Days after a defeat in the Indian Army’s multi-billion contest for very short range air defence systems (VSHORADS), Sweden’s Saab indicates today that it would contemplate knocking on the door of Indian courts, an option available to it as part of the country’s defence procurement procedure.
Saab’s Asia-Pacific head Dean Rosenfield said today in Bangkok, “We are evaluating the loss in the VSHORADS program, and evaluating a legal challenge that remains one of the options.”
Russia’s KBM Igla-S was named L1 (lowest compliant bidder) on November 19 in a hugely protracted evaluation process beating Saab’s RBS-70NG and MBDA’s Mistral. The Indian Army is looking for 800 twin launchers and 5,000 missiles to plug tactical air defence gaps at forward establishments near the country’s frontier areas.
Saab CEO was in Delhi this week, where the company’s defeat is almost certain to have come up in a meeting with Indian defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Indian MoD is said to have so far communicated that processes have been followed, though questions remain.
As with all protests of this kind, Saab will need to evaluate the potential efficacy of taking the Indian MoD to court. The VSHORADS evaluation process has been a troubled one to say the least, though there is no historical indication that courtroom wrangling with the MoD has ever yielded a favourable result. On the other hand, for an obviously problematic process, a hands-off approach could simply validate liberties that seen frequently to be taken with India’s Defence Procurement Procedure. Saab will have to consider all of this before it takes a decision.
”Reality certainly hits home, and it’s a reminder that it’s not all roses. But we have 60 days to decide if we wish to pursue this legally,” Rosenfield said.
Saab, which fields the Gripen E in India’s recently kicked-off contest to buy and build 114 fighters in country, will evaluate the legal route on the back of a series of letters both protesting the VSHORADS decision as well as seeking greater clarity on how Russia’s Igla-S — a system that didn’t participate in every trial round — was deemed compliant with the process and not disqualified. The defeat came months after another disappointment for Saab — when India pulled the plug on the army’s SRSAM procurement program, a three-way contest between Saab’s BAMSE, Israel’s SpyDer and Russia’s Tor-M2KM.
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