Coast clear for navy’s Rs 393 crore Barak-I missile order

NEW DELHI: The closure of the infamous Barak kickbacks case will come as a big relief for the navy because it’s grappling with a shortage of missiles to arm the Israeli Barak-I anti-missile defence ( AMD) systems fitted on 14 frontline warships.

Sources on Tuesday said the Rs 393 crore procurement of an additional 262 Barak-I missiles, which successive navy chiefs have dubbed “a critical operational requirement” , is now “likely to be cleared” by the A K Antony-led defence acquisitions council (DAC) in its next meeting on December 23.

The navy has for long been sounding the alarm over its fast-depleting stock of missiles for the Barak-I AMD systems — which intercept hostile incoming seaskimming missiles at a 9-km range — that act as a defensive shield for aircraft carrier INS Viraat, the latest Shivalik stealth frigates and guided-missile destroyers.

India had ordered the first Barak system for INS Viraat in the late-1990 s to counter Pakistan’s acquisition of sea-skimming Exocet and Harpoon missiles. DRDO’s abject failure to develop the indigenous Trishul AMD system paved the way for further Barak orders after the 1999 Kargil conflict.

But in recent times, the navy was even forced to curtail the practice of firing of Barak systems due to the shortage of missiles. The defence ministry has kept the fresh Barak order on hold for five years now due to the pending CBI case, with “the three-volume thick file” doing the rounds as well as opinions being sought from the law ministry and the attorney general.

The attorney general, earlier this year, left it to the defence ministry to take a decision on the matter. The DAC in November had then referred the Barak acquisition case to “an independent group” for evaluation, with the caveat that “a final decision” would be taken within a month.

Interestingly enough, despite the CBI case of October 2006, the defence ministry refused to blacklist Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael on the ground that it would be “counter-productive” to national security. This was in sharp contrast to the blacklisting of other armament companies like the South African Denel, Singapore Technologies Kinetics, Rheinmetall Air Defence (Zurich ) and Corporation Defence of Russia for irregularities.