New Delhi: Plummeting diplomatic relations with Canada have raised doubts about Indian Army‘s plan to buy Ontario-produced Stryker armoured vehicles. The infantry combat vehicles, predominantly used by the US, had been part of the Indo-American talks for coproduction of military equipment, with a senior US official mentioning progress and forward movement in June.
Manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems Canada (GDLS-C), the vehicles were being pushed for use by the Army in forward areas, especially on the border with China in Ladakh. In June, a senior US official said that things are in the ‘early stages’ but the US plans to demonstrate the “capabilities of the Stryker to the Indian Army at an early opportunity”.
Sources said that there has been no forward movement and no decision has been taken on moving the procurement forward. For the past year, a sustained campaign has been launched to sell Canadian vehicles to India, with the project being touted as part of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative.
However, early plans being outlined suggested direct purchase of an unspecified number of the vehicles from the Ontario plant, followed by a co-production with GDLS-C. These plans had raised hackles with Indian defence companies that have sunk in crores into research and development efforts to produce similar vehicles customised for Indian needs.
ET has learnt that industry leaders have raised the issue with the government, emphasising that domestic options designed and developed in consultation with the armed forces are available and the Stryker coproduction would be of little value.The most mature armoured infantry combat vehicle programme within India is the Wheeled Armoured Platform (WhAP) that has been jointly developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Tata Advanced Systems Limited.As reported by ET, while a limited number of the vehicles have been inducted by the Army for use in Ladakh, the indigenous platform has been chosen for a Moroccan order and a new plant is being set up in Casablanca to cater for the larger African market in the long term. This will be the first defence plant, capable of manufacturing a complete major platform, to be set up abroad by an Indian company.
WhAP has been an indigenously designed success story of a public-private partnership. The eight-wheeled platform has been designed to operate in all terrains to support the Indian armed forces that are deployed from deserts to high altitude mountain passes and marshy terrain.