Defence
Notes
New Delhi, 31 October 2018
Defence Modernisation
TRANSPARENCY, ASTUTENESS VITAL
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
Restructuring of the Indian
Army is being planned in phases and it is understood that its strength
(including that of support staff) is proposed to be reduced by 1.5 lakh or 1.5
per cent. The reason for such restructuring has been the report of a Government-appointed
committee that recommended making the army a “lean and powerful machine” which
means more automation through modernisation. Recently, the Army Commanders’
Conference discussed these issues under the chairmanship of Army Chief General
Bipin Rawat.
Our whole outlook in
various matters is to follow the Western countries and in this case also a
similar strategy is to be adopted. But the situation in India is different and
a high level of automation and modernisation may entail a high degree of
expenditure and strain our resources. On the other hand, ‘rightsizing’ to some
extent may be necessary as it would help using the resources for arms
procurement. The balance has to be brought about and according to reliable
sources such ‘rightsizing’ may save anything between Rs 5000 to Rs7000 crores
in revenue expenditure.
No doubt, the procurement
of sophisticated arms is necessary and the money saved could help the issue. In
fact, this March, the Army Vice Chief deposed before a Parliamentary panel and
pointed out that the army “neither has enough money nor does it have modern
firepower in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Jammu & Kashmir”.
Arms purchase for the
Armed forces -- Army, Air Force and Navy -- is definitely necessary keeping in
view the geopolitical situation of the country, but it is a fact too that big defence
manufacturers such as the US, Russia and France have been putting pressure on
India to buy their weaponry. While accepting the need to modernise our forces,
such purchase, strictly as per requirement, and the price factor have to be
kept in mind. As is well known, kickbacks in defence deals should be avoided so
that the weapons are available at the best price, the negotiations should be
judicious and transparent.
The Rafale deal has
kicked up a controversy for escalation in prices, compared to what the UPA
government had negotiated, and also due to selection of a new Ambani company as
the partner of Dassault Aviation, the French manufacturer of these fighter
planes. The enhanced price has quite reasonably generated a debate as also the
fact why the vastly experienced Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) was ignored
and a relatively new company without any experience made the partner company in
India.
Apart from this, a
$5.2 billion deal has been finalised during President Putin’s recent visit to
India for purchase of S-400 from Russia. It is understood that this is a
versatile system with four different missiles -- the very long range 40 N6(400
km) series, which is ready for deployment, the 48 N6 (250 km) series, the 9M96
(120 km) and the short range 9M96E(40 km). India has an old association with
Russian anti-aircraft missiles and their associated radar systems. Moreover, to
get the Americans on board there is fresh defence contracts worth $10 billion,
including a $8 billion deal to buy 100 stripped down versions of Avenger drones
and a $2 billion deal to buy MHp60 Romeo multi-role helicopters.
It goes without
saying that India’s air dominance is vital for deterrence and stability in
South Asia and for preserving the strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific region.
Though IAF’s requirement for 42 squadrons -- some 750 aircraft – may be on the
higher side, at least 50 per cent of the figure may be necessary as per defence
sources.
Though there is no
need to compare India with China in matters of defence modernisation, the army
has been somewhat handicapped due to lack of modern gadgets and arms A July
2017 report of the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) revealed that almost
40 per cent of the stockpile in September 2016 would not even last for 10 days.
It cannot be denied that the soldiers are desperately in need of
state-of-the-art machinery, combat uniforms and equipment.
The most important
thing that comes up here is how far India had advanced in building up its
indigenous manufacture of weapons. INS Vikramaditya was supposed to be
supplemented this year or next, by India’s first indigenously built aircraft
carrier, but this has been pushed back considerably. The problem arises from
disagreements about the type of aircraft carrier to be built.
Even regarding the
Rafale deal the original proposal was acquisition of 126 combat jets, 108 to be
made in India and the rest bought off the shelf, to beef up IAF’s depleting
fleet strength with the help of Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA). But
this has not happened and the present acquisition of 36 Rafale fighters at a
much higher price is far from judicious.
Though this year’s
defence budget has been increased by 7.81 per cent to Rs 2.96 crores, this may
not be enough if indigenous efforts are not seriously explored without any
further delay. Moreover, tie-ups with international arms manufacturers, who are
ready to set up units in the country and collaborate with HAL, Garden Reach
Shipbuilders & Engineers or any other such country -- whether in the public
or private sector -- may be explored.
Thus, it is indeed
quite distressing that ‘Make in India’ as regards the defence sector has not
been accomplished. The failure in this regard has been a big economic loss to
the country as, at one time, there were plans to set up units which could
export small and medium arms and defence equipment to developing countries in
Asia and Africa.
The question now is
not against defence modernisation but carrying out the same in a judicious
manner. For the army particularly, modern gadgets are vital to fight terrorism,
which is an ongoing problem, that has been resulting in hundreds of deaths in
encounters, specially in J&K. This cannot be allowed to happen and the
political leaders have to act with urgency in the matter. Financial resources
would continue to be a crucial issue in carrying out the modernisation as
development needs of an emerging economy are also equally vital.
As such, there is a need
to strike a balance in the matter. Equally important is to ensure the need to hard
bargaining in arriving at the right price for the weapons imported without
getting into controversies. Transparency in the matter is thus very much needed
but unfortunately this has not happened. The judiciary could possibly entertain
the pricing of imported arms so that corruption does not enter into
negotiations. The end result should be that purchase of defence equipment is
spared controversy of big money changing hands.---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
New Delhi
30 October 2018
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