Indian finance minister’s proposals for the defense sector show bright days ahead (May 2020)

If only, the finance minister’s economic stimulus package will be remembered in future, then it will be remembered for her defence sector reform announcements she made in the capacity of not the 'defense minister' but the 'finance minister'. In her announcements, she freed the Indian forces from the clutches of the Babus sitting in the air-conditioned room planning for the defence equipment purchases for those who will be fighting at the battlefront using the equipment.

Agatha Christie had written in her book, ‘ABC Murders’: “What you do not see and what I do not see, stands a volume between that”. In the course of this long-form article, we are going to rewrite this quote and represent it in the context of today’s Indian Defence conditions. But first, let’s go through a few stories, the real ones.

December 9th, 1971, three Indian ships, all of them were Interceptors were sent to intercept the advance of Pakistani Submarine Ghanghor. One such Indian ship was, INS Khukhri, commanded by Capt. Mahendra Nath Mulla. When INS Khukhri went into the Arabian Sea to find out the location of the Pakistani Submarine and to intercept it, the SONAR (the device which is responsible for finding the submarine) of the INS Khukhri was not working. The INS Khukhri was hit by the torpedo, fired by Ghanghor. Despite the ship being hit by the torpedo, Capt. Mahendra Nath Mulla decided not to leave the ship. Instead, he stayed in the ship to make sure that all his naval soldiers leave the ship safely. He took the ‘Jal Samadhi’, only to get immortal.

May 26th, 1999. Flight Lieutenant Nachiketa was flying MIG-25 in Kargil region. The MIG-25, requires a high supply of oxygen from the surroundings to continue the fire rounds of bullets. In the Himalayas, this much amount of oxygen was not possible. As a result, engine crashed and he landed up in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. After diplomatic pressure, Flight Lieutenant Nachiketa was returned to India after 8 days.

February 27th, 2019. Wing Commander Abhinandan was intercepting a 5th Generation fighter jet plane, F-16, with his 2nd generation MIG-21 Bison. What happened, we all know.

Question is, what is the common denominator in all of the above-mentioned events? It was the obsolete quality of the Indian fighting equipment against far more superior equipment. These were only three such incidences. Otherwise, in almost all such interactions, it was the skills of Indian army men, which not only saved them but won India wars. But how long will we keep risking our men’s lives? Who is responsible for the risks they face today?

The answer is - the procurement policy of the Indian Government. Now you might think that the quality standards of the Indian procurement of defence equipment are low, but it is just the opposite. In fact, the quality standards are that high that the Defence Minister, Manohar Parriker had once remarked that the Indian Defence procurement requirements are similar to Marvel Comics.

If we rewrite the Agatha Christie’s quote in the context of the Defence Procurement Policy of the Government, then it can be written as: “what can be delivered and what you desire, a volume is missed in between”.

The high-quality standards which are set by the Indian officers for the procurements of the defence equipment, are neither feasible to the Indian manufacturers of defence equipment (all of which are government-owned companies) nor they can be easily fulfilled by the foreign defence manufacturing companies. What is then done is, the Government of India, invites bids from the foreign manufacturers for the defence equipment needs of the Indian armed forces. The round of bureaucratic process continues to delay the delivery of the equipment. 

The most recent example is of Rafale fighter jets, whose procurement policy was kicked off in the year 2003, and not one of the fighter jet has landed in India yet. During this time, one of our very dear neighbours had developed almost 6 new squadrons of its air force, many of which were composed of only 5th generation fighter jets. If somebody asks the question that, ‘how many 5th generation jets do we have? not the squadron but the jets? The answer would have been zero, as of May 2020.

Therefore, it was absolutely necessary to ease and relax the quality requirements for the defence procurements, to at least start the procurement. At the present juncture, it is sad to say, but is correct that our army is not well equipped to deal with strategic situations if ever the situation commanded to be so. How the policy announcements can bring a paradigm change in the defence procurement policy is the question. 

First of all, it should not be seen as a stand-alone policy decision. In the line of reforms, several policy decisions were announced in the last few years. One such was taken in December last year, when the Indian Air Force decided to dismantle one of its MIG squadrons, which will be replaced by a new squadron with newer fighter jets. One might be amazed that these jets were operational in India since 1970s. No other country in the world, yes, no other country in the world use this much old fighter jets for its army. And we, the country aims to be a superpower, are using these.

Another important decision taken by the Government was the creation of the Department of Military Affairs, which was not headed by a Civil Servant, but by Chief of Defence Staff, who shall be responsible for the procurements related policies. This was a paradigm shift. The government shifted the decision-making calls from the civilian bureaucracy to the military personnel, who are much better equipped to make decisions on such issues. 

Not that the IAS Officers were incompetent, but they feared, and still fear 4Cs – Courts, CVC, CAG and CBI, while they are making any decision. Their policy decisions may be practical to the current requirements, but if those decisions are not in conformity with the pre-decided government protocols and procedures (which most of them are rudimentary and deserve to be placed in the dustbin) the officers are always subjected to the litigation process.

The fear they share is genuine, therefore it was necessary that the Quality Requirements, which were set by the government, need to relaxed and should be readjusted keeping in mind current requirements and practical situations. A boy walking barefoot never has the luxury to choose what kind of shoe he wants to wear. Such is the situation of the Indian defence forces. We cannot afford to be choosy when we don't have anything to serve our present-day purposes. Otherwise, our defence manufacturing industries will continue to manufacture only that equipment which were approved by the Government in 1960s. 

It is important that we understand today that we don’t need to be the best to start, but to be the best, we need to start. The policy changes in the defence sector are encouraging signs, and only these changes can attract the much needed FDI in the defence sector, which we desire at the moment. Already, establishment of two Defence Corridors has been announced, one in Uttar Pradesh and another in Tamil Nadu, it will be worth to see how far can we march in this direction. 

Credits: Shubham Rajput