By Vishnu Makhijani, IANS
New Delhi : Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s repeated insistence of transparency in purchases of military hardware has resulted in the cancellation of an almost signed, sealed and delivered deal for the purchase of 197 Eurocopter Fennec copters for the Indian Army.
For almost a year now, it has been widely reported that the Fennec, manufactured by a four-nation European consortium, had all but bagged the $550 million order, even as the other contender, Bell Helicopter, cried foul.
Now, it emerges that none of the two machines on offer met the required parameters but certain individuals in the Indian military establishment unfairly favoured the Fennec.
The issue blew into the open following a media report that National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan, on learning of this impropriety, shot off a missive to the defence ministry that quickly moved to scrap the deal.
The defence ministry was quick to deny the NSA had a role to play, saying its own system of checks and balances had zeroed in on the wrongdoing.
“The deal has not been scrapped but it would be right to assume that it is but scrapped,” an official said.
At issue is the machine Eurocopter sent for the trials: it was a civilian variant that the company said was similar in capabilities to the military version.
Asked whether the Indian Army would now float a fresh global tender for the helicopters, the official answered in the affirmative.
On whether the Fennec would be permitted to bid again, the official said: “Yes, but what would be kept in mind is what has happened (during the current evaluation trials).”
Five contenders were initially in the fray: Eurocopter, Bell, Italy’s Agusta, and Russia’s Kamov and Kazan. The list was then narrowed down to the Eurocopter AS 550 C3 Fennec and the Bell-407.
The Bell-407 dropped out last year after the machine it sent for evaluation could not perform a three-axis vector, an essential requirement for flying in areas like the Siachen Glacier in Jammu and Kashmir.
The three-axis vector enables the helicopter perform a ‘U’ like manoeuvre to navigate adverse weather conditions in mountainous areas.
When this deficiency was pointed out to the manufacturers, the official said the company offered to either show a video of the helicopter performing a similar manoeuvre in Canada or to fly out Indian officials to witness it in person.
The defence ministry shot this down, saying this was not the way it conducted its business.
Now, it emerges, special consideration was shown to Eurocopter as what it fielded was not the AS550 C3 Fennec military version but the AS350 B3 Ecureil civilian variant.
The evaluation trials had concluded about a year ago and the price negotiation process had been underway since then. In July, the defence ministry even issued a statement saying that “proper procedures were adhered to” in the process.
Queried how the issue of the helicopter’s variant had emerged only now, the official said: “The process goes through various stages. It is now at a stage where the officials are senior enough to not only study the evaluation report but also examine which machine had been evaluated.”
According to him, the discrepancy had been detected earlier this year but given the manner in which the Indian bureaucratic system functions, it takes time for the file to travel up the chain.
“Even now, there is nothing official but one can assume the (Fennec) deal is off.”
Does Antony’s diktat on transparency have anything to with this?
“Most certainly,” the official replied, adding: “All those involved in the acquisition process are proceeding in an extremely cautious manner. That is exactly how the discrepancy came to light.”
The Indian Army needs new helicopters to replace the ageing 1970s-vintage Chetak and Cheetah helicopters as it modernises and expands its Army Aviation Corps (AAC) to meet current and future rapid mobility battlefield requirements.
The Indian Army had floated its requirement for the new helicopters in 2004 but revised this to incorporate an offset clause under which 30 percent of the contracted amount would have to be reinvested in the country.
Sixty of the helicopters were to be purchased in a flyaway condition while the remaining 137 were to be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at its Bangalore facility under a transfer of technology (ToT) agreement.
(Vishnu Makhijani can be contacted at [email protected])