A strategic engagement with the European Union

This article A strategic engagement with the European Union was published two weeks ago in the Edit Page of The Pioneer.
I am posting it now as Madame Florence Parly, French Defense Minister arrives in Delhi on an important two-day visit to India. She will meet her lady counterpart, Nirmala Sitharaman and the Prime Minister.
She is due to inauguate the new facilities of DRAL (Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited) with Anil Ambani (Reliance group) et Eric Trappier (Dassault Aviation).
The collaboration between Reliance and Dassault is part of the offset deal for the purchase of 36 Rafales.

Here is the link...

With Modi having developed an excellent rapport with Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, it would make economic and strategic sense for India to partner Europe. The Franco-German project can be a starter

It may not be possible to characterize the relations between France and India as ‘higher than the mountains, deeper than the ocean, sweeter than honey’; it may never go into such superlatives, but since the past 30 years the contacts have been based on ‘hard-rock’ foundation, formulated in the Strategic Partnership signed by President Chirac in Delhi in 1998. The contacts are based on mutual trust and a common vision of the world.
On May 15, Emmanuel Macron officially took over from President Hollande and the same day, he paid the traditional visit to the German Chancellor in Berlin; both leaders spoke of the importance of France–Germany relations for the European Union.
Between his investiture and his triumph in the legislative elections, the French President met the US President and hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin at the historic Palace of Versailles. Macron’s firm dealing in international issues could be seen for the first time, a radical change from the mild approach of his predecessor, the unpopular Francois Hollande.
On June 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a short visit to Paris to congratulate and acquaint himself with the new French President. The talks were mainly centered around the Paris Conference on Environment as President Donald Trump had just announced that the US was withdrawing from the Paris Accord.
The talks with the Indian Prime Minister at the Elysee Palace lasted two hours. It was more than an ice-breaking exercise as the Indian Prime Minister had especially come back from Moscow to meet Macron.
Speaking after the talks, Modi declared that the Paris climate deal reflects "our duty towards protecting the Mother Earth and our natural resources. For us, protection of environment is an article of faith."
In this short time, something ‘passed’ between the two men, laying a firmer basis for future relations.
During the second week of December, President Macron will pay his maiden visit to India. Apart from the Solar Alliance in which both countries have invested energies and resources, the project of Smart Cities, dear to Mr Modi, will be discussed and taken forward. France has already adopted three cities, Chandigarh, French Architect Le Corbusier’s township, Nagpur and Puducherry.
Macron’s visit is perhaps the opportunity to go a step further.
On July 13, a day before Bastille Day, during a press conference jointly addressed by the French President and the German Chancellor in Paris, the two nations announced their intention to cooperate for the development of a future combat aircraft, which could one day replace the Rafale of Dassault Aviations and the Eurofighter/Typhoon. Mr Macron spoke of ‘road maps’ for joint investment opportunities in 18 areas, including a fifth-generation fighter plane.
Mr Macron said: “It is a deep revolution — but we are not scared of revolutions when they are conducted in peaceful manner.”
The French President sees this venture as part of a broader integration of several European partners for the development, deployment and export of combat equipment.
Airbus Defence and Space, which works on the Eurofighter, welcomed the announcement “to jointly develop a next-generation fighter jet”. A communiqué added: “Strengthening the Franco-German axis will help to safeguard critically needed European defence capabilities in the future.”
Soon after the World War II, a man had a revolutionary proposal: to unite the enemies of yesterday, France and Germany, by bringing them to work together. Jean Monnet, the father of Europe wrote: “the course of events must be altered. To do this, men’s attitudes must be changed. Words are not enough.” Monnet thought that since both Germany and France had to rebuild their industry, it was bound to revive the old rivalry. Monnet’s idea was to reverse the problem — what had been the seed of war must become the seed of unity — his proposal was therefore to create a high authority which could manage the resources in coal and steel for both nations. This was hhe embryo of the European Economic Community (EEC) and later the European Union.
Monet was a visionary; the world will be lead by multi-nation collaboration in the future. Take the example of the UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) developed by Dassault Aviation of France as the prime contractor, as demonstrated this. The nEUROn drone project perfectly reflects the original European ‘spirit’ though ironically, Germany is not directly associated. Six European countries have decided to build an UCAV as a technology demonstrator.
This European programme has been designed to pool the skills and know-how of Alenia Aermacchi (Italy), Saab (Sweden), EADS-CASA (Spain), HAI (Greece), RUAG (Switzerland) and Thales (France) to produce the drone of the future.
With a length of 10 metres, a wingspan of 12.5 metres and an empty weight of five tonnes, the aircraft is powered by a Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour engine.
It was French President Jacques Chirac who unveiled the Dassault-led nEUROn project in June 2005; the project crossed a major milestone on December 2012 when the UCAV had its first successful flight from Istres airbase, near Marseille in South France.
Dassault Aviation is the master builder, responsible for the overall architecture and design, flight control system, global testing (static and flight), elements of stealth, final assembly, integration of systems and testing.
NEUROn is undoubtedly an extraordinary technological challenge for the European companies involved.
Why could not India be involved in such like high-tech projects with France (and also the EU)?
Let us come back to the development of a fifth-generation combat aircraft. India has tried to work with the Russians. The project is not doing well.
Franz-Stefan Gady wrote in The Diplomat: “India, Russia 5th Generation Fighter Jet Deal is Lost”: “The transfer of sensitive defence technology from Russia to India has been one of the most contentious issues between the two sides right from the start.”
Gady commented: “India wants a guarantee that it will be able to upgrade the fighter jet in the future without Russian support, which would require Moscow sharing source codes (sensitive computer code that controls the fighter jet’s various systems — the key to an aircraft’s electronic brains).”
Delays are said to have been caused because New Delhi and Moscow disagree on many fundamental aspects such as work and cost share, aircraft technology or numbers of aircraft to be ordered by India.
Though presently theoretical, a question, could be raised, why can’t India join the Germano-French project? While Europe may not require hundreds of fifth generation aircrafts in the decades to come, India will need hundreds of planes, having to cope with two fronts.
Mr Modi has developed an excellent rapport with Mr Macron and Ms Merkel; it would make economic and strategic sense for India to partner Europe. It could be good for the European industries as well, as they would get crucial financial support and a market.
It is worth thinking about such a far-away possibility; it could be a win-win deal for India too as Delhi would be involved in the project from the conception.

Time for India to wake up

The Times of India reported  that A.K. Antony, the Indian Defense minister had urged the Army to go on  a 'fast-track' for the "China border projects".
The daily stated that 'in view of the current security scenario', the minister reviewed the development of new infrastructure including airfields along the China border in the northeast.
A K Antony asked the military top brass to go beyond the expected schedules for completion of the projects.
The meeting to review infrastructure development on the northeast border was attended by the Chiefs of the Army and IAF, the Defence Secretary, the chief of BRO (Border Roads Organisation) and other senior officials, .

In the meantime China is furthering its advance in other domains.
On November 23, 2012, China Military Online reported the launch of high-altitude drones and the undertaking of patrolling-and-inspection tests
The Chinese site says:

Three drones of different types conducted their final test on November 21, 2012 in Hoh Xil, a high-altitude and frigid area in west China's Qinghai province [Amdo province of Tibet] which marked the full completion of the one-month-long flight tests for the  'Applicability study on drone patrolling-and-inspection in high-altitude area' at altitudes between 2,800 and 4,767 meters above sea level.
The drone patrolling-and-inspection flight in high-altitude area is a worldwide problem. The researchers have successively carried out the applicability study on high-altitude patrolling-and-inspection by unmanned helicopters and unmanned fixed-wing airplanes as well as the impact study on drone patrolling-and-inspection under high-altitude weather conditions such as low temperature and sandy wind since March 8, 2012.
The researchers conducted tests for a total of 10 types of unmanned plane platforms with different power, different aerodynamic structure and different taking-off and landing mode in such places in Qinghai province as Wushaoling, Jinyintan, Qinghai Lake, Riyue Mountain, Laji Mountain, Xidatan and Hoh Xil respectively since the end of October in 2012.

A few days earlier, an article in Bloomberg affirmed: "China Drone Maker Expects to Double Sales on Islands Dispute":

China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp., the nation’s biggest maker of non-military drones, expects to double unmanned aerial vehicles sales next year as sovereignty disputes spur government orders.
The country intends to increase monitoring at sea amid a row with Japan about the ownership of islands in the East China Sea, Huang Xingdong, deputy head of CASIC’s drone-making arm, said in a Nov. 13 interview at the Zhuhai airshow. The state- owned company signed an agreement to supply an undisclosed number of drones to an oceanic agency at the expo.
“The government is attaching greater importance to ocean intelligence gathering as the islands disputes heat up,” Huang said. He declined to give an exact sales forecast. The company also makes missiles and parts for China’s space program.
Aviation Industry Corp. of China, the nation’s largest aerospace company, separately debuted the armed Wing Loong UAV at the show, as China translates economic growth into increasing military might. The country, the biggest spender on defense after the U.S., began sailing its first aircraft carrier this year and it’s working on more sophisticated fighter jets, naval vessels and cyberwarfare technology
CASIC showcased six civilian and military drones at the Zhuhai show, and unveiled a new brand name, Hiwing, which means Sea Hawker in Chinese. Its UAVs can fly as fast as 700 kilometers per hour (435 miles per hour) and carry as much as 130 kilograms (287 pounds).
The company sold several dozen UAVs in the past few years, with prices ranging from less than 1 million yuan ($160,000) to about 10 million yuan, Huang said. The local non-military UAV market may eventually grow to as big as several billion yuan a year, he said. He didn’t give an estimate for defense sales.
‘Upward Cycle’
The China drone market is not big, but it’s starting an upward cycle,” Huang said. The company also announced an order from a government surveying agency at the show.
The dispute over East China Sea islands caused China’s relations with Japan to reach their lowest since at least 2005 in September. Demonstrators marched in cities across China and attacked Japanese businesses after Japan’s government bought the islands from a private owner.

In April, Xinhua had mentioned that drones had completed military mapping missions in NW China
The Communist regime mouthpiece said: "An unmanned Chinese military drone recently completed its first digital mapping mission near north China's Helan mountain, capturing high-definition imaging data during more than five consecutive hours of aerial photography."
Adding:

Conducted by the Lanzhou Military Area Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), the mission marked the first time for such type of unmanned drone to be used for military mapping purposes, military sources said Wednesday.
The success of the mission marks the Chinese military's creation of a drone-based emergency mapping support mechanism in north China, said Zhang Zhiyuan, the mission's field commander.
The unmanned Chinese military drone recently completed its first digital mapping mission near north China's Helan mountain [Alashan Mountains in Mongolian], capturing high-definition imaging data during more than five consecutive hours of aerial photography.

Western Tibet (Ngari Prefecture), on the Himachal/Ladakh border also comes under the Lanzhou Military Region.
And I do not mention that China has successfully conducted flight landing on its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning. A new J-15 fighter jet was used as part of the landing exercise.
In the meantime, DRDO is building revolutionary eco-friendly toilets.
It is time for India to wake up.