? This PM had promised in September 2014 at the Madison Square Garden that he will never do anything that will force Indians anywhere in this world to hang their heads in shame. And yet, folks from his own party, to add insult to injury, have made spectacularly outrageous claims about AWIL not being an OEM, while no one till today has even thought of shielding the IAF from all the politically vindictive venom being spewed by politicians of all hues WRT AW-101 deal! What happened to all the big-talk about abiding by the righteous code of conduct as enshrined in the Bhagwad Gita? All hot-gas & empty-talk, I guess, with the greatest loser in all this being India & only India.
To SRINIVASA NANDURI: Watch this:
Judge Marco Maiga's interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwpLQdWy7P8
The Italian Jude clearly states that there was never any evidence of any money being paid to any Indian citizen & therefore all the allegations now being touted about were mere hints & Hypothesis. There was NEVER any conclusive trace evidence of any money (being described as bribes) being channeled to any Indian citizen or entity.
Also do watch this:
Interview with Christian Michel's lawyer, Rosemary Patrizi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOH1yyx54IY
Based on what she has revealed about the conduct of the Indian team present at the trial, it seems this team (representing both the UPA-2 & present-day govt) was never interested in getting to the truth.
Common men(WISE) : What happened to all the big-talk about abiding by the righteous code of conduct as enshrined in the Bhagwad Gita?
Politicians : Are you KIDDING!! As Prasun says- ".. All hot-gas & empty-talk
.." these HOLY BOOK verses are just there to be TALKED about and then fart them out like hot gases...for US KARMA is all about EMPTY TALK & TALK &...NOO ACTIONS...hehe..
continued from above...
Politicians : Agar hum log Bhagawat Gita, Adi Granth jaise DHARMIC kitapo me jo leekha hai woo manne lage toh POLITICS chor kar ASHRAM mai apni DUKAAN kholna parega...bhai yeh sab DHARMIC KATHAYE sunne kahne me acche lagte hai, karne mai NAHI...KARNE ke liyen BABA, SADHU-SANTH hai na...unke liye thoda chor do...logo ko oolloo(OWL) banao aur RAAJ karo...jo hum itne saalo se karte aa rahe hein...
To BIRBAL: Just wait till I provide answers later tonight for all the questions raised in Parliament. That will totally expose Parrikar's & Subramanium Swamy's ineptitude & ignorance. It is just shocking how far these folks can go to misrepresent plain facts.
Dear Prasun,
I think we can forget Black Shark torpedo. Govt. will be under hammer if it gives order to WASS.
I donot know the capabilities of Varunastra torpedo. But under new DPP preference has to be given to designed and made in India provided it meets the requirements of IN. Can you share the capabilities of Varunastra in reference to seahake mod4 and Black Shark. If its not upto the mark then i believe we are in big trouble.
The other important consideration worth considering would be to see what HWT will the Australians will be ordering for their short fin Barracudas.
do you think the Lockheed compact fusion reactor will be a reality soon? are there efforts in India towards something similar, keeping in mind the revolutionary implications if the Lockheed effort comes to fruition? are you aware of any similar programs anywhere else?
do you see the aussies sticking to the french sub? if so, how likely do you think it is that they will go for nuclear propulsion? if the possibility is there, could the US object to it? if so, why? and what could be the potential fallout if it did happen - proliferation of nuclear propelled subs maybe?
I agree with @Ved that AW/ Finmeccanica is toast for the next 20 years. That means that the IN needs to aggressively look at alternatives to the Black Shark which was a poor choice to start with. The French Navy rejected the Black Shark in favor of the F21 for their Barracuda class. That is most likely going to be the choice of the Royal Australian Navy that just ordered the diesel electric version of the Barracudas.The F21 is a more advanced weapon system than the Black Shark and is co-developed by Atlas Elektronik of Germany with Thales. So, clearly we have options, better options than the Black Shark on the table. In fact it makes sense for the IN to opt for the F21 as Atlas is currently executing a contract to extend the life of the IN's old SUT torpedoes on the Shishumar class of subs. Besides Atlas is a much larger company (part owned by Airbus & ThyssenKrupp) and offers more attractive opportunities to collaborate on a "Make-in-India" project to manufacture the F21 in India - the first 24 could be bought off the shelf with the option to build the next 300 that India purportedly needs over the lifetime of the Scorpenes and the P-75I class of subs to follow, in India.
So all this doom and gloom over "Black Shark or bust" is overstated to say the least. Sometimes events such as this offers opportunities for course correction in favor of decisions that are more strategic and better for the long haul.
Hi Prasunji,
Total farce today in Rajya Sabha. Congress and BJP both saying bribes given and taken. But to whom were they given too?
At least Abhishek Singhvi gave a good speech. Swamiji acted childishly and was churlish too. BJP just want to hit congress where it hurts. Perception of Corruption by Congress. Now media is gunning for SP Tyagi ji. Some are even saying he will be arrested its just matter of time.
Who is benefiting from this farcical nonsense, i do not understand. And what will be the impact of this on IAF and other military procurements. Why is Modi doing this?
If BJP has guts let them prosecute Congress. Why this political mudslinging and that too because a italian court said something. Suddenly Michel and the Italian judge are darlings of our MSM. Italian judge was interviewed by not one by 3 channels today.
Very sad state of affairs.
Regards,
Srinivasa N
http://www.newsweek.com/intelligent-alien-life-almost-certainly-existed-somewhere-else-according-new-454626
Dear Prasun,
Can the AW 101 be suitable for vvip service in North East region? Somewhere I found the critics making this question? How should I defend myself?
To VED & SUBHO: Closely absorb the contents of this poster:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HweK2BYoF7U/Vv8LTI31ZJI/AAAAAAAAKiY/SaYMtI-fgTwb6SrRYdqn752g4PPM4cLww/s1600/NSTL%2BPosters.jpg
It clearly says the Varunastra is a ship-launched HWT & therefore it cannot be launched from any submarine. Secondly, it is ridiculous to even think of Finmeccanica subsidiaries like OTOBreda or WASS being toast in India. Because if these companies are prevented from doing any business deals with India, which other OEM will then supply spares support for the OTOBreda 76/62 SRGMs on board several IN warships? Which OEM will take responsibility for addressing the warranty period reqmts of the RAN-40L radar now being integrated on IAC-1/INS Vikrant? Which OEM will provide product-support for the WASS-supplied C-303 anti-torpedo decoys? Matters therefore not what they seem—a point the nitwit MPs in Parliament from the ruling coalition seem to have totally glossed over.
Lastly, both of you are missing one point that I have consistently tried to explain: choice of HWT torpedo is dictated exclusively by the type of combat management system (CMS) & its associated torpedo fire-control system. Consequently, one can crack his/her head until eternity to try get SUTs to fire from a Type 877EKM SSK. Similarly, Russia-origin torpedoes can never be fired from any SSK of non-Russian design. Likewise, since the CMS of the Class 209/Type 1500 SSKs is the ISUS-90 from Germany’s ATLAS Elektronik, only SUT or Sea Hake torpedoes from ATLAS Elektronik will be usable. On the RAN’s Shortfin Barracuda SSKs, the CMS will be of US-origin, i.e. from either Lockheed Martin or Raytheon & consequently, even the torpedoes will be of US origin. Kindly read these:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-submarines-japan-defence-in-idUSKCN0XQ1FC
https://www.yahoo.com/news/france-build-australia-subs-us-arm-them-040625464.html
Australia will procure the CMS suites & torpedoes from the US in order to ensure interoperability with the US Navy & this is part of Australia’s strategic military partnership with the US.
To ASD: Of course it can. Problem with creatures now belching soundbytes is that none of them have done their homework & consequently, in the land of the blind the one-eyed one is always the king. Will soon explain in detail with figures & factoids how ALL the allegations labeled yesterday by Messrs. Parikkar & Swamy are totally FALSE & WRONG.
can this problem be solved...the mess at parliament
i do hope Mod will take right action and Parrikhar will be removed soon...
Prasun you are often right and I like and follow most of your analysis and learn from it
But in this issue you would want us to believe that Mrs G and associates did not take kickbacks - given the family history that is highly unlikely
At the very least an impartial probe is essential
And honestly sir since you run a few defense related companies outside India, how much business relations do your cos have with finnmenica and its associates
I only ask that bcos this post is so unlike Prasun
God bless and may karma prevail
To SRINIVASA NANDURI & ASD: Here are my detailed rebuttals:
Allegation-1: former UPA regime had created 'single-vendor situation' to benefit from the same.
Reality: How can that ever be possible? When the RFPs were released by IAF HQ, TWO OEMs responded with quotes & BOTH the AW-101 & S-92 were subjected to competitive evaluations/flight-trials. Therefore, how a single-vendor situation emerge when TWO competing helicopters are subjected to flight-trials is anyone’s guess. Perhaps RM Manohar Parrikar doesn’t understand English!
Allegations 2, 3 & 4: They (UPA) didn’t use AW-101 (which was bought) for field trials but used some other helicopter, which is fraud in itself. Why field evaluation trials were conducted outside India. Field trial in India was extremely important because topographical conditions here (in India) differ from that of in the US and the UK. Objective of purchase was VVIPs will be able to fly at greater heights.
Reality: Firstly, it was IMPOSSIBLE to conduct in-country field-trials because NONE of the two OEMs (AWIL & Sikorsky) had ready-made VVIP versions of the AW-101 or S-92 & that’s because VVIP flight versions of any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft are always MADE-TO-ORDER. They never pre-exist. All that matters is that the end-user specify the operating/performance parameters & ensure that the procurement contract contains clauses that legally bind the winning OEM to ensure 100% compliance with the specified operating/performance parameters. That’s how it is done everywhere else in the world.
Secondly, both prior to & even 5 years after contract signature, there was not a single helipad available in India that existed at an altitude of 4,500 metres, leave alone 6,000 metres (19,685.04 feet)! So why specify a VVIP helicopter capable of landing at 6,000 metres above sea-level (ASL)? The highest place where IAF helicopters have gone to & landed to date is Point Sonam at 21,000 feet (6,400 metres) ASL & this feat can be done only by the 5.5-tonne Dhruv ALH, & no other helicopter. In fact, the only helipad in India that can accommodate 12-tonne + helicopters is the one at Gauchar in Kedarnath at an altitude of 11,600 feet, or 3,535.68 metres & the IAF is on-record for having stated on January 6, 2015 (after an IAF Mi-26T landed there) that this helipad is the highest landing in a civil environment made by such large helicopters. It was only in 2015 after the floods in J & K that the IAF built a new helipad & that too only for CASEVAC at a height of 16,000 feet (4,876.8 metres) near the snout of the Siachen Glacier & only Mi-17V-5s are to be used for air-logistics provision in this area in cases of emergency. But the Mi-17V-5 was NEVER even offered for the VVIP transportation role by Russia because Moscow had refused to sign the Integrity Pact & therefore no one from Russia responded to the OAF-issued RFP. Now whose fault is that?
Cont'd below...
Truth-of-the-matter is that in the first RFP for VVIP transportation helicopters issued by IAF HQ more than a decade ago, the service ceiling of 6,000 metres was specified PNLY BECAUSE it was ASSUMED that Indian VVIPs would go & land at such altitudes. In reality, no Indian VVIP ever achieved such a feat simply because no helipads even existed at such altitudes (it is impossible to build helipads with concrete surfacing for accepting either light or medium-lift helicopters). In fact, all the hype about VVIP visits to high-altitude areas was created only during the reign of George Fernandes as Defence Minister between 1998 & 2004, when it was claimed that he had visited Siachen Glacier 32 times. In reality, he & everyone else before him & after him have only ventured as far as the IAF’s Thoise air base near the IA’s Siachen Brigade HQ in Partapur, which is located at 12,000 feet 3,657.6 metres ASL. All that George Fernandes used to do was to FLY on an IAF SA.315B Lama/Cheetah) light helicopter above all the IA observation posts (OP) along the Saltoro Ridge. Not once did he ever land & spend time at any of these OPs. He simply couldn’t. Had he wanted to do so, he would have had to undergo 8 days of rigorous training and acclimatisation, without which he would never have received medical clearance to step off the helicopter at any of these OPs. And at such heights, there are no helipads on firm ground & therefore, no landing can be achieved; only a brief hover-period is possible for CASEVAC & unloading of supplies of perishable items. Small wonder, therefore, that even when Parrikar met soldiers of the Siachen Bde on May 22, 2015, he did so at Thoise. And PM NaMo did the same on October 25, 2014.
Cont'd below...
Allegation-5: People who lowered height was not NDA. It is a lie to say that NDA Govt was one which changed specification of height. But objective was that VVIPs should be able to fly to remote areas such as Siachen/north-east and therefore ought to fly at heights above 6,000 metres & should be out range of shoulder-fired rockets.
Reality: Please Dr Swamy, get real!!! Get the PMO to declassify the MoD file dealing with VVIP helicopter procurement & read the Directive drafted by Brajesh Mishra from the PMO that was dated December 22, 2003 and was addressed to the IAF HQ and CCed to the SPG’s Director. Furthermore, as already explained above, the height-lowering excuse does not exemplify malafide intent on anyone’s part because it enabled both the AW-101 and S-92 to compete. Ass opposed to this, when the service ceiling was specified at 6,000 metres, this & only this had led to creation of a single-vendor situation, since only the Eurocopter EC-225 was compliant with this height-ceiling, while the Mi-17V-5 did not even exist at that time. In addition, if the idea is to avoid shoulder-fired MANPADS/VSHORADS, then one must accept that such SAMs can also be fired from plains & plateaus located at lower altitudes. So, does Dr Swamy mean to say that after liftoff the VVIP helicopter must climb ASAP to a cruising altitude of 19,000 feet & maintain this flight altitude through its cruising period? Has such a feet ever been accomplished before anywhere else in the world?
Allegation-6: IAF in January 2006 gave the benchmark estimate for this deal as Rs.793 crore. This was approved by the then Defense Minister A K Antony.
Reality: If this is true, then this should absolve the then IAF CAS, ACM S P Tyagi of all wrongdoing since under him the IAF had come up with the cheapest recommended option. Consequently, the then IAF CAS could never have favoured the AW-101. Actually, Dr Swamy has got it all wrong. The MoD’s benchmarked cost was Rs.4,877.5 crore while AgustaWestland’s offer-price was Rs.3,966 crore, meaning the former figure was 22.80% higher. The final negotiated figure was Rs. 3,550 crore. And all these figures are contained within the CAG’s report. Dr Swamy, it seems, is one hell of a convoluted & delusional personality. So kindly stop making India the world’s laughing stock, since your senseless antics only serve to malign our beloved PM’s pledge given to Indians worldwide in September 2014 in the Madison Square Garden (about not doing anything that will force any Indian to hang his/her head in shame).
To CSC: I too am in favour of an impartial probe just as you are & everyone else probably is. However, I’m totally against the kind of premature blame-games being indulged in—the kind that turns India into a laughing stock especially after the Italian Judge himself has stated on-record on TV that any statement in his verdict regarding corruption was a mere HYPOTHESIS. It is obvious you have either not seen that interview or have failed to grasp what he was saying 3 days ago. Furthermore, what you are effectively inferring is that even an iron-clad legal clause like the Integrity Pact is unable to dissuade Indian politicians & govt officials from indulging in acts of financial impropriety. If that indeed is proven to be true, then that will be the day when the social contract between the citizens of India & all Govts of India will stand nullified, & as a consequence, the Republic of India as a constitutional democracy will cease to exist. Thus, if I were you, I would tread extremely carefully before jumping into any conclusion about who is right or wrong & why. Don’t become a victim of the ‘Ram Rajya’ mindset.
I don’t have companies, I have only 1 & all my business dealings involve OEMs that are neither UK-registered or Italy-registered, FYI. Nor have I ever had any dealings with any trading company of any nationality. You’re of course most welcomee to cross-check with the registrars of companies anywhere in this world & find out whether I’m stating the truth or am lying.
To BUDDHA: Of course it can be resolved. Just agree to Christian Michel's plea to be allowed to come to India to answer all the questions that any Indian authority/agency wants to ask him, & for that to happen the existing Interpol Red Corner notice has to be nullified. After all, if it is proven at a later date that he was lying, another Interpol Red Corner notice can always be issued. Then there is the upcoming event about this case being taken to a higher Italian Court of appeals, where it remains to be seen if the Italian state prosecutors can present incontrovertible evidence about money-laundering by revealing any kind of forensic auditing of any money-trail. If no such evidence comes forward, then the only logical conclusion is that no crime has been committed. Unless any crime is proven to have taken place by a court if law, it cannot be labelled as constituting a crime. That's how the whole world functions. But it seems according to the likes of CSC or Dr Swamy, a mere allegation is enough to judge a person as being guilty. Would CSC like if I were to file an FIR against him by alleging that he is a member of an Indian Mujahideen terrorist module/cell & soon after that the law enforcement authorities arrest him & take about 6 years to file a chargesheet & another 9 another are spent on the trial process, while he languishes in prison as an undertrial for 15 years?
Can I also allege corruption in selecting Japan as the sole-source provider of India's first Bullet Train, simply because there was no global RFP issued for a competitive bidding process? Should I, like Parrikar, insist on all the contenders from Japan, China & France to send an example of their Bullet Trains to India for in-country trials while concurrently I demand that the Ministry of Railways builds a 100km-long experimental rail-track just for the sake of exposing all the competing Bullet Trains to the local terrain, weather & topographical conditions that prevail in India? And should you, I, NaMo, Suresh Prabhu, Arnab Goswami, Parrikar & Dr Swamy all have synchronised stopwatches & see which of the competing Bullet Trains is the first to go past the finishing line & only then award the contract?
Seems like my predictions on Parrikar that I made last year turned out to be decisively true. Any idea who will replace him? The list of incompetent politicians far exceeds the list of those with some degree of competency.
My question is if the MoD can blacklist entire companies based off of capricious speculation, then why not allow the MoD to blacklist entire political parties that are hampering national security objectives for petty gains?
One more thing to note. Even if you gave Dr. Swamy a stopwatch, he would allege that there is a discrepancy for each observer's time due to special relativity and therefore the entire trial process was invalid!
Hi Prasun,
Thanks for your detailed explanation. This means Black Shark torpedo is the only possible choice. Its avery difficult situation indeed for defence minister and IN.
To GOPU: I share the same anguish as you do. Dr Swamy had yesterday alleged that it was the IAF that had mandated in 1999 that the service ceiling of the VVIP helicopter be 6,000 metres so as to stay clear of MANPADS. In reality, the Igla-S has a height ceiling of 3,500 metres (11,000 feet), FN-6 3,800 metres & the FIM-92A Stinger 3,046 metres 10,000 feet--all below the 4,500-metre height ceiling of the VVIP helicopter. Therefore, there's no way the IAF would have insisted on a height ceiling of the to-be-chosen VVIP transportation helicopter to be 6,000 metres.
Now, if we have MPs of the calibre of Dr Swamy who can deliberately distort facts (for instance, by stating that the IAF had benchmarked the figure of 8 helicopters as being Rs.793 crores, while conveniently forgetting to mention that this figure was due to a directive from the NSA back in December 2003 to stick to operating parameters that closely mimmick those of the Mi-8T) & LIE through his teeth to his fellow Parliamentarians, in that case all I can say us that India under such hustlers/tricksters & liars is beyond hope & beyond despair!!!
To GOPU: A few additional observations on how RM Parrikar misled Parliament yesterday:
1) The reqmt for active MAWS had to be removed not because the IAF had insisted on QR/OR deviations, but because of the denial of the export to India by the US of DIRCM-type active MAWS. DIRCM was even denied for the IAF's BBJ fleet.
2) Parrikar alleges that two QRs were waived by the IAF for the AW-101, while they were not for the S-92. In reality, this had to be done when it is discovered that the S-92 would not come with on-board self-protection systems that were specified by the IAF as customer-furnished equipment. This is because while the IAF preferred an Israeli self-protection suite & AAR-60 dual-colour MAWS & Elbit Systems' omni-directional IR countermeasures decoy system, US regulations prevented it from installing such hardware on a US-origin helicopter, this being done by the US purely to avoid setting a precedent WRT future US weapons sales to Israel). Consequently, a time-frame of 39 months had to be given to AWIL to undertake additional systems integration work prior to commencing product deliveries, instead of the 36 months as earlier specified in the RFP.
3) Parrikar states that the IAF had benchmarked a per-unit acquisition cost of US$15 million per AW-101. In reality, this is simply preposterous, since a 12-tonne helicopter has to cost a lot more than a 5-tonne helicopter like the naval Super Lynx Mk.99 which, way back in 1998, was costing US$18 million & this was the unit-price at which the Super Lynxes were sold to the Royal Malaysian Navy by GKN Westland. I myself had commnunicated this figure numerous times to the concerned authorities in New Delhi at that time itself.
In short, Parrikar had no new revelations to make yesterday. he was just parroting all that had earlier been recorded in the factually-flawed CAG report.
SIR why are you hell-bent on covering the entire thing up .. rather it will be fair your part to give any suggestion to unearth the entire scam ... please don't guard the family
Great article...
Sir we are hosting a defence conference in Mumbai. How can I touch base with you.
Prasun sir....whats stopping UPA team to respond to allegations with facts like you have presented.
Sir, can you please summarise your take on augusta scam/deal...
Are you saying that no corruption took place & all this is happening b'coz of gandhi family's badluck or some conspiracy...
Or Some honest mistakes took place, but Gandhi family was consciously clean...
Or are you saying ki thoda bohot len-dein to chalta hi hai...
court has indicted Tyagi for being a beneficiary of the bribes. It said payments were made to Tyagi and his family, including three of his cousins, in cash and by wire transfer.
prosecution has also alleged that some cousins of former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi - namely Julie, Docsa and Sandeep - received money from the Italian helicopter maker based on a 64-page report by the Italian investigators.
According to the Italian judicial report, Haschke spoke of money being routed through Mauritius and Tunisia, to make it difficult to trace, and referred to Indian investigators as “morons” who would take years to track down the links.
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2016/04/prima-donna-soniag-in-augusta-scam.html?m=1
Dear Piyush
Nobody is defending anybody. What Prasunda is stating is that the investigators are barking up the wrong tree or looking under the wrong rocks or going after the wrong scam. There has been corruption / wrong-doing account fudging but the whole circus is rigged to ensure that the shouting goes on over the case where India actually lost out on a good deal i.e. No Secure NAC/VVIP Helicopters; while the real scam gets brushed under the carpet..
Enough phrases; could you again try and go through all of Prasunda's posts before asking inane questions. The links with the stupidities in the AB Bofors scam investigations are indicative of Indian Refusing to Develop or Learn Thought Processes.
Sorry Prasunda, could you let this go and get onto more useful informative things. We, Indians, are morons. No wonder our documented records have traditionally been poor. We rely too much on gossip and loose talk.
Sir, it appears that Israel has sold a land-based Barak-8 to Azerbaijan as part of a deal signed in 2012.
http://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/content/iai-sold-barak-8-system-azerbaijan
Do you think this maybe a potential threat as Azerbaijan is very close to Pakistan politically and the technology might somehow get leaked?
Thank you Sir,
Sarath Kumar R.
@ Anon 5:37 ..
I don't has an opinion on the matter , but you stating that Prasun giving too much information is misinformation or "information overload" is quite frankly hilarious . It appears you are the one that has made up his mind and find news to support your theory and explode in a rant when confronted with contrary views .If you can't take the time to read and understand don't bother typing and wasting your and our time .
Hi,
Is our defense purchase going back to UPA days ?
New investigation on UPA deals like Rafale fighter, Pilatus, etc...
Pilatus would be a good weapon against UPA since they diluted more requirement to avoid single vendor scenario. Actually IAF copied requirement from basic trainers manufactured by different makers.
Will parikar become another AKA?
To JOHN: Looks like it will get far more worse. If one is really serious about probing the Pilatus PC-7 Mk.2 BTT deal, then it should start from GENESIS, i.e. going back to the mid-1990s when HAL had already rolled out a full-scale mock-up of the HTT-35 BTT. Why was this project not pursued then & brought to its logical conclusion? Will I then be justified in engaging blame-games against the then Defence Ministers like Mulayam Singh Yadav & George Fernandes? Will I then be justified in claiming that these two personalities were the enemies of import substitution?
Can I also hereby & from now on allege that the NDA govt from 1998 till 2004:
1) Signed the Su-30MKI procurement/licenced-production deal in 1998 & 2000 in a fraudulent manner because at that time there was no Su-30MKI prototype, when it was just a paper design & it had never been test-flown in India or Russia?
2) Signed the deal for the first 3 Project 1135.6 FFGs, INS Vikramaditya & MiG-29Ks & Ka-31s between 2000 & 2004 when none of these platforms were even available for user-trials in Russia?
3) That all these contracts (plus several more, like ordering 40 Mi-171s for the IAF & Mi-172s for Pawan Hans) were inked NOT with any Russian OEM, but with Rosoboronexport State Corp (then known as Rosvorouzhenie) & that such actions constituted criminal breach of trust?
4) That the deal to co-develop the BrahMos-1 missile with Russia was a sole-source project, & that what should have been done was to scout worldwide through issuance of a global RFP for potential joint R & D partners & only then go for the best offer?
5) That the NDA govt between 2001 & 2004 deliberately compromised India's national security interests by failing to operationalise the OFB's 155mm ammo/BMCS production factory at Nalanda just because of allegations of bribes being paid South Africa's DENEL Group to as-yet unknown Indian entities, & despite the CBI failing a closure report in which no conclusive evidence was ever presented to justify the subsequent blacklisting of DENEL Group by the UPA-1 govt?
6) That the deal for procuring Ka-226T LUH helicopters, IF INKED< will also be one with Rosoboronexport State Corp, & not with the OEM Russian Helicopters JSC? Doersn't this too constitute a violation of the DPP's regulations?
7) That the contracts for procuring TPQ-37 Firefinder counter-Battery radars, P-8Is, C-130J-30s & C-17A Globemasters through the FMS channel were all inked with the US Army, US Navy & USAF, & not with their OEMs Boeing & Lockheed Martin & therefore these all violated DPP regulations?
If the pathetic politicians from ALL Indian parties want to waste time in engaging in blame-games, I too will be more than happy to teach them the lesson of their lives by hurling many many more mirchi-masala, since my dictum of 'FIX THE PROBLEM, & NOT THE BLAME, apparently has a minuscule amount of takers, especially in this blog.
sir i donot think thinks will go so far...now the atmosphere is hot..and many are giving opinion....if this govt wants really help our armed force to modernism...they will refrain themselves from doing so...what u think sir...
To SANDEEP: LoLz! Either you have eyes & yet can't see & read, or there's a mismatch between your organic hard-disc (your brain) & its operating software (your ability to reason). Looks like you're someone who is hell-bent using Windows software meant for IBM PCs on Apple PCs. I have already in earlier comments in this thread exposed what the fraudulent practices of AWIL were WRT to its direct industrial offsets commitments & their links to IDS Infotech--a fact that was confirmed by RM Parrikar himself in Parliament 2 days ago. I had also pointed towards the direction of Abhishek Verma & his linkages with AgustaWestland SPA of Italy & the need to probe this link in greater detail, instead of just letting him rot as an undertrial. Let that trial at least be brought to its logical conclusion since all material evidence to prove his guilt already exists since 2013 & his US-based business partner too has turned against him & has supplied documentary evidence to prove Verma's guilt. So why all this delay in delivering justice since May 26, 2014? What's stopping the present-day Govt of India from proceeding forward? It's already been 3 years since all this first came to light. Why isn't any MP from any political party raising this issue in Parliament & demanding a siwft conclusion to the legal proceedings? Is that my fault?
In separate TV interviews given by Italian Judge Marco Maiga to NewsX, TIMESNow, NDTV, India Today & CNN-IBN (now Network 18), he has consistently said that there's simply no material evidence like a forensically-audited money-trail linking the the convicted Italian citizens to any Indian citizen. He has also explicitly said that the probability of Indian politicians being paid bribes is a mere HYPOTHESIS (his words, not mine). So would you like to pronounce anyone guilty on grounds of mere hypothesis? If yes, then can I present a hypothesis about you being a Class A drug-peddlar & try to back it up with circumstantial evidence? Will that be enough for me to file an FIR against you & then malign & defame you?
Cont'd below
You may perhaps have some old scores from your previous life to settle with the Gandhi Family (pichle janam se koi puraani dushmani), but that does not mean that I too ought to share your perceptions & suspicions in a self-righteous manner. If you really want to do an objective & clinical investigation of any crime, then first & foremost you must always look for a MOTIVE. That then leads one to INTENTION TO COMMIT A CRIME & only then does supporting material evidence surface. Now ask yourself this: was it really a bad decision to procure the AW-101s? Was it so bad a platform in terms of performance parameters, when to date 15% of all AW-101s sold worldwide to date are flying as VVIP transportation helicopters? If the AW-101 was indeed a very bad choice & was the worst of the worst contenders in the competition, then what justified its selection as the preferred platform by the USMC for its Marine 1 presidential transport helicopter for the US President back in the previous decade? Truth-of-the-natter is that once a three-engined helicopter enters the fray, all twin-engined & single-engined helicopters being offered as VVIP transport helicopters automatically get disqualified, purely on grounds of parameters like flight survivability & reserve power in case of engine failure. No OEM therefore in their right mind will even bother to/be reqd to pay even Rs.1 as bribe to anyone when the OEM knows that his product is No.1 in terms of mandated operational parameters. RM Parrikar has yet to share with the Indian taxpayer the results of the competitive evaluations AFTER the shortlisting was done. If he was honest about getting to the truth, he would have done so. But he just chose to read from the CAG report in the Lok Sabha. I challenge him, Dr Swamy & the drafters of the CAG report to face me in a open, live debate anywhere, anytime, & will systematically expose all the flaws with compelling corroborative evidence in their skewed arguments & conclusions. Now let's see whether they have the balls to accept my offer. Tabhi jaakar dooth ka dooth aur paani ka paani ho jayega. But I'm sure Parrikar will never take this bait, since he will be taken to the dry-cleaners by me when it comes to revealing the clinching OR/QR parameters in favour of the AW-101? Why? Simply because they relate to the National Nuclear Command Authority, about which the RM knows nothing & that's because everything to do with nuclear deterrence is the exclusive preserve of the National Security Adviser (it has always been so since May 1998) & is therefore on a need-to-know basis, & in this case the RM does not need to know. He won;t even know how the budgeting has been done for the S-1/S-2/S-3/S-4 nuclear-powered submarine programmes or the K-14/K-4 SLBMs & which govt organ, dept or agency is providing the funds, because clearly the funds do not originate from the MoD's annual allocations.
Whether you like it or not, you will need to tax your mind & figure out how sort out your organic hard-disc's functioning. No one else can do this for you. Reliance on over-simplifications just won't work for anyone in this world & that's the NIYAM of PRAKRITI (law of nature).
To BUDDHA: Are you that sure about this govt being serious about ensuring India's national security? If so, then what explains why railway track-laying activity has come to a standstill in Manipur & Nagaland? Why are contractors totally unwilling to deploy their workforces there & why are they saying that they're left totally unprotected from extortions & kidnappings? Therefore, forget about the much bigger decisions like the Rafale MMRCA procurement. For starters, let this govt prove its national security credentials through far smaller things, like re-establishing the writ of law & ensuring public safety in these troubled states.
To PIYUSH: What's stopping them? Plain stupidity, perhaps. Or maybe they've yet to read the contents of this thread. Perhaps they're are also afraid that frank discussions on the topic will open a pandora's box (concerning the Abhishek Verma-related cases) that will give them even greater headaches. That's why perhaps the politicians of both sides are trying to find scapegoats from either the IAF or the civil bureaucracy, with the BJP MPs constantly alleging that the wrongdoings originally began with the issuance of the RFP from IAF HQ, & the subsequent relaxation of ORs/QRs by the IAF & the MoD's civil bureaucrats at the behest of some 'invisible power'. What these buffoons fail to realise is that this will only have far-reaching negative effects on the decision-making processes within each of the 3 armed service HQs. Perhaps from now on Indian citizens will just shirk away from making careers within the armed forces, since no one needs such headsches & defaming. Just imagine what a sorry & demoralising sight it is for all serving IAF air warriors to see a former IAF CAS going to the CBI HQ all alone & totally unescorted & a media-mob physically obstructing his movement (thereby blowing away his constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights to smithereens!
really sorry state of our politician......and please sir if you can inform MOD or PMO or Prime Minister..true facts...and if he does take strong steps to address the issue.....that is last resort i hope...neither it will only bring catastrophe to armed force
To PIYUSH DAS: Here’s my summary:
Q) Are you saying that no corruption took place & all this is happening b'coz of gandhi family's badluck or some conspiracy.
A) Corruption took place, BUT NOT WRT selection of the AW-101, but the fraudulent practices of AWIL in order to both escape its industrial offsets commitments so that it will not be reqd to pay back to India 5% of the contract-value in penalty due to non-compliance of the offset provisions.
Q) Or Some honest mistakes took place, but Gandhi family was consciously clean.
A) That can only be answered by the Italian authorities, since they’ve investigated the money-trail originating from Italy & in this digital era there’s simply no way of erasing such trails, especially after 9/11 when banking regulations dealing with wire-transfers have been considerably tightened. So far, none of the 2 Italian courts has been able to present as evidence any money-trail via banks or financial institutions that show any IAF official or Indian politician as being the direct or indirect financial beneficiaries. Now Judge Marco Maigahas since revealed that the final leg of the case will be fought in the Italian Supreme Court. Let’s see whether any conclusive forensic evidence of money-laundering is presented then.
Q) Or are you saying ki thoda bohot len-dein to chalta hi hai.
A) Not at all. I have ZERO (0) tolerance for such practices & will never condone any such activity.
Q) CBI has estimated that European businessmen James, Gerosa and Haschke had paid some 58 million euros (Rs 423 crore) to have this deal done.
A) Where’s the proof to back-up or validate such evidence? In reality, these estimates are from the documentation originating from first Italian court case in Milan in 2013. CBI is totally dependent on Italy for forensic evidence on wire-transfers of money & if the Italian state prosecutors are holding on to this evidence for presentation during the forthcoming Supreme Court trial in Italy, then the CBI just cannot be expected to be in possession of such evidence.
Cont'd below...
Q) Sanjeev alias Julie, Rajeev alias Docsa and Sandeep were accused of accepting bribes of Rs 10.5 million euros (Rs 7.68 crore) from some middlemen in two installments—first through bank transfers and then through cash.
A) Accused, yes. Where’s the undeniable forensic evidence to prove their guilt? Are the Italian state prosecutors are holding on to this evidence for presentation during the forthcoming Supreme Court trial in Italy?
Q) court has indicted Tyagi for being a beneficiary of the bribes. It said payments were made to Tyagi and his family, including three of his cousins, in cash and by wire transfer. prosecution has also alleged that some cousins of former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi - namely Julie, Docsa and Sandeep - received money from the Italian helicopter maker based on a 64-page report by the Italian investigators.
A) No Italian court can indict a foreign citizen since it does not have jurisdiction over non-Italians. What the court has done is it has presented a HYPOTHESIS about a probable case of bribes being paid, but has not admitted or shown any forensic evidence to prove that payments were either made or received.
Q) According to the Italian judicial report, Haschke spoke of money being routed through Mauritius and Tunisia, to make it difficult to trace, and referred to Indian investigators as “morons” who would take years to track down the links. A) Yes, that is about to AWIL’s efforts to be seen to be conforming to its direct industrial offsets commitments so that it will not be reqd to pay back to India the penalty of 5% of contract-value (read my 1st answer).
Q) Haschke was augusta's middleman. Whose fees was hiked by 10 million, on the last moment.
A) For which deal? That concerning the AW-101s or the ones that were being planned for those state givts of India that wanted executive transport helicopters & helicopters for their state police?
Q) May be it will never be proved, but don't you smell something fishy in this deal?
A) Why can’t it be proved? The Italians are in possession of all banking data & details of money wire-transfers originating from Finmeccanica. Whether the Italians will share all this with Indian authorities remains a question.
Q) Is tyagi a friend of yours?
A) Never knew him or met him or any of his immediate family-members or even distant relatives. He remains a known unknown to me till now.
Q) How can you not have even an iota of doubt, about corruption?
A) After all that I have stated & exposed above, this really sounds like a chilldish question from someone having great difficulty in absorbing all that I have presented thus far. KAUSTAV has treid his best to make things clearer to you, but none of us can or should go beyond that. After all, I can only take the horse to a pond’ I cannot force the horse to drink water from that pond.
To BUDDHA: A real leader is someone who takes DIFFICULT DECISIONS without any DIFFICULTY. That's how a leader's journey of life takes place. Thus, Prince Asoka had to first become Chand Asoka (Asoka the slayer/butcher) & only then could be become Samraat (Emperor) Asoka & only after that did he become Asoka The Great. Similarly, it does no one any good if a leader just presents his counterparts with laminated copies of the Bhagwad Gita. He/she must also be seen to be an avid practitioner of the 'code of ethics' that are enshrined in the Bhagwad Gita. In other words, DO AS I DO, & not DO AS I SAY. Does India possess such leaders? Or do Indians in general believe that salvation will come only after a messiah or an angel (farishtaa) descends from the heavens? Your guess is as good as mine.
TO PIYUSH DAS: Listen & analyse this latest interview of Judge Marco Maiga:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-9-zvwhiq8&hd=1
In this interview he clearly states that:
1) The purview of his case to establish corruption involving only Italian citizens, not Indian citizens.
2) The handwritten note obtained from Haschke is authentic, & is not forged.
3) This handwritten note obtained from Haschke ONLY INDICATES that money WAS TO BE PAID. It does not prove by any stretch of imagination that money HAD BEEN PAID or HAS ALREADY BEEN PAID.
4) It is for Indian investigators to find out whether or not any of the Indian citizens or officials referred to in this handwritten note received any money. In other words, the Italian authorities are not willing to share any data with India about any money-trail that the Italians may have uncovered, despite 182 boxes full of material evidence being gathered so far by the Italian prosecutors.
5) There was NEVER any concrete evidence of any money being paid to any Indian politician or official.
Therefore, all we can now do is wait for the case go up to the Italian Supreme Court, where this case will finally be resolved. Until then, it is best that all the 'desi' TV news anchors reserve their judgments, instead of trying to fish around & spread false canards, ambiguous indications & innuendos.
To BUDDHA: Beautiful short film on the original INS Vikrant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFnMGoDrJE0
IA soldiers to get BPJs from TATA at last: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DKP5ZnkbC4
Looks like someone read my reply to VED yesterday concerning the Black Shark HWT & has since done a story on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RuxMvd8cik
Sir, first of all THANKS A LOT for taking pains for summarizing the whole ramkahani...
Secondly, from your perspective, matter looks quite plain sailing & uncomplicated.
But on the other hand congress's reaction looks like they are 'deer in headlight'.
Infact last week the title of times now programme was "WHY CONGRESS IS DEFENSIVE ON VVIP CHOPPERGATE".
If things are that simple then congress is committing harakiri by not shielding itself. Either they are ignoramus fools or they have realized that they are indeed in abysmal danger.
Especially after middleman's handwritten notes mentioning congress leaders,bureaucrats & family members of tyagi.
Nevertheless, I'm still unable to grasp the whole issue. My bad...
But like you said that electronic evidence can't be erased, so I hope for karma & justice to prevail.
Good day sir
To PIYUSH DAS: Fortunately, Shekhar Gupta yesterday on NDTV gave a rather sane analysis. Watch this from 21.03 onwards:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDBarXY-zOA&hd=1
What he says is that given the present state of European banking regulations, a sum of Euro 50 million in payoffs can be traced from its cradle to the grave within a week, but since no such credible information about any money-trail has emerged so far--especially regarding the intended financial beneficiaries--all indications are that the truth will never become known because no one sitting in the corridors of power in either India or Italy is interested in finding out the truth.
Like I had said before, there are no farishtaas (angels) within the present political dispensation in power who want to sort out matters for good.
Sir,
Thanks for the prompt reply.
Blog writers, Media and desi prestitutes write lengthy articles about threat faced by our defense forces from china (stealth fighters, submarines, numerical superiority, encircling India etc..) and Pakistan (Tactical Nuclear Missiles, Terrorism, China tie-up, etc..).
But actual threat is from our politicians(like Subramanya Swamy, etc..), and Indian Media (Sensationalism, Illogical conclusions, Lack of interest/common sense to understand the basic problem, etc...).
It is becoming a fashion to criticise all defense deals and no one is talking about media corruption (accepting money from defense firms to stall procurement if they lose the deal).
How do we face these threats because these guys will make sure that we will use outdated equipment to fight the next war.
Irony of India !!!... where Judgement of our Court systems is ,most of the time, met with Opposition !!!!... BUT an External Court (in this Case - The Italian Court) is taken As the Gospel TRUE!!!!!
I wonder if nothing is found even after EXTENSIVE Investigation, mud slinging , back stabling... would anyone apologize to the accused?? ... to ACM Tyagi??? - this goes out to all everyone especially to people like the few commenting on this Blog???
Dear Prasun,
Lol. These guys really are following you very meticulously. I wonder when they will show us something orignal.
Although nothing yet has come out of MOD in this regard, may i request you to tap your sources to get a clear picture on Scorpene's HWT?
To G: LoLz! Even if we accept the Italian Court's verdict as the gospel tryth, then the presiding Judge very clearly has repeatedly said on various Indian TV channels that there's no proof of any kind that money was transferred to India or was paid to Indian officials or politicians! Now, what kind of a judgment limits itself to making allegations but produces no corroborative evidence to substantiate or prove those allegations. There's another point to consider: while Haschke knew he was under the scanner of Italian investigators, would he really be so stupid to say bin a telephone conversation that all his private paperwork concerning the AW-101 deal remains stashed under his mother's bed? This, perhaps, is the clearest hint that he by saying this on the telephone, he was deliberately trying to mislead the Italian investigators (who had tapped his phone) by sending them scurrying in a totally wrong direction. And by all accounts, he seems to have succeeded so far.
To VED: LoLz! In the end, these pathetic politicians will say that under the Acceptance of Necessity clause, a one-time exception will be made & the contarct will be inked. The official excuse given will be that Finmeccanica is now under a new management & the company is now called LEONARDO. Here's the new company's website:
http://www.leonardocompany.com/
To JOHN: The only alternative is to ridicule & shame these shameless retards by rebutting each & every allegation of theirs, & that's exactly what I have tried to do in this thread. I of course remain open to a no-holds-barred debate on this whole issue with Parrikar & Dr Swamy & am once again challenging them to accept my earlier offer. If they don't, then this will prove once & for all their nefarious intentions & ulterior, treasonous motives.
To PIYUSH DAS: WHY CONGRESS IS DEFENSIVE ON VVIP CHOPPERGATE? It's elementary: AKA has also admitted in Parliament that there was corruption. But why didn't he go further to detail what exactly the corruption was all about? He didn't go further because that would have revealed AKA's own ineptitude as the RM, since he was the one who had mandated that only direct industrial offsets be allowed, so that only the DPSUs could benefit from this policy. Had indirect industrial offsets been allowed, Finmeccanica & its AWIL subsidiary would have had no difficulty in implementing their industrial offsets commitments. It is for this reason that AKA too was being economical with the truth for fear of being taken to the dry-cleaners!
The 'desi' press corps too needs to take note that corruption does not have only 1 definition, i.e. foreigners paying money to Indian citizens. Corruption also means adopting spurious business practices that amount to CBT, or criminal breach of trust, which is what the two former Finmeccanica officials have been convicted of & sentenced.
The ED had chargesheeted Khaitan in 2014 and alleged that "after incorporating a company IDS Tunisia, two European middlemen Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke along with Khaitan had received 24.6 million euros (Rs 160 crore) from AgustaWestland Spa, out of which 3.88 million euros (Rs 24.6 crore) had been transferred to Aeromatrix, while 1.88 million euros (Rs 12 crore) were transferred to IDS Infotech India in the garb of engineering contracts".
Meanwhile, the ED asked Tyagi questions related to meetings with Haschke, Finmeccanica officials and the bribe money allegedly given to him and his cousins and his property details.
Sources said a detailed qu estionnaire was prepared for Tyagi. He has been reportedly called for questioning again on Friday . After almost 10 hours of questioning by the ED, Tyagi left the agency around 8 pm. The former IAF chief was earlier grilled by the CBI for three days during which he reportedly admitted to owning or holding shares in five companies, as first reported by TOI.
Today all over the web, seems like trouble
http://www.indiandefensenews.in/2016/05/supreme-court-seeks-centers-reply-on.html?m=1
While this may take longer, a case investigated under the supreme court will ensure that no one can talk personal vendetta
To CSC: RE: IAF chief was earlier grilled by the CBI for three days during which he reportedly admitted to owning or holding shares in five companies.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Such 'grillings' have been going on since 2013 by both the CBI & recently by the ED. Despite all this 'grilling', why has no money-trail emerged between June 2014 & today to link the alleged bribe-money with the 5 companies owned by S P Tyagi & his immediate family-members? Why has this govt been unable to obtain forensic audits from both Italy & the UK that can easily expose & authenticate the money-trail from Italy-based or UK-based financial institutions/banks? After all, it has already been known since 2013 that the money-trail had originated through banking transactions via electronic wire-transfers using SWIFT codes to various offshore destinations, AND NOT through Hawala or Hundi.
Conclusion v& Where It Is All Headed For: No Indian court, no matter how high or superior, will be able to get to the bottom of the matter if the clinching money-trail evidence is not shared by Italy & the UK with India. For it is very much possible that both the UK & Italy will take the stand that since both the Govt of India & AWIL have agreed on international arbitration--a process that can drag on for 7 to 10 years--they would rather submit the clinching evidences to the arbitration panel than to any court of law in India.
This, effectively, is how the white-skinned Caucasians will squeeze the brown-skinned Indians by their balls & this in turn will also surreptitiously pour water over most, if not all, grand plans under the 'Make in India; initiative. it is this larger fact-of-life that all the pathetic Indian politicians now engaged in out-shouting each other in Parliament are consistently failing to grasp. These buffoons are thus beyond hope & beyond despair.
Dear Sir
Why dont you come on TV and write an article in the Newspapers
Why are you wasting so much time and energy on this Blog
Nobody is reading this OTHERWISE The Congress party would have used your
inputs for their defence
To RAHEEL SHAREEF: Who needs newspapers with limited distribution footprint when a Blog has a global reach? As for TV appearances, I have already challenged Messrs Parrikar & Dr Swamy to a live TV debate to trash out all issues concerning the AW-101's selection as the preferred VVIP transport helicopter. The ball is now on their court. If these Lallu-Panjjus still choose to be self-righteous & cling on to the belief that they are blessed with all-knowing wisdom, then what else can be done? But it does need to be pointed out that slowly there has been a rather climb-down by these pathetic politicians on some technical issues that I've highlighted (perhaps after taking note of the contents of this blog), but conversely, the amount of insinuations have increased, primarily due to try to cover up for their ignorance in such matters, since they obviously are not the domain experts. Here's how the climb-down by Parrikar was telecast yesterday in the Lok Sabha:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYAICx8g6bI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGD3Q_zGyus
Prasun sir
Recent news in India today is pointing out that rafale deal may also end up in scrutiny for wrong doing. Please confirm if this is true. Thank you for your time.
Now I think everyone is HAPPY that they have known most of the TRUTH, BUTTT how many of us has the GUTS and the BALLS to take ACTION on the TRUTH...Knowing the truth is one think but TAKING ACTION (Karma) on the TRUTH is a different game altogether..ZAMEEN ASMAAN KA FARK HAI...Atleast Prasunda has the GUTS to CHALLENGE Messrs Parrikar & Dr Swamy to a live TV debate to trash out all issues concerning the AW-101's selection as...whether the CHALLENGE is accepted or not that's a different matter, that is NOT in Prasun K. Sengupta's HAND, he has DONE his part...how many of us have that???
I don't know about others but atleast for NOW i don't have that...I am still on the WRONG side of Kurukshetra, watching Draupadi BASTRAHARAN even though i KNOW the TRUTH just like Pitama BHEESMA, or Guru DRONACHARYA...BUT TRYINGG to be ARJUN..
Prasunda had written- "...Prince Asoka had to first become Chand Asoka (Asoka the slayer/butcher) & only then could be become Samraat (Emperor) Asoka & only after that did he become Asoka The Great.."
Do you know why Prasun K. Sengupta has the GUTS to CHALLENGE? He has his BASES COVERED, he has ALL the ANSWERS READY even though questions are not even asked...
How he does that? Simple, he goes to the ROOT of the problem, what is it, How it all started...Remember him saying most often, ALWAYS GO to the ROOT of the problem..
A SMART MAN KNOWS ALL THE ANSWERS AND QUESTIONS BEFOREHAND. Work SMARTER, NOT harder...Hindi me ek KAHAWAT hai- Saap bhi Mare aur LAATHI bhi NA TUTE. Now how to do that??? MILLION DOLLAR question!!! Answer- THINK and ACT like Mark Antony, who SMARTLY, CUNNINGLY and TACTFULLY move the Roman crowd against the conspirators, without portraying them as EVILS...be like the CUNNING Mahesh Das....as taught in the Bhagwad Gita and REVERBERATED by Prasunda- " DO AS I DO".
Have a NICE day...
I hope you are going to do a write up on the PMs visit to Iran and it's implications . You appear to be busy with the augusta issue.
@Prasun
1) " Who needs newspapers with limited distribution footprint when a Blog has a global reach?"
You write articles for 'Force magazine' you hypocrite idiot.
Also, have you ever heard about newspaper apps on ios and android or newspaper's having their own websites?
Your Comments seem more a case of 'sour grapes'.
2)" As for TV appearances, I have already challenged Messrs Parrikar & Dr Swamy to a live TV debate"
Who the hell do you think you are?
there is no reason for RM of India to start entertaining every deluded "self-righteous LALLU PANJU" who challenges him on the Internet.
3)" But it does need to be pointed out that slowly there has been a rather climb-down by these pathetic politicians on some technical issues that I've highlighted (perhaps after taking note of the contents of this blog)"
Extreme Delusions of Grandiose, mr prasun. It seems You really believe that the whole world revolves around you, don't you?
It seems like you went full psycho after the Aliens you blabber about ever so often, abducted you and subjected you to anal probing.
SHAITAN said...
@Prasun
1) " Who needs newspapers with limited distribution footprint when a Blog has a global reach?"
You write articles for 'Force magazine' you hypocrite idiot.
Also, have you ever heard about newspaper apps on ios and android or newspaper's having their own websites?
If I were Prasun and that question was put to me by Mr. Shaitan then i would have answered- If you think i am an idiot, so be it..I DON'T CARE & I DON'T GIVE A f@#k WHAT OTHERS THINK OF ME...you are free to think ANYTHINK YOU WANT..your thinking doesn't make me that...I KNOW WHAT I AM AND I LOVE BEING WHO I AM...I AM CENTERED IN MY OWN MASCULINITY..
Now about writing on 'Force magazine' and NOT on any newspaper-
First of all it's my PERSONAL choice..I AM A FREE BIRD, as the REAL Prasun K Sengupta has earlier written somewhere in this blog that he likes to live like the LONE WOLF...MOREVER in newspapers i might not be able to express myself fully, my VIEWS, my thoughts etc etc...as they MIGHT go through various EDITING.....
Secondly, it's my own blog. I am FREE TO EXPRESS myself here, ANYTHING I want to write...reading fellow readers views and questions and answering them and in the process LEARNING more..
2)" As for TV appearances, I have already challenged Messrs Parrikar & Dr Swamy to a live TV debate"
Who the hell do you think you are?
My answer as Prasun- I am the COMMON CITIZEN of India.
there is no reason for RM of India to start entertaining every deluded "self-righteous LALLU PANJU" who challenges him on the Internet.
As the COMMON CITIZEN of India I have the RIGHT to know the TRUTH. It's NOT about CHALLENGING the RM or even the PM, it's about KNOWING the truth..Who has given me this RIGHT? - The Constitution of India. the RTI Act..I have the RIGHT to know where my money is going...
If you think i am a DELUDED "self-righteous LALLU PANJU", so be it...If i don't think and BELIEVE what i am doing is right then how can i make others believe that I am RIGHT. If it's DELUSION for YOU, so be it...
3)" But it does need to be pointed out that slowly there has been a rather climb-down by these pathetic politicians on some technical issues that I've highlighted (perhaps after taking note of the contents of this blog)"
Extreme Delusions of Grandiose, mr prasun. It seems You really believe that the whole world revolves around you, don't you?
Yah you are RIGHT. I AM THE CENTER OF MY WORLD. I am the KING of my OWN KINGDOM...
By the way INTERESTING NAME you have given for yourself SHAITAN, must be FOCUSING on EVIL/ negative things . There is a LAW of the universe called LAW of ATTRACTION which says ANYTHING YOU FOCUS ON EXPANDS...maybe you are FOCUSING TOO MUCH on BAD things.....OTHERWISE you had kept your name SAINT NOT shaitan...A NAME says a LOT of things if not all...
Anyways, it's just my personal views to your comments on Prasunda...The REAL Prasun K Sengupta will answer to your point of views if he really feel like answering...
Don't take it personally...Have a NICE day S....
Is it that difficult to digest what Prasun trying to say here in his blog?
Some folks like _, _ and _ is it that difficult ?
By this time anyone who reads his analysis/blog regularly can easily say that he was/is always spot on.Why I get a feeling that broadsword's alter-egos are roaming here freely. One can easily relate their wordings and comprehensions.
@Birbal @Shaitan
Wow guys what have u been smoking, pretty powerful stuff!
First, u need to understand to why alot of us come to read this blog. As u know every story, like a coin, has 2 sides. BUT unfortunately, if only ONE side is being shown on every media outlet and other blogs - and that's where this Blog comes in.
For the interest of an argument , lets take the case of the Agustawestland.
1) The case has been going on for 3 years and nothing has been proven
2) An Italian court has given a judgement on their Own case concerning their people. They Haven't given any judgement on the papers which has Indian names and politicians and one Paper with the list of items - all Conjecture , come on AF , one automatically say Indian Air Force?
3) The RM , though I initially liked him , what he produced in Parliament is the same info we had for the passed 3 years and unfortunately FOR Me , shown that he is not his own man , but a chamcha of the Govt :(
4) Just Think , if the Italian Court hadn't sad anything, Would all this What happening now in India would happened?
5) Again because of the Italian court and our politicians this entire episode has become one sided answers
So to end , we come to this blog to see the other side. Whether to agree or not that up to each one of us . If one feel that the blogger point is wrong - back it up with source and facts and have a civilized argument of it
First, u need to understand to why alot of us come to read this blog. As u know every story, like a coin, has 2 sides. BUT unfortunately, if only ONE side is being shown on every media outlet and other blogs - and that's where this Blog comes in.
..... we come to this blog to see the other side. Whether to agree or not that up to each one of us . If one feel that the blogger point is wrong - back it up with source and facts and have a civilized argument of it
Well said Bro...I like it. Well I was SMOKING a Nicaraguan CIGAR then...:):)
Anyone can say anything...specially in the back..even a BABY can say it..CRITICISM, i think is the EASYIEST PART. The REAL MAN is the ONE who has the GUTS and the BALLS to say in the FACE...
To SHAITAN: O yaar, why is your BP going ballistic? Looks like you're closely related to either Parrilar or Dr Swamy & hence the similarity of your styles of presentations & protestations, i.e. bluster & premature pronouncements of judgments that qualify for attracting Class A defamation suits. On one hand Parrikar says he possesses no clinching evidence of evidence (& hence keeps blabbering about single-vendor scenario), but on the other he is quick to pronounce that the “entire corruption” in the case took place during the UPA regime. He said while the decision on the contract was taken in 2010, Air chief S P Tyagi had retired in 2007. “Who gave order in 2010?… How much that person has got we have to find that out…. He (Tyagi) was not there then”, the Defence Minister said. Tyagi might “might have got just ‘chillar’ (loose change)”.
Both your comments & those of Parrikar are only characteristic of a person with an acute inferiority complex & an extreme lack of self-esteem. This Parrikar fella therefore appears to be someone who believes in 'ratta maarna' (cramming) in order to make it past the IIT entrance exams. For, any level-headed person with respect for the laws of physics will conclude that in a competition involving a three-engined helicopter & two-engined helicopters, the former will always win simply because a 3-engined helicopter has a much higher power-to-weight ratio, has a superior MTOW capabilities, & offers the best flight safety/survivability features. This was amply proven in 2007 when the 3-engined AW-101 as the VH-71 Kestrel became the winner of the USMC's Marine-1 competition (the 3-engined CH-53K from Sikorsky was still under development then). Consequently, it is the 3-engined feature of the AW-101 that takes it far ahead of all other twin-engined helicopters for VVIP transportation roles. That & only that is how a single-vendor situation arises, & not because of anyone favouring any brand-name.
But all this, of course, will be understood only by those who had paid attention during their school-going days to their physics tutorials. And surely you, Parrikar & Dr Swamy were totally inattentive during such tutorials, which explains why you all are now hell-bent on turning India & the IAF into the world's laughing stock. But do rest assured that there will always be a payback time, since what goes around, comes around.
Excellent response, Prasun ji! A lot of people are having high hopes of Rafale deal being cancelled and I feel that they are also hoping that some proceeding in the AW-101 case will potentially put the Rafale on hold indefinitely.
Obviously these morons are working under the Eurofighter consortium.
@ Gessler
Hey Gessler liked your NEW DESERT OUTFIT at DFI, looks like you are coming straight from fighting the ISIS at DFI
Got a PROMOTION bro...
http://tribune.com.pk/story/1098885/raw-agent-rounded-up-in-karachi-raid/
No. Of RAW agents per sq. KM in Pakistan is too damn high. And how come these super duper Agent Vinods are caught red handed with their Indian Passport. Sir why this sudden surge in Apprehension of RAW agents?
To Anon@11.36PM: I am wherever you want me to be. No wonder my close friends & associates always refer to me as being the 'Glimmer Man'.
To PRAV: Yes, I'm keeping tabs on it. But off late I've been busy not with the AW-101 issue, but on drafting a detailed rebuttal of Dr Ashley Tellis' of the IAF's airpower woes, which I will upload in the near future. Ashley was my senior at St.Xavier's College in Mumbai in the early 1980s & we've been in regular contact with each other since then over the years.
To GESSLER: VMT, but (LoLz!) these very morons it seems also loathe reading up about history. For instance, Parrikar & his ignorant colleagues in the BJP are claiming that AWIL is not an OEM. Now here’s the undeniable truth:
While Agusta SpA was an Italy-based OEM, Westland Helicopters was a UK-based OEM. In the early 1980s, Agusta & Westland created a JV company called EH Industries to develop the EH-101 helicopter family. At that time, the designation EH-101 wasn’t used. Instead, the conceptual helicopter design was called WG-34. Westland Helicopters in Yeovil, Somerset County, became GKN Westland Helicopters in 1995 & in July 2000 Agusta SpA merged with GKN Helicopters to form AgustaWestland SpA, with the Yeovil-based manufacturing facility becoming AWIL. One can read all about it here:
http://history.whl.co.uk/page4.html
Therefore, both AgustaWestland SpA & AWIL are joint owners of all IPRs related to the EH-101 family, which includes the AW-101. Hence, it doesn’t make any difference whether or not the RFP was collected & responded to by AgustaWestland SpA & the contract was inked by the Indian MoD with AWIL, i.e. being joint-owners of the AW-101’s IPRs, they are both OEMs for the same family of helicopters & both are legally qualified to sign on & be held liable for any official document pertaining to any operator of the EH-101 family of helicopters, which of course includes the AW-101. Thus, to claim that AWIL isn’t an OEM is spectacularly outrageous & light-years away from the truth. It’s like saying an export customer for a HAL-built Do-228 will not sign a contract with HAL’s Bengaluru-based corporate HQ/registered office, & will instead insist on signing the contract only with HAL’s Lucknow-based facility where the Do-228s are built! Or someone interested in buying comms radios or radars from BEL will refuse to ink the sale-and-purchase order with BEL’s Bengaluru-based corporate HQ/registered office, & will instead insist on signing the contract only with BEL’s Ghaziabad-based facility!
Secondly, to claim that the AW-101 was still under development when the competitive evaluations were underway in India is exceedingly preposterous, because the EH-101, while making its maiden flight on October 9, 1987 & entering military service in 1999, received its civil certificate of airworthiness (CoA) way back in 1994 itself following which this version entered service with Japan’s Tokyo Metropolitan Police.
Cont’d below…
Thirdly, Parrikar quotes the factually erroneous CAG report to claim that price benchmarking done by IAF HQ showed the AW-101 to have a unit-price of US$15 million. This claim is both misleading & totally WRONG. Because, as I had stated earlier, if a 5-tonne Super Lynx Mk.99 costs US$18 million, how can a 15-tonne AW-101 cost lesser? It should cost at least US$35 million. Furthermore, the base price of any helicopter or aircraft accounts for only the platform in GREEN CONDITION, i.e. with only standard fitments. The cost of installing & integrating additional avionics, instrumentation & accessories are all add-on costs & come under the category of CFE, or customer-furnished equipment, which will be bought separately by the customer/end-user & be supplied to the platform manufacturer for installation & integration. Hence, the benchmarked pricing estimations will always have 3 separate price-quotes: one for the platform in green condition; one for CFE; & one for installing/integrating the CFE. The nett sum of all 3 will give one a ballpark figure on per-unit acquisition costs. Add to that the costs of procuring a cockpit procedures trainer, a flight simulator, a maintenance training simulator, air base infrastructure upgradation costs, procurement of platform-specific ground-support equipment, overseas training costs for the first batch of aircrew & ground-crew that are scheduled for operational conversion, & finally the cost of a 3-year spares package—the combined/consolidated nett sum of all this gives one the total project acquisition costs. That’s the universal practice. Therefore, if Parrikar reckons that benchmarking costs can be acquired by just browsing through the Internet, then I have strong reasons to believe that he requires urgent psychiatric counseling.
Fourthly, & most fundamentally, why should anyone take Parrikar or any other Defence Minister/RM seriously? After all, the Govt of India’s Rules of Business state that it is the Defence Secretary who is solely responsible for the defence of India. Logically, therefore, how can any RM be held responsible or be made to speak about defence matters when he/she is not legally accountable to any one for ensuring the defence of India? This root contradiction needs to be resolved before anyone can be expected place faith on the utterances & written statements of any RM of India.
Finally, see how the Caucasians have been having fun at India’s expense, all due to our moronic, pathetic politicians:
http://www.uk.leonardocompany.com/-/aw101-nato-summit-cameron
To RAT2: What does that prove or indicate? That the ED's & CBI's investigations on tracing the money-trail have now gone cold & it's back to the one of the oldest entrapment tricks, i.e. honeytraps? Let's get real & stop chasing shadows or looking over one's shoulders every 2 seconds! Only those who, after waking up every morning, always put their hands behind their backs to check if their backbone & spinal cord that they had the night before they went into a slumber, are still there or not, will go phishing in such a manner.
Gautam Khaitan-Carlo Gerosa: 6 phone-calls between February 18, 2010 & March 22, 2012.
Gautam Khaitan-Carlo Gerosa: 10 phone-calls between February 10, 2010 & February 8, 2011.
Gautam Khaitan-Kummoun Heidi of IDS Tunisia: 1 phone-call received on February 22, 2012.
Gautam Khaitan-Nadia: 2 phone-calls between April 24, 2010 & June 6, 2010; & 11 phone-calls between July 27, 2011 & July 28, 2011.
Rajiv Tyagi-Carlo Gerosa: 8 phone-calls between October 14, 2010 & January 14, 2012.
Rajiv Tyagi-Guido Ralph Haschke: 9 phone-calls between October 13, 2010 & April 14, 2011.
Rajiv Tyagi-O P Khaitan: 5 phone-calls between June 4, 2010 & May 7, 2011.
Sandeep Tyagi-Carlo Gerosa: 23 phone-calls between February 8, 2010 & April 23, 2012.
Sandeep Tyagi- Guido Ralph Haschke: 224 phone-calls between January 8, 2010 & February 17, 2012, and 7 phone-calls between February 20, 2010 & April 22, 2010.
Sandeep Tyagi- Guido Ralph Haschke’s Secretary, Nadia: 11 phone-calls between March 3, 2010 & September 13, 2012.
Sandeep Tyagi- Gautam Khaitan: ?
Sandeep Tyagi-Carlo Gerosa: 1,144 times between January 6, 2010 & April 16, 2012. 241 SMSes sent, 527 SMEes inbound.
Gautam Khaitan-Christian Michel: 4 phone-calls between February 15, 2010 & June 2010.
Praveen Bakshi- Guido Ralph Haschke: 6 phone-calls between February 18, 2010 & March 22, 2012.
So far so good. But that's as far as the ED & CBI can go. Real challenge is to connect all this with the money-trails through forensic auditing of electronic wire-transfers, which will expose the fraudulent implementation of contractual industrial offset commitments. But will Italy & the UK now be willing to cooperate with India, especially after India prematurely terminated the AW-101 contract, thereby severely affecting the order-books of AWIL? Shouldn't India have adopted a far more smarter approach similar to that adopted by Taiwan against THALES? Why did India choose to make short-term gains & long-term losses, instead of accepting short-term losses for the sake of making long-term gains?
To MAYUR M MANAPURE: LoLz! While there are many in India who after waking up every day, like to check on a daily basis whether they still have the backbones & spinal cords that they had the night before, back in Pakistan very much the same happens, except that in Pakistan's case, folks there are checking on a daily basis whether their backbones & spinal cords have started growing or not!
Meanwhile, do watch this interesting analysis on India's options on Pakistan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg0FbXUSsME
Prasunda said- While there are many in India who after waking up every day, like to check on a daily basis whether they still have the backbones & spinal cords that they had the night before, back in Pakistan very much the same happens, except that in Pakistan's case, folks there are checking on a daily basis whether their backbones & spinal cords have started growing or not!
Hahaha.....nice joke Prasunda..I just CHECKED to confirm whether all my backbones are in proper place or not AFTER reading Prasunda's comments, & i think I just LOST one of my vertebrae, i mean BACKBONE...I think it went to Italy in an AW-101 to help the CBI with the case...please someone find it for me..
To BIRBAL : And here's Arun Shourie rubbishing RM Parrikar & also presenting some home-truths:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwgMvbEyV_s
And watch Dr Subramanyam Swamy exposing himself as a certifiable buffoon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV19nQTnDB8
Hi,
Super String Nano-ants coming...
http://revolution-green.com/super-strong-nano-ants-may-take/
Commercialization
The research team is in discussion with private companies with the aim of commercialising the technology for microfluidics bio-applications. “Our main challenge is how to build a device that harnesses the forces for motion in one direction – a bit like a piston on a steam engine,” Baumberg told the Washington Post. “Currently the force just expands and contracts in all directions.”
Eventually he envisions the ANTs becoming “tiny nanomachines that can walk around, controlled by beams of light.”
Now if that is not amazing, I don’t know what is. But it is also easy, already in this stage of development, to envision some kind of pump, or similar applications. Imagine millions (if not more) of similar expanding and contracting nano-ant-engines in a sphere, with a entry conduit for fluids, and a one way valve on the other side. Water only needs to enter the sphere initially to pump it out the other side with great force. Voila, a self-sustaining pump.
To GESSLER: Watch these Discovery Channel documentaries:
Battle of 1965: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3yIu6J0IRk
ISRO’s MARS Mission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na1syjsJc78
& this one as well:
Sons of INS Vikrant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5qvADyu-QA
Dear Prasun
I thought I heard RM say in parliament that when tested the three AW 101's (that were received) performance wasn't up to the mark.Was it so? Why did he claim so?
TO RAKESH SOOD: Yes, the RM said it, but he said only a part of the entire episode & was being being selective with his disclosures in order to bolster his case & hide the truth. What was happening after the first 3 AW-101s were delivered was that the IAF's service-induction aircrew were testing & validating all operating parameters SOLELY for the purpose of drafting the AW-101's IAF-specific operator's & maintenance schedule manuals. This is a standard procedure & only after these are drafted & approved can the helicopter or any other platform be declared fully operational, i.e. achieving FOC. Hence, the flight-evaluations were being conducted in J & K to find out exactly what the helicopter's performance would be under varying conditions, i.e. what will be the permissible MTOW under single-engine operating conditions, 2-engine operating conditions & 3-engine operating conditions.
But since the RM's overriding objective on May 4 in the Lok Sabha was to prove his claim (which violated all laws of physics) about the AW-101 being an inferior helicopter, he chose to read only selective portions of the IAF flight evaluation report, thereby giving everyone the wrong impression just so that his audience in the Lok Sabha would veer toward his point-of-view. It was an extremely distasteful attempt at subverting the truth by misrepresenting facts, & I therefore would label this attitude as being TREASONOUS.
And just how stupid he was became known to the whole world. For, maybe unknown to him, EH-101s of the British, Italian & Danish armed forces have already proven their high-altitude takeoff/landing capabilities since the previous decade in northern Afghanistan, where they have been operating in support of ISAF infantry forces. You can even find video-clips of such flight operations on YouTube. Thus, this RM yet again succeeded in making India the world's laughing stock through his nonsensical soundbytes.
Dear Prasun,
Considering the current stupidity I am think AW 101 deal will collapse. What is the alternative copter for India then???
To ASD: Well, since it appears that whenever India's political decision-makers decide on a military procurement there's inevitably corruption involved, in my view the time has come when there's only 1 option left on the table & that is to ask for a fleet of 'Pushpak Raths' from the heavens above since, presumably, the Gods of Yore residing in the heavens above are unlikely to be bribed & corrupted. This option will go down quite well with the present-day bunch of pathetic Indian politicians, since they generally are quite enamoured by 'Rath Yatras' of the type that became stylish since the early 1990s. So, no more entertaining of proposals for the S-92 or Mi-17V-5 or EC-225 or AW-101, since every such man-made flying machine will inevitably attract corrupt procurement practices & tendencies.
In addition to the Black Sharks, 76/62 SRGMs, C-303 torpedo-decoys & RAN-40L, the following too have now been sacrificed at the altar of political expediency:
Selex Galileo till October 2012 was hopeful of adding the 10th customer to its list. Along with Rosoboronexport, it had earlier submitted an industrial participation proposal to the Indian Navy for the mid-life upgrade of 10 Kamov Ka-28PL anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters. Selex Galileo proposes to install the ATOS-LW system on the Ka-28PL with the Sea Spray-7000E multi-mode AESA radar. Seaspray-7000E is a low probability of intercept (LPI) radar with high gain and low sidelobes, using composite electronic and mechanical scanning (CEMS) to detect small targets. Field evaluation trials (FET) of the Ka-28PL with ATOS-LW system were concluded successfully. Selex Galileo was also selected to supply the SeaSpray-7000E for 14 Sea King Mk42B helicopters which were also to be upgraded. In addition to this, Selex Galileo had in 2012 signed a contract with the Indian Navy to supply ESM suites for six Tu-142M LRMR/ASW aircraft.
PS: Had explained the upgrade package back in 2008 at:
http://trishulgroup.blogspot.in/2008/10/upgrades-for-sea-king-mk42b-ka-28pl.html
Finmeccanica (now Leonardo) is also a stakeholder in MBDA. Wonder what will that do to the prospects for MICA-EM/MICA-IR air-to-air missiles for the Rafale, & the PARS-3LR ATGMs for the LCH & Rudra ALHs.
Kahe sab des premi log chinta kar rahe he ki AB KYA HOGA, AB KYA HOGA??? Yeh nehi mila ya woh nahi khareed sakta toh kya dusra khareed sakta hoon?? Kahe itna TENSION lete ho sab, MAHABHRINGARAJ teil hai na THAANDA THAANDA COOL COOL...
Agar Des chalane wale logo ke demaag me GOBAR bhara para he toh kya HAMARE chahne na chahne se kuch hoga kya dostoon baatayien?? Humlogo ka agar BHEJA FRY bhi ho jaye toh bhi kucchu nahi ho sakta hai...WOHI HOTA JO MANJURE gadhe, mera matlab POLITICIANS HOTA hai..
Koi baat nehi agar TABELA hai par BHAISE nahi hai, GADDI hai par par STEERING nahi hai
PANDUBI hai par ASHTRA nahi hai, SAMUDRI JAHAAJ hai par TOPEY aur AAKHE(radar) nahi hai, LARAKU BEEMAN hai par MISAIL nahi hai....JUNG me agar kuch bhi nahi chala toh kya hua, humlogo ka PARAMPARAGAT TALWAAR hai na, koi baat nahi thora bahut JUNG laga hua hai, agar woh nahi CHALA toh HAATH hai, usme koi CORRUPTION nahi hai....
Ab GAADHE ko BAAP bana diya toh jhelna toh paregahi na dostoon...
Ab baat PUSHPAK RATH tak aahi gayi toh ek baat baatadu, waise toh yeh BHAGWAN ki SAWARI hai, aur isme koi CORRUPTION nahi hai par RATH ko chalane ke liye jo RAAVAN ne MANTRA bole the woh chala hamare BHEJE mai ghusti hi naahi...kya kare RAATTA marke PASS huwa hoon...
Hi Prasun,
This post is clarification clarification and clarification of all idiotic activities that are were and going to be done by our gr8 politicians. Between I have a question of my own you have mentioned that deal for the su-30MKI was signed at a time when no single prototype was flying so how come Russian and Indian air force got the finished product that is at-least some what better than the Pak F-16 and the Chinese Su-27-30 range? Please reply
Dear Prasun,
http://defence.pk/threads/tokyo-hopes-to-team-up-with-india-in-chabahar.429766/
After India, Japan is investing in Chabahar Port. New Central Asia Game is getting ready.
Please comment.
Thanks
S.Senthil Kumar
Thanks for the documentary recommendations, Prasun ji. Also, check this out -
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/05/08/464514/Japan-develop-chabahar-port/
To RAT: Such things happen when the end-user (IAF) has total faith in the ability of the OEM to deliver as per the agreed-upon specifications. That's the universal practice. The same was done with the S-2/Arihant SSBN as well. It's all about doing the homework from both ends to mutual satisfaction, i.e. you plan your work & then you work according to the plan. The same was being done with the 3 AW-101s when the MoD abruptly terminated the contract & all the consequent work on validating the flight-test parameters under varying Indian conditions during the product warranty period came to a standstill. All these technicalities & procedures are obviously way beyond the understanding of folks like Parrikar & hence all his obfuscations & lying about the AW-101s underperforming under Indian conditions.
Same's the case with the IN's P-8I LRMR/ASW platforms. What was flight-tested in the US by the IN was the P-8A. Subsequently, the IN specified some CFE fitments & Boeing carried them all out & that's how the P-8I was born. I could go on & on with several such examples where the OEM complied with all the performance OEs/QRs that were mandated by the Indian end-users.
BTW, the Su-30MKI is leagues ahead of the PAF's F-16 Block 52, because the latter has a non-monopulse MMR on-board that severely limits its BVR target identification capabilities & when conformal fuel tanks are used for range enhancement, the F-16 loses agility & instead it flies just like a brick. A tandem-seat PAF F-16D Block 52 or even a PLAAF J-10 on a night strike mission will therefore be highly vulnerable to interception even with WVRAAMs like R-73E or Python-5 if platforms like the Su-30MKI & MiG-29UPG, guided/cued by GCI operators on the ground, stealthily approach the intruding F-16Ds & start passively tracking them with their on-board IRST sensors. The F-16Ds won't even know what came from behind & bit their arses.
To S SENTHIL KUMAR & GESSLER: Not just Japan, but also ROK, Taiwan, France, Italy & the UAE. They've all signed up for the Chah Bahr free-trade industrial zone, of which the port is only 1 component.
Prasun,
Couple of months back you were arguing that Indian interest in S-400 was a paid news and India was looking to buy THAAD from the US.
Well, it seems you were far off the mark in your assessments. To buttress the point, have a look at the MoD response to a parliament question:
-------------------------------------------------
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Defence
06-May-2016 16:16 IST
Anti-Ballistic Missile System
The Defence Acquisition Council has in its meeting held on 17th December, 2015, accorded approval for purchase of S-400 LRSAM system (Triumf Missile System) alongwith associated equipment and missiles from Russia.
This information was given by Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar in a written reply to Shri Raghav Lakhanpal in Lok Sabha today.
----------------------------------------------
It wouldn't hurt you if you pontificated, after checking the facts !!!!! Because as one said "assumption is ........".
To RAJ: LoLz! In the thread dealing with the S-400 & THAAD, I had clearly explained which version of the S-400 the IAF was interested in & why & what were the R & D challenges being faced by the Ruskies. What I did say was that procurement of the existing S-400 LR-SAM wasn't an option India will exercise. To overlook all that & simply allege that I was referring to an S-400 procurement as being paid news is blatant over-simplification & misrepresentation of facts on your part. You may have your own reasons for choosing to turn a blind eye to the detail, but don't hold me responsible for the now-obvious shortcomings of your thought processes.
Between the DAC according approval & the CCNS giving the formal go-ahead, there's a huge distance to travel. On average, DAC approval is followed by a 54-month interval till a contract is signed. Hence, not even a MoU on the S-400's purchase was inked during NaMo's visit to Moscow last year. Same's the case with the Ka-226T announcement. You are therefore assuming that DAC approval leads to an automatic & guaranteed procurement. And that's why assumption still remains the mother of all fuck-ups. BTW, I've been in direct contact since 2008 with the Russian R & D labs involved in the development of that version of the S-400 with Ka-band seekers & therefore know a hell-of-a-lot more than 99.9999% of Indian citizens about what has transpired, what's going on & what will happen WRT S-400 for BMD. Parrikar's statements need to be taken with a fist-full of salt, since he's not responsible for either the MoD or the defence of India. The Defence Secretary is. Thus, a person not responsible cannot be held accountable & is therefore not to be trusted, period.
To RAT: Excellent analysis:
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/agustawestland-vvip-chopper-scam-agatha-christie-a-crime-and-a-puzzle-2790835/
To GESSLER: Make in India, West Bengal-Style:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/assembly-elections/hired-guns-for-elections-meet-the-bomb-makers-of-west-bengal/story-Zgf3zxL6bdwyE9DaXeeC7K.html
http://www.hindustantimes.com/assembly-elections/i-get-calls-from-all-big-and-small-leaders-bengal-s-master-bomb-maker/story-L32xoCk1k7h5QthslduXdN.html
To S SENTHIL KUMAR: Gwadar is a gateway only to Pakistan. As I had already stated in 2 previous threads dealing with the CPEC, China only requires contiguous airspace with Pakistan so that Chinese citizens from Africa or the Middle East could be evacuated to China via POK through emergency airlifts of the type that were witnessed in 2011 when the Libyan civil war was on. Compared to Pakistan, Iran is a hell-of-a-lot safer & stable from an internal security standpoint. As I had explained before, the tribal folk from Pakistan's FATA have already been alienated beyond repair thanks to the US drone strikes since 2004 that resulted in severe collateral casualties. Being tribals, the residents of FATA believe in exacting revenge through blood-feuds lasting over generations, & therefore terrorism inside Pakistan is unlikely to subside to manageable levels even for the next 20 years. Which foreign investor will find this state of affairs digestible & acceptable?
Prasun,
I came across an interesting tidbit from Forecast International: it says the Indian Type-1500 Shishumars can carry 22 weapons (8 in tubes and 14 reloads). It's the first time that I've seen this as nearly ALL open source information puts the total weapons load as 14 weapons. Do you think this is true? If it was, the HDW scam and mess that resulted led to a criminal waste of capability.
https://www.forecastinternational.com/archive/disp_old_pdf.cfm?ARC_ID=1829
To COMMON SENSE: The figure of 22 includes torpedoes & seabed mines, & not just torpedoes. Yes, it would have been far more common-sensical to keep producing the Class 209/Type 1500 SSKs since the late 1990s, even by ordering only 1 SSK per fiscal year the IN would today have been in a far better shape. The Scorpenes would then have not been reqd & the money saved could have been invested in the SSN project.
Sir,
your views on latest development in Nepal and its consequence on India.
Hope you reply
Thank you
To VRP: Maybe these will help shed more light on this issue:
http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/nepal-india-relations-at-a-new-low-2792128/
http://indianexpress.com/article/blogs/nepal-envoy-deep-kumar-upadhyay-recalled-kp-sharma-oli-why-shoot-the-messenger-2790505/
http://indianexpress.com/article/world/world-news/rumours-of-expelling-indian-ambassador-baseless-says-nepal-deputy-pm-kamal-thapa-2791432/
Personally, I feel India has neglected the geo-economic aspects of her bilateral relationship with Nepal for far too long. You only have to go & see with your own eyes the decrepit state of infrastructure prevailing along the border regions in UP & Bihar. Instead of hosting state-of-the-art CIQ facilities, these border trading checkposts on the Indian side & the roads are pathetic. What India should have done was to establish along the border regions of UP & Bihar a chain of industrial free-trade zones & excellent road/railway transportation networks catering only to Nepal's economy, with both India & Nepal reaping the tremendous economic dividends. All this would have pacified Nepal a long time ago & would have kept its economy dependent on India, while India on the other hand could have fenced the entire India-Nepal border while hosting several border crossing points equipped with biometric identification systems, like what China has done in Tibet along the Sino-Nepal boundary.
The Nepali leadership is being incredibly shortsighted in its approach and if it doesn't course correct Nepal will splinter in two and who will that hurt most - not India, nor china but the Nepalese themselves.
To S SENTHIL KUMAR: Truly shocking documentary, called Saudi Arabia Uncovered:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rknrxzuW8Lg
Prasun da, What do you think of the development in Philippines, the new President seems very close to the Communist NPA and CCP and has said he is ready for talks with China outside UNCLOS. So can we consider Philippines lost to Chinese Sphere of Influence?
hi prasun
Mr Parikkar said, we dont want f-16s but want o know how to fight them!
Why not an aggressor squadron based on f-16s like the US? feasible?.Bring on some retired Israeli pilots and we should have a ball. When pak can bring Chinese pilots why not?.
hi prasun
your take on the su 30mi vs f-16 is interesting , but they will always come in supported with their awacs as well, so the surprise factor will be lost . I really wonder why no one apart from the russians think about a long range data linked IIR missile ?,personally i believe it is far more deadly than the active radar types to day . Is there any disadvantage making them ?.
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?42627-Indian-Submarine-Battle-Scorpene-vs-U-214
Found an old Force article.
Parsun,
Why is the Agni-V canister tests being postponed again? Is the pressure of Modi so much from Americans that he cant even maintain his national core interests? What is the background story on the missile tests?
To RAD: Parrikar is a newbie on matters concerning national security he has neither a sense of history nor is he predisposed to logical reasoning. Doesn't he know that India since the previous decade has been conducting bilateral air exercises with the air forces of the US, Singapore & Thailand & Oman--all of whom are F-16 operators? Everything there is to learn about the F-16's air combat capabilities is already known to the IAF. Therefore, it seems like Parrikar parachuted down to Earth only sometime in this decade!
PAF's AEW & CS platforms will be toast for as long as they operate inside Pakistani airspace in the very opening hours of an air campaign. Nor can they seek shelter now inside either Iran or Afghanistan. Only those AEW & CS platforms operating deep inside friendly hinterlands can survive. Pakistan, due to its elongated geography, does not have this luxury.
To HANUMAT: Has anyone from the Govt of India said that the Agni-5 test-firing has been postponed due to US pressure? Or are you just assuming it to be the case?
@prasun da
1. if you remember sometime ago i had said India has lost the plot in Nepal, then you said its nothing and Nepal will remain friendly with India but as things stand that time isnt far when China to completely isolate and strangulate the Tibetans will step inside Nepal in the guise of development just like its happening in the Pok. I still think the Nepal political parties are the main problem, its a matter of time before Gurkha Army (current/veteran of IA), Madhesi and bhutia/tibetan people start feeling the constraints of their policies and another round of strife ensues. Question is will India still continue to be fence sitter with respect to Nepal
2. You have consistently said the protests in Kashmir are centered around few localities but the consistent news say otherwise after handwara another round of unrest is expected with regards to a sainik colony, dont you think its getting too much frequent for authorities to be able to calm down things
3. some reports say that gandhi family name was intentionally dragged into Agusta Scam (whatever it may be) in return for release of the 2 italian marines (who as per court rule have to be released by India) as facesaver as this govt always wanted to target the family
4. I think the agusta westland issue, dolkun isa matTer, nepal issue have thrown foreign policies of the govt face down to the ground, what they can do to differentiate NDA from UPA
5. You said you want to challenge the Agusta westland rabble rousers to TV debate :-) will we see you on TV and on which channel :-)
6. Is their slight resentment growing against NSA Ajit Doval, heard someone say he should have been RAW chief and not NSA
hope to get answers this time, as you havent done it since sometime to my querries (dont know why)
thanks
Joydeep Ghosh
What I always knew was proved by that BBC doco you mentioned. I should have fast forwarded the bits especially the fascination with cutting the heads off. That car park execution especially with spectators around and that executioner walking around with a sword then chopping the guy's head as if he was dusting off his book shelf was so sickening I am feeling it in my stomach. I just don't want to call them humans. That whole wahabi or whatever cult is from hell and it is my real wish that Divine judgment one day will exact revenge for all the blood shed = why even drains to drain the blood. Even animals are not treated like that anywhere else. You can see why the West turns its blind eyes - drain the oil and suddenly the villains will all come out.
Not sure if I can sleep tonight so sick in the guts.
On another matter this guy Parrikar is fast becoming a Pariah-kar. It's like AKA has taken off his sarong and wrapped around this guy...plus double portion of his stupidity.
To PIERRE ZORIN: Why does India produce disgraceful IIT graduates like Manohar Parrikar, who never tire of violating all laws of physics? Here's the answer:
http://www.abplive.in/blog/why-are-indian-graduates-unemployable
hi prasun
When pakistan tests 2000km plus missile from where do they test it ,? Pakistan does not have the space .If it is in the arabian sea then that is a crowded sea lane ?.
Then we have certifiable IDIOTS who ooze out their ignorance without any shame, like this:
http://www.abplive.in/blog/who-inflated-the-price-of-agusta-helicopters
Claim: In the revised RFP in 2006, the altitude requirement was reduced to 4500 metres, but and a cabin height requirement of 1.8 metres was introduced, making the AW-101 eligible, and the EC 225 (which had qualified in the first RFP) ineligible. The question is: who introduced the new parameter?
Reality: Because all VVIP helicopters feature stand-up cabins, IDIOT!!!
Claim: In addition, the single vendor situation remained even after lowering the altitude requirement, because of which the AW-101 was selected. The revised SQRs in 2006 made competition more restrictive instead of making the procurement procedures more broad based to increase competition. The fresh RFP with revised SQRs was issued to only 6 vendors as opposed to 11 in 2002.
Reality: Fucking IDIOT, how can it be labeled as a single-vendor situation when even the S-92 entered the fray & was evaluated & flight-tested?
Claim: The FET of the AW-101 was conducted on representative helicopters and not the actual helicopter. The AW-101 was still at the development stage at the time of the FET. Although the 2006 RFP had laid down the necessity of carrying out the field evaluations in India, they were conducted abroad. Who went and conducted the trial? Why did Director SPG (B V Wanchoo) have to go abroad at least thrice to conduct the trials?
Reality: Fucking IDIOT should show us all only 1 fully-euipped VVIP helicopter from any corner of the world & from any OEM that is always kept ready for FETs. D-SPG first went abroad to finalise the selection of optional fitments like integrated self-protection suite & EMS kits, then for evaluating demonstration trials & finally for factory acceptance tests.
Claim: Who took the decision to increase the number of helicopters from the original requirement of eight to 12 since given the low utilisation levels of the then existing fleet of helicopters, the Ministry was not justified in procuring four additional helicopters for VVIPs.
Reality: The NSA, since the order for additional AW-101s was increased to cater to the reqmt for dispersing members of the National Nuclear Command Authority in times of national crisis.
Claim: Most importantly, the price (770 million dollars for 12 helicopters) finally agreed to, is inflated to say the least. It means each helicopter would cost over 64 million dollars where even today (in 2016), the advertised price of the basic AW-101 helicopter on the web is 18.2 million dollars. Even accounting for add-ons , additional safety features etc, the price should not have been trice the basic cost. So why was the cost inflated? Who benefited?
Reality: The total project cost figure is inclusive of additional fitments, various types of simulators, cost of air base upgradation & cost of specialized ground support equipment.
To RAD: from Sonmiani Range in southern Sindh right up to the northern tip of the Indian Ocean below & west of the Lakshadweep island chain.
Greed is the only religion in India. Thanks to selfish short-sighted parenting even in households who should know better and are affluent enough to make that happen. Money and power grab is the only social virtue we aspire for as individuals. IITians and civil servants are even more dangerous because they use their 'hyper-cleverness' for personal gains without even the slightest of remorse and any sense of duty towards people who need it the most. As the saying goes- garbage in, garbage out.
Still, it is fun to see the outrage amongst citizens of (promised) Ram Rajya... just goes to show how immature our democracy still is in terms of 'not blindly worshipping our elected representatives'.
Pierre Zorin said...
.....
On another matter this guy Parrikar is fast becoming a Pariah-kar. It's like AKA has taken off his sarong and wrapped around this guy...plus double portion of his stupidity.
hahaha...nice JOKE Pyare...sorry i can't pronounce Italian name..:)
To PIERRE ZORIN: You mean the decapitating events in Riyadh's 'Chop-Chop Square'? Believe me, it happens at several places elsewhere. It is a routine affair whenever there's an ambush carried out by Naga syndicates along the India-Myanmar border, given that the Nagas have a traditional head-hunting tradition. Decapitation for them is part of their heritage. But, as the saying goes, if you really want to enjoy & relish life, then you must also be willing to see life in its most naked, brutal & hellish form.
Sarong is a Malay word. The term used for Dhotis or Lungis down south is 'Veshti'.
To SINGULARITY: The laws of nature state that we can only get the leaders that we truly deserve, since these leaders are only one from among us & were never meant to be fallen angels from the heavens above.
To BIRBAL: Pierre in French stands for Peter. In Italian it is Pietro, while in Spanish it is Pedro.
Sir,
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ali-haider-gilani-kidnapped-son-ex-pakistan-pm-freed-raid-n571041
I am unable to understand why kidnap a person without extortion or services and keeping him alive for 3 years? And nobody gave a shit about him and suddenly now he reappear.
First Taseer's son and now Gillani's son
To ARPIT KANODIA: That's because it was shon to the world that the TTP was responsible for the kidnappings. In reality, it was the PA's wproxies that were responsible & were holding on to these hostages in Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan. That's why the moment the Afghan National Army, helped by US special operations forces, mounted rescue operations, a panicky COAS of the PA jumped the gun & tried to claim credit for the rescue effort, with the ISPR going on an overdrive through several tweets. And these stupid politicians who anyway are at the mercy of the PA, are now heaping praise on the PA & its COAS when it is known by all that the PA played ZERO role in rescuing the two hostages. It therefore looks like the PA is beset with a crisis of confidence problem & consequent low morale & hence is going overboard with any small incident that can be presented to the Pakistani citizenry as a propaganda victory at a time when it is totally engaged in fighting against fellow Pakistanis in Sindh, Baluchistan & FATA.
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