HAL spent Rs 116 crore and developed sub-standard INCOM sets, sans ECCM features for IAF: CAG Report

The copy of recent CAG report.

The CAG Report No 20 of 2011-12 (Air Force and Navy), tabled in Parliament recently, has come down heavily on Bangalore-based plane-making firm Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The report is critical of HAL’s inability to deliver the much-needed communication sets with ECCM capabilities for IAF – which resulted in loss of time, money and non-availability of technology. "The Ministry/IAF accepted communication equipment, designed and developed by HAL, even though the equipment did not meet technical requirements. As on date, IAF’s critical requirement of jam-resistant and secure radio sets has not been met even after spending Rs 116 crore and considerable period of time," says the highly critical report.

HAL was to offer airborne sets to IAF for flight trials by June 1994 and ground-based sets for trial by March 1995. The INCOM airborne sets were planned for equipping different types of aircraft in IAF with the aim of indigenization, uniformity and inter changeability of sets.

Audit observed that the performance and reliability of the newly delivered sets was also far below the requirements of IAF. Contracted specifications in the area of frequency range, speech secrecy and anti jamming etc, considered vital for flight safety of combat fleet, have not been met. This has led to aborted missions, potentially unsafe situations in the air and low aircraft availability. The ECCM modes have not been proven to be satisfactory on any aircraft.

HAL failed to rectify these defects and instead stated, in May 2008, that they had reached the limit of their technological capability to develop the sets any further. HAL, therefore, sought a permanent waiver to the deviations from the Joint Staff Qualitative Requirements (JSQRs). HAL also indicated that existing deviations of INCOM sets were due to system-architectural limitations and could not be corrected without total redesign. This would be equivalent to a de novo development cycle. The development project was closed in 2008.

The IAF stated (February 2009) that the below-par performance of the INCOM had been adversely affecting operations on aircraft fleets where the INCOM is installed. As the INCOM sets have not been able to meet the entire replacement requirement for the existing radio sets, in the mean-time, IAF continues to use the obsolescent radio sets which have outlived their life. Air HQ accepted, in February 2010, that operations are adversely affected due to continued use of the existing sets as they are unreliable and can no longer be maintained due to non-availability of spares. (Input courtesy: CAG Report)

[Next Part-IV: Exodus of youngsters from HAL]

Is poor succession plan hurting HAL badly? Strong opposition from within to Nayak’s extension rumours

Give the man power to test his charac ter, so goes a saying. It goes well with most of the top brass of HAL, barring a few. The current ongoing crisis at the top is mainly due to poor succession plan in practice. For implementation of proper succession plan HAL needs inspiring leaders. Old-timers recall with fond memories the role played by late Air Chief Marshal Khatre and Dr Krishnadas Nair who led Company with glory. Both had contrasting style of functioning. “They had a vision and they were sensitive to the issues of people. Khatre was selfless, while Dr Nair was a pro-people in whatever he did,” says a senior HR official.

Others have come and gone, did a lot for themselves and little for the company in terms of putting a strong second line of leaders. “It is unfair to say; we don’t have capable leaders (junior to us). Just that, their capabilities are over-shadowed by self ego, favoritism and selfishness. What is hurting HAL the most is the employees are fast getting disconnected from the top management and even the company. You can’t blame HR for not having good policies. We had them in the past and still have them in files. It is the question of how much the top man or his coterie wants in actual dispensation,” says the official.

This clearly brings the focus again on Nayak, the man at the helm of HAL. Insiders are mincing no words at his authoritative functioning. Reads an email from one K.P.R: “It is not in good taste that we read the series on your website about HAL. But unfortunately to our bad luck whatever you are bringing out are facts. There’s lot of disillusionment among middle management and youngsters and if the management is not looking into it now, it will be bad for the Company,” says the mail.

While some of the emails are packed with anger and anguish, Tarmak007 also found many mails orchestrated. Reads another one: “Ashok Nayak is capable and that’s why he was selected as the chairman. What’s wrong if he continues for another year? There are so many projects that need his guidance (Jesus!). Are you trying to become a saint by running a series on HAL?”

Extension dreams: According to sources, a proposal has been sent to Ministry of Defence for increasing the superannuation age of chairman to 62. Sources also say that a separate proposal has already been mooted to increase the retirement age of all DGMs and above. Says an official: “I can confirm to you that we have asked MoD to increase the number of Directors from current 8 to 12. The other proposals, I cannot confirm.”

“In the last five years, the government has not extended the tenure of the CMD of any PSU as a matter of principle. If any exceptions are made now, then most of the 250-plus PSUS, Maharatnas and Navratnas will be behind the government sighting one reason or the other. As an example, if Nayak is given extension, then the government will be opening a Pandora’s Box,” say sources.

Says an email from P. Prabhu: “No serving director should be given any extension. It will be in violation of whatever succession plan we have. The government must ensure that HAL should be handed over to capable hands. There are many DGMS, AGMS and GMs who can be groomed to be HAL’s future leaders.”

Extension rumours are a regular phenomenon that happens in HAL whenever the top man is about to retire. While in the past many have tried hard and failed miserably, the current stalemate in PESB selection process is making the story-tellers busy.

According to an MoD official, Antony has the powers to given extension for 3 months under special circumstances. “If it is a regular extension, then the Cabinet Committee on Appointments (CCA) has to approve it. In the case of HAL, it is unlikely that the minister will give any extensions. No defence ministers in the past have done it, though there were proposals,” the official said.

If one goes by sources within HAL, there is a clear agenda to create a TINA (There Is No Alternative) situation. The big question is whether Antony will see-through the game plan, if at all there’s one? The onus is definitely on MoD, which for a long time has been turning a Nelson's eye towards the matters of HAL. The nation will be the biggest beneficiary, if Antony steps in and revamps HAL, like the way he did with DRDO.

While HAL might continue to be India's aviation leader for some more time, its fortunes would definitely erode, if men of steel, character and vision don't lead the Company.

(Next part: Saturday, September 10, 2011)

Kalam’s dream-HAL goes for a toss! Are the greedy babus putting Navratna giant to a slow death?

HAL needs creative leaders. Creative leadership means exercising the vision to change the traditional role from the commander to the coach, manager to the mentor, from director to delegator and from who demands respect to one who facilitates self-respect. HAL must introduce a lot of inspiring leaders in the organisation. This will facilitate young engineers and designers to mingle with performers, seek their guidance and get inspired to excel in their tasks. __ Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (then President), New Delhi, December 2006.

Picture 2011! Five years after Dr Kalam spelt out his vision for HAL, things are panning out exactly opposite to what the great man thought. Youngsters are quitting in large numbers; nothing substantial when it comes to ongoing\new projects; mad scramble for vacant posts; little transparency in decision-making; many heading critical projects being charge-sheeted for ‘wrong-doing;’ morale of work-force on an all-time low; majority of employees in the dark with no pro-active communication channels available to air their views… the list is endless and not befitting to a Company that often boasts of being an aerospace giant in South Asia!

Sorry, Dr Kalam! Not sure whether the HAL you dreamt would take wing in the near future. Amidst all these man-made mess, the latest development making news is the power-struggle for the top-post. It can’t get murkier than this. It is this state of affairs that prompted Tarmak007 to launch the God Save HAL campaign -- an honest attempt to track truth. As it is. Just in case St Antony didn’t know, then this series could be an eye-opener for India’s defence minister!

Who will be the next Chairman? There are always two sides to a story, but when it comes to HAL one would find many sides. Some hard to believe, some tempting, some backed by facts and the rest all gas and no gyan. Last few months have been interesting for HAL-watchers as the media reports on a possible coup by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to push its man for the top job caught everybody’s imagination. While when one looks at the current affairs of the Company, may be that could have been the best choice. Simply, it would have put babus at bay and teach them a lesson or two on effective administration.

For the sake of discussion, let’s take the example of India’s Tejas programme: Until the PMT from IAF took charge at ADA, the pace of the programme wasn't healthy. What the babus didn’t know, the Men in Blue knew. They bridged the gap and the programme started to move at greater pace. Communication became stronger. HAL’s ‘interest’ in Tejas programme was on spotlight with DRDO chief Dr Saraswat mincing no words at different foras. IAF too made its stand clear by agreeing to IOC with many ifs and buts.

Back to chairman chase. Finally, Antony put an end to a possible embarrassment to HAL, by making a statement in Lok Sabha that IAF doesn’t have any interest in HAL's controls, apart from being its biggest customer. The IAF man who showed interest in HAL picked-up his promotion and moved out of the race. The babus rejoiced. But the mess continued.

The PESB – the sacred body on Earth mandated to pick the 16^th chairman of HAL-- is now in a fix. The interviews have been postponed twice indicating the heat and dust the crucial posting is creating. Sources tell Tarmak007 that the selection of chairman HAL was scheduled on 15^th June 2011 and then on 5^th August 2011. Both were postponed and the new date is not yet notified. The vacancy falls on November 1, 2011 after the current man Nayak will end his infamous tenure on 31^st October 2011. (Tried hard to put together some of his achievements, but even his close aides too couldn’t help. They came up with stuff like: Aero India 2011, Paris Air Show, LCH first flight, LCA IOC and so on. Sad, even my granny could have come out with better results, if she were given the mantle to run the show!).

Five external candidates were earlier short-listed by PESB and they included S.N. Misra, PCDA (Navy) Mumbai; S.S. Mohanty, PCDA (IAF) Bangalore; N.R. Myneni, CMD, MIDHANI, Hyderabad; S.K. Tripathi, CMD, MSTC, Mumbai and R.K. Tyagi, CMD, Pawan Hans, Delhi.

Now, it is confirmed by the PESB sources that the selection process is further delayed following an HAL official challenging the anomaly in the scrutiny process of PESB for short listing of candidates for interview, in the court of law. The Delhi High Court has given an order directing PESB to consider the candidature of Sudhir Kumar, Executive Director, Flight Safety, Bangalore, for the interview. A senior HR official tells Tarmak007 that this makes Sudhir Kumar the only candidate with proven background of aircraft and engine, manufacturing, overhaul experience. But, not sure whether PESB would buy this argument. And, other candidates too will have their share of points to defend their candidature.

So, will all these developments and delays play to the advantage of Nayak? Is he dreaming of an extension? Has he already made the first move? Who are the famous trio running HAL affairs? Why the media kept mum despite a virtual black-out? What are the options before Antony & Co? An insight into all these in the next part. Stay tuned!

(Next part: Wednesday, September 7, 2011)

(Are you working in HAL? Do you genuinely think that the Company is at crossroads? Want to stem the rot? Why not join Tarmak007's campaign by emailing your concerns about the Company to anantha.ak@gmail.com. Ensure that your inputs should be authentic and backed by facts. It's your turn now!)

God Save HAL! New series on Tarmak007 from Sept 5

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will turn 71 this December going by its initial formation date. Undoubtedly, the backbone of India's military aviation, HAL has stood the test of time. The birth of the new millennium saw the birth of many new players in Indian aviation. They knew that they could do very little to upstage HAL's might all of a sudden. While the Company managed to become a Navratna, what was hurting HAL was its dismal HR policies -- which was world-class on paper and shocking at ground-level. This enabled many private aerospace companies to lure the best brains from HAL. Though, the Company began to recruit large number of freshers (MTs/DTs) from 2005 onward -- probably after a gap of 10 years -- it ran out of ideas to inspire these gen-next engineers, designers and executives. The top management was often fighting to save their chair and in the last one year alone the Company saw some disastrous disturbances at the top. One power-greedy director (HR) Sanjeev Sahi ran way after he was denied the top most many times. Another technical director (now retired) quit twice sighting ill-health (read as harassment) only to be posted as HR head later. And the latest was the MoD's decision to look for a new finance head, forcing the man at the helm to leave. Amidst all this chaos, the current head of HAL Nayak is all set to complete his term on October 31. Going by insides at MoD & PESB -- we are set to witness some exciting turn-around in the next few months. The big question is whether the Company is made to suffer due to the vision-less succession plans of a bunch of selfish babus? Answers to these and more on Tarmak007 with the launch of a new series 'God Save HAL', from Monday, September 5, 2011. The series will initially hover around developments based on the race to the top post -- capturing the good, the bad and the ugly -- as the PESB warms up again to pick the 16th chairman of HAL. In case if you didn't know, the PESB had already postponed the interview to the top-post twice! Let, truth prevail!

(Are you working in HAL? Want to stem the rot? Why not join Tarmak007's campaign by emailing your concerns about the Company to anantha.ak@gmail.com. Ensure that your inputs should be authentic and backed by facts. It's your turn now!)

HATSOFF website goes live

 Director General Civil Aviation Bharat Bhushan launches the website of HATSOFF in Bangalore during the just-concluded Aero India 2011. Photo: Planefinder

Tejas Test pilots from NFTC capture modern philosophies of IAF's frontline squadrons; all efforts to give Tejas the best pilot-vehicle interface, says ADA boss P.S.

By Anantha Krishnan M. | AVIATION WEEK |

Bangalore | India | August 27, 2010

Test pilots from India’s National Flight Test Centre (NFTC), a crucial unit aiding the development of India’s Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), are on a mission to familiarize themselves with the modern philosophies of Indian Air Force (IAF) squadrons. This, they feel, will benefit the LCA project, which is nearing its initial operational clearance (IOC) phase.

Program director for combat aircraft and Aeronautical Development Agency Director P.S. Subramanyam tells AVIATION WEEK that the NFTC team should gain enough expertise from the current mission to give Tejas the best pilot-vehicle interface.

“Our pilots and other experts from NFTC are trying to consolidate from all the available aircraft so as to make Tejas the best flying platform,” Subramanyam says.

“The current familiarization mission will give the test pilots the feel of the latest technologies in some of the frontline aircraft,” an IAF official says. “Tejas will have to eventually fly along with Su-30 MKIs, Mirages and the MiG 29s. The team will update themselves with the latest philosophies and compatibility in a combat environment.”

 For the full story, please visit:

http://www.aviationweek.com/india

Join the movement for unsung heroes:

 www.inspiredindianfoundation.org

Saving the Dhruv: Top HAL official emails Tarmak007 in a response to CAG observations on ALH

Here’s the detailed response by a senior HAL official, to an email sent by Tarmak007, following the CAG's critical observations on ALH. The sentences in red are the responses and some are left blank as the source didn't want to answer the same. 

CAG observations:

CAG: Despite more than two decades, the technical requirements finalised in 1979 by Army and Air Force were not fully achieved resulting in flying of the 74 ALH supplied by the Company to defence customers with concessions.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:   The requirements were very demanding. The requirement to land at 20000 ft with 200 kg payload is something no helicopter in the world met till Dhruv with Shakti engine came in. The services also need to temper their requirements based on reach of available technology and expertise.  Now, finally with Shakti we meet all the requirements with very minor exceptions.

CAG: Taking up Limited Series Production (LSP) of ALH (2001-2003) even while the
prototypes were being flight tested (1992-2003) and certified, was premature as
large number of design problems were encountered during the manufacturing.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:   Taking up LSP was OK but we should have stopped there and waited for feed backs.  But again it was a first time for HAL, now we have better experience.

CAG: By not freezing the design of ALH and keeping the development stage open the Company had to accommodate the increasing demand of the customer for latest and additional requirements. This led to 363 modifications in 34 helicopters (total 74 supplied to Defence customers).

Reply by HAL source:   I think HAL should be commended for taking it on themselves to improve the product even most were non-flight safety critical.

CAG: The ALH, which was to be successor to Cheetah/Chetak was found to be unsuitable for the intended multi-role requirements due to excess weight and limited power of the engine. ALH with ‘Shakti’ (higher-powered engine) which was planned to be certified in December 2006 is yet to be certified even after a delay of three years resulting in postponement of delivery schedule of 20 ALH with Shakti engine from 2008-09 to 2009-10.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:   ALH carries far more than Chetak/Cheetah and it is a heavier class of chopper.

CAG:  Weapon system integration (WSI) version of ALH has not been developed even after a lapse of 10 years (1998 to 2009). In the absence of clear understanding of the requirements between Navy and the Company, the amount of Rs. 138 crore spent on the project has not resulted in any tangible benefit to the customer.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  Navy is not interested in purchasing WSI Dhruv.

CAG:  The Company could not penetrate into the international market in the absence of international certificate in spite of showcasing ALH in the air shows. The Company could not successfully execute even the orders received from civil market.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  Dhruv is flying in Ecuador, Mauritius, Maldives and Nepal.  If we have EASA certification, the sales would be faster. The process is on to get the same.

CAG:  As against the envisaged indigenisation level of 50 per cent, about 90 per cent of the value of material used in each helicopter is procured from foreign suppliers.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:   HAL cannot make everything as it is not economically prudent.  The civil industry has not come of age in India.  Globally too, no company makes all components.

CAG recommendations:

CAG:  Series production should be taken up only after prototypes are approved/certified and accepted by the customer.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:   It would consideraly delay the project. Users are involved in the testing and their inputs are incorporated.  The model followed for Dhruv of concorruent production is the globally accepted process.

CAG:  Modifications desired by the customer should be with reference to a time frame
and technical competency of the Company.
Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  Stands to logic refer Q1

CAG:  The capacity should be ramped up as to peak up production as planned.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  Yes

CAG:  The Company should quicken the process of submitting the documents and obtain the certifications early.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  Yes

CAG:  As the Company has entered the highly competitive civilian/ export markets the design/quality issues need to be resolved early to gain the confidence of the customers to remain in the market.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  Yes

CAG:  The Company should expedite efforts to get International certificate on priority to be a global player. The Company should exploit civil market by executing the orders successfully and consider options of sale technique through leasing of ALH.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  Yes

CAG:  Concerted efforts are needed to achieve the desired (50 per cent) level of indigenisation.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  Not possible for another 10 years.

Additional queries by the blogger:

Tarmak007: Is it true that the 'one particular department' is playing the 'dirty games' in delaying procurement? Please explain.

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  Yes

Tarmak007: Is the mind-wars between the Fixed Wing and Rotary Wing lobbies within HAL affecting the Dhruv program?

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  --

Tarmak007: Have things gone out of control after Nayak took over as chairman?

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  --

Tarmak007: Are the designers, engineers and workmen doing their bit to make the project a success?

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  Yes

Tarmak007: What in your view can stem the rot in HAL, if any? How can you clear the mess and salvage the pride now?

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  Free it from bureaucratic wrangles.

Tarmak007: Finally, what are the flaws in HAL's marketing plans w.r.t. ALH? What needs to be done make the product more successful?

Reply to Tarmak007 by an HAL source:  First prove the product then it will market itself. 

(Stay tuned for another report on ALH)