India Tests Nuke Missile With New Navigation

NEW DELHI - India's Dec. 1 test of its Agni-I ballistic missile was routine, according to an official with the Strategic Forces Command, which is in charge of maintaining India's nuclear-capable arsenal.

But other sources said it also was a test of an advanced navigation system that can direct the 700-kilometer-range missile to a pinpoint kill.

The 12-metric-ton Agni-I, which is already in the Indian Army's arsenal, can carry a 1,000-metric-ton nuclear warhead.

The test was conducted from India's missile testing range in the eastern state of Orissa, a Defence Ministry official said.

The Agni-I is regarded as a potential threat to Pakistan, while India's Agni-III, with a range of more than 3,000 kilometers, could target China.

India's Agni-V ballistic missile could reach the testing stage in the next two to three months, sources said. With its 5,000-kilometer range, the Agni-V could have the potential to take out targets in China and even Europe.

India To Develop AIP Technology for Subs

NEW DELHI - Even as the Indian Navy has announced that it is floating a global tender to procure six air independent propulsion (AIP) submarines for $11 billion, Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony told the parliament Nov. 28 that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing such technology itself.
"The DRDO proposes to develop a technology to reduce vulnerability of the submarines available with the Indian Navy. The Naval Material Research Laboratory (NMRL), Ambernath, under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is progressing a technology demonstration project, 'Development of Land-based Prototype for Air Independent Propulsion (AIP),' for submarine propulsion," Antony told the parliament in a written reply, according to an Indian Defence Ministry statement.

The system is likely to be demonstrated by 2015, adds the release.
Last year, the Defence Ministry cleared the plan to procure six conventional submarines with AIP technology, and the request for proposals is likely to be floated by the end of the year or early 2012.
In 2004, India contracted the licensed production of six Scorpene conventional submarines for about $3.9 billion, but the production has been delayed by almost two years.
Under the proposal, six submarines are to be procured, of which three are likely to be built at the state-owned Mazagon Docks in Mumbai; one built at the state-owned Hindustan Shipyard in Visakhapatnam, with the help of a foreign collaborator; and two purchased directly from the overseas vendor.
The six submarines are being procured under the Navy's Project-75, and the subs will be equipped with stealth, land-attack capability and the ability to incorporate future technologies, such as AIP systems, to boost their operational capabilities.
The RfP is likely to be issued to French company DCNS, Germany's HDW and Russia's Amur Design Bureau.

War Games Spotlight China-Pakistan Hype

JHELUM, Pakistan - Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week's latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.

A Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldier and a Pakistani commando from Special Service Group (SSG) shake hands Nov. 24 as they take part in a Pakistan-China anti-terrorism drill. (Aamir Qureshi / AFP via Getty Images)

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running around scrubland - the fourth joint exercises since 2006 - were ostensibly a chance for China to benefit from Pakistan's counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military cooperation.
But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as any other, as China competes with Pakistan's arch-rival India for Asian dominance.
And it is far from easy to decipher.
"They operate silently so as not to make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn't know what's happening," said retired Pakistani Gen. Talat Masood.
China is Pakistan's main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.
But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an independent homeland for Xinjiang's Muslim Uighurs, is training "terrorists" in Pakistani camps.
Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that Taliban and al-Qaida bases are funneling recruits to fight in Afghanistan and hatch terror plots against the West.
During the exercises outside Jhelum, 50 miles southeast of Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to keep off winter rays.
Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan's army chief Ashfaq Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honor incapable of talking to each other without the help of an interpreter.
"We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other extremists for China because we consider honestly that China's security is very dear to Pakistan," Kayani told a news conference after the war games.
He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.
Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.
Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.
Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan's febrile relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of an ecstatic lover.
"Higher than mountains" and "sweeter than honey" were phrases used by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the U.S. were at their most difficult in years.
The top U.S. military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the U.S. embassy in Kabul as ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real ideological links, China's relationship with Pakistan is primarily strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.
"There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism might be in China's interests," he told AFP.
"They've got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the subcontinent," he said.
Neither can China present an alternative to the U.S. alliance.
But Kayani described China as "very important" to regional stability, perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan's own rivalry with India.
"It's not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to improve your relationship with the U.S.," said Masood.

India May Choose Fighter Next Month: Report

NEW DELHI - India could decide by next month on a $12 billion fighter jet deal which France's Dassault and the Eurofighter consortium are vying for, the country's air force chief reportedly said Nov. 18.
Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne said government officials were working on the shortlisted bids of Dassault and Eurofighter, which were opened Nov. 4.

"We are calculating very hard. There is a lot of work going on. I expect in another four weeks, we should be able to wrap it up," the Press Trust of India quoted Browne as telling reporters in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.
Officials say the name of the lowest bidder will be unveiled after experts assess the "life-cycle" maintenance costs of each plane and other contract details.
"By mid-December we should have very good sense of who has been selected," the Indian Air Force chief said without elaborating.
The contract is for the outright purchase of 18 combat aircraft by 2012, with another 108 to be built in India with options to acquire more.
India in April cut out U.S. bidders Boeing and Lockheed Martin, as well as dropping Sweden's Saab AB and the Russian makers of the MiG 35 from the race.
Such a large order attracted strong lobbying during visits to India last year by U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
India, the biggest importer of military hardware among emerging nations, issued the request for proposals in 2007 and trials of aircraft from the six companies competing for the deal began a year later

Indian-U.S. Joint Venture To Produce Radar, Surveillance Systems

NEW DELHI - India's automobile maker Mahindra & Mahindra has forged a joint venture with U.S. aviation communications equipment major Telephonics to produce radars, surveillance systems and communications solutions for the Indian military and civilian use.

Mahindra & Mahindra already has a joint venture with the U.K.'s BAE Systems to build a variety of military vehicles in India.
In the Telephonics joint venture, Mahindra & Mahindra will hold 74 percent equity and the U.S. company 26 percent, said Khutub Hai, chief executive of Mahindra Defence Systems, the defense arm of Mahindra & Mahindra.
Under law, an overseas defense company can have no more than 26 percent equity in a joint venture in defense, and a request for approval of the venture will be made to the government this month, Khutub said.
Apart from the radars, surveillance systems and friend-or-foe identification systems, the joint venture will manufacture air traffic management services, and equipment for homeland security and other emerging surveillance requirements.

Sino-Pakistani Special Forces Exercise Begins

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Army on Nov. 14 announced the fourth in the series of joint Sino-Pakistani 'YOUYI/FRIENDSHIP' special forces exercises had commenced near the city of Jhelum, not far from here.
According to the military press release, YOUYI-IV is a brigade level exercise spread over two weeks that is "aimed at sharing mutual exchange of experience and information through a comprehensive training programme in real time."
Pakistani special forces have been heavily committed, and have gained considerable experience, in the war against the Taliban, as displayed during operations in Swat in May 2009 and South Waziristan in October 2009. They also have operated continuously with units such as the Special Operations Task Force, which has been used to hunt down high-profile targets in the country's Tribal Areas.
Recently, Pakistani special forces have undertaken a number of training exercises with other foreign counterparts. A weeklong Pakistani-Turkish exercise, ATTATURK-VII-2011, which took place at Cherat, the home of Pakistan's Special Service Group, concluded Sept. 29.
A three-week bilateral exercise with the Saudi army, AL-SAMSAAM-IV-2011, concluded in mid-October.
The Chinese special forces have not had much operational experience recently. When asked just what each party could offer the other, Brian Cloughley, a military analyst and former Australian defense attaché to Islamabad, said YOUYI-IV is "a normal training exercise between two nations with strong military links.
"There are always professional advantages in contacts of this sort, and each participant generally gets an equal amount of benefit."
He added, "exchange of information concerning tactical techniques is best effected in discussions and instructional periods rather than out in the field where, no matter how attentive people are to what's going on, there will always be things missed, simply because of the speed of activity."
He did not discount the value of the exercise, however, "because those involved will always get something out of it, sometimes a great deal."
The exercise commenced on the same day the South Asian News Agency reported that China and India are planning to revive their joint military exercises in 2012, after resuming their bilateral military exchanges four months ago.
Planning for the exercise will be laid out during the next round of annual defense consultative talks in mid-December.
The Sino-Indian exchange will be resumed after a four-year break due to a dispute in 2010, when China refused to issue a visa for Lt. Gen. B.S. Jaswal, then-Northern Army commander of troops in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

India, China Seek To End Border Dispute: Antony

NEW DELHI - India and China are working on a new mechanism to resolve their longtime boundary dispute, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of Foundation Day activities at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA) here Nov. 11, Antony said a new mechanism to help resolve the boundary dispute between the two countries will be finalized by the end of the year.

The border between India and China is the longest contested boundary in the world. China claims 92,000 square kilometers of Indian territory.
The border is currently defined by a 4,056-kilometer Line of Actual Control (LAC), which is marked neither on the ground nor on mutually accepted maps. Efforts to establish a recognized LAC have made little headway since the mid-1980s.
The two countries have been building up their militaries in light of perceived future threats. The two countries fought a brief war in 1962 over the boundary.
On Nov. 10, the Chinese media criticized Indian media reports of an Indian military buildup. The People's Daily, the official newspaper of China, reported that Beijing had taken note of the Indian Defence Ministry's proposal to raise about 100,000 troops.
Both India and China are bolstering their arsenals and building infrastructure at their common border.
China spends about $70 billion on weapons and equipment each year, while India has an annual defense budget of about $30 billion.

India Presses Russians on Smerch Problems

NEW DELHI - India is pressing Russia about Smerch multibarrel rocket launchers (MRBLs) that Indian Army officials say have problems with their firing system. The Army is also having difficulties obtaining spare parts for the Russian-built weapons.
An Indian delegation raised the matters last month at a joint meeting in Moscow, Defence Ministry sources said. The outcome of the meeting was not known.

A Russian diplomat here said the firing system problems occur only in isolated cases, and noted that the Army had tested the weapons before bringing them into service.
The Indian Army needs more Smerches, despite the technical problem, an Army official said.
India bought the Smerch in 2005 and 2006. New Delhi asked for technology transfer, but Russia refused.
The Army relies heavily on the Smerch MRBLs, which can fire 12 rockets at once and hit targets out to 70 kilometers, along with the Russian-origin Grad 122mm rocket systems and indigenous Pinaka MRBL.
Its range can be extended to 90 kilometers, the Army official said. It can also launch surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, he added.

China-Pakistani military drill not targeted at India

Last updated: 2 hours ago

- File Photo

BEIJING: Brushing aside New Delhi media’s frenzy over joint anti-terrorism exercise, the Ministry of National Defence here has dismissed Indian reports that China and Pakistan are holding a joint military exercise to put pressure on New Delhi, and said the anti-terror drill is not targeted at any third country.
According to the annual exchange plan between China and Pakistan’s militaries, the two armies will hold the ‘Friendship 2011′ joint anti-terror exercise near Islamabad, The China Daily quoted the Information Office of the Ministry of National Defence.
“This is the first joint drill of the two armies this year and is not targeted at any third nation. It is aimed at enhancing the capability of the two militaries to handle non-traditional security threats and launch joint anti-terror activities,” the office said in a written reply.
The two-week exercise will begin on Nov 16, it said.
Fu Xiaoqiang, an expert on South Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, while rejecting the report accused the Indian media of basing such reports on “hearsay evidence”.
“They always wear blinkers to examine China cooperation with Pakistan.
For example, we all know there are many Chinese experts and engineers in Pakistan working on large projects. It is the Indian media which linked that with security issues,” he said.
Premier Wen Jiabao suggested that the Indian media should stop overplaying security issues and make more positive efforts to improve bilateral relations, when he visited the country last year.
The premier said that, in recent years, there has been no conflict in the China-India border area.
“But the border issue has been hyped as a rather serious problem.”

India Unseals MMRCA Bids from Dassault, EADS

NEW DELHI - The Indian defense ministry unsealed bids by the final two competitors in the $10 billion Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition, but a final decision is up to two months away.

Top, a German Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon performs a flight demonstration during Aero India 2009. Bottom, a French Air Force Dassault Rafale performs at Aero India 2011. Eurofighter and Dassault are both competing in India’s MMRCA competition. (File photos / Agence France-Presse)

The bids will be evaluated for lowest life-cycle cost.

"The lowest bidder will be announced after six to eight weeks," ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar said.
The acquisition process is being kept secret to ensure transparency, said another ministry official.
Officials from neither Dassault, which is offering the Rafale, nor EADS, which is offering the Eurofighter, were available for comment.

Pak frees Indian chopper

India Set to Open Bids for 126 Fighter Jets

NEW DELHI - India was set to open rival bids Nov. 4 from France's Dassault and the Eurofighter consortium, which are competing over a multibillion-dollar contract to provide 126 fighter jets.
The deal to supply war planes to fast-developing India has been fiercely fought over for four years, and the opening of the bids will start the final phase of the decision-making process.

"Negotiations with the (two) firms will start after opening the bids on November 4," Air Marshal D. Kukreja said. "Whatever is beneficial to the country, we will choose."
India in April pulled a surprise by cutting out U.S. bidders Boeing and Lockheed Martin - much to Washington's disappointment - as well as dropping Sweden's Saab AB and the Russian makers of the MiG 35 from the race.
"The final outcome will not be known immediately except perhaps an indication of whom we may prefer," retired Gen. Afsir Karim, an expert on Indian arms procurement, said Nov. 3.
"A price negotiation committee will finally determine the winner," he said.
Dassault's Rafale plane and the Eurofighter Typhoon have both been in action over Libya in recent months during the international operation to enforce a no-fly zone and protect civilians from Moammar Gadhafi's forces.
James Hardy, Asia-Pacific editor of Jane's Defence Weekly, said the contract was "the single biggest competition in the global defense aviation industry at the moment."
"Both aircraft... are coming off successful performances as part of the NATO air campaign in Libya," he said. "Failure here would be a major blow after both made substantial investment in promoting their platforms in India."
A source for the French group, who declined to be identified, said last week that the decision "could be settled in one day or it could take months if the (price) gap is narrow."
Dassault's rival, Eurofighter, is produced by a consortium of Britain's BAE Systems, Italy's Finmeccanica and EADS.
The contract is for the outright purchase of 18 combat aircraft by 2012, with another 108 to be built in India with options to acquire more.
Such a large order attracted strong lobbying during visits to India last year by U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
India, the biggest importer of military hardware among emerging nations, issued the request for proposals in 2007 and trials of aircraft from the six companies competing for the deal began a year later.
The procurement of the fighter jets is a key part of India's military upgrade program, aimed at securing its borders against rivals Pakistan and China.

U.S. Ready To Sell F-35 to India: Pentagon

WASHINGTON - The U.S. would be prepared to sell India the new F-35 fighter jet, the Pentagon said Wednesday, after New Delhi rejected a U.S. offer of older aircraft in a major competition this year.
In a report to Congress on U.S. defense ties with India, the Pentagon said India was a vital partner and that Washington wanted to bolster security cooperation with New Delhi, including joint exercises and high-tech arms sales.

In the first round of a contest for a combat aircraft contract, India in April shortlisted France's Dassault and the European Eurofighter consortium while rejecting the U.S. offer of F-16 and F-18 jets.
"Despite this setback, we believe US aircraft, such as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), to be the best in the world," said the Pentagon report, referring to the radar-evading F-35 jet.
"Should India indicate interest in the JSF, the United States would be prepared to provide information on the JSF and its requirements ... to support India's future planning," it said.
Mindful of China's rise and growing military reach, President Barack Obama has placed a high priority on deepening ties with India.
The U.S.-India defense relationship has expanded rapidly over the past decade and the administration sees India as a natural partner and global "player," Robert Scher, deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, told reporters.
India has made no request for more information on the F-35, but the U.S. invitation was "an example of the high regard that we hold India's military modernization," Scher said.
In the April contest for a new multirole fighter for India, Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon beat out U.S. aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, as well as Sweden's Saab AB and the Russian makers of the MiG 35.
The U.S. report noted that India is working with Russia on developing a fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
The Pentagon touts the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as the premier fifth-generation fighter equipped with stealth technology, but the program faces rising costs, with a price tag of nearly $150 million each.
The two U.S. senators who asked the Defense Department for the report welcomed the document but said Washington needed to work to expand its security relationship with India.
"While the report shows that tremendous progress has been made in military-to-military relations over the past ten years, we believe that there is much more that can be done," Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said in a statement.

India Cancels Wheeled Howitzer Purchase

NEW DELHI - The Indian Defence Ministry has canceled the tender to purchase 180 wheeled 155mm/52-caliber howitzers, another in a series of setbacks for the long-delayed Army program.
The Indian Army has failed to induct a single 155mm howitzer since 1987.

Defence Ministry sources said the purchase of the wheeled guns is being canceled following complaints to Defence Minister A.K. Antony about technical snags that came to light when a gun from one of the competitors, Konstrukta of Slovakia, burst during trials last year.
Currently Rheinmetall of Germany and Konstrukta are in the race for the $1 billion wheeled gun competition after Samsung of South Korea was eliminated from the procurement process in 2009.
After the howitzer burst during the trials last year, a Defence Ministry committee concluded the guns offered by Rheinmetall and Konstrukta are prototypes that are not in use even in their home countries.
In 2008, the tender for the wheeled guns was sent to the U.K.'s BAE Systems; Slovakia's Konstrukta; France's Nexter; IMI and Soltam of Israel; Samsung of South Korea; United Defense of the U.S.; Rheinmetall of Germany; and Rosoboronexport of Russia.
Only Rheinmetall, Konstrukta and Samsung were shortlisted after the technical evaluations.
The Indian Army requires that the wheeled 155mm/52-caliber guns be able to travel up to 40 kilometers and fire 150 rounds of ammunition in six to eight hours.
The gun should be able to operate day and night and receive data from the command post in digital and audio form.
The howitzer procurement is already delayed by more than 10 years, mainly due to India's blacklisting first of Denel of South Africa and then Singapore Technologies in 2008 because of alleged corruption.
The Army plans to buy 145 ultralight howitzers, 158 towed and wheeled, 100 tracked and 180 wheeled and armored guns in the first phase of its program to upgrade its artillery divisions.

Towed Guns

In May, BAE Systems opted out of the towed howitzer competition because the Indian Army changed requirements in the reissued tender of early 2011.
The Army's 2008 attempt to acquire the towed guns failed when BAE, which had fielded the FH-77B-5 gun, became the sole vendor after the other shortlisted competitor, Singapore Technologies, was blacklisted following allegations of corruption by India's Central Bureau of Investigation. The Army could not make an award if only one bidder qualified.

Light Howitzer

The purchase of light howitzers from BAE's U.S. subsidiary also was delayed when Singapore Technologies went to court and challenged the decision, claiming its gun was superior.
The Indian court has not issued a decision, although the Army strongly favors the immediate purchase of the 147 BAE light howitzers, Army officials said.

Saudi King to Name Salman as Defense Minister: Source

RIYADH - King Abdullah is expected to name his half-brother Prince Salman, who is governor of Riyadh, as the new defense minister to succeed the late Crown Prince Sultan, a Saudi official said Oct. 31.

Saudi Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, seen delivering a speech in India last year, will reportedly be Saudi Arabia's next defense minister. (Raveendran / AFP via Getty Images)

"The monarch will name Prince Salman as a defense minister later on Monday," the source told AFP, requesting anonymity and without giving further details.

King Abdullah last week named Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz as crown prince succeeding his brother Sultan, who died in a U.S. hospital on October 22.
Salman and Nayef are full brothers.

Despite Sales Drop, France 4th Largest Exporter

PARIS - French arms export orders fell in 2010, but the country held its ranking as the world's fourth-largest exporter, an annual report on foreign defense sales to parliament said Oct. 26.
Exports declined to 5.12 billion euros ($7.12 billion) in 2010 from 8.16 billion euros in the previous year, according to the report.

The foreign sales were secured in a "difficult climate and in an extremely volatile context," a Defense Ministry spokesman, Army Gen. Philippe Ponties, told journalists.
Exports are seen as vital to French defense industry and the government, as the domestic budget is expected to fall sharply as part of deficit reduction plans.
A major objective next year is to pursue at a New York conference an international treaty on arms sales, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.
France held a 6 percent share of the world market based on an annual average of deliveries, behind the United States, which dominates with a 53.7 percent share, Britain with 12.5 percent, and Russia with 8.2 percent, the report said.
The world market was estimated at 60 billion to 70 billion euros in annual sales, Ponties said.
Major deals sealed last year included a sale of the A330 multirole tanker transport aircraft to Saudi Arabia, Cougar helicopters to Malaysia, and the upgrade of Alphajet trainer jets for Morocco.
This year, France sold two Mistral-class command and projection ships to Russia, and signed a long-awaited contract to modernize Mirage 2000 fighter jets for the Indian Air Force.
Winning a big contract for 60 Rafale fighter jets with the United Arab Emirates has proved elusive, as the UAE balked at an initial $10 billion price tag.
Defense Minister Gérard Longuet said Paris is in "final negotiations" with the UAE on the Rafales, but there has been no comment from UAE authorities.
Paris supports foreign arms sales, which are seen as a key foreign policy tool, helping France hold its place at the top in international affairs, Ponties said.
The sales are conducted under a strict export control regime, he said.
The foreign contracts also are seen as vital to maintaining the country's defense industry and technology base and supporting 135,000 directly employed in the domestic economy, he said.

India to Announce MMRCA Winner Next Month

NEW DELHI - India's $10 billion Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contest has entered its last stage, with the Indian Defence Ministry alerting the two competitors that the commercial bids will be opened Nov. 4.
Letters were sent Oct. 24 to France's Dassault Aviation and European company EADS, a ministry source here said. After the commercial bids are opened, the lowest bidder will be decided and price negotiations with the winner will begin.

The MMRCA program has picked up momentum in the Defence Ministry, and a contract is likely to be sealed by March 2012.
Based on flight trials of all the MMRCA competitors, the aircraft proposed by U.S. companies Lockheed Martin and Boeing, Sweden's Saab and Russia's MiG Aircraft were ejected from the race, leaving the Dassault Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon in the fray.
The Indian Defence Ministry floated its biggest global tender, worth $10 billion, for the acquisition of 126 MMRCAs in August 2007.
The Indian Air Force intends to replace its aging Russian-built MiG-21 fighter aircraft with the MMRCA because the Indian-designed and -built Light Combat Aircraft has been delayed by more than a decade.
Under the MMRCA proposal, India would buy 18 ready-to-fly fighters off the shelf and the remaining 108 would be built in India under technology transfer from the contract winner.

Kabul: An ally in war

President Hamid Karzai, who is accustomed to blowing hot and cold in his attitude towards Pakistan, is apparently passing through a kindlier phase. In an interview with a private Pakistani TV channel, he voiced brotherly feelings towards the country. His remark, "Afghanistan will stand by Pakistan, if attacked by the US," astonished the audience and apparently the interviewer as well. Probed further, he declared that even in the case of an attack by India, or for that matter, by any other quarter, Afghans would side with Pakistan. Seen in the context of the climate of tension between the US and Pakistan, the strategic partnership agreement he signed with India not long ago, and on top of it all, his periodic outburst against Islamabad, most recently accusing it of masterminding and even carrying out the murder of former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, his statement is, indeed, a significant about-turn.
Mr Karzai argued that Pakistan’s generous treatment of the five million Afghan refugees, who had fled the country during the Soviet invasion and provided shelter and taken care of by Pakistan, had strengthened the spirit of brotherhood among the people of Afghanistan for their Pakistani counterparts. He added that he could not possibly overlook that help extended at a critical juncture of Afghanistan's history and “betray a brother...despite all that the Pakistan establishment has done to Afghanistan.” But notwithstanding all his goodwill gestures, Pakistan may be forgiven for wondering how long the Afghan President will continue to hold such kindly sentiments for Pakistan. During the very same interview, he seemed to be toeing the American line about the location of terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan. He said that the so-called Taliban Shura was headquartered at Quetta and the Haqqani network and other terrorist groups were based in Pakistan. Despite the serious nature of the allegations about terrorist strongholds in Pakistan, our government should seize the opportunity of his commitment to defend the territorial integrity of our country and build further brotherly relations on the basis of this overture. In the process, it should be possible to convince him that no terrorist group is operating from the Pakistani soil for the nefarious purpose of destabilizing Afghanistan.
President Karzai also vented his grievances against the US, asking it to stop entering Afghan homes. US and NATO troops are reported to enter ordinary people’s homes on the pretext of conducting night raids to get hold of Taliban suspects, but in reality they cause not only civilian casualties, but also outrage among the population that regards the sanctity of homes as a matter of honour. The Americans have dismissed the feeling, perhaps, on the ground that the invasion of their land has, in any case, turned the Afghans against them. Mr Karzai should realise that stabilising Afghanistan without the presence of US and other foreign troops is the only long-term solution that can pave the way for reconciliation within estranged sections of Afghan society.

Karzai’s pledge of support to Pakistan jolts America: WSJ

NEW YORK - President Hamid Karzai’s statement over the weekend that he would back Pakistan if it went to war with the US gave an ‘unexpected jolt’ to Washington’s latest attempts to strengthen its relationship with the Afghan leader, a major American newspaper said Sunday.
“The prospects for a US war with Pakistan are remote, and Mr Karzai’s comments were viewed by some Afghan and Western officials in Kabul as a poorly executed effort to blunt his recent angry comments about Pakistan’s support for Afghan insurgent groups,” The Wall Street Journal said in a dispatch from the Afghan Capital.
“This is not about war with each other,” Gavin Sundwall, spokesman for the US Embassy in Kabul, was quoted as saying by the Journal. “This is about a joint approach to a threat to all three of our countries.”
“Mr Karzai’s comments came as a surprise to some Western officials in Kabul, who were heartened by the success of last week’s visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” the dispatch said.
In the past, the Journal pointed out that Karzai has alienated his Western allies with comments suggesting that he might side with the Taliban, or that America could come to be seen as an occupier if its forces didn’t stop killing Afghan civilians.
“Mr Karzai’s latest remarks struck a nerve with some Afghan and Western officials in Kabul who were reminded of the president’s penchant for criticising the US-led coalition that supports and funds his government,” the dispatch said.
“It was totally careless, unnecessary and, yes, irresponsible,” an unnamed Afghan official was quoted as saying. “He hasn’t pleased anyone except, maybe, a few Pakistani generals.”
American officials said, however, that Karzai’s remarks wouldn’t overshadow Mrs Clinton’s visit. “Mr Karzai and Mrs Clinton were united during her trip in demanding that Pakistan stop supporting the Taliban and other Afghan insurgent groups.”
Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have vacillated over the past year between spells of political chill and attempts at a rapprochement, the Journal pointed out.
Karzai and the US have sought to pressure Pakistan in recent weeks to clamp down on the Haqqani insurgent network suspected of staging a series of deadly attacks on American and Afghan targets.
Afghan officials also accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency of involvement in last month’s assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the former Afghan president who had been leading the country’s peace entreaties to the Taliban. Pakistan denied these accusations.
Earlier this month, Karzai flew to New Delhi to sign a strategic agreement with India. The move angered Pakistani officials, who viewed it as political provocation, the dispatch said.

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