10 major deals pending due to defence minister AK Antony's overcautious approach

The cancellation of Rs 3,600 crore VVIP helicopter deal with Anglo Italian company Agusta Westland, on suspicion of a Rs 300 crore bribe being paid to middlemen,  has set alarm bells ringing in the defence establishment. With nearly ten major defence deals kept pending for one reason or other, and the defence minister AK Antony more worried about his clean image, the nation’s defence preparedness is being called into question.

India is expected to spend approximately $100 billion on military modernisation during the  2th and 13th defence five-year plans. The shopping list includes plans to upgrade the Soviet-era arsenal with new fighter aircraft (MiG 21 to be replaced most probably by the French-made Rafale), anti-tank missiles, maritime patrol aircraft, infantry combat vehicles, helicopters, assault rifles and submarines. However, several purchase deals have been delayed or are pending.

Antony may have achieved the record as the longest serving defence minister of the country, but in his tenure of seven years, the nation’s defence preparedness has suffered a setback.  His over-cautious approach has led to long delays and is a complaint following him since his days as chief minister of Kerala.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on defence in its report presented to Parliament last April stated that there has been a “steady decline” in the number of defence contracts signed during the 11th five-year plan period. The number of contracts signed each year during the period is 84 in 2007-08, 61 in 2008-09, 49 in 2009-10, 50 in 2010-11 and 52 in 2011-12, said the report.

 “We need a person who is not pro-self, but pro-India, and can thus utilise the resources to the best, rather than sitting on files for the sake of personal, intangible gains,” said Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak.

Terming AK Antony the worst defence minister the country has seen, Kak said, “The defence minister’s job is to protect the country by providing the best available resources to the armed forces, not save his ministry from corruption allegations. AK Antony is too much obsessed with his so-called honest image. I would rather say that he is weak and incompetent,” Kak said.

The IAF is the worst affected in the go-slow work ethic that has gripped the defence establishment during Antony’s tenure. The IAF has been losing its strength drastically, being reduced to 32 squadrons from 40.

The long delay in acquiring the medium multi role combat  aircraft (MMRCA) is also badly hurting the IAF’s fighting capability. The deal with French company Dassault which makes Rafale,  was okayed 22 months ago, but is yet to be inked as the cost negotiation committee has not finished its work.

Even former IAF chief NAK Browne, who retired on December 31, had said that the IAF’s force level would go down rapidly if the delays in purchases continued. “If the MMRCA does not come to us by the end of the 12th Plan (2017), then our force levels will go down rapidly,” Browne said. 

Besides MMRCA, the defence ministry also deferred the decision to buy 197 light utility helicopters. These 197 LUH were critical for the Army and the IAF, as both services are facing an acute shortage of transport aircraft.

The defence ministry has also put on hold purchase of all-terrain army transport vehicle Tatra truck following allegations that top officials of BEML, a Bangalore-based public sector company,  siphoned off at least Rs 750 crore in bribes and commissions over the past 14 years in the purchase of components for the trucks.

A senior military official who didn’t want to be named told dna that in order to avoid taking responsibility for their decisions, over-cautious officers of the defence ministry delay the process by marking defence acquisition files to every senior official and keeping them in the loop. Antony, insiders say, has given his bureaucrats a free hand to scuttle any defence deal which has a hint of kick backs.

To add to this is a long list of big arms manufacturers who have been blacklisted. Going by this style of working, there will be very few companies from which India can buy any arms.