Bofors blacklist backfires on the Army

In 1986, the then Government of India had contracted with Bofors, the Swedish firm, for 410 artillery systems. The 155 mm FH-77B towed artillery system with a limited self-propelled capability cost Rs 1437.72 crore, the most expensive single equipment purchase made until recently. Within a year, however, the entire contract was up in flames with the exposure of the pay-off scandal. Even as the V PSingh government made some headway in the investigations, it went ahead and blacklisted Bofors from any future dealing with India. And it has been the reluctance of subsequent governments to remove the blacklist label, even as the investigations have reached the terminal stage, that now obstructs the Army8217;s modernisation plans.

Without an efficacious artillery system, the Army upgradation plans will remain unfulfilled, said an officer posted at the Artillery Centre. And that modern artillery system can only come up if India is allowed to deal with Bofors, for a substantial part of the original contract has still not been actualised, said military sources.

Since there is no dealing with Bofors, the Army has had to cannibalise 21 of the guns to activate another 21, said sources. quot;Twenty-one of these expensive guns are now non-operational since we cannot get spares from the manufacturersquot;, said an Army officer. There was also a manufacturing agreement signed as part of the original deal but which has yet notbeen executed. After having completed the delivery of the 410 pieces, Bofors was to have had a complete transfer of technology TOT in order for India to manufacture the remainder domestically.

India, said military sources familiar with the contract, was to have produced 1,840 pieces within the country. The projected Army requirements were then for 92 artillery regiments to be equipped with the Bofors FH-77B systems. quot;We are so far from that stage that it is frighteningquot;, said the Artillery officer. He likened it to the economic disaster created out of grounding the fleet of Airbus A-300s when there was a crash in 1990. quot;By once again creating the hype of kickbacks et al, the government almost finished Indian Airlines when it ground the A-300s. This is similar to what has happened to us with the Bofors systemsquot;, he added. quot;There may be problems with pay-offs, but then why should the user be made to suffer when the beneficiaries are the ones to be nailed?quot; asked another officer.

The decade-long technologyrenouncement by India has also had a long term fallout. By not participating in the domestic manufacture of the Bofors guns, India has not kept pace with the technological innovations that have been under way with the systems. Sweden, for example, has converted some of its FH-77B systems into self-propelled guns using truck chassis. This has given it a limited self-propelled capability at a fraction of the cost. New Delhi has been scouting for a self-propelled gun all this time. quot;India has been out of the loop, and by trying to fix the manufacturer financially, we only end up making a mess of our security, while adding to our long term costs,quot; said a senior Artillery officer.