Need for a faster pace
Gurmeet Kanwal
Manohar Parrikar sworn in as Goa chief minister Defence Minister,
Manohar Parrikar, has
been sent back to Goa
in the party's interest to
take over as the chief
Minister once again. His
departure has created a void at a
critical time when the state of defence
preparedness and slow pace of
military modernisation needs the
government's urgent attention. Major
operational voids in the war establishment of the three Services
need to be made up early in order to
enhance combat readiness.
It is only in the last six months that
Parrikar had launched a concerted
drive to make up for the existing
deficiencies by invoking emergency
financial powers of the government.
The government had at long last
begun to address the 'critical hollowness' plaguing defence
preparedness – a term used by
General V K Singh. He had also
initiated reforms in the procedures for
the acquisition and indigenous
manufacture of weapons and
equipment. A new minister will take
time to settle down and learn the
ropes of defence procurement.
Large-scale deficiencies in
ammunition and important items of
equipment continue to adversely
affect India's readiness for war and the
ability to sustain military operations
over 20 to 30 days.
According to a CAG report, the
Army is reported to have some
varieties of ammunition for barely ten
days of conflict and it will cost over Rs
20,000 crore to replenish stocks. It will
be recalled that during the Kargil conflict in 1999, about 50,000 rounds
of artillery ammunition had to be
imported from South Africa. The
occurrence of such a situation during a
time of crisis must be avoided through
a prudent replenishment and stocking
policy.
The government has signed
contracts with Russian manufacturers
to procure ammunition and spares worth Rs 5,800 crore for the Army and
Rs 9,200 crore for the Air Force. Similar
deals are being negotiated with French
and Israeli companies. However, it has
been reported that the traditional
norms of stocking ammunition at
intense rates for 30 days of fighting
and normal rates for 30 days are being
watered down. If this is true, it would
be a retrograde step.
Stagnation
Modernisation of the armed forces
has been proceeding at a slow pace
due to the inadequacy of funds, rigid
procurement procedures, frequent
changes in the qualitative
requirements, the black-listing of
several defence manufacturers and
bureaucratic red tape. Parrikar had
appointed a committee led by
Dhirendra Singh, former Home
Secretary, to review the Defence
Procurement Procedure (DPP). Several
pragmatic amendments were
approved by the Defence Minister and
DPP 2016 was issued in early-April
2016.
Weapons and equipment purchase
projects worth over
Rs 1,50,000 crore have been accorded
'acceptance of necessity' (AON) by the
Defence Acquisition Council (DAC)
chaired by the Defence Minister since
he took charge in late 2014. Contracts
have been signed for acquisitions
worth approximately Rs 90,000 crore.
However, it will take three to five years
before deliveries begin.
In the Army, artillery modernisation
is yet to begin. There is an urgent need
to acquire approximately 3,000 pieces
of 155 mm/ 52-calibre guns to replace
obsolescent guns and howitzers. So far
a contract has been signed only for
145 pieces of M777 155 mm/45-
calibre howitzers from the US. Air
defence and Army aviation units are
also equipped with obsolete
equipment that has degraded their readiness for combat and created
vulnerabilities.
Modern wars are fought mostly
during the hours of darkness, but most
of the armoured fighting vehicles –
tanks and infantry combat vehicles –
are still 'night blind'. Only about 650 T-
90S tanks of Russian origin have
genuine night fighting capability. The
infantry battalions need over 30,000
third generation night vision devices.
Chinese capabilities
Other requirements for infantry
battalions include 66,000 assault rifles
– a soldier's basic weapon, carbines for
close quarter battle, general purpose
machine guns, light-weight antimateriel
rifles, mine protected
vehicles, 390,000 ballistic helmets, and
180,000 lightweight bullet proof
jackets. Action to acquire these items
has been initiated and needs to be
constantly monitored by the minister
himself.
The Navy is in the process of
building an air defence ship at Kochi to
replace the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant,
six Scorpene submarines at Mazagon
Docks and 22 destroyers, frigates,
corvettes and other ships such as fast
attack craft, landing ships and support
ships. However, India's maritime
security challenges are growing and
the Navy not only needs to modernise
but also expand its footprint in the
Indo-Pacific region.
Modernisation plans of the Air
Force are proceeding ahead, but at a
snail's pace. The MMRCA project to
acquire 126 fighter aircraft to replace
obsolete MiG-21s appears to have
been shelved, except for the
government's plans to purchase 36
Rafale fighters from France for which a
contract has been signed.
Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin (F-16)
and Boeing (F-18), both of the US, and
Grippen of Sweden are reported to
have jumped into the fray again with
offers to produce their aircraft locally
with transfer of technology (ToT).
The IAF also requires two AWACS
early warning aircraft, six mid-air
refueller tankers, 56 transporter
planes, 20 advance jet trainers, 38 basic trainers, 48 medium-lift
helicopters, reconnaissance and
surveillance helicopters, surface-to-air
missile systems and electronic warfare
suites. All three Services need to
upgrade their C4I2SR capabilities to
prepare for effects-based operations
in a network-centric environment and
to match ever increasing Chinese
capabilities.
The serviceability state of
warfighting equipment needs
substantial improvement. Many
frontline equipment are 'out of action'
for want of spares. It is suspected that
the delay in changing the old batteries
of INS Sindhuratna could have been
the cause of the accident that resulted
in the death of two officers, injuries to
seven sailors and irreparable damage
to the submarine. The serviceability
state of the SU-30MKI fighter-bomber
fleet is reported to be just about 50 per
cent. Numerous vehicles in the Army
are 'off road' for want of tyres, tubes,
batteries and items likes spark plugs.
Inadequate funds
Financial management, too, needs
a major overhaul. All of the required
acquisitions are capital intensive and
the present defence budget cannot
support many of them. The defence
budget for FY 2017-18 has dipped to
1.62 per cent of the country's GDP –
the lowest level since the disastrous
1962 War with China. Parliament's
Standing Committee on Defence and
the armed forces have repeatedly
recommended that it should be raised
progressively to 3.0 per cent of the
GDP if India is to build the defence
capabilities that it needs to meet
future threats and challenges and
discharge its growing responsibilities
as a regional power in Southern Asia.
The budgetary allocations
earmarked on the capital account for
the modernisation of the armed forces
will continue to be surrendered unless
the government sets up a rolling, nonlapsable
defence modernisation fund
of approximately Rs 50,000 crore
under the Consolidated Fund of India.
Cutting down on wasteful subsidies
from which the people do not really benefit in a meaningful manner would
be one way to spare more funds for
national security.
The armed forces are now in the
fifth and final year – indeed the final
month – of the 12th Defence Plan
(2012-17).It was never formally
approved with full financial backing by
the Cabinet Committee on Security
(CCS). The government also has not
formally approved the long-term
integrated perspective plan (LTIPP
2007-22) formulated by HQ Integrated
Defence Staff.
Without these essential approvals,
defence procurement is being
undertaken through ad hoc annual
procurement plans, rather than being
based on duly prioritised long-term
plans that are designed to
systematically enhance India's combat
potential. These are serious lacunae as
effective defence planning cannot be
undertaken in a policy void. The
government must commit itself to
supporting long-term defence plans.
Structural reforms need to be
implemented in an early time frame to
improve the national security decision
making and synergise defence
planning. The most important issue
that has been pending for long is the
appointment of a Chief of Defence
Staff (CDS). This was first
recommended by the Arun Singh
Committee on Defence Expenditure in
the early 1990s and then by a Group of
Ministers led by Deputy Prime Minister
L K Advani.
Though the CCS had approved the
appointment of CDS, no one has been
appointed as yet. It is time for the
Modi-led NDA-2 government to
implement the decision of the
Vajpayee-led NDA-1. The new minister
will have a lot on his plate and will
need to put in many months of hard
labour to come to grips with the
complexities of defence preparedness
and military modernisation in the
prevailing regional environment.
The writer is Distinguished
Fellow, Institute for Defence
Studies and Analyses (IDSA),
New Delhi.