The last one year has seen India’s military modernisation process slowly picking up pace in terms of clearances for critical military hardware, with an emphasis on ‘Make in India’. But the much-needed policy framework to provide direction for long-term military modernisation and build a domestic military-industrial complex still appear elusive. The implementation of the government’s election-time pitch of >‘One Rank, One Pension’ for military personnel too, while cleared in principle, has been delayed, and this has caused considerable anguish among ex-servicemen. The government’s single biggest decision on the military front pertains to the direct purchase of >36 Rafale fighter jets from France , which effectively scraps the long-delayed Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft contract for 126 fighter jets. Several long-held-up deals including those for Kamov utility helicopters, Avro aircraft replacement and artillery guns that have been identified as critical have been approved. In fact, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had personally intervened to clear the purchase of critical necessities such as snow boots and bulletproof vests for troops operating in high-altitude regions and involved in counterinsurgency operations. In all, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has cumulatively cleared deals worth over Rs.1,00,000 crore in the last one year. In another move with long-term operational and financial implications, the government has downsized the new mountain strike corps stationed on the border with China, pruning the numbers from 90,000 to 35,000, citing reasons of financial prudence.
While some of the decisions are final approvals leading to price negotiations, several are just clearances to initiate the procurement process. How soon the process can be concluded depends on an early streamlining of the Defence Procurement Policy (DPP). Also, with the government’s ‘Make in India’ mantra , the emphasis is on involving industry in a big way and creating a defence and aerospace ecosystem that would help reduce imports and move towards technological sovereignty. Towards that end, Mr. Parrikar has promised a major revision of the DPP and a separate policy for ‘Make in India’ — which are yet to materialise. This delay is causing disillusionment in several quarters, including in the private sector, which never had a level playing field in the defence sector, dominated as it is by public sector undertakings. Another critical aspect in developing domestic military capability involves reforming the defence R&D laboratories and production facilities. While a lot has been said on revamping and making accountable the public sector, the fact that the top R&D body, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has been without a full-time head for several months now, reflects poorly on the intent. With some major inductions set to give a significant capability boost to the armed forces, a clear policy direction and overhaul of the existing institutions to enable that shift is required at the earliest so as not to lose the momentum.
