Development of Critical Defence Technologies: The Way Forward

It is a well known fact that a major factor influencing the rise of a country towards superiority is a well established and functional defence industrial base. In the march towards achieving a global power status, India has adopted numerous methodologies to acquire critical military technologies, the final goal being indigenous production. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ordnance Factory Boards (OFBs) and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) have been working hard to master the science of manufacturing cutting edge technologies since the last sixty five years. Through Licensed Production, Transfer of Technology (ToT), Joint Ventures (JVs) and indigenous Research & Development (R&D) India has been able to develop/absorb some core technologies such as radars, electronic warfare systems, tanks, small arms, sonar systems, missiles (Agni, Prithvi, Nag, Akash, BrahMos etc.), submarines (INS Arihant) and flight simulators.

However, several factors like inordinate delays in projects, limited synergy, cost overruns and lack of strategic vision have led to some unsuccessful projects. An example is the Kaveri engine which was supposed to power the LCA Tejas. Two and a half decades of development efforts by Gas Turbine Research Establishment could not provide the engine compatible with the LCA requirements. "Kaveri engine as such will never come into LCA," said P S Subramanyam, Director of Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). Another case in point is the unsatisfactory development of the Arjun tank, projected to be Indian Army’s Main Battle Tank (MBT). The tank has several problems relating to its size, weight, fire control system, operational performance etc. which could not be rectified as per the operational requirements of the end users. Arjun was expected to replace the existing fleet of Russian made MBTs; however, only 124 tanks have been inducted in service so far. The progression card of these indigenous projects requires monitoring and accountability of performance.  

The 21^st century is witnessing a transformation, with the nature of warfare fundamentally shifting towards net centricity. Hence, the need of the hour is to build indigenously a network of unmanned systems, satellites, radars and electro optical sensors. Self reliance in development of advanced surveillance systems, aircrafts, helicopters, engines, seeker technology, latest radar technology such as Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA), communication data links, navigation equipment, artificial intelligence and precision ammunition is needed to provide true net centricity and decisive information advantage. DRDO has listed 15 critical technologies that it wants to obtain via the offset route. This list includes sensors (micro-electro-mechanical systems and nanotechnology based), fibre laser, technologies for hypersonic flights, high power laser, Terahertz (THZ) technologies etc. In addition, India needs to develop state of art avionics including navigation, flight control, integrated display system, mission systems, processing capability and C4I2SR solutions.

The defence forces require capabilities to counter cyber threats from various state and non-state actors. The seriousness of the situation can be gauged from the National Security Advisor’s statement, “India is in the process of setting up National Cyber Security Architecture with the aim to prevent sabotage, espionage and other forms of attack that could hurt the country”. India is a recognised global player in the field of software services. However, it lags behind in electronics hardware manufacturing capabilities and intellectual property rights ownership. Fake and low quality ‘off the shelf’ electronic components acquired from international markets is an area of security concern for India’s information and communication infrastructure. Attention needs to be paid towards promoting in-house chip design, development of embedded systems, components like integrated circuit (IC) chips, transistors, diodes and the like. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology plans to give adequate incentives to the local industry for setting up the manufacturing base for electronic components. The National Policy on Electronics 2012 (NPE 2012) aims to address the issue with the goal of transforming India into a global hub for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM). The indigenous defence industry should make use of this opportunity to work in collaboration with government and armed forces to set up viable business propositions which are able to deliver quality products and services.

In the past, the Licensed Production approach was not able to fulfill the expectations of Armed Forces. One such example was the medium-calibre 76/62 Super Rapid naval Gun of Oto Melara, which has been manufactured under license by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) since the last seventeen years. It is learnt that most of the assemblies, sub assemblies and spare parts of the Gun System are still being procured from the OEM. Since the PSUs have not been able to absorb core technologies for future use and cannot even produce sub parts or upgrade systems, the existing mechanisms seem to have several flaws. It is important to adopt any approach after careful scrutiny and due analysis keeping in mind the end objective of self reliance.

The possibility of India developing all defence technologies indigenously is a utopian thought as can be gauged from Raksha Mantri, Shri AK Antony’s remark, “I don’t believe that there can be zero imports in defence, but we want to substantially reduce imports”. The pragmatic approach towards fulfilling India’s defence requirements would be to adopt a healthy amalgamation of indigenous development, ToT, Joint Ventures (JVs), offsets and in some cases technology acquisition. Several successful ToT and JV projects like BrahMos need to be emulated. The consortia formation approach is also a good idea for developing defence technologies. The Public Private Partnership (PPP) model is an excellent way to synergise the core competencies of both the public as well as the private sector. The private defence industrial hub that has sprung around the Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai belt has the capability and capacity to absorb/develop critical technologies. Their potential can be harnessed to the maximum if the companies are provided with incentives in the form of level playing field vis-à-vis government enterprises. The problems of the Indian private industry relating to industrial licenses, customs duty, VAT, service taxes, foreign exchange variations and other bureaucratic roadblocks need to be resolved to maximise participation and efficiency. The promising offset policy needs to be streamlined so as to bring in clarity and ease of doing business. The Defence Offset Management Wing (DOMW) needs to be well structured and provided with adequate manpower to implement and monitor the offset policy effectively. 

French President Francois Hollande’s and British Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent visits indicate the increasing business interest of the European countries in Indian market including defence. The declining defence industrial growth in Europe has put pressure on the companies to adopt innovative methods of growing their business. Similarly, companies from US, Israel, South Korea, Japan and Russia are open to partnership with Indian companies and share their expertise. Since, India has been investing in and increasing the budget for modernisation of defence forces, it is the right time for domestic companies to acquire technologies from global players through offsets, JVs, acquisitions & mergers, co-production, co-development programmes etc. and develop in-house capacity to safeguard our national security.   

The author is a Research Assistant at CLAWS.

Views expressed are personal.