An American Australian university associate professor and ‘China expert’, everyone I present to you one of the most self serving, one-sided, and biased analysis-opinion piece... and may I add a pretty funny one if you read between the lines
Some juicy highlights and comments
How has a relatively poor country like India that is more famous for call centers than for precision manufacturing managed such a dramatic technological leap?
Not only does it have one of the world’s largest military procurement budgets and a large pool of talented engineers, but India also has a strong tradition of rule of law that protects intellectual property and ensures the enforceability of contracts
When ever people talk about India not copying anything or respect intellectual property, I always find it interesting how no one ever mentions Indian pharmaceutical companies and their generic drugs industry...
For India, that’s not a problem: As a democratic country that honors contracts and respects intellectual property law, it is able to buy advanced technology that it cannot produce itself. That gives the country a major advantage over its regional rivals, China and Pakistan, which simply are not trusted by their suppliers. China’s jet fighter development programs have been repeatedly held back by Russia’s
to supply high-performance engines for fear of Chinese reverse-engineering. And key components of Pakistan’s locally manufactured JF-17 are entirely sourced
, as is the design.
I find this a rather amusing point... as unlike all other areas military technology is one of those you really don’t want to rely too much on others unless your country is ok being under the foot of others... the Chinese have been on their own and has achieved their own successes while suffering some failures but still on a whole successful in their endeavours and Pakistan used as a comparison is just wrong, since Pakistan relative to India is still a poor country and yet has been able to be on a relatively same footing as India when fighter jets are concerned, actually assembling and developing iterations when India’s own was basically in limbo, that’s just embarrassing for India
India, in contrast to both China and Pakistan, was spoiled for its ability to choose where it received advanced components for its Tejas fighter. When it ran into trouble developing its own homegrown Kaveri engine for the plane, it received
of assistance from Russian, French, and British firms, in addition to the United States’ General Electric. It was the same with avionics: French and Swedish suppliers were
that they lost the contracts for radar and electronic warfare equipment to Israel. Everyone seems to want in on the Indian market, and that gives India enormous leverage over suppliers to acquire the best equipment in the world—at the best prices.
Well sure when you are the biggest buyer why not, hell if China has any chance to be a supplier they probably would also offer assistance too... assistances isn’t free they make money from these ‘assistance’ why would they not do it and because India ‘respect’ intellectual property, iterations would probably also involve some form of royalty or license fee... whereas the Chinese would take the project as base and develop their own iterations and be self-reliant in the long run...
And under the best terms for technology transfer too. These days, no one is keen to help China continue its climb up the military technology ladder. But the United States, Russia, Israel, and multiple European Union countries are falling over themselves to establish local production partnerships for armaments in India. France, having lost out on the Tejas engine and avionics contracts, has agreed to establish local
for the Panther helicopters and Rafale jet fighters that it is supplying to the Indian Armed Forces. U.S. aerospace majors
and
also have joint production agreements with Indian partners.
So the Indians are doing exactly what China was doing... tech transfer... only difference is the Chinese learnt and made it their own... of course no one is keen to sell to China... the Chinese is reaching parity any more help would basically mean top of the line systems which would in turn give the Chinese the edge... and local production with India’s ‘respect for intellectual property’ just means they will be making money on systems that wouldn’t be top of the line, by the time the production line is up and running or to capacity, in the long run anyway so why not...
India is not a Western ally
As if...
The wanted
is foreign companies manufacturing in India not just for India’s needs but for export as well. The Tejas fighter is at the forefront of that effort and indeed, the Aero India air show is primarily intended as a showcase for potential Indian exports even if in practice, foreign companies use it as an opportunity to pitch their wares to India. This year, Aero India’s organizers were so proud of the Tejas that they painted it into the show’s very
. India didn’t book any export orders at the show, but it is exploring such deals throughout the Indian Ocean region.
How about waiting for what comes out of the production lines before thinking exports... Russian fighters flies pretty well in Russia when produced and maintained by Russians but seems to have problems everywhere when India is producing and maintaining them... I am sure Lockheed or others don’t want their plane to be known to fall out of the sky... seems foreign companies pitching their wares to India is the important thing...
The Tejas Mark 1A, which has just entered mass production, is being offered for export at a
of approximately $43 million per aircraft, much less than the
of a new F-16, the U.S. export standard. That’s still more expensive than the Chinese competition, but the Tejas is widely perceived to be a more reliable, higher-performance aircraft than anything offered by Beijing. Unlike Chinese jets, the Tejas can boast tried-and-tested components that meet international standards, many of them being of international origin. No one will worry about flying a jet with a General Electric engine that has powered U.S. and European aircraft for four decades. They might think twice about one with a discount Russian engine
in China.
It’s all well and good until the US puts the ban hammer on exports thanks to their involvement or ‘assistance’ in your ‘indigenous’ fighter... further what good will the airframe do when the munitions are strictly controlled, expensive and will have to go through other hoops and red tape to get...
These export contracts are small potatoes. The big prize will be for India to become a low-cost manufacturing hub for high-end weapons systems. That could mean foreign companies use India as an assembly base or Indian companies export their own products, such as the Tejas fighter. For India, either business model would mark a big step forward. China may be the workshop of the world when it comes to vacuum cleaners or mobile phones, but no non-Chinese company is ever going to offshore its defense production networks to China. India shows that, at least when it comes to sensitive industries like defense, democracy and the rule of law do matter.
Funny... so the foreign companies want India to produce ‘high-end’ weapons cheaply that would most likely be competing with future indigenous Indian weapons that I am sure India themselves want to be able to sell... basically both hampering self reliance, in the long run, and potential future markets at the same time, since these foreign ‘high-end’ weapons licenses will still be owned by foreign companies and since they are being produced cheaply they will be competing with India’s own development on India’s own procurement orders, therefore potentially killing two birds with one stone... what a move that would be!
