by Lt
Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd)
Over the last
few years India’s defense capability in the face of major internal and external
challenges has been seriously affected by two aspects. First, the inability to
keep pace with rapidly advancing defense technology the world over and second
the proven inefficiency to acquire its required wherewithal for war
fighting and training to keep its armed forces in a state of readiness.
The coming of Manohar Parrikar as India’s Defense Minister has led to some
degree of positivity because of his well-known efficiency and technological
background, being an IIT graduate. Before delving into analysis about the slew
of measures that the Modi government has taken thus far in the defense sector
it is good to clarify a few aspects for the common reader because the entire
process of equipping and modernizing armed forces anywhere in the world is a
complex exercise which is not easily understood by the public. The paralysis in
decision making with regard to procurement of weapons and equipment for the
armed forces which was witnessed in the last ten years has been the prime
reason for the Revolution in Military Affairs and Transformation virtually
bypassing India’s security apparatus. The armed forces work on a system of
perspective planning which has been in sync with Five Year plans and goes
further to incorporate what is termed as the Long Term Integrated Perspective
Plan stretching over fifteen years and keeping ongoing and subsequent Five Year
plans in perspective. This is because the acquisition process is slow and needs
advance appreciation of future requirements with sufficient time to analyze,
review, appropriate financial outlays as per availability and carry out
mid-course corrections. Acquisition can be from indigenous or external sources
depending on availability, suitability and matching of technological
requirements.
Defense
equipment being expensive needs to have a balanced dwell time in terms of
availability in service without it getting redundant too early. It also needs a
system whereby progressively advancing technology can be incorporated for
upgrades of existing equipment, supply chain of spares even as some equipment
gets obsolete but remains useable, and assurance of availability of future
modern equipment developed and fielded by armed forces of advanced countries.
This is all necessary to ensure that the inventory is not too diversified by
frequent acquisition from diverse sources. There is always the problem of
status of politico diplomatic relations with nations of potential supply
sources. China has a flourishing defense industry but quite obviously the state
of relations between India and China does not allow Indian access to this
source. The toss-up between the United States and Russia is a perennial issue
because India zealously guards its strategic independence which is an objective
for dilution by nations of the developed world. Much also depends on the
state of the economy of the world or of the broad region (such as West or East
Europe) from where the equipment is proposed to be sourced. A weak economic
situation may provide opportunities to negotiate deals more robustly. A simple
equation to understand this is the fact that sale of 150 F-15 jets to Kuwait
provided 6000 jobs within the US defense industry for a period of five years. A
major consideration is the state of technology indigenously available.
Extremely high end technology, which is necessary in some systems to retain an
edge on adversaries or at least match that available with them, may not be
available indigenously. This forces us to resort to purchase off the shelf,
sometimes at exorbitant cost. The necessity of indigenous research plays a
major role and India’s research facilities and the scientific community is
perceived to have achieved lesser than desired capability. The indigenous Nag
Anti-Tank Missile for example, has been under development since the last twenty
five years without fruition. The quality of metallurgy in the country has
prevented us from manufacturing long range artillery guns forcing the Indian
army to do without the much required replacement or add on to the Bofors 155 mm
Howtizers, last acquired in 1987.
The last issue
which plays a major role in the field of defense procurement is the procedure
itself. India adopts five modes of acquisition as per the procedure;
Buy(Indian), Buy & Make(Indian), Make(Indian), Buy & Make (Global
and Indian), Buy(Global). The emphasis, however, remains on indigenization. The
financial outlay being huge there is intense competition in some categories
while very little in others where sources are restricted by availability of
desired technology. To secure deals, kickbacks or facilitation money is the
norm worldwide in the defense industry. India’s unfortunate experience in this,
going back to the Bofors contract and some others has been a major obstacle in
the procurement procedure.
How exactly
does the arrival of Manohar Parrikar augur positively for this field which has
held back the modernization process and put us at relative disadvantage? The
analysis must take into account that the current government correctly
identified defense procurement as a major issue staring at it in the face. The
PM took his time to identify a potentially efficient Defense Minister and in
the interim placed the MoD and the Finance Ministry under the most experienced
Union Minister, Arun Jaitley. Sources within the Army privately admitted that
it was a refreshing change with the user end and the finances both being under
a single head. The grounds were therefore well prepared before the PM
identified Manohar Parrikar as the man to deliver. It is not easy to grasp the
intricacies of defense modernization even for a military professional but it is
to Parrikar’s credit that his managerial skills facilitate his decision making
and risk taking capabilities, both of which are crucial in this mission. He has
ensured that only tweaking the procedure and not whole scale changes are
necessary, thus saving crucial time. The single most important aspect of
indigenization, under the ‘Make in India’ slogan, is being given its due
importance even as the realization is there that this route will be a very long
one and therefore it is necessary to Buy (Global) and Buy and Make in India
under contract to balance the two. While the DRDO may be perceived to have
failed in indigenous delivery there is enough scope in some sectors to renew
support to it and give it the necessary muscle. The apparent decision to
manufacture rotary wing equipment indigenously while encouraging India’s well
known business houses to enter this field is obviously a sound one with the
PM’s full backing. The creation of a Skill Development Ministry is with the
idea of developing necessary technical manpower to support this ambitious aim.
"As far
as new acquisitions are concerned, of Rs.75,000 crore cleared by the DAC
(Defence Acquisition Council), Rs.65,000 crore is for Buy (Indian) and Buy and
Make (Indian) categories", stated the Defense Minister clearly delineating
the priority. However, the realization of this decision will need to be
robustly backed up by skilled labor and technology. The very first decision to
buy Rs 15,750 Cr worth of 814 artillery guns with the first 100 guns being
purchased off the shelf meets the desired balance. Two other crucial decisions
by the Defense Minister point towards his constantly revealing understanding.
First is the decision to legalize the use of defense agents an aspect permitted
but with little procedural transparency. This will facilitate information,
negotiations, trials and pricing in a more transparent and legal way; all of
which was earlier done with all kinds of middle men with no control. It will
also introduce a greater level of transparency on profit margins and margin
money. The second important decision in the making is the partial lifting of
ban on tainted companies whose apparent misdemeanors are under investigation.
This will open up at least the supply chain of spares of crucial equipment such
as Tatra trucks. It will also be a major change in the procurement environment
where companies use unethical means to get back on their competitors who may
have secured contracts.
Defense
procurement remains a veritable minefield but possibly in seven months the new
government has come a long way in providing some positive strokes to a very
negative environment. Manohar Parrikar has the temperament to
master the system but needs time to root out one of the most inefficient
systems in India’s security set up. He needs to be fully supported in his
mission.
On express
request from Dainik Bhaskar I write quite often for this paper and it is
translated into Hindi. This is a novel way of allowing thoughts on defence and
security reaching the non English reading public. Dainik Bhaskar has 50
editions in 11 states and I get back more feedback from this route than from
the English reading public.
Ata Hasnain (Retd)
This article was written for Army Day. In Hindi it can be found at
The Gen has made it look like a process problem. it is not. Is a motivation problem. There is NO pressure on the politician to modernise defence forces. Those in service hardly speak any more than in very measured tones. Those outside the service do occasionally chip in but who cares for them? Most ex-chiefs go on TV saying that the nation need not worry; we'll fight with what we have. The Navy Chief, though, did resign in disgust. As for the public, they just couldn't care for anything but the sensex and the price of onions.
ReplyDeleteNo amount of streamlining defence procurement will result in full proof total security that a modern army focuses on but those days of direct tests of strength against strength are no longer there and replaced by a war of terrors wherein the strongest of modern armies are in panic and feel insecure. Nuclear India should rethink about procuring fifth generation weaponry when personal weaponry and equipment including bullet proof jackets are not not available for
ReplyDeletethe men behind the machinery. The days of testing strength against strength are over , these are the days of the thousand cuts that must be considered as the most modern strategy and to be adopted to survive