India to stop import of 101 key military items
Five-year embargo on key purchases including missiles, aircraft, UAVs
NEW DELHI: India announced on Sunday that it will ban the import of 101 types of weapons and ammunition for the next five years — from artillery guns to light military transport aircraft and conventional submarines to long-range land attack cruise missiles — in a significant step on the long road towards achieving self-reliance in the defence sector.
The detailed list of equipment published by the defence ministry has spelled out that the import embargo will kick in between December 2020 and December 2025 for different categories of military hardware.
The government has also created a separate budget for the purchase of locally produced military hardware.
“Our aim is to apprise the Indian defence industry about the anticipated requirements of the armed forces so that they are better prepared to realise the goal of indigenisation,” said defence minister Rajnath Singh, who made the announcement on Twitter. Later in the day, the defence minister said at an online event that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will present a new outline for a self-reliant India in his address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15. He also referred to his announcement on defence import ban and said the Modi government was taking “big and tough” decisions for a self-reliant India. The coronavirus pandemic has shown that a country may not be able to effectively protect its sovereignty if it is not self-reliant,
he said, adding: “Our government will not allow any harm to India’s self respect and sovereignty at any cost.”
The move to ban the import of the 101 items is expected to give a push to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ (Self-reliant India Movement). In May, the government announced that it would notify a list of weapons and equipment that cannot be imported.
The military hardware on the negative import list includes assault rifles, sniper rifles, shortrange surface-to-air missiles, beyond visual range air-to-air missiles, corvettes, missile destroyers, light combat helicopter,
ship-borne cruise missiles, light combat aircraft, a variety of radars and different types of ammunition.
The ministry will take necessary steps to ensure that the timelines for the production of the equipment on the negative import list are met, Singh said. The list includes wheeled armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs), with an embargo date of December 2021. The army is expected to order 200 AFVs at a cost of more than ~5,000 crore, he said. The list of weapons banned for import will be reviewed every year. “More such equipment for import embargo would be identified progressively by the Department
of Military Affairs in (DMA) in consultation with all stakeholders. A due note of this will also be made in the Defence Acquisition Procedure to ensure that no item in the negative list is processed for import in the future,” the minister said.
This implies India will have to compulsorily develop technology for defence systems and platforms figuring on the negative import list, experts said. One of the key responsibilities assigned by the government to the DMA, headed by chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat, is to promote the use of indigenous military equipment.
NEWDELHI: The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) rapid deployment Chinook helicopters have been flying night sorties over the 16,000-feet Daulet Beg Oldi outpost after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deployment and road-building activity has increased in the area across the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Daulat Beg Oldi, or DBO, is India’s last military outpost south of the Karakoram pass.
According to people familiar with the matter, the divisional commander-level meeting at the Teinweindien (TWD) post in Aksai Chin was to lower the temperatures in the DBO sector, with the Indian Army demanding that patrolling in the Depsang plains be allowed unhindered. The DBO dialogue is separate from the ongoing dialogue between military commanders in the Chushul-Moldo area, with the specific task of disengagement and de-escalation of troops on the four friction points between the two countries in eastern Ladakh
The decision to fly Chinooks over the DBO advance landing ground during the night was taken to test the Indian Army’s capability of rapid insertion of special forces and infantry combat vehicles in case the situation deteriorates in the sub-sector north (SSN) area, the people cited above said.
“While Apache attack helicopters have been patrolling the
Chushul area, the US-made Chinook flew over DBO to test its night-fighting capabilities… we have already deployed T-90 tanks and artillery guns in the area,” said a senior commander. The Chinook has a proven nightflying record in the Afghan mountainous terrain, and is used for rapid military retaliation by the special airborne forces. The twin-rotor platform has two heavy calibre machine guns deployed at the front and back to suppress ground fire.
While the Chinese have raised objections to the deployment of tanks and guns at DBO, the Indian Army has pointed to recent accretion of PLA troops in the area, along with air activity across SSN. Both sides are matching each other’s deployment in the area even as the PLA is indulging in the fast-paced construction of roads in the area for rapid deployment. While China raises objections to India building border infrastructure, the people said there is no slowing down of the same all along the LAC -- from Aksai Chin, to Kibuthoo in Arunachal Pradesh.
At the divisional-commander-level meeting on Saturday, India also raised the issue of unhindered patrolling of their respective claim lines by both sides in the area, including in the Depsang Bulge, south of DBO.
Experts said this was an indication of the Indian intent that it was not going to back down from patrolling rights at the Bulge or at any other place along the LAC.