The complete lack of synergy between the 3 services on the RSH prog is the root of the problem, imo. The IN clearly prefers a twin-engine LUH for shipborne duty. Otoh, the IAF and Army are jointly pitching for a single engine 6000m+ alt performance bird.
All to replace to exact same Alouette/Chetak (+Lama/Cheetah for IA/AF) acquired in the 1970s.
Sure, the IN may not need max possible service cieling as the other two services. But I believe over the years they could've come to a consensus about their minimum requirements and put up a joint bid.
At the very least this would've bought down unit costs and opex. HAL *might* have been able to spin off a lighter ~4t variant of the Dhruv (just under 6,000m altitude performance iirc, same class as AS365) and this fiasco could've been avoided.
The irony is all 3 services are happy to induct 1970s-era helo models over the much more modern LUH. The basic A109 model first flew in the 1970s, around the same as the H125/Ecurueil.
There can't be much synergy in the procurement of this particular hptr as the requirements are clearly different.
Having said that , there's no synergy even otherwise between the 3 arms nor is MoD or the various departments created since like Department of Military Affairs or the CDS fostering this line of thought . I may be wrong & request people more knowledgeable or who've been following these developments to correct me .
Returning to the topic of the LCH & its proposed derivative for the IN , if this were a joint project it'd end up being like what we've seen in the F-35 project which is essentially 3 different programs combined into 1 .
They still haven't been unable to entangle all the knots in spite of trying for all these years & likely never will. It's a cautionary tale for armed forces & Governments the world over .
If a pre eminent power like the US can go so spectacularly wrong in project definition & management of such a vital program what hope do lesser countries have ?
The fact of the matter is EU countries have smelt blood . They're dumping in ancient designs coz they've spotted a market with much potential & with not much competition with their potential collaborators from the local industry all with few exceptions interested in cashing in with no appetite for investments or R&D .
In short a rentier mentality & the existing player a Government owned PSU with all the attendant problems & reputation such an entity would carry even back home leave aside what it would be in a place like India where the situation would be worse vis a vis this govt controlled DPSU.
Net Result - it's a dream come true for them. Besides labour arbitrage , low costs of land , etc making it a hub for domestic consumption here as well as exports. Don't be surprised if this comes true & soon you see these being designated EOUs with full tax or most taxes being exempted.
Needless to add this is totally opposite to the situation in China where predatory practises by the CCP have now seen the birth of competition to the west in practically all mfg across the spectrum.
If lay people here can discern this , it stands to reason that policy makers have obviously thought about such scenarios in spite of which they have proceeded on the course they have.
My own thoughts on the matter is given we can't exactly replicate the CCP playbook , GoI is going ahead with this policy for want of a better word & see how the situation evolves in the future.
The thinking would be a few of these JVs may see local cos absorb tech only to emerge as fully independent cos in their own right in the future.
I'm not sure this is the right way to go for the simple reason the rentier class of businessmen here have deep political connections which means political patronage .
Whereas such entities would be commission agents 3-4 decades ago ,this class given the way our economy has progressed have now evolved into "industrialists " with zero change in their mentality .
A good example is the Adani Group. In between there were reports of the Reliance Industries being denied permission by the Chinese government from either taking over a Chinese co into Li battery management system development or core battery chemistry technology .
Now Mukessbhai has gone on a shopping spree all over the world to bag start ups in this field as well as cos into Sodium Battery technology & cos into developing tech for mfg Hydrogen gas essentially in the EU though not restricted to that geography. How come they've suddenly stopped all R&D activities ?!
And this has typically been the bane of our business class & therefore our economy . Sanjeev Sanyal hinted as much when he called for a regular destruction of the a section of the business class for their mode of survival is parasitism which survives purely on political patronage & protectionism.
Of course he said this in a different context but what we're witnessing in the realm of defence mfg or rather assembly aka screwdrivergiri today is what we've witnessed in other spheres since long.
For example - the Hindustan motors or the Premier Group were content tinkering around with the same designs without innovating at all for there was no reason to do otherwise in a closed economy. We've seen what's happened to them .
However you can look at the others who've survived & check for what have they done in as far as innovation goes . Up until recently the Tata Group didn't develop their own engines. I'm not sure even today they actually mfg the transmission system. You can extrapolate this data point to the other Indian OEMs in the same field to check how self sufficient they are.
OTOH you also have exceptions like Royal Enfield. But one swallow does not a summer make. Not too well versed with the developments in the auto industry so my data here could possibly not reflect the actual ground realities. However that shouldn't in any way take away from the gist of what I'm conveying.
