Indian Coast Guard : Updates & Discussion
- Thread starter RISING SUN
- Start date
Only 60% local content, absolutely dismal. Is make in india only a concern of IN? ICG and shipyards both to blame here.
In case of IN's ships, they come equipped with various weapons, sensors, EWs, ESMs, ECMs, countermeasures etc. Many of which are of Indian origin &/or made in India. This greatly bolsters the local content ratio. In ICG's case, their ships aren't as equipped as IN's ships. So you are left with just the "float" & the "move" parts. "Float" is 100% local but "Move" is far from it. That's what happened here.
This is a known issue which will be addressed when the Kirloskar's marine diesels are ready for service.
I hope you see the irony here.
One would have thought that at least ICG ships could be locally made. Reality is that shipyards are lazy and simply find it expedient to import rather than get the items indigenized.
We have built literally 100s of ICG ships since 2008 - with dozens of FPVs. There was enough opportunity
Indigenization/capacity building in the Indian naval ecosystem is driven by the IN. The current industry ecosystem, however flawed, was built piece-by-piece by the IN. It was not done by shipyards alone; it was done by shipyards with IN's backing.
ICG barely has the budget to buy the ships & helicopters they need. We shouldn't expect "big picture" moves from them.
I get your point. It is generally understood that the ICGs ships are by design "lower tech" than IN's. So, if IN can get much higher levels of local content on a "higher tech" ship why can't the ICG.
To re-iterate this is where we stand in military shipbuilding's 4 major parts:
1. Float: This is the ability to design, test & build ships. This is where we have near 100% control.
2. Move: The ability to design, test & build ship propulsion systems. This is the problem area. Most of our ships use foreign built or foreign designed, Indian built propulsion systems. This is one of the most expensive parts of any ship & therefore, counts for a lot in the local content by cost share. IN is running programs to build full spectrum diesel engines & gas turbines. It will take a while before this issue is fully resolved.
3. Sense: The ability to design, test & build sensors (radars, sonars, IR, EWs, ECMs, ESMs etc.). We have ~50-60% control on radar systems, near 100% on sonars (except towed sonars), ESMs, ECMs, EWs, etc. All next gen Indian radars programs are moving well (LR-MFR, X-band FCRs etc.).
4. Fight: The ability to design, test & build ship mounted weapons (cruise missiles, AD missiles, torpedo, CIWS, DEWs. etc). We have let's say 70-80% control here. Brahmos & Barak-8 still use foreign tech. We have a large stock of foreign sourced weapons, those will occasionally need spares, repairs etc. Many new weapon programs are running to fill the gaps here. VL-SRSAM, VSHORAD, BMD missiles & Project Kusha should meet all future AD needs. ITCM/LR-LACM, ET-LDHM/Project Vishnu, LFRJ, NASM family etc. should meet all future primary weapon needs.
The Sense & Fight segments have seen the most progress in the last decade. The progress in these segments have driven up the local content on IN's ships. Unfortunately, ICGs ships don't carry many sensors or missiles. Personally, I would love to see that. I would love to see ICGs large OPVs carry VL-SRSAM & NASM-MR. I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Conversely, when the Kirloskar diesel engine's is ready, ICG ships' local content will go from 60% to 85+%.
In most cases. In some cases, it is by quantity of parts.
