The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has slammed the Indian Air Force for India-Israel joint venture project for developing electronic warfare system under the banner of ‘Takshak’ for Russian-origin MiG-27 despite knowing the fact that the fighter planes will be phased out by 2016.
‘Due to injudicious decision and delay in development of Takshak system, the objective of enhancing operational capability of a fighter aircraft could not be achieved. Besides, an expenditure of Rs 155.79 crore incurred on the project was rendered unfruitful,’ the report said.
It was learnt that the project for developing ‘Takshak’ was sanctioned in 2009. The then defence ministry had sanctioned Rs 311 crore for project to be developed by 2011 to enhance the operational capability of fighter aircraft and strengthen electronic warfare industry.
‘However, despite delays in the programme, the IAF during trials found that it was not fully developed and could not meet a large number of technical specifications. The IAF also acknowledged that induction of the Takshak system in MiG-27 fleet would take at least another three years (from 2011) and complete fleet modification would be over only by 2016 whereas the MiG-27 aircraft fleet was planned to be phased out of service from 2014 onwards,’ the report reads.
‘Therefore, it decided to foreclose the project since it was not possible to operationally exploit this system on the aircraft. An expenditure of Rs 155.79 crore had already been incurred on the project till then (January 2013),’ it reads.
On the context of projects undertaken by the Navy affiliated DRDO laboratories, it says, ‘Scrutiny of 24 projects aimed at achieving indigenisation, undertaken by Navy affiliated DRDO laboratories at a cost of Rs 731.51 crore revealed that 21 projects (87 per cent), did not adhere to the original time frame for completion.’
The agency also rapped the IAF for procuring more than 100 expensive Mahindra Scorpio and Toyota Innova vehicles against the procurement provisions to replace existing ones.
‘We observe that in contravention of the extant orders, Air Force headquarters had introduced between 2009 and 2011 two new types of vehicles, Mahindra Scorpio and Toyota Innova to replace the Maruti Gypsy and Tata Sumo respectively,’ the CAG report claims.
Similarly, the CAG agency also pointed some flaws on the public-private partnership projects on Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in terms of delays, which led to huge loss to the national exchequer. ‘We have found conflicts Operation Management Development Agreement (OMDA) and Airport Economic Regulatory Authority in defining aeronautical and non-aeronautical services and also gap in finding and development fee,’ the CAG report reads.