New Delhi, October 16
Navy Chief Admiral Arun Prakash today came out strongly in support of the controversial Barak missile saying it was a “very good and incomparable”system.
“As far as we (Navy) are concerned, it (Barak) is a very good system. I don't think there is anything comparable today in any Navy,” Admiral Prakash told reporters here.
The Naval Chief's views on the Israeli missile came close on the heels of the CBI registering an FIR against former Defence Minister George Fernandes, his associate Jaya Jaitley, former Navy Chief Sushil Kumar and others for alleged irregularities and corruption in the Rs 1,150-crore deal to purchase the system.
He said the missile was selected after extensive trials.
“We fired it on 14 occasions and 12 of them have been direct hits. We used them against low-flying surface-to-surface missile.”
“The Navy Chief also dismissed the claim that the objection to the deal was overlooked by saying: “I think there is a little bit of confusion. What the former naval commanders have said or have been quoted as having said was not about this particular missile. They have not said anything about this missile.So, taking in the context what they have said, they expressed dissent about some acquisition that was about to take place.”
Asked about the different opinions about the system, he said:“In the Navy everybody is required to give free and frank opinion and the final decision is taken by the Chief of Naval Staff who also has the benefit of other staff.”
Meanwhile, the Naval Senior Officers' Conference began today to deal with the themes of safety consciousness, accelerating the process of change, and a resurgent Navy to address the realities of the 21st century.
“Great changes will be brought about in the Navy in the coming years,” Naval Chief Admiral Arun Prakash told Naval commanders in his inaugural address.
“With change being inevitable, we can either embrace it, or have it thrust upon us. That is the reason I have laid great emphasis on issues of transformation, formulating new doctrines and concepts,” he said.
Taking into account the mishaps in recent times, he stressed that the safety roadmap would ensure that the naval operations were not only effective, but also conducted safely.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee will release a classified document, “Freedom of the Seas: India's Maritime Strategy”, at the conference tomorrow.
London: Claiming that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been “wrongly advised” on middlemen in arms deals, India's former Naval Chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat has said their presence is a dangerous trend.
“With all due respect to the Prime Minister, I would like to clearly say he has been wrongly advised on the issue. It is very unfortunate that an honest man leading the country should have formed such an opinion as the presence of middlemen (in arms deals) is a very dangerous trend,” Admiral Bhagwat told a BBC Hindi programme.
“We have been victims of so many acts of subversions of military and civilian intelligence due to these middlemen and this should be shelved straightaway,” he said.
The Prime Minister recently suggested that the presence of agents in defence deals was unavoidable but their role could be regulated.
“In my view, middlemen should never be allowed in defence procurement deals as these elements carry out acts of subversion against the military establishment and intelligence agencies. They work as intelligence stooges of foreign agencies and hike the price of equipments by at least 15 per cent,” Bhagwat said.
— PTI, UNI
