DRDO Showcases Mahindra-developed CBRN Variant of WhAP at Maharashtra MSME Defence Expo 2024

[Anil Kumar]

Few Tons does make a difference in weapons performance. It impacts heavily on mobility and logistics .

It's not possible to completely fulfill IA requirement. For them 18 ton Atags with some special features also overweight. They want Israeli artillery now in 15 ton category. If then need 15 ton then they can order to Dhanush 52 or baba kalyani 15 ton artillery. But IA want cheap and best which will not exist in India. India can not defeat china with impoted weapons

 

[Anil Kumar]

Now army is buying new GCVs, which means ATAGS has been chosen as the winner. But this has delayed the whole program and even more importantly, due to extra cost, the numbers in the new tender have come down from 400 to 300. So army will get lesser guns and get them later. Can you please tell me why exactly did DRDO violate the ASQRs without confirming with army?

No one in country can build according to Indian army ASWR. They want world best technology in lowest price or beyond any existing products limit in world. Their past several requirement not exist in world. Even our indian navy project 75I and 76 requirement not exist in any navy in world, that's why it's pending for a decade without any hope. India can not defeat china with impoted products

 

[Amit Ray]

As per Army’s field Artillery Replacement Program, Army’s total requirement for self propelled tracked guns is of 100 units. 100 units have been procured. So where did the question of another order come from? There simply is no requirement and army had mentioned it specifically. So the costs given to army were given with that in mind.

After witnessing the Ukraine war, IA have decided to procure more self propelled guns of various categories. This is as per Bloomberg report by S. R.Sen on 23 sept. 23,
the requirements are about 400 to cut down fire time from 10 minutes to 1 minute. So watch on.

 

[Akshat]

DRDO came up with a prototype in 2018. By 2022 it clears all trials. Order will be placed shortly.

Please show me a single statement by Army which said the missile passed the trials. Entire Nag program is nothing but a hoax and only Helina has been ordered under pressure by the army.

As for why the government should fund the R&D. Multiple reasons. I will list a few.

1. It’s industry standard. If a customer wants anything developed specifically for its own use, they have to pay R&D fees. Whether it’s the design of a fabric for making dresses or the simulator of a plane or high end defense items, the client always pays development fees upfront. You would know if you ever worked in any such sector.

2. Paying for R&D is always cheaper for the government as government’s cost of capital is lower than any private entity (or even a DPSU backed by the government itself) can ever manage.

3. Let’s assume a case where a private company invests its own money. Now if they pass the trials, it will have to recover the R&D costs as well, and will add them to the cost of the product. It will also have to setup the infra which again will go into the cost.

Now take the second case where DRDO is given money by the center. It develops a product which also clears the trials. Then it will give it to a production company. If it is private company, then the company will add the infra cost to the final product cost, but won’t have to add any R&D cost. If it is a DPSU, then there won’t be any infra cost either.

So in the end, no private company can ever compete in a tender if DRDO is involved. The cost can never come below what DRDO will provide because it is getting free money from the GoI.

So either the government shall provide R&D funds, or keep the project only and only for private companies, keeping DRDO and DPSUs out. That is not the case with any tender so far. Armed forces, MoD and private companies made this case in the NUH tender, but HAL butted in. All private companies ran away and Navy hasn’t even received a prototype even after 7 years of RFI. And that was after HAL had already worked on it for many years. So either give them funds or don’t give funds to DRDO either. Have a level playing field for everyone.

4. Years hats the ultimate goal of MoD’s budget? To get weapons for the armed forces. When CAG itself has said in writing that DRDO is lying to MoD and many of its programs are nothing but a fraud, why should they get even a single penny? Why shouldn’t that money be given to more competent authorities?