Business Standard, 27th Feb 14
The National
Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has signalled its intention to provide a
defence boost to “Make in India” by asking two Indian consortia --- led
respectively by Tata Power (Strategic Engineering Division) and Bharat
Electronics Ltd (BEL) --- to develop a “Battlefield Management System” (BMS).
This could generate Rs 40,000-50,000 crore worth of procurement for the army.
On
Wednesday, the ministry of defence (MoD) informed BEL and Tata Power SED in
writing that the consortia they respectively led had been selected out of four
consortia that had given proposals in response to the MoD’s tender.
Business
Standard had first reported this impending award (February 11, “L&T, BEL consortia set to get Rs 40,000
crore project”)
The MoD has
instructed the consortia --- one consisting of BEL and Rolta India, and the
other comprising of Tata Power SED and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) --- to
register “special purpose companies” (SPCs) for this project.
Each of these
“development agencies”, will separately develop a working BMS. The MoD will
reimburse them 80 per cent of the development cost.
The Defence
Procurement Policy of 2013 (DPP-2013), which governs this “Make” project,
mandates that a MoD “integrated project management team” (IPMT) will select the
better prototype. Both consortia will share the contract to mass-produce the
BMS for the army, with more production going to the consortium whose prototype
has been chosen.
The BMS
consists of a wireless network that links digital devices carried by combat
soldiers, interlinking them, their commanders and a range of battlefield
sensors. This provides a common battle picture to each individual.
“In [the] next
5-7 years, when BMS will be deployed by the army, it will cover more than 70
per cent of soldiers while digitising the tactical battlefield and creating a
secure IoT (Internet of Things) for the army,” said Tata Power SED in a press
release on Thursday that announced this development.
The MoD has
moved unusually fast in the BMS contract, which industry sees as evidence of
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s seriousness in pushing indigenisation. The
MoD issued a tender --- or expression of interest --- in November 2013, to
which four consortia responded in April 2014. Since then, it has taken only 10
months to select the winners.
“My
compliments to MoD and army for the speedy decision… It demonstrates our
commitment to “Make in India”, stated Rahul Chaudhry, the chief of Tata Power
SED.
Tata Power
SED and L&T are both emerging as leading private sector defence firms,
having also been selected (along with HCL) in the first “Make” category project,
a Rs 10,000 crore Tactical Communications System (TCS). This will be a
high-bandwidth, mobile, data and voice network that can be rolled out, even in
enemy territory during war.
The public
sector BEL, too, has been selected as a “development agency” in both these
“Make” acquisitions.
The current
“Make” procedure mandates that 30 per cent of the BMS must be indigenous.
Parrikar has publicly expressed dissatisfaction with this percentage, stating
that a new “Make” procedure would stipulate greater indigenisation. It is
unclear whether that could be retroactively applied to this “Make” project.
The MoD has
called in representatives of the two consortia to discuss this project on March
4, 2015 with the IPMT.
Col., the title of your article is a little misleading.
ReplyDeleteIt should have said "Tata/LT & BEL/Rolta consortiums get shortlisted to built prototypes for Army's next gen BMS system".
Dear Ajai could you please post something on the status of the Nag missile.
ReplyDelete"This provides a common battle picture to each individual". What happens when a soldier is captured by the enemy with his digital device.. Does the enemy also get the common battle picture?
ReplyDelete