The following section is a compilation, aimed at demystifying few terms which we have come across repeatedly in the past few months.
Hopefully, it will serve as a good starting point for a deeper research.
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-- MMRCA --
The Indian Air Force Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) Competition, commonly known as the MRCA Tender, is an ongoing competition to supply the Indian Air Force with 126 Multi-Role Combat Aircraft. The Defence Ministry has allocated 42,000 crore (US$ 9.53 billion) for the purchase of these aircraft.
Six aircrafts were bid for this multi-billion dollar contract, which has been touted as India's single largest defence deal ever.
The Saab Gripen (Sweden)
Eurofighter Typhoon (Germany-Italy-Spain-UK)
Dassault Rafale (France)
Mikoyan MiG-35 (Russia)
Lockheed Martin F-16IN Super Viper (US)
Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (US)
-- AWACS --
An airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system is an airborne radar system designed to detect aircraft. Used at a high altitude, the radars allow the operators to distinguish between friendly and hostile aircraft hundreds of miles away. AEW&C aircraft are used for defensive and offensive air operations. The system is used offensively to direct fighters to their target locations, and defensively to counter attacks. It can also be used to carry out surveillance, and C2BM (command and control, battle management) functions.
AEW&C is also known by the older terms "airborne early warning" (AEW) and "airborne warning and control system".
Available versions:
Boeing/Westinghouse AWACS system
Elta/Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) Phalcon radar
The IAF plans to mount the Phalcon radar and surveillance systems from IAI on IL-76 aircraft supplied by Russia.
India received its first AWACS on 25th May 2009. It landed in Jamnagar AFB in Gujarat completing its 8 hour long journey from Israel.
-- CECA/CEPA --
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) denotes very clearly an intention of a binding agreement, whereas the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement signed with Singapore (CECA) refers to a co-operation and by its classification it is not binding.
There is a CEPA between India and South Korea. The unusual name for the agreement was suggested by India - it is equivalent to a free trade agreement. It will provide better access for the Indian service industry in South Korea. especially in fields of Information technology, engineering, finance, and law. It will ease restrictions on foreign direct investments. Companies can own up to 65% of a company in the other country.
India has a CECA with Singapore and Malaysia to strengthen bilateral trade.
-- NELP --
New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) was formulated by the Government of India in 1997-98 to provide a level playing field, on which all parties would compete, for the award of exploration acreage. Another directive for NELP is that all bid rounds and the award of blocks are to be conducted in an open and transparent manner.
Prior to establishing NELP, 11% of Indian sedimentary basins area was under exploration. With the conclusion of eight rounds of NELP, the unexplored sedimentary area has been reduced to just 12%.
Under the NELP-IX, the Government of India is offering 34 exploration blocks in 10 sedimentary basins covering an area of about 88,807 Sq. Kms. The NELP-IX licensing round has been put on offer against a backdrop of many successful exploration and hydrocarbon discoveries. Under NELP regime, 87 oil and gas discoveries have already been made in 26 exploration blocks till NELP-VIII.
The bid closing date for NELP-IX is 18th March, 2011.
-- SHALE GAS --
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite.
Shale gas is natural gas produced from shale. Shale gas has become an increasingly important source of natural gas in the United States over the past decade, and interest has spread to potential gas shales in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Shale gas areas are often known as resource plays
Companies including Reliance Industries Limited (E&P), RNRL and Genpact, have expressed interest in exploring for shale gas in India. A complication to shale gas in India is that the government-issued leases for conventional petroleum exploration do not include unconventional sources such as shale gas.
Basins of preliminary interest identified by Indian geologists are the Cambay Basin in Gujarat, the Assam-Arakan basin in northeast India, and the Gondwana Basin in central India.
During US President Obama's visit to India in November 2010, India and US decided to cooperate in the fields of clean-tech and shale gas.
-- NSG --
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| Grey ones are members of NSG |
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is a multinational body concerned with reducing nuclear proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials that may be applicable to nuclear weapon development and by improving safeguards and protection on existing materials.
It was founded in 1974 in response to the Indian nuclear test earlier in that year.
During a state visit to India in November 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama announced U.S. support for India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement, the Australia Group and the Missile Technology Control Regime, "in a phased manner," and to encourage the evolution of regime membership criteria to that end, "consistent with maintaining the core principles of these regimes."
During a visit to India in December 2010, French President also expressed his country's backing for India's inclusion in Nuclear Suppliers Group.
-- WASSENAAR --
The Wassenaar Arrangement ("The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies") is a multilateral export control regime (MECR) with 40 participating states. It is the successor to the Cold war-era Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM), and was established on July 12, 1996, in the Dutch town of Wassenaar, near The Hague.
The list of restricted technologies is broken into a Basic List and a "Munitions List". It comprises of Electronics, Computers, Telecommunications, Navigation and Avionics etc.
To be a member, a state must -->
Be a producer/exporter of arms or sensitive industrial equipment;
Maintain non-proliferation policies and appropriate national policies
Adhere to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention
-- AUSTRALIA GROUP --
The Australia Group is an informal group of countries established in 1985 (after the use of chemical weapons by Iraq in 1984) to help member countries to identify those of their exports which need to be controlled so as not to contribute to the spread of chemical and biological weapons .
The group now has 41 members. The name comes from Australia's initiative to create the group. Australia manages the secretariat.
The initial members of the group had different assessments of which chemical precursors should be subject to export control. Later adherents initially had no such controls. Today, members of the group maintain export controls on a uniform list of 54 compounds, including several that are not prohibited for export under the Chemical Weapons Convention, but can be used in the manufacture of chemical weapons. Delegations representing the members meet every year in Paris.
-- MTCR --
The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) is an informal and voluntary partnership between 34 countries to prevent the proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of carrying a 500 kg payload at least 300 km.
The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) was established in April 1987 by Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain, and the United States. The MTCR was created in order to curb the spread of unmanned delivery systems for nuclear weapons, specifically delivery systems that could carry a minimum payload of 500 kg a minimum of 300 km.
At the annual meeting in Oslo in July 1992 it was agreed to expand the scope of the MTCR to include nonproliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for all weapons of mass destruction.
-- ZANGGER --
The committee maintains and updates a list of equipment that may only be exported if safeguards are applied to the recipient facility (called the "Trigger List" because such exports trigger the requirement for safeguards);
Each State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to provide:
(a) source or special fissionable material, or
(b) equipment or material especially designed or prepared for the processing, use or production of special fissionable material, to any non-nuclear-weapon State for peaceful purposes, unless the source or special fissionable material shall be subject to the safeguards required by this Article.
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Indira Mukherjee is currently doing a lot of research on weapons, bullets and tanks. If you wish to bombard her with questions, you can mail her at indianpolicy2010@gmail.com
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