Bengaluru: All eyes are on India's new Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is set to chair his first Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting in New Delhi on November 22. Among the crucial decisions to be taken by Parrikar, the 13,000-crore ‘private sector only' Avro replacement project initiated by the UPA-2 regime would be the most-awaited one. Aimed at encouraging the private sector to take major lead in India's aerospace and defence programmes, the project envisages the delivery of 56 medium transport aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF), under the ‘Buy and Make' category.The decision to keep PSUs like aviation major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) at bay from the tendering process has already ran into trouble. The tender was issued during A K Antony's regime in May 2013 and was strongly opposed by some of his Cabinet colleagues as well. The tender had sought foreign OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to identify an Indian partner other than HAL, to supply 16 aircraft from their original facilities and provide ToT (Transfer of Technology) for manufacturing the remaining 40 aircraft by the Indian partner.
22/11/14 Dr Anantha Krishnan M/One India
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22/11/14 Dr Anantha Krishnan M/One India
