8ak Report
8ak had reported that the Indian Ministry of Defence issued a Request for Information (RFI) for 300 Light Tanks of which 200 will be wheeled and 100 will be tracked. It is reported that the vendors only provided generic details and so the MoD has released a follow-up RFP asking for more clarifications. The diesel-engine tanks will be deployed in High Altitude Areas above 3,000m and will be capable of operating in mountainous, semi-developed terrain. The amphibious tanks are expected to be capable of destroying bunkers and "soft-skin vehicles" at ranges up to 3km and also against attack helicopters and low flying fixed wing aircrafts.
After issuing the Request for Information (RFI) to procure diver propulsion vehicles, The Indian Army have launched a RFI for procurement of 7.62 x 51mm caliber underwater assault rifles. As per the RFI, Indian Army is looking for a weapon which can be carried underwater along with its additional accessories and can be used immediately after surfacing from the water. The RFI also specifies that the rifle should have military standard picatinny rails along with reflex/holographic sights, night/TI sights, IR lasers and tactical lights. Interested vendors have been given time till 30 June 2010 to respond to the RFI, based on which the Request for Proposal will be formulated.
With the increased threat perception, requirement to 'shoot and scoot' and need for equipment to be connected to a network, the spectrum needs of the armed forces is only increasing. Unfortunately, so is the increased demand from the civilian sector. One topic to be covered on 8ak is the absence of spectrum allocated to the Ministry of Home Affairs. So the army's long reluctance to hand over 45 Mhz spectrum (25Mhz for 3G) is understandable. However, there are two alternate solutions, Wimax and a dedicated defence Optic Fibre Network. Wimax uses a different spectrum unusable for current mobile networks and so aWimax equipment tender that has just been released may lead to a huge future opportunity.
BSNL meanwhile says that it will delivery a complete fibre optic network exclusively for defence use by 2012 and that work on this Rs 10,000 crore (US$2.2billion) project is underway with equipment purchases to begin in July 2010. , the optic fibre network for defence will connect 219 army, 33 navy and 162 air force bases and herald the network centricity of the armed forces, at least by core infrastructure. Egos, power politics, DPSU bullying, established hierarchies etc will delay the implementation of various systems like the Tactical Communication System that will rely on this network.
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