印度禁止軍用無人機製造商使用中國零部件 (2/2)

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

India bars makers of military drones from using Chinese parts (2/2)

Updated Mon, August 7, 2023 at 10:11 p.m. PDT

By Krishn Kaushik

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MANUFACTURING HURDLE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to build India's drone capability to thwart perceived threats, including from China, whose forces have clashed with Indian soldiers along their disputed border in recent years.

India has set aside 1.6 trillion rupees ($19.77 billion) for military modernization in 2023-24, of which 75% is reserved for domestic industry.

But the ban on Chinese parts has raised the cost of making military drones locally by forcing manufacturers to source components elsewhere, government and industry experts said.

Sameer Joshi, founder of Bengaluru-based NewSpace Research and Technologies, a supplier of small drones for India's military, said 70% of goods in the supply chain were made in China.

"So if I talk to, let's say, a Polish guy, he still has his components which are coming via China," he said.

Switching to a non-Chinese pipeline pushed up costs dramatically, Joshi said, adding that some manufacturers were still importing material from China but would "white-label it, and kind of keep the costs within that frame".

TECHNOLOGY GAPS

India relies on foreign manufacturers for both parts and entire systems as it lacks the know-how to make certain types of drones.

A government-funded program to produce an indigenous Medium Altitude Long Endurance unmanned system is delayed by at least half a decade, said Y. Dilip, director of the state-run Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE).

The platform, called Tapas, has met most requirements but needs further work to fulfil the military's goal of a drone that can reach an operational altitude of 30,000 feet and remain airborne for 24 hours, Dilip said.

"Primarily we were constrained by the engines," he said, with neither those built domestically nor international models available to India up to the job.

Apart from Tapas, which is expected to begin military trials this month, ADE is working on a stealth unmanned platform and a High Altitude Long Endurance platform, but both are years away.

To fill these gaps, India announced in June that it would buy 31 MQ-9 drones from the U.S. for over $3 billion.

R.K. Narang, a drone expert at the government's Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, said "there has to be coherent national strategy to fill the technology gaps" to deliver commercially viable products.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman pledged in February that one-quarter of this year's the 232.6 billion rupees ($2.83 billion) budget for defence research and development would be for private industry.

Still, Narang said there was little investment in research and development by India's big private-sector companies. Joshi said venture capitalists eschewed military projects because of long lead times and the risk that orders may not eventuate.

The senior defence official said India would need to accept higher costs to boost domestic manufacturing.

"If today I buy equipment from China but I say I want to make it in India, the cost will go up 50%," he said. "We as a nation need to be ready to help the ecosystem build here."

Translation

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製造障礙

印度總理莫迪一直在尋求建立印度的無人機能力，以挫敗潛在的威脅，其中包括來自中國的。近年來，中國軍隊在有爭議的邊境地區與印度士兵發生了衝突。

印度已預留1.6萬億盧比（197.7億美元）用於2023-24年軍事現代化，其中75%預留給國內工業。

但政府和行業專家表示，中國零部件的禁令迫使製造商從其他地方採購零部件，從而提高了本地製造軍用無人機的成本。

總部位於班加羅爾的印度軍方小型無人機供應商 NewSpace Research and Technologies 的創始人 Sameer Joshi 表示，供應鏈中 70% 的商品是中國製造的。

他說: “所以，如果我問一個波蘭人，他都會擁有通過中國進口的零部件” 。

Joshi表示，轉向非中國管道極大地推高了成本，並補充說，一些製造商仍在從中國進口材料，但會 “對其進行白標，並將成本控制在該框架內”。

技術差距

印度在零部件和整個系統方面都依賴外國製造商，因為它缺乏製造某些類型無人機的專業知識。

國營航空發展機構 (ADE) 主任 Y. Dilip 表示，政府資助的本土中高度長距航行無人系統生產計劃至少推遲了五年。

Dilip 說，一個名為 Tapas 的平台已經滿足了大部分要求，但還需要進一步的工作來實現軍方的目標，即無人機可以達到 30,000 英尺的操作高度並在空中持續 24 小時。

他說: “我們主要受到引擎的限制” ，印度國內和國際製造的引擎都無法勝任這項工作。

除了預計本月開始軍事試驗的Tapas之外，ADE正在開發隱形無人平台和高空長航時平台，但這兩個平台都還需要數年時間。

為了填補這些空白，印度於 6 月宣布將以超過 30 億美元的價格從美國購買 31 架 MQ-9 無人機。

R.K. Narang 作為政府的 Manohar Parrikar 國防研究與分析所的無人機專家表示， “必須制定一致的國家戰略來填補技術空白” ，以提供商業上可行的產品。

財政部長 Nirmala Sitharaman 在 2 月份承諾，今年 2326 億盧比（28.3 億美元）的國防研發預算中的四分之一將用於私營企業。

儘管如此，Narang表示，印度大型私營企業在研發方面的投資很少。 Joshi表示，風險投資家避開軍事項目是因為交貨時間長，而且存在訂單可能無法落實的風險。

這位高級國防官員表示，印度需要接受更高的成本來促進國內製造業。

他說: “如果今天我從中國購買設備，但我說我想在印度製造，那麼成本將上升 50%” 。 “作為一個國家，我們需要做好準備幫助在本地建設生態系統。”

So, India tries to avoid their military drones from using Chinese components. The reality is that the cost will go up 50%. India officials hold the view that as a nation they need to be ready to help build a manufacturing system domestically. It is shocking to know that a supplier of small drones for India's military has said that 70% of goods in the supply chain are made in China.