Indian Defence Review

Though present dispensation has utilized the available meager resources quiet diligently-achieving far more in much less. Lest we lose sight, it would be very much in context to mention about the presentation made by Vice Chief, Lt Gen Sharad Chand to Parliamentary Committee last year. In which, he had expressed an urgent need for a defence budget, which is pegged at 2 to 2.5% of the GDP, flagging major criticalities in face of the threat perception from China and Pakistan. This is essential for rapid modernization of India’s armed forces under the prevailing security threat.

In the first 5 year term of the UPA, economy was upswing and the military purchases appeared to be on a fast track. Many big-ticket acquisitions were being processed. Naval maritime patrol aircraft P8 Poseidon, C-130 medium lift transport aircrafts and a $4.1 billion contract for 10 strategic lift aircrafts, all from the US, marked a paradigm shift, challenging the decades old Russian dominance of the inventory. India also signed a $760 million deal for 12 VVIP helicopters for the Indian Air Force (IAF) for replacing the Russian Mi 17s.

Defence scandals surfaced soon orrather, simultaneously. Starting with the Adarsh Housing scam, Sukhna land case and many others, finally ending at the Chopper Gate scandal. All this combined with a sliding economy in their second term, the defence modernisation was eclipsed by policy paralysis and decision-making. A hope generated in the first term had reached the ultimate of absolute hopelessness by the end of 2013.

India’s defence modernisation plans had crumbled into a mess. The final nail was driven in by the Augusta Westland scandal,it spelled doom for the already struggling armed forces, gasping for modernisation. Key suppliers such as Rheinmetall, Rolls-Royce and Finmeccanica were blocked from dealing in India. They were ‘black listed’ under the principle for firms, suspected of corruption, going by the clauses of Defence Procurement Policy 2013.

The only major defence deals sealed by the previous government in its final lap, was a contract, to equip the IAF with Pilatus PC-7 MKII basic trainers in 2012, And another to upgrade the aging Mirage 2000 fighter fleet. One of which we saw crashing at HAL Bangalore during the acceptance trials, killing both the two IAF pilots on Feb 01, 2019.

As the decision-making came to a standstill, challenging issues were kept pending for months and finally taken off the agenda. The apathy of defence minister towards his own armed forces had led international companies to scale down their operations in India. The BAE Systems were treading carefully on expanding their footprint in India while the Textron (Bell) and Sikorsky had shifted their focus on to the civilian market. European giant AirBus, had downsized their operations while the Rheinmetall shop was shut.

One of the renowned defence analyst at that point and time had said, “The chronic ‘Antony delay’ in decision-making, as some in the forces call it, together with a falling rupee and rising inflation has meant that India’s pending military modernisation projects are today worth more than $35 billion. Many of these projects are stuck in their final stages, and several are not expected to make it due to the severe funds crunch the NDA Government cannot overcome in a hurry. These range from critical artillery for the mountain strike corps coming up on the China border to aerial equipment crucial to maintain a conventional edge and undersea capabilities.”

Indian defence spending had come down to an all-time low during the final years of UPA. India was one of the lowest spenders on her defence,hovering at a four decade low of 1,74 percent of the GDP. This was the lowest in more than four decades.

In May 2014, soon after forming of the new government, a visibly exasperated defence cum Finance minister, Arun Jaitley had remarked that it remained to be seen “how many bills are pending and how much we can do” before any action could be taken. He, ruled out a quick-fix solution in the form of a jump in budgetary support. “As the base of the economy expands, even a lesser percentage (of GDP) may increase the amount. Whatever amounts are necessary, our endeavour in due course is to make them available,” Jaitley said.

Months after the new Government came to power in May 2014, many modernisation plans remained in a disarray. Before setting off for building India’s defence capabilities and capacity, a systematic restructuring and overhaul of various fundamental policies was an urgent requirement.

Besides policy decisions, the new regime had to take tough calls on projects stuck in the pipeline. One such call was cancelling of the deal for 197 light choppers for Army. The deal was hanging for almost four years as the UPA had put it on hold following allegations of irregularities. Another major decision taken by the new regime was to eliminate HAL from an air force project to replace its Avro transport aircraft fleet.

In an effort to strengthen and widen the overall framework, in a landmark decision, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) under the Chairmanship of the Minister of Defence, Mr Arun Jaitley, on 20 May 2017, finalised the broad contours of a policy aimed at engaging the Indian private sector in the manufacture of high-tech defence equipment in India.

The policy, which was developed through extensive stakeholder consultations with Indian industry, envisages the establishment of long-term strategic partnerships with qualified Indian industry majors through a transparent and competitive process wherein the Indian industry partners would tie up with global OEMs to seek technology transfers and manufacturing know-how to set up domestic manufacturing infrastructure and supply chains.

The policy was to give a boost to the ‘Make in India’ policy in the Defence sector and set Indian industry on the path to acquiring cutting-edge capabilities which will contribute to the building of self-reliance in the vital national security sector.

This policy is to be implemented in a few selected segments to begin with, namely, fighter aircraft, submarines and armoured vehicles.

If we recall the then Army Chief General VK Singh’s famous letter to PM, Mr Manmohan Singh of May 2012. He had highlighted critical shortages in ammunition amongst other deficiencies in war fighting equipment. The dire straits situation could well be gauged by the fact that army just had enough ammunition to fight a battle for not more then 2.5 days at intense rate.

Apart from the policy and decision making paralysis, bureaucratic and procedural hurdles were a major reason that had led to such critical deficiencies in ammunition. The beleaguered armed forces were empowered by the current dispensation to procure emergency stocks of ammunition and spares to ensure that they could undertake at least 10 days of intense fighting if operations had to be undertaken with our potential adversaries at short notice. Though the existing policy lays down 30: 30 concept which requires the nation to have ammunition stocks equivalent to 30 days intense rates and 30 days normal rates of expenditure, yet the stocks were allowed to drop to such dangerous levels.

To further have a robust set of fundamentals in place, the defence minister, Mr Manohar Parrikar on March 28, 2016 unveiled the new Defence Procurement Policy (DPP-2016). It aimed to ensure transparency, fast track acquisition process and give a push to the Make-in-India initiative. The new DPP introduced a new category to acquire weapons – IDDM (Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured). The IDDM is the first preferred category of preference designed to boost the Make-in-India dream.

These fundamental changes and reforms had now set the tone of defence modernisation in right direction. The present government approved contract for 15 Chinook heavy lift choppers and the deal for 22 Apache attack helicopters was also done under government to government deal with the USA.

In a major inter-governmental deal, in January 2016, India confirmed an order of 36 Rafale jets with France. Under this deal, Dassault and its main partners – engine-maker Safran and electronic systems-maker Thales – will share some technology with DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and some private sector companies and HAL under the offsets clause.

The twin-engine Rafale combat jet is designed from the beginning as a multi-role fighter for air-to-air and air-to-ground attack is nuclear-capable and its on-board Electronic Warfare (EW) systems can also perform reconnaissance and radar jamming roles.

As part of its new policy focus on promoting modernisation projects that entail production and development in India, the Government approved procurement of 118 Indian-built Arjun tanks at a cost of Rs 6,700 crore. Defence minister, cleared a Rs 900 crore project to purchase 40 Arjun 130-mm Catapult systems, self-propelled artillery that the Army needs badly.

The Army too was preparing to go the Navy model. A fully indigenous manufacturing with foreign assistance if needed-when it comes to purchasing new guns. About 4,000 artillery guns are expected to be bought in the next decade. The plan now was to ensure that all future procurements will be made only from Indian companies, many of whom have acquired technology from across the world by buying out patents and even entire production plants.

Dhanush artillery gun system was that case in point. Dhanush 155 MM/45 calibre gun is based on the 1980’s Bofors FH-77B/39 Calibre artillery gun design and aided by the transfer of technology (ToT) clause signed in the 1980’s with the Swedish company. It has an effective range of 38 km as against the 27-km range of the original Bofors. It has a system to auto-correct any variations in ammunition and atmospheric pressures. The gunner has a high resolution sight besides an infrared sight. Its electronics suite enables real-time adjustments for moving and static targets. Mysteriously the designs obtained under ToT agreement were left time lapse obsolesce.

Dhanush as an artillery system has proved to be one of the best amongst its class. A 45 Calibre towed gun system capable of targeting at long ranges incorporating autonomous laying features and having one of the most sophisticated suites of electronic and computing systems in the world. The weapon has got maximum range greater than 8 to 10 Kms in comparison to the existing in-service 155mm x 39 Cal Bofors Guns with better accuracy. It can fire all types of ammunition available with Indian Army.

Another shining example could be the India’s first fully integrated Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) which will be ready for user trials by later this year. It is being developed under public private partnership with Pune based Kalyani Group. 

While most of the deals signed such as the 145, M777, 155mm Howitzers, Kamov ka-226 helicopters, Apache (Attack Helicopters) AH ID, and EADS CASA C-295 Transport Aircraft, are under the category ‘Buy and Make’ category. This involved initial procurement of limited quantity in fully formed state, followed by indigenous production through Transfer of Technology (ToT). However the time frame for realization of these equipment would vary from 05 to 10 years once the initial deliveries start. Long delay as it may appear but the silver lining is that the process has thus begun.

By the end of their 5 years in government, the NDA government has inked 187 contracts involving Rs 2.40 lakh crore with foreign and domestics firms for procurement of various military platforms and equipment in the last four years.   Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha in Jan 2019, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said 119 contracts involving Rs 1.62 lakh crore have been signed with Indian vendors while 68 procurement deals worth Rs 1.24 lakh crore have been signed with foreign vendors.

The value of total contracts signed in the last four years comes to Rs 2.40 lakh crore. He said the expenditure on capital acquisition in 2014-15 was Rs 65,862 crore while the figures for 2015-16 and 2016-17 were Rs 62,235 crore and Rs 68,252 crore respectively.

Today as India stands formed up for the next general election of 2019, a wide range of weaponry is either inducted or lined up for induction in to the armed forces.

The Army in Nov 2018, received the first batch of M777 American Ultra-Light Howitzer and the K9 Vajra-T, the 155mm/52 calibre self-propelled gun system.

In a major move, ministry of defence has cleared the long pending proposal of the Army to procure around 73,000 Sig Sauer assault rifles from US under the fast track mode for over 700 crores.

In a bid to provide more firepower to its infantry units against enemy tank regiments, the Indian Army is planning to buy more than 3,000 Milan 2T anti-tank guided missiles from France in a deal likely to be worth over Rs 1,000 crore.   The Navy which currently has 48 ships under construction on various shipyards across the nation – is set to become a 200 ship navy by 2027. At present, the Navy operates 137 combatants with new ships being added at a rate of 4-5 a year.

In a major boost to its underwater capabilities, India commissioned it’s first indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant armed with 12 K-15 missiles having a range of 750 kms. The Navy in addition is to build at least six new SSNs (nuclear attack submarines). India has also signed a $950 million contract with Russia for two upgraded Kirivak III-class stealth frigates involving rupee-rouble transaction.

On the Jan 31, government formally decided that the long-pending project to construct six new-generation conventional stealth submarines will be executed under the “strategic partnership (SP)” model, with an Indian shipyard collaborating with a foreign collaborator under the overall “Make in India” policy.   Dubbed as the “mother of all underwater deals” it will cost at least Rs 50,000 crore. The submarine project called “Project-75 India (P-75I)” was first approved by the defence ministry in November 2007 but had been languishing in general politico-bureaucratic apathy, files and committees ever since. This is the second project to be executed under the SP model after the nod was given to the Rs 21,000 crore project to build 111 twin-engine naval light utility choppers in August 2018.

Today the Indian Air Force is all geared up for receiving the much awaited and needed Rafale fighter jets. The first fighter jet is likely to make a touch down on Indian soil in September 2019. The IAF has a total of 31 squadrons as against the sanctioned 42.

As per the present Air Chief, BS Dhanoa, even 42 squadrons are insufficient to match Pakistan and China together. The Indian government is trying to bolster the dwindling fighter strength by the purchase of 36 Rafale and five S-400 air defence systems.

The first batch of US-built heavy-lift Chinook helicopters and Apache attack helicopters will be delivered to the Indian armed forces in March, moving India’s military capacity and capability to the next level. The first of the Chinook helicopters are already bound for Mundra port in Gujarat from US defence contractor Boeing in containers and expected to arrive shortly. India has spent $3 billion on 15 Chinook and 22 Apache attack helicopters, with the option to buy six more Apaches.

Apart from acquiring weapons and equipment, India has finalised an exclusive Rs 5,650-crore military infrastructure development plan spread over 10 years for the strategically located Andaman and Nicobar archipelago — which will allow stationing of additional warships, aircraft, drones, missile batteries and infantry soldiers there — against the backdrop of China’s rapidly expanding footprint in the Indian Ocean region- a strategic underpinning.   This 10-year infrastructure “roll-on” plan for the Andaman and Nicobar Command, which is the country’s only theatre command with assets and manpower of the Army, Navy, IAF and Coast Guard under one operational commander, has been formulated after prolonged top-level discussions in the defence establishment. 

Notwithstanding various delays that have occurred during the previous regime, what is reassuring is that the Ministry of Defence has started working and reacting to the Services requirements ending the risk averse Antony era lethargy.

The functioning of the Defence Ministry has been scam free so far. Though the opposition is crying hoarse about some corruption in Rafale deal, however so far the allegations remain unsubstantiated and unconvincing.

The current dispensation has certainly brought in more dynamism in the defence sector with faster decision making, but this advantages will be lost if we allow the situation to drift as was the case during the previous regime.

This caution comes naturally, since the budgetary allocations for defence falls far short of meeting the legitimate aspirations of the armed forces still. This year a total of 3.05 lakh crores were allocated for defence as against 2,95 lakh crores in the last FY 18-19. Though this accounts for an increase of 3.39 % over the previous FY. Pitching it at roughly 1.64 % of the projected GDP.

Though present dispensation has utilized the available meager resources quiet diligently-achieving far more in much less. Lest we lose sight, it would be very much in context to mention about the presentation made by Vice Chief, Lt Gen Sharad Chand to Parliamentary Committee last year. In which, he had expressed an urgent need for a defence budget, which is pegged at 2 to 2.5% of the GDP, flagging major criticalities in face of the threat perception from China and Pakistan. This is essential for rapid modernization of India’s armed forces under the prevailing security threat.

India sincerely hopes, what Mr Arun Jaitley had said at the beginning, proves true- “As the base of the economy expands, even a lesser percentage (of GDP) may increase the amount”. In that same sincerity, whichever party forms the government post general elections of 2019, hopefully the process of modernaisation now set-in is not derailed but rather strengthen.