Transforming the Indian Defence Sector into a Formidable Fighting Force

[Zarvan]

Over the years, the Indian Army, IAF and the Navy has modernized to modify itself into a formidable force to reckon with. These have been primarily done by adding more teeth to the 3 armed forces through means of acquisitions. Let’s take a glance:

Indian Navy

For Navy, most of their ships during the initial years – 1950-1980.. were of foreign origin. Destroyers were Hunt Class and Q & R class from the UK, River Class and Blackwood Class frigates (UK), Black Swan Class (UK). Talking of the corvettes, the scenario was no different as the leading Arnala Class and Drug class were all Soviet Projects. These cover a long span of several decades. But what is interesting to see that a largely dependent navy transformed into a largely independent navy by the 1st decade of 21st century. This did not happen suddenly. Existence of numerous indigenous naval shipyards were the key to success which had started building indigenous support ships before venturing into bigshot projects. They absorbed the technology over time, competition provided the urge of timely delivery, quality which was well accepted by the Indian Navy.

For the Army and specially the IAF, the picture is not so bright. While the explosives, shells and mortars are mostly made by the 41 ordinance factories, recovery, assist and utility vehicles by some indigenous companies, the artillery is still mostly imported along with obviously most of the air defence systems and related equipment. Similar problems plague the small arms sector as well as the combat vehicles section. The long history of foreign procurement is still eagerly followed by the army in various sectors. Thankfully, the technology denial forced the Indian defence planners in the ministry and army towards concentrating on an independent missile development which is one of the most successful being IGMDP. 25 years and India had most of the missiles required to achieve a meaningful progress.

Now let's take a look at the IAF.

If one analyses the arsenal of the most powerful air force in South Asia – a grim picture reveals itself. The Su-30 MKI, the Mig-29, 27, 21, Jaguar, Mirage are all foreign procurements. So are the C-17, C-130J, II-76, II-78, EMB-145 AWECS.. and so on. All literally. Except the helicopter sector, India has no extensive base to develop these weapons by itself. This is something to worry about. An air force which is so heavily dependent on other countries lies at the risk of its ability being limited by its suppliers during prolonged conflict.

However, there lies a different problem, a far more grave one. How much money has India spent on these acquisitions and how many times did these machines go to war? With India yet to go global, the possibility of foreign military missions is still far less. The only threats to India lie from Pakistan and China. Lets analyse these threats. These threats are the basis on which defence companies run. A successful defence industry consists of not only excellent facilities, scientists and management but also an apt political leadership which acts as a means to "sell" these threats of invasion and loss of influence amidst aspiring countries. These are actively promoted by state patronized media and bureaucracy. Nasty political moves create all the necessary conditions for neighbors to be at head-to-head with each other thus in turn pushing big ticket defence deals through. Nothing dissimilar has happened with India.

Western nations view defence as a sector contributing to its GDP rather than "essential to maintain its superiority" – that comes automatically by the industrial base. China is effectively taking a step towards this and India desparately needs to.

How many private industries manufacture extensively in defence ? None.

Although we belong to a nation that has excellent pvt manufacturing industries like TATA, Reliance, Mahindra, L&T, Godrej, Bajaj, Aditya-Birla group, Bharat Forge, BHEL etc., most of them had so long been miles away from the defence sector, while a few were partially involved in very few projects. These companies would definitely like to increase their revenue in a new sector, while it holds the promises of competition and given their brand value, renders a confidence of quality and timely delivery. Although some moves have already been taken, still huge problems remain. Indian Companies protested recently about the limitations on sectors imposed upon them. Acquiring lands and swift completion of tenders are another problem, the govt needs to get rid off all the hurdles at once and patronize them towards manufacture of defence weapons.

The defence sector holds the promise of boosting exports thus in turn contributing greatly to our GDP. Foreign acquisition and denying /sabotaging indigenous projects is a limbo and ends up getting countries caught up in a complex loop from where one can't escape.

It's now time to decide by our policy makers whether or not to expedite the process of privatization of defence. The time is ripe for our defence abilities and the defence sector of India to hopefully undergo a massive transformation or will India miss another golden age and maybe the last opportunity that will deny India glory forever.

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This article was first published on Defence, Indian Defence, Indian Armed Forces, Defence News, India Defence News, Indian Defence News, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, US Defense News, UK Defence News, World Defence News 12:19 pm 28th Oct 2015
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Article written by Arya Bhatta exclusively for Defence, Indian Defence, Indian Armed Forces, Defence News, India Defence News, Indian Defence News, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, US Defense News, UK Defence News, World Defence News
Class 11 Mumbai, India
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Defence News, Transforming the Indian Defence Sector into a Formidable Fighting Force