NEW DELHI — India's decision to procure precision approach radars (PARs) only from domestic sources has encountered difficulties, as a majority of the invited companies opted not to participate and none of the remaining three bidders appear to be meeting the technical specifications of the tender, said a source in the Ministry of Defence.

A majority of the invited companies opted not to participate in the program, The tender given only to domestic vendors last month has not evoked the desired response from the domestic industry with major domestic defense companies opting to stay out of the program, the MoD source added. No MoD official would comment on the fate of the tender.

The poor response comes as to the exclusive domestic tender comes at a time when the Indian government is trying to boost a still-developing promoting a policy of boosting the domestic defense industry, which is still in its infancy, the source added.

Before floating the PAR tender to only domestic vendors under the Buy and Make (India) category, MoD considered was contemplating to float a global tender under in the Buy and Make (Global), category but changed its decision to favor give preference only to domestic companies.

Only three domestic companies, Mahindra Defence Systems, (cq), Data Patterns India Private Ltd (cq) and state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL)(cq) submitted their bids.

The tender issued early this year also was sent to domestic companies defense majors Tata Group, companies - Nova Integrated Systems, (cq), Tata Power SED, (cq) and Tata Advanced Systems, Mahindra Defence Systems, Larsen & Toubro and (L&T) (cq)Ltd. ataPatterns India Pvt. Ltd. (cq), state owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) (cq)Bharat Electronics.

Ltd. (BEL) (cq).

No executive from the three competing companies bidders would comment on their bids. in the tender.

BEL, the Tata Group companies and L&T Ltd. decided to opted out of the program because of tough tender requirements, said the MoD source.

A senior executive of the domestic private sector major Tata Group company who requested not to be named said, "We are staying out from the program because PAR radar systems become obsolete and it is not economically viable to service these radars for 11 long years, as required by the MoD."

"We need to import 70 percent subsystems for maintenance of PAR and currency fluctuations are not allowing us to give long-term maintenance support for the radars," the executive added.

A senior executive of an industry lobbying agency said, who requested not to be named said, "The MoD should not draw over-ambitious technical requirements for a defense programs in the Buy and Make (India) category, as it leads to poor participation by domestic vendors."

"The insistence of MoD to approach the domestic sector on every defense program will only lead to delays as the domestic sector is still in its infancy and cannot meet all the requirements of weapons and equipment," said Nitin Mehta, a defense analyst here.

Under the PAR tender, the selected domestic company must is to supply six of the ground-based radar PAR systems to the Indian Air Force IAF and three PAR systems for the Indian Navy.

The radar PAR will be used to guide the aircraft during the final approach from a specific distance to touchdown and will also provide the positional information of the aircraft, namely the range and the deviation from the desired approach azimuth and elevation. The PAR may be operated either independently or as part of a ground control approach system, which will include a surveillance radar. too. The ground control approach utilizing PAR is critical for safe recovery of fight aircraft in all weather conditions.

Email: vraghuvanshi@defensenews.com.

Vivek Raghuvanshi is the India correspondent for Defense News.

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