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Time for an indigenous arms industry

Hindustani78

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Time for an indigenous arms industry - The Hindu
Updated: June 19, 2015 11:22 IST


Even as the security environment has deteriorated, India has not managed to escape the exorbitant arms import trap.

Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and U.S. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter signed the 10-year Defence Trade and Technology Initiative in early June, to extend defence cooperation between the two countries. The move has been hailed as “path-breaking”, but in reality the agreements on joint technology development are far below expectations. In fact, to expect any country to share cutting-edge defence technology would be gross naivety. As the Narendra Modi government enters its second year, it’s time to map the challenges facing it in the defence sector.

There is no choice for India but to go Indian. Results will only flow if cogent policies drive decision-making, even as field work continues. With 250 million people on either side of the poverty line, the defence budget has rarely crossed 2 per cent of the GDP, and it is doubtful if it ever will. To make optimal use of the scarce money, the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) task is cut out along two avenues: operational and administrative.

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Operationally, two basic issues require immediate consideration. First, the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) has to be urgently revamped, to address the “hollowness” of the forces (as one Chief put it). Second, the Defence Offsets Management Wing (DOMW) must be strengthened immediately. Even as the security environment has palpably deteriorated, the defence acquisition process has failed to get India out of the arms import trap.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation’s efforts have been embarrassingly poor. The reality is that India will continue to import for the next two decades. These frightfully expensive acquisitions need leveraging through the DPP and DOMW to ramp up Research and Development and manufacturing capabilities. The phrase ‘in war there is no prize for runner-up’ might be a cliché but unfortunately never truer, as ‘victory’ and ‘defeat’ have acquired new definitions. Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan have shown that these terms have a contextual hue, and considering that India’s future wars will be short and sharp, time and intensity are also keyfactors.



State of arms
India's acquisition process must enable an indigenous defence manufacturing base that delivers on quality, timeliness of supply, and capacity


1 India has the third-largest armed force in the world.
2 India is one of the largest importers of conventional defence equipment and spends about 40 per cent of its defence budget on capital acquisitions.
3 About 60 per cent of its defence requirements are met through imports.
4 The allocation for defence in the last budge was approximately Rs. 2.4 lakh crore.
5 In 2015, the budgetary allocation for defence was Rs. 2.6 lakh crore, an increase of over 7 per cent.
Our defence procurements need to address these complexities, and if a confrontation drags on, the nation must have the ‘strategic depth’ of a continuous supply chain, which only an indigenous arms industry can ensure. So, India’s acquisition process must become the enabler of an indigenous defence manufacturing base that delivers on quality, timeliness and capacity.

Achilles heel

India’s acquisition hierarchy, however, has an Achilles heel in the absence of a structure that ‘owns’ the acquisition process. Thus, targets, responsibility and accountability cannot be fixed. The Department of Defence Production, Director-General (Acquisition), and the MoD are amorphous behemoths; no responsibility can be pinned on any one of them.

What happens elsewhere? The U.S. set up a Defence Acquisition Corps when it realised that its acquisition system had been “managed and over-reformed into impotence with volumes of oversight regulations,” as a defence historian put it. Doesn’t that sound familiar? The U.K. ensures continuity, and hence accountability, through an integral civil services permanent cadre in its MoD. India has deputationists and part-timers who come and go from any Ministry, with no attachment to the ‘spirit of indigenisation’.

Any reform of the DPP has to start with the creation of an entity that ‘owns’ the acquisition process. This entity should have officers of all departments influencing defence indigenisation and must work under one head, who will oversee the process of drafting policy and implementation. The careers of personnel in this organisation should swim or sink with the progress of defence indigenisation. Naysayers just need to look at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to understand that creating such an entity is possible.

DOMW augmentation

The immediate reform of the DOMW is the second major requirement. With offsets still a norm, the nation has paid at least 10 to 15 per cent more in each contract as a cost of offsets. The 36 Rafales that are coming from France have a $4 billion offset estimate, while the total estimate in the next decade could reach $100 billion! To manage such massive amounts, there are only 10 people manning the DOMW today. The staff needs to be immediately expanded and must be given a fixed tenure of at least five years. In parallel, training in defence acquisition needs to be institutionalised through the upcoming National Defence University.

Pride in uniform is the mantra that gives the armed forces josh. It’s time this lost sheen was restored to them. In its second year in office, the government must work on the administrative aspects of defence building. The nation expects the armed forces to deliver everywhere. Surely, the government can respond with correct pay, housing and ‘one rank one pension’ policies?

(Manmohan Bahadur, a retired Air Vice-Marshal, is a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi).
 
Unless private companies are given greater freedom and opportunity then the sorry state of affairs in Indian arms manufacturing will remain. 30+ years to build a tank, 30+ years to build an aircraft, not a single artillery gun produced or inducted since late 80s, cannot even manufacture a decent infantry rifle, cannot make modern weapons or military equipment without foreign assistance and transfer-of-technology. These are the hallmark of sarkari offices in India.

Private sector works on merit and quality. Bring in the private sector and watch Indian defence industry bloom like never before. Public sector Companies that have unlimited funding without having a deadline to show results will never be motivated enough. Competition brings success.
 
Unless private companies are given greater freedom and opportunity then the sorry state of affairs in Indian arms manufacturing will remain. 30+ years to build a tank, 30+ years to build an aircraft, not a single produced or inducted since late 80s, cannot even manufacture a decent infantry rifle, cannot make modern weapons or military equipment without foreign assistance and transfer-of-technology. These are the hallmark of sarkari offices in India.

Private sector works on merit and quality. Bring in the private sector and watch Indian defence industry bloom like never before. Public sector Companies that have unlimited funding without having a deadline to show results will never be motivated enough. Competition brings success.

Vijayanta was the first indigenous tank of Indian Army which were produced from 1965-1983, HAL HF-24 Marut was produced from the 60's, DRDO made INSAS Rifles are in used by the Indian Army.

Indian Ordnance Factories do produce modern weapons and military equipment.

SUB MACHINE GUN CARBINE 9 mm 1A1
ter.gif

8--Sa91a1c.jpg

Rifle 5.56 mm INSAS (Fixed Butt)
ter.gif

11--Sa5.56rf.jpg

5.56 mm Assault Rifle (Fixed Butt)
10--Sa5.56a.jpg

12.7 mm AIR DEFENCE GUN
add_33.jpg

AMOGH 5.56mm CARBINE
add_31.jpg

RIFLE EXCALIBUR 5.56 MM
23-RIFLE-EXCALIBUR-5.56MM.jpg
 
81mm LONG RANGE MORTAR
4_81mmlrm.jpg


14.5 MM SUB CALIBRE DEVICE
2--G14.5mm.jpg

Multi Grenade Launcher 40 mm
7-mgl.jpg

AK 630 Gun
add_34.jpg


84mm RCL MK-II
1--G84rcl.jpg

EQUIPMENT 106 mm RCL GUN
2--G106RCL.jpg

METAMORPHOSIS 155 mm GUN
ter.gif

4_155metamor.jpg
 
KAVACH MOD-II CHAFF ROCKET LAUNCHER
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155 mm Shell HE 107
29--cl155he107.jpg

155-mm HE-ER (High-Explosive Extended-Range) base-bleed projectile
40-155-HE_ER-BB.jpg


MINE PROTECTED VEHICLE
5--veh_mmpv.jpg

STALLION 7.5 / 5 TON MK-III,
4 X 4
(BS - II EMISSION NORMS COMPLIANT)


1_new.jpg

ter.gif
ARJUN - MAIN BATTLE TANK
add_2.jpg
 
Vijayanta was the first indigenous tank of Indian Army which were produced from 1965-1983, HAL HF-24 Marut was produced from the 60's, DRDO made INSAS Rifles are in used by the Indian Army.

Indian Ordnance Factories do produce modern weapons and military equipment.

SUB MACHINE GUN CARBINE 9 mm 1A1
ter.gif

8--Sa91a1c.jpg

Rifle 5.56 mm INSAS (Fixed Butt)
ter.gif

11--Sa5.56rf.jpg

5.56 mm Assault Rifle (Fixed Butt)
10--Sa5.56a.jpg

12.7 mm AIR DEFENCE GUN
add_33.jpg

AMOGH 5.56mm CARBINE
add_31.jpg

RIFLE EXCALIBUR 5.56 MM
23-RIFLE-EXCALIBUR-5.56MM.jpg

The vast majority of stuff you just posted were designed abroad... and a Sterling SMG is not modern. It was designed when the British army was fighting Hitlers army -_-
 
The vast majority of stuff you just posted were designed abroad... and a Sterling SMG is not modern. It was designed when the British army was fighting Hitlers army -_-

All these military equipment are being produced inside India . List is too long . I have just post from the state owned ordnance factories.

There are 41 Ordnance Factories and 8 Public Sector Undertakings of the Ministry of Defence: HAL, BEL, BEML, BDL, MDL, GSL, GRSE, Midhani.

India’s ‘military industrial complex’ also includes 140 private armament companies and 5000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) involved in production of around 450 items
 
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All these military equipment are being produced inside India . List is too long . I have just post from the state owned ordnance factories.

Bhai Hindustani, Koon si city mea ho Lithuania mea ? I visit LT almost every month , khabi Hindustani BIDI aur butter chicken ho tho hume jarur bula lena :P
 
And I didnt refute that.

The point is that most of them are not designed by Indian companies and many of them are pretty outdated as well.

Weapons are based on the same technology and in India everything is being produced.

We make from needle till atom bomb, satellites, radars, rockets and manned orbiter vehicles.
 
It will take India at least another 30 years to have an arms industry that might be called “60-70% indigenous”。
 

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