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| AgustaWestland AW-101 Merlin |
By Vivek Raghuvanshi
NEW DELHI — While moves by the Indian Ministry of Defence to cancel a helicopter contract with AgustaWestland over alleged kickbacks have drawn headlines, some military officials and analysts say a complex, lumbering procurement process creates conditions where such actions are more likely and represents the larger problem for India’s military.
“The procurement process takes place at various levels and by various agencies, and there are chances that suppliers use dubious means to push through their product,” a senior MoD official said. “The media is unduly blowing up the issue, which could hamper the purchase of much-needed weapons and equipment.”
Bureaucratic delays in procurement and the over-cautious approach taken by the MoD, especially in the past five to six years, have slowed weapons acquisition, with several tenders canceled and overseas companies blacklisted. Some service officers said in private that the procurement system is at fault and there is no need to cancel previous contracts.
The Army has yet to buy a single howitzer gun since 1987 because tenders had to be rebid midway through the competition after first Denel of South Africa in 2005 and then Singapore Technologies in 2008 were blacklisted.
The big-ticket bids floated in 2008 for purchase of 155mm/.52 caliber tracked and wheeled guns have yet to be concluded.
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