Aerospace Diary

AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE  »  NOVEMBER 23, 2012 by    NEELAM MATHEWS An Indian engineer performs a bench test of some avionics equipment. Government-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. is expanding its avionics capabilities. (Photo: HAL) November 23, 2012, 7:20 AM Government-owned Indian defense manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. ( HAL ) has launched a $12 million Strategic Electronics Manufacturing facility spread across 196 acres in Kasargod in the southern state of Kerala. It will produce advanced avionics for aircraft and helicopters. The facility is the manufacturing extension of  HAL ’s Hyderabad-based R&D unit for avionics–the Strategic Electronics Research and Design Center. The new factory will make airborne special purpose systems, such as mission computers, display processors and radar computers for the Russian MiG-27 and Su-30 combat aircraft, and the Indian light combat aircraft ( LCA ).   AI...

Neelam Mathews July 23, 2012  The much-awaited Defense Procurement Policy 2012 has been cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), Aerospace Diary learns. "The offsets policy will be released very soon. There were a few points that needed to be ironed out, a reason why it was late," a senior official in the MoD told Aerospace Diary. The policy will not be retroactive and will be valid from the date it is introduced, we are told. While the policy is expected to include  transfer of technology (TOT), vendors remain unclear how this will be implemented without any body to monitor it nor the method of payment for TOT. The question of IPR also needs to be addressed. The  2012 USIBC  advocacy agenda advancing the U.S. – India defense commercial relationship had asked for  India to formulate a robust offset policy that promotes transparency and  predictability, leading to a meaningful build-up of India’s indigenous industry capabilities  ...

Neelam Mathews May 30, 2012 India’s soon-to-be released Defense Procurement Policy 2012 is to have a major addition in its ‘Make’ clause. It will include the active participation of the private industry which was left out earlier. The DPP 2011 ‘Make’ procedure was to cover all capital acquisitions of High Technology Complex Systems and upgrades undertaken by indigenous Research, Design and Development. These would be undertaken by Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Defense Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and Indian Industry and industries identified as Raksha Udyog Ratna (RUR) / Consortia. In 2010, MoD scrapped its plan to nominate leading defense players from the private sector RURs, leaving the space open only  for the DPSUs. Interestingly, there is soon to be released a pilot project for each of the three services which will be open only to the private sector that will give a boost to the industry. A meeting (the second of its kind) is being held at the MoD next week to...