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Round the States
Sentinels Of Coastline: SMALL MARINE FORCE FOR BIG JOB, by B.K. Mathur, 26 March 2007 |
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Defence Notes
New Delhi, 26 March 2007
Sentinels Of Coastline
SMALL MARINE FORCE FOR BIG JOB
By B.K. Mathur
Increasing threat from the sea is
now receiving New Delhi’s
attention. It is well reflected in Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s recent
statements in Parliament and outside. He has talked about the urgent need to
strengthen India’s
Coast Guard to tackle the latest recent infiltration efforts by the militants.
Those trying to sneak in to India
from the sea route are not only the militants from Pakistan
but also Sri Lanka’s
LTTE cadres. A number of them have reportedly been found in Tamil Nadu and
Kerala. Antony
has also talked in Port Blair the other day about the need to bolster Andaman
and Nicobar security.
He has indicated
threats posed to the region by China
and the terrorists.China’s
fast-growing footprints in the Indian Ocean about which Antony has talked is known for long. So also
the need to strengthen military infrastructure and force levels of unified
theatre command in the region. Equally urgent for national defence is the need
to give the much required boost to the country’s young armed force, the Coast
Guard which has not received the attention it required all these 29 years it
has been in existence, considering its duties to safeguard India’s long
coastline. Happily, attention has now turned to the sentinels of the coastline
especially, because of the tightened security of our land borders and the
infiltration attempts from the sea.
About the Unified Command which Antony indicated at Port
Blair the other day another time. First the need to strengthen the Coast Guard.
Believe it, this marine force is one organization which could earn more than
what it spends, given the fact that the constabulary in a way was thought of in
the 1970s to protect massive sea
wealth and living and non-living resources in about 28.5 million sq. km. of
Exclusive Economic Zone, extending upto 200 miles into the sea. India
has been known for long for smuggling of gold and silver and its sea fish
potential of about four million tonnes per year. If all this massive wealth is protected, the entire force could
not only be financed but much of the collections could be utilized in national
development.
The task of the force is all the
more enormous in view of the prevailing security environment, especially the
latest terror threat from the sea. In fact, the geo-strategic situation of India, the international maritime legislation,
the U.N. law of the Sea and the Law of the Sea Convention have made India’s
position vulnerable politically, because we have island territories far away
from the mainland. India’s major interest has thus not been covered by
international laws, giving rise to a complexity of legal rights and duties, the
magnitude of which can be understood by the fact that the country has the
largest Economic Zone and a Continental Shelf upto 350 miles from the coast in
the Bay of Bengal and 300 miles in the Arabian Sea. The area has to be
protected by the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard also has the
challenging responsibility of facing along with the Navy the ever-growing
threats to the peace and security of the country. At present the potential
threat is from Pakistan
which has been strengthening its Naval force since 1971. Moreover, Islamabad is gradually
changing its strategy. Earlier, its sea force was dependent on its air force
for any Naval operation. But now it is a real blue-water Navy, giving rise to
the urgency for the Indian defence planners to draw up the maritime boundaries
with Pakistan
and other neighbouring countries. Several times in the past Pakistan boats have been captured
with explosives being smuggled for militancy. Lately, the Pak-trained militants
too have started entering India.
This requires a considerable
increase in the Coast Guard’s firepower and equipment to become a fighting
force in the sea, rather than the constabulary. All these years since it was
constituted in 1978, the force has not received its due. In early 1980s a
five-year Coast Guard Development Plan (CGDP) was worked out by the Government
for 1985-1990. But it could not be formally approved due to the acute crunch
the country faced. The acquisition proposals were on a piece-meal basis and the
amount sanctioned for the purpose was restricted to just Rs.518.88 crore. Then
again in the CGDP for 1990-95 was recast to 1992-97 in line with the national
five-year plan owing to severe resource crunch, leading to a two-year plan holiday.
The same treatment to the Coast
Guard has continued since then. For the 1992-97 plan, a projection was made for
Rs.2286.92 crore, but ultimately it was approved for only Rs.1223 crore. This
reduction has led to drastic cuts in the initially projected force level
required for the massive
responsibilities of the force. The CGDP for 1997-2002 was initially projected
for Rs.3277 crore. But it was finally approved for Rs.1850 crore. The result?
Much required machinery, fighter boats, observation posts, hovercraft,
helicopters etc could not be acquired and the constabulary continued to operate
with obsolete machines and manpower under the control and command of the Indian
Navy. The force by itself has never been
equal to its task all these 29 years of its existence.
The Coast Guard continues to be a
small force. The last figure that I have is that it is a force of just 5440
uniformed personnel---633 Officers, 4560 enrolled personnel including 82
Officers and 145 personnel from the Navy and other Defence Services on
deputation. The situation is so despite the fact that the force is taking on
the ever-increasing responsibilities in protecting the national interests in
the maritime zone. At present, about 70 per cent of these personnel are serving
at sea or manning the front line Squadrons to operate its 65 ships and 44
aircraft. Indeed, this is an excellent tooth to tail ratio by any standard. But
this does not make the maritime force fully equipped to meet its challenging
task. It has to be fighting force and sort of a “second line” of defence for
the Navy at the time of its operation on sea.
More than 200-year-old Coast
Guard forces in Britain and America,
both great Naval powers in the world, are one hundred per cent fighting forces
in those two countries. They can be deployed as fully combatant Navies in times
of need. Doubtlessly, India
cannot afford to have a parallel Navy. In fact, a lot more is required to
strengthen the Indian Navy itself. But the requirements of the Coast Guard too
need to be commensurate with its task. The force is also important for the
Navy, which could not be expected to be fully effective without a policing
force.
The strengthening of the Coast
Guard with modern sophisticated machinery and fully-trained manpower of the
force’s own automatically strengthens the Navy. When the fighting Navy prepares
itself for a sea battle, the sentinels of the maritime zone keep an effective
vigil on the vast coastline India
has. They are a force which ensures India’s interests on sea adequately
protected. The young Coast Guard of India has a long way to go in men,
equipment and experience before it can rely on its own inherent strength. It
requires as much attention as any other military or para-military organization.
Remember, the country’s safety lies on the sea also, especially in the present
day context when the sea terror has raised its ugly head. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Unplanned Exercise: MORE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY, by B.K. Mathur, 12 March 2007 |
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Defence Notes
New Delhi, 12 March 2007
Unplanned Exercise
MORE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
By B.K. Mathur
Routinely the Union Finance
Minister has provided more funds for defence in his budget proposals for
2007-08, like the annual increments the armed forces have been getting for
decades without adequate expert planning and programming. A provision of Rs.96,000
crore has been made with a commitment, again routinely, that “any additional
requirement for the security of the nation will be provided.” The allocation is Rs.7,000 crore more than
initially provided for the current fiscal. Considering the revised estimate, it
should be Rs.10,000 crore increase in view of the Ministry’s failure to utilize
Rs.3,000 crore, a trend which has become a regular annual feature in view of
bad defence planning in regard to modernization efforts.
The budgetary allocation for the
coming financial year includes Rs.41,922 for capital outlay and Rs.37,458 for
revenue expenditure (day-to-day expenditure) as against Rs.89,000 crore and
34,458 crore respectively initially earmarked for the current fiscal. This means that India’s defence spending will
continue to hover around 2.5 per cent of the GDP against the experts’ defence
demand of 3 per cent. There is always a demand for more and more to spend, even
if you can’t do it. But the most important point is that India’s defence spending continues to be less than that of immediate neighbours Pakistan and China, which have been spending
around 4.5 per cent of their GDPs. But of greater concern is that the
modernization plans will continue to go on in its typically slow manner,
leading to failure to spend what has been allocated for the purpose.
Why does this recurring ghost of
unspent funds continue to haunt India’s
arms modernization programme? Failure of the Defence Ministry to improve its
procurement procedures which continue to be faulty despite thoughtful
recommendations of the Group of Ministers (GoM) after the Kargil operation in
1999. In fact, if one goes by the “committed liabilities” of the Defence
Ministry towards procurement of weapons and weapon systems, a major chunk of
the capital outlay of Rs.41,922 crore proposed for the next fiscal should go in
terms of installments towards big deals for armaments signed in recent years. Most
of these deals took a long time to finalise, resulting in cost escalations and
failure to fully utilize the allotted funds.
These deals include the French
Scorpene submarine project costing Rs.18,798 crore, the Russian Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier deal for the
Navy for Rs.6,900 crore, Rs.,8,000-crore British Hawk deal and the Israel
Phalcon AWACS deal costing Rs.5,000 crore. The Army too has projected a plan
for its artillery modernization at a cost of Rs.8,000 to 10,000 crore. Besides
these, the Defence Ministry should be finalising soon its other proposals, including
the Indian Air Force’s urgent requirement for fighter aircraft. It is more than
one year since the Government had agreed in principle for the procurement of
126 fighter aircraft to replace the earlier outdated versions of the MiG
aircraft. Informal offers have already been made by different producers, but
lack of planning, not funds, is mainly responsible for the delay.
In fact, successive Finance Ministers have followed faulty budgeting
system for the armed forces all these years. In a well-researched write-up, a
retired Colonel, P.K. Vasudeva, states: the “system should ensure that the
right amount is spent on defence in the light of the pattern on national
priorities and the right military capabilities are developed in the light of
the structure of security priorities… the defence budget, in short, must be
seen not only in terms of what we must defend ourselves against but what we
have to defend… Once the tasks are defined, the question of building up the
capabilities to perform them follows by formulation of plans for specific
programmes.
“If the scarce resources are to
be spent efficiently for defence the budget has to be the vehicle for
implementing the programmes so planned.
This has not been possible in
Indiassions and objectives”.
as defence budgets are drawn up in terms of inputs (amounts spent on
acquisition of arms, personnel etc) and not programmes designed to enable the
defence to meet the tasks set for them. Equipment is acquired without taking
account of the personnel required to use them or their training. Budgets in
defence are focused heavily on “acquisition” rather than on building
capabilities. No such exercise has far been undertaken to ensure that the
budgetary provisions for the armed forces are based on their “mi
In an effort to ensure the objectives
and accountability, the concept of Planning Programming and Budgeting (PPB) was
introduced in the United
States during the 1960s. The UK too followed this method. But
subsequently it was found inadequate to link the military strategy with defence
budgeting. The concept of Quadrennial Defence Review (QDR) was then introduced
for a five-yearly comprehensive review of the force structure, modernization
plans and other elements of the military planning and programming for the next
20 years. Unfortunately, India’s
planners and financial advisers have failed to follow what the militarily
advanced countries like in US and the UK practise while planning budgets
for their armed forces.
In fact, it is necessary to have in place some institutional system for
budgeting for the armed forces, with much say of the Defence Ministry, which
presently does not have any decision-making authority for military budgeting.
The Financial Adviser (Defence Services) draws up the budget on the basis of
the projection of the three military Services in isolation after, of course,
bilateral discussions with the
Service Headquarters and the Finance Division. The allocation is routinely
decided on the basis of previous years, budget provisions and revised expenditure
towards the end of the financial year and ongoing programmes without even
caring the progress in those
programmes finalized without working out priorities.
Again, there is need to take note
of what happens in the UK before finalizing the annual budgetary allocations
for the armed forces on the basis of the QDR—the 20-year plan which, remember,
the late Jagjeevan Ram had thought of seriously as the Defence Minister but
failed to implement the idea because of vested interests which cared more for
personal gains rather than national interest. In Britain there is a Council, headed
by the Defence Minister. It takes all policy decisions in consultation with the
Service Chiefs and expert advisers on military strategies and force levels
required to execute the strategy and lay down policy framework as the main
guideline for working out the defence budget. We need to have such institutions
like a defence council or defence management board.
The long-planning concept for
defence budgeting, first proposed by the Plawden Committee of the UK, necessarily requires honest integration of the Service
headquarters with the Defence Ministry which has been suggested by various
experts and this column for years. A meaningful budget for the armed forces has
need to be prepared by a body, “committee or a council or whatever you name it,
comprising the Service Chiefs, Defence Secretary and the other Defence
departments under the Defence Minister. It is only this body which should take
decisions that alone should guide the budget-makes. Routine budgeting should
now stop in national interest.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Exploit Indigenous Expertise:LACUNAE IN DEFENCE PRODUCTION POLICY, by B.K. Mathur, 26 February 2007 |
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Defence Notes
New Delhi, 26 February 2007
Exploit Indigenous Expertise
LACUNAE IN DEFENCE PRODUCTION POLICY
By B.K. Mathur
It was extremely nice of
President Kalam to have a question-answer interaction with the middle-level Officers
of the armed forces at the Defence Services Staff
College, Wellington Equally welcome was that the President frankly
responded to questions on politics, diplomacy and economics beside, of course,
the defence issues. One of the
questions, which this column has been raising for decades, and time and again,
pertained to indigenous weapons designing and production. One Wing Commander
doing the Course rightly and concernedly observed that a weapon designed and
developed becomes obsolete before it is inducted into the Service. The
President, who is the Supreme Commander of the armed forces, was quick to react,
but evaded the truth which he knows best. over the last week-end.
The missile-man,
as we knew Kalam Sahib as the Chief of the Defence Ministry’s Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO) only gave the example of the indigenously-developed
BrahMos missile and stated that the
Organisation has been asked to suggest a vision for the weapon’s platform and
sensors at an affordable cost. As the history of the DRDO tells us, the young
scientists of the Organisation are capable of achieving the target given to
them in the required timeframe. They are the envy of the world for designing
and developing state-of-the-art weapons and weapon systems. The only problem is
their production, which led to the Wing Commander’s observation: By the time
the weapon is inducted into the force it becomes obsolete.
The DRDO’s contribution to the
country’s armed forces is well-known. The defence scientists and technicians have
been designing and developing over the years military machines and systems
comparable with the ones produced in the developed countries whose defence
industry is their main economic activity. But the problem, as noticed earlier,
invariably arises at the production stage, giving one the impression that the seven defence public sector
enterprises and 40 Ordnance factories across
the country lack the capability to produce the state-of-the-art machines and
systems. However, this is far from the truth. They have the capability and wherewithal
to produce the latest, as proved by their performances since 1962, after the
Chinese invasion and again after the Kargil confrontation in 1999.
The largest Departmentally-run
undertaking is presently meeting all the requirements of the armed forces and,
importantly, can be trusted to produce all that we prefer to import for reasons
other than quality and for creating defence scandals. The latest Ordnance
factory has the capacity to produce not only the ammunition for the Bofors gun
but also the capability to produce indigenously 155 mm. howitzer gun under
technology transfer agreement. Alas, our defence planners have preferred to get
the howitzers for the Indian Army from abroad. The production capability of
this factory includes that of the India’s main battle tank, the
controversial MBT-Arjun.
The history of the production of
the MBT-Arjun clearly highlights the snag, better call it tragedy of the
Government of India’s indigenous defence production policy that has caused
unpardonably long delays in such important machines like the Arjun, which was
initially named MBT-72, as it was expected to be produced in 1972, and the
light combat aircraft (LCA). The whole
trouble is about the absence of a well-considered military equipment policy.
Take, for example again, the story of the MBT. The Army first asked during the
1960s for a 1,000 hp power-pack (engine) and then revised it to 1500 hp,
perhaps without realizing that it takes nearly 15 years to design, develop and
produce such an engine. That is the reason why the Arjun tank is presently
being produced with an imported power-pack, causing delay and, importantly,
necessitating off-the-shelf
procurement from Russia of the
T-series tanks.
The result of such an ill-advised
policy causes not only undue delays and increasing uncertainly of indigenous
projects that leads to a rush for imports and, concernedly, the scandals and
corruption associated with defence
projects which, at times, causes import of even sub-standard or obsolete
machines at high costs, despite the fact that we have an indigenous production
capability which matches any other in the world. Not only that. This policy of
the vested interests and corrupt persons, has caused neglect of the Ordnance
factories’ expertise. Several of these factories have been crying for long
about the need for modernizing their outdated machines and updating marketing
technologies through which much foreign exchange could be earned through exports
of some of their produce.
In this context it is necessary to understand some facts about the defence
industry which make it quite different from the civil, profit-making industry.
First, a modern and sophisticated equipment has a large number of components
running into thousands, and that too of different heads like the electronic
ammunition, fire power and all that. What this leads to is that no one set of
scientists and technicians can possibly
look into the production of all the components. Importantly, no defence
production unit in the world, even in highly militarily advanced countries can
produce all the components under one roof---and one unit. It is economically
not viable. Interdependence is necessary
in the defence industry.
Some years ago this writer was
told in Bangalore, the hub of defence industry,
that an American defence production company was importing from India
certain small components for production of a highly-sophisticated gas-turbine
engine. This was later confirmed by Kalam Sahib, then Chief of the DRDO. The
explanation for this import was simple.
It was economic for the US
company to import that particular component from India or anywhere else, because it
was pointless to set up a special
production facility at high costs. But over a period of time the private sector
industry in the US
has grown and set up separate facilities for production of even the smallest of
components since the entire industry there is export-oriented and is a major
component of the national economy.
India’s civil industry could also
chip in and set up facilities which could not only be used at home but also exported.
The defence industry has been suffering considerably for decades due to massive imports of highly-sophisticated machinery. In
fact, India’s
defence forces became so much dependent on imports that not much effort was
made to indigenize production of even ordinary equipment. No doubt, the
industry has license-produced most of the machinery as per the Government
policy. But in that process it did
not concentrate much on the production of spares, leading to a major crisis for
India’s
armed forces.
Doubtless,
the crisis has always been caused by the Government’s ill-advised production
and import policies, which call for a fresh look, keeping in view the fact that
our scientists and technocrats are inferior to none in the world. If they are
given the required inputs and resources, sans the politics and the interests of
the file-pushers in the Government, they are capable of producing anything the
forces need. The practice of always running for imports could be eliminated and
the expertise available indigenously exploited without compromising on quality.
The only thing is to have the will and right direction of the defence
policy-makers.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Corps Of Signals: ARMY’S CENTRAL NERVE SYSTEM,By B.K. Mathur, 12 February 2007 |
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Defence Notes
New Delhi, 12 February 2007
Corps Of Signals
ARMY’S CENTRAL NERVE SYSTEM
By B.K. Mathur
The small but crucial arm of the
Indian Army, the Corps of Signals is celebrating its 96th
anniversary today, February 15. It is
fast growing to match the sophistication of military machines and changed
battle strategies. The Corps is now equipped with the latest equipments and
seems well on way to prepare itself for the present day military developments
in an era of not only satellite communications through electronics and
computerized gadgets but also for what is being increasingly described as Star
Wars. Most militarily advanced nations have placed their satellites to monitor
the happenings in the skies and the Indian Air Force (IAF) has also started talking
about to.
In the fast-changing concept of
modern warfare, one can win or lose without fighting a full-fledged
conventional battle on the ground. But, remember, one fundamental rule of the
war game remains unchanged from the time immemorial: need for a fighting force
of a perfect communication system in a war theatre of any kind, which includes
the present day’s missile and
counter-missile war scenario. That is
the responsibility of the Corps of Signals, rightly described as the central
nerve system, the slightest malfunctioning of which can paralyse the best of
military operation. The Signal units provide complete coordination and
electronic warfare support to the fighting forces and operational communication
for the Navy and the Air Force, which have now come to occupy a dominant role
in modern warfare.
Happily, the communication system
in India’s
armed forces has developed from time to time, thanks to the country’s young
scientists and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The
induction of the state-of-the-art communication systems in the armed forces,
like the AREN-Area grid system, have proved once more that India’s defence
scientists and technicians are not lagging behind anyone in the world, given,
of course, the required financial backing, which is invariably lacking more due
to bureaucratic hassles and bad
planning. Notwithstanding the handicaps, the continuous improvements in
transistors and integrated circuits have not only led to miniaturisation and
module construction, but also to the whole question in the field on electronics
and communication techniques.
This kind of developed system is
required because the field force now needs fully integrated and automated,
secure, reliable and high-speed communication in semi-nuclear or conventional
battlefield of the future. Remember, when sword was the main weapon of a
soldier on foot and a horse and a lance of a cavalry man, the system was quite
different. Today, when a conventional army operation involves a tank, automatic
firing systems and missiles,
supported by massive air operations,
information is required to travel much faster, through electronic equipments.
Even if an operation is on a battalion level in a far-flung border area, the
Army Headquarters at New Delhi
is required to have blow-by-blow account on “one-up one down” basis. In other
words, a message travelling step by
step.
The Indian Army in the past and
now has maintained a good standard of communication too. Looking at the equipment the Corps of Signals
has today and the R&D efforts made by the Defence Ministry’s Bharat
Electronics Ltd. (BEL), one is inclined to believe that India is way ahead of others in the
region. Once our own satellites which our scientists have been launching from
time to time are being fully used for our defence communication networks, India’s
information system in the armed forces in times of operations will doubtlessly be as competent as that of advanced countries.
The Army Signals made a humble
beginning on February 15,
1911 with the establishment of two Companies. At that time most of
the Signal Officers and tradesmen were British. It was only in 1933 as part of
a drive towards Indianisation that a Boys Company was raised at Jabalpur. The World War II
saw a large-scale expansion of the Signals and its greater Indianisation 0to
meet the manpower requirement. With India declaring itself a Republic
on January 26, 1950,
the Signals were designated as the Corps of Signals---and the process of equipping the Corps with modern equipment started
in earnest. After the Chinese aggression
in 1962, heavy demands fell on the Signals. The vintage war equipment was
replaced by more sophisticated and modern systems.
The Corps of Signals was perhaps
the first in India
to launch the introduction of electronic data processing. Way back in 1964, it stressed the importance of computers as an essential tool for operational and administrative
management in the day-to-day use. It was then realized that design-making and
processing massive
amount of information and data in an ever-shrinking time-frame can only be possible with efficient computer services backing at
all levels. The military Exchange at
present handles on an average about 5,000 calls daily and the Signals Centre
about 3,000 messages per days from
the Army Headquarters. That is in peace time.
Imagine, what the position will be in time of war. Added to this is the
painstaking job of enciphering and deciphering the messages.
The phenomenal increase in the
density of electronic, electrical and electro-magnetic devices and systems
which the armed forces are required to use in a confined geographical area are
bound to generate electro- magnetic interference (EMI). It could prove catastrophic, rendering the
complete system totally ineffective. In
fact, this is one of the major problems on which the Defence scientists are
increasingly engaged, as the systems are upgraded regularly. A project study on the subject had been
undertaken sometime back with considerable success
to ensure the vital electro-magnetic compatibility. This has become more
relevant in the present-day context as the concept of warfare now is bound to extend from land,
air and sea to the dimension of electro-magnetic space. This is challenge
number one for the Signalmen of the armed forces.
Indeed, the Corps of Signals has
kept pace with the revolutionary progress
made in the field of communication electronics the world over. But what about the men of the Corps, required
to use the new equipment and systems? The personnel of the Corps, particularly the tradesmen at the
lower levels, are not being “sophisticated” at the speed on which the equipment
is being modernized, despite the fact that the training institutions have
increased in number and some Officers are sent abroad regularly to upgrade
their knowledge. Taken as a whole, the
quality of intake in the Indian Army has of late gone down. But in technical
arms like the Signals, this setback is alarming.
What really is happening is that
the electronics being a new field, qualified youngmen are finding better
prospects in civil employment. And,
alarmingly, the Officers and men of the Corps of Signals rush to put in their
papers the moment rules allow them to do so, to be able to take up more
lucrative civil opportunities. There is an urgent need to put a stop to this
trend, realizing that no war---conventional, nuclear or semi-nuclear---can be
fought without a fool-proof communication system. The Signals have always been
the Indian Army’s plus point, from the times when pigeons were used to convey
messages to the present-day
gadgets. The tradition need to be
maintained even with the latest, modern systems of communication. Any lapse on
this front would mean a crisis situation in the armed forces.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Brothers In Arms: INDIA-RUSSIA STRATEGIC TIES, By B.K. Mathur, 23 Jan 07 |
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Defence Notes
New Delhi, 29 January 2007
Brothers In Arms
INDIA-RUSSIA STRATEGIC TIES
By B.K. Mathur
President Vladimir Putin’s visit
to India
last week has undoubtedly strengthened the long, dependable Indo-Russian strategic partnership. The continuing military
cooperation between the two countries at once reminds one of the year 1959 when
India began purchasing
Soviet military hardware, the process
for which was started four years earlier by Prime Minister Nehru’s visit to Moscow. Those were the
years when highly sophisticated military machines had begun to be produced in
developed countries. India needed them for strategic reasons and threats from the neighbours, but had
difficulty in outrightly purchasing them in view of the country’s low foreign
exchange levels.
The Soviet Union, now
disintegrated with Russia
continuing to be the main producer of state-of-the-art military machines, came
to India’s
rescue by selling its equipment against deferred rupee payments. That helped India
to procure supersonic aircraft of the MiG series, MiG-19, which the Indian Air
Force needed desperately after the Chinese invasion in 1962. Significantly, the
fighter jets were purchased not only on deferred rupee payment basis but also
on transfer of technology basis that facilitated their licensed production in India. The strategic partnership developed fast and
the Soviet machines began to be inducted into the Indian Navy in a big way,
which made the sea force a blue water Navy.
It showed its strength as the famous missile
boat attack off Karachi
proved in 1971.
That alarmed the Western powers,
especially the Americans who also offered their military machines to India.
These machines were definitely superior to those produced by the Soviet Union,
but India stuck to its relationship
with Moscow for
three reasons. One, the Soviets were dependable suppliers. Two, the payments
were made in rupees. Three, and most significantly, the machines were procured
on transfer of technology basis and later produced in India. In fact, Indira Gandhi as
the Prime Minister initially spurred all offers of highly-sophisticated
machines from the Western countries, mostly from America,
Britain and France,
without the transfer of technology. She relied on dependable friends in need
and opted even for inferior machines.
At present, things have
drastically changed. The market scenario has changed, India is high on foreign exchange
and, significantly, Western arms producers have started selling their military
machines and weapon systems without any conditions and with transfer of
technology. Each one of the military equipment producer is today hardselling
his machines. An open commercial competition is the order of the day, both for
the Western producers and the Russians.
The latter may have advantage of being long and dependable brothers in arms.
Nevertheless, where highly-expensive
machines are to be bought, the defence planners have need to consider all
things required for a good purchase in an open global market.
Today, the mighty producers of military
equipment, the Russian and American
defence industries are competing with each other globally. Both have made a strong pitch for their
latest state-of-the-art fighter planes to bag the Indian Air Force’s 6.5
billion dollar multirole combat aircraft. President Putin has tried to hardsell
Russia’s
latest MiG version, MiG-35 which has a stiff competition from the American F-16
and F/A 18, French Rafale, Swedes JAS-39 Gripen and the European Consortium’s
Typhoon. India has to make its choice and while doing so the defence planners
have only to keep in mind their friendship and cooperation with Russia in military technology, which the two countries
reiterated at the sixth meeting of the bilateral Inter-Governmental Commission during Putin’s visit.
At the same time, however, the
terms and conditions of all the offers need to be studied carefully and the
selection of military machines be made on merit. Whatever decision is taken must be done fast,
especially for the Indian Air Force’s demands. Presently, the combat Squadron
strength of the force is fast depleting and the IAF brass
is worried over the need to maintain its strategic strike capability and
fighting edge in the context of the threat posed from across the border. Pakistan’s
plan to acquire 30 latest F-16 fighters from the USChina’s decision to make
available to Pakistan
the Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS) along with most advanced fighter
aircraft is worrisome. Added to this is
the inordinate delay and uncertainties in the developmental schedule of India’s
fourth generation Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).
and
As it is, the Aeronautical
Development Agency (ADA) is saddled in its task to make the LCA operational
with the problem of qualifying the multi-mode radars (MMR) that hold the key to
its weaponisation. Also, the delay in the development of indigenous Kaveri
engine to replace the American-supplied GE-F404 engine has adversely affected
the LCA programme. It is now proposed to rope in foreign agencies to complete
both the weaponisation of the LCA and development and qualification of the
Kaveri engine. The proposal would further delay the programme. Already, more
time is expected to be taken in getting from Britain the Hawk advanced jet
trainer for which a deal has already been finalized at a cost higher than the
Price Negotiating Committee had fixed months ago.
Against such a bleak backdrop,
Chief of the Air Staff S.P. Tyagi has recently made a case for the fast track
procurement of 126 latest generation combat aircraft. He wrote to the Defence
Minister recently: “Unless steps are
taken to move ahead with the procurement, the IAF’s combat strength will
deplete to a level that may entirely neutralise the forces’ conventional
superiority over the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). Pakistan has planned to increase
its strength from the present 19 Squadrons to 26 Squadrons by 2011-12, while
the IAF could reduce it to 26.5 by 2015.”
As a matter of fact, the IAF’s proposal to buy 126 fighter planes was
intended to provide a stop gap arrangement until the availability of the LCA
Tejas and indigenously-produced SU-30-MKI by 2002.
All available indications are
that the procurement of the IAF’s demand for the 126 fighters would be a painfully
slow process. Even if the final Request For Proposal (RPF)
is issued now, it could take upto
two years to sign a contract, given the time taken for extensive trial
evaluation, laborious technical talks, prolonged contract bargain and ultimate
approval. It may take another two-three years for the first lot of the aircraft
finally selected and for the HAL to set up its assembly
lines. By the time the aircraft is selected and procured for induction into the
IAF, the technology of the aircraft would become old and obsolete, which has
all along been the tragedy of the Defence Ministry’s procurement programmes for
the armed forces.
Such a situation, fast developing
not only in the IAF but also the Army and the Navy, requires urgent attention
of the Defence planners. It is easy to welcome guests and even CEOs from the
militarily developed countries. President Putin’s two-day visit may have
strengthened the Indo-Russian
strategic cooperation and the joint development programmes between the two of
“hypersonic” BrahMos missiles and
the fifth generation fighter aircraft may well be greatly encouraging. At the
same time, however, the armed forces’ short-term needs must be looked into
fast, so that the combat readiness
of the forces does not suffer. Any delay on this front will be at the nation’s
peril. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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