India has been consistently one of the largest weapon importers, whereas China in this same time frame has emerged as the second largest manufacturer of weapons. It manufactures now more war ships per year than even US.
But this is changing , as being claimed , we have just signed a deal with Phillipines for exporting Brahmos , manufactured as a joint venture with Russians and India’s arms exports from 200 million dollars in 2016 have gone up to 154 billion dollars courtesy this deal with Phillipines.
It now clealry appears that there is more interest now by the Govt in ensuring that India becomes an exporter of weapons and in that sense the Def Expo 2022 held in Gujarat in Oct with the theme ‘ Only India’ may help India in emerging as a weapon exporter. There is also by the MOD a great amount of emphasis on the consumer i.e armed forces to buy certain items manufactured within India and from time to time they have been releasing the list of items that need to be procured locally. In addition to above, in times to come if right environment is provided the Defence corridors in Coimbatore and another one in UP may go a long way in enabling India to manufacture High tech weapon systems.
So far so good, however, manufacturing the weapon systems is not easy and can not be compared with manufacturing and selling of cars , Because ;
One. Weapon systems are high technology complex systems that become obsolete very fast and by the time the manufacturer gets one into the market after spending colossal amount of money and time on research work and development the adversary might come out with a system with better technology or your adversary might have bought that from the market. For instance,
- It took almost 25000 crores to develop MBT Arjun, Over a period of 3 decades and it has only helped Indian army to equip barely 4-5 regiments. As a result, during this period, inorder to fill the gap as the Pakis had acquired better tanks, we had to import T 90 Tanks which ultimately became the MBT of Indian army and we named it BHISHMA.
- The same happened with INSAS rifle.
In 1998, the first INSAS rifles were displayed at the Republic Day parade with lot of fanfare. But, barely 14 years later, in 2015 the Indian government had to replace many INSAS rifles with AK-47s, after it found that the complaints could no longer be shoved under the carpet. During the 1999 Kargil War there were complaints of jamming & the magazine of the rifle cracking due to the cold. There was also a problem of oil being sprayed into the eye of the operator. Some injuries during firing practice were also reported. Similar complaints were also received from the Nepalese Army. In August 2005, after they lost 43 soldiers in a clash with Maoists, a Nepalese Army spokesman called the rifle substandard. As expected, The Indian embassy, immediately released a statement rejecting the complaint and attributed it to improper use, it also offered training for the rifle’s correct use. In November 2014, the CRPF requested to drop the INSAS as their standard rifle due to problems with reliability. So, finally when the complaints and criticism became too much for the Govt , two decades later, The Govt is now planning with the help of Russians to manufacture new assault rifles for the Indian army. This implies, that the money spent on R & D of INSAS has gone down the drain as you are importing the technology and that must have also come with a cost. How could a product so well planned with the scientists calling it a wonderful weapon 15 years back , turned into a liability? Have our R& D facilities improved now?
Two. Weapon systems are not like soaps which can be sold to anyone within the country and outside , The weapon manufacturer has to sell the product only to the armed forces ; own or foreign. As a result, the private companies which have been roped into development of weapon systems have to be helped extensively by the Govt ; right from the Research stage to marketing. The Companies and the Govt have to put in colossal amount of money in their development. That’s why, Arms transfers become an important foreign policy tool and a crucial dimension of world politics. Conventional arms transfers usually carry with them a number of military commitments that may have long‐term implications. The exports of weapon systems do not happen in isolation, these are tripartite arrangements – Govt to Govt and the manufacturer. Hence, with corruption widely rampant in the country, right from making dams and roads to issue of contracts, it is worth seeing as to how Indian Govts conduct this business and holds the hands of Adanis/ Amabanis/TATAs and sign weapon deals with foreign countries, manufactured by private companies.
Three. The quality of weapon systems and military equipment have to match the international standards and those standards have to be achieved at a fast pace. Any adverse report from the consumer will have very serious implications on the entire reputation. What if the Indian air force does not find the aircraft manufactured by an Indian company suitable for use, like the Nepalese army did not like the INSAS? What if the Night vision devices manufactured in India are not of the better quality as being used by Terrorists?
Four. The budget allocated for R& D is meager – Rs 300 crore. The countries seriously engaged in exporting of weapon systems spend huge sums of money, almost 2-5 % of their GDP. Even Turkey spends more than us. Its to be seen as to how Adanis, Mahindras, Ambanis, TATAs, Bharat Forge and L&T along with PSUs like HAL, BEL etc give our Navy and Air Force the technology edge over our adversaries. In the absence of any worth while R & D ability to fully design and manufacture any significant combat weapon platform without the support of foreign suppliers for critical components, the excitement displayed appears to be without substance and comparable to same jingoism as being displayed earlier when MBT Arjun and INSAS were initially introduced. So, although one may feel delighted that now C 295 trasport aircraft will be anufactured in India , in collaboration with Airbus France but the fact is its Engine, avionics, etc will be imported and they will be assembled here.
Five. For R & D, for design , manufacture and marketing there has to be an Eco system. Though defence manufacturing has been open to private sector participation for well over a decade, but there was no level playing field and the PSUs continued to enjoy a commanding role . However, with Govt easing the procedures , things may become better.
Conclusion
As they say, The proof of the pudding is in the eating, hence, one has to wait for the pudding to become palatable.
So, till then, when we may appreciate the current Govt for all the steps that it has taken to make National Security a high priority issue, we also must be aware that there has always been a tendency of the Govts to push the armed forces and compel them to accept sub standard military equipment in the guise of ATMNIRBHARTA.
They did it with Arjun, INSAS and even the Flying Coffins –MIG 21s continued to serve at the cost of lives of many gallant Pilots and so there is enough reason to look at this new found excitement skeptically ..