By Maj Gen (Dr) Ashok Kumar, VSM (Retd)
It is a well-established fact that any country in the world needs to be self-reliant for domestic defence needs so as to preserve its territorial integrity unless it has the luxury of support of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) like organisation. India does not have this luxury besides it is surrounded by near permanent adversaries like China and Pakistan and to top it all, these two adversaries are ‘all weather’ friends and have colluded with each other against India.
India was making steady progress in all fields including in the defence sector. It had a close ally in the form of Russia which was one of the two superpowers in the world which would have been on its side in any future conflict. Good economic relations with China and continued peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) had given India the requisite time and space to undertake capability building as it did not saw any immediate threat from China and had an assured warlike stores supplier in the form of Russia. It was also building connections with the USA in a deliberate manner.
But then, all of a sudden, everything changed. China transgressed at multiple points along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh in Apr-May 2020. All bilateral agreements were junked which also resulted in a bloody clash at Galwan wherein we suffered considerable losses. The subsequent effort at political, diplomatic and military levels have not been able to resolve all the transgressions till date with major transgressions still remaining at Depsang and Demchok. Other resolved transgressions are also “Disadvantage India ” due to creation of buffer zones.
It was during this time that India realised the urgent need of becoming self reliant in the defence domain by means of indigenisation. Multiple measures were initiated by the defence forces, DPSUs, DRDO, private sector and MOD. It was realised that unless a ban is placed on defence imports, the alternatives will not emerge in the domestic market but it was also true that a blanket ban on the defence imports will be counter productive to the country’s operational preparedness.
A systematic approach was thereafter followed wherein the MOD issued the first import ban list including certain items which were restricted for imports. The list was prepared with the assistance of all stakeholders. It was in December 21 when this first list was issued setting the agenda for the indigenisation. As time progressed, these lists were renamed as ‘Positive Indigenisation Lists’ giving positive orientation to this national effort.
The geo-political situation was fast changing with increased interaction between Russia and China, so much so that the Russian president attended winter Olympics in China in Feb 22 announcing ‘no limit’ friendship between the two communist nations. The Russians probably accommodated the Chinese wish to continue with the Winter Olympics successfully before launching the special operations against Ukraine in the last week of Feb 22 though its forces had surrounded Ukraine from three directions in the garb of military exercises. An unprecedented situation emerged in front of India wherein its most trusted friend, Russia and most adversarial nation China were on the same side. India started analysing this Geo-political development and started more focussed approach towards the indigenisation due to which two lists were released in the year 2022.
By the end of 2022, Russia’s invincibility was shattered, due to tough fight being given by Ukraine with support of NATO countries which resulted in depletion of warlike equipment and warlike stores for the Russian defence forces. Russia was constrained to meet even own domestic requirements leave aside the need of other countries including india where they had supplied the defence equipment. such a situation put urgent indigenisation focus in india wherein it embraced this challenge by issuing fourth and fifth positive indigenisation lists. The fifth positive indigenisation list was issued by the Hon’ble RM on 04 Oct 23 during a Naval seminar in New Delhi recently.
The ban on the import of the items included in these lists is not immediate but a well thought out timeline has been given wherein Indian industry will be able to produce these ex-import items or their better replacements. In fact, the fifth list has 98 items taking the earlier total of 411 items to 509 items/systems/subsystems. The list not only includes the future armament but looks at induction of disruptive technological advancements as well. The renewed focus on one hand puts requisite pressure on all the stakeholders to indigenise the defence equipment to meet the requirement of the country but at the same time meeting the requirement of other foreign friendly countries as well as indigenisation is key to meet the requirements of the defence forces. This twin focus is a great opportunity for the country.
The production of modern defence equipment takes considerable time. Excluding the imports, there are three means to achieve the targets. First is own R&D, most reliable but will take an operationally unacceptable timeframe, second is technology transfer from the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) which is faster as compared to own R&D but has its own inherent challenges. The best option is the Joint Ventures with the OEMs with mandatory provision of technology transfer and mandatory incorporation of Indian domestic manufacturers.
The focussed effort on indigenisation is good but the geo-political situation is fast changing including Taiwan crisis and other conflicts the world over. India cannot remain unaffected from such developments. Chinese have the potential of carrying out misadventure on the LAC with india in a larger spectrum as compared to current transgressions. If Russia shows its commitment towards China in such a conflict, we would have turned our opportunities into the ‘pitfalls’. it is therefore essential that politico-diplomatic efforts provide at least a decade’s time for the country before major indigenisation of the Indian Defence Forces takes shape.
(This article was first published in the Firstpost)
