Make in India in defence sector?

The Union government’s resolve to develop and produce sophisticated military platforms and weapon systems under the ‘Make In India’ programme is indeed laudable and a step in the right direction. Recently, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, addressing the ‘Technoprom 2017’ wanted Russia, being India’s largest and oldest partner in defence hardware and equipment, to set up joint collaborative projects in this sector in the country.

Jaitley was confident that the Russian companies could be natural partners of Indian companies in this endeavour to create a large industrial base, especially in the defence sector. India, being one of the largest importers of defence equipment, would not only have the advantage of having a manufacturing base in the country but also save much-needed thousands of crores in foreign exchange.

One may mention here that as regards Russia is concerned, military technical cooperation has graduated from a simple-buyer relationship to one involving joint R&D and production of advanced systems. Technology transfer has also taken place in certain cases and India has as a first step started manufacturing small arms. Similar cooperation with Israel is also expected to take shape, following Prime Minister Modi’s recent visit to country, described by many as ‘historical.’

However, it appears that in the case of the US, which Modi too visited recently and held talks with President Donald Trump, the case is somewhat different. The new dispensation appears not very receptive to the idea of countries having manufacturing bases with American technology, thereby taking away jobs from the country. Moreover, there is a big question mark whether technology would be transferred to India.

At the same time, there is clear indication in the Modi-Trump talks, that the US wants “free and fair trade,” which means India would need to open its economy further for American companies to enter the market here. How much of this would be possible remains to be examined by experts as the interests of this country have to be carefully weighed.

As regards defence ties are concerned, America was ready to sell sophisticated equipment to this country. Designating India as a ‘major defence partner’ on par with its closest allies, it remains to be seen how much transfer of technology would actually take place. Meanwhile, it is ready to sell F-16 and F/A-18 fighters to India and there have been reports of starting a jet production line after the Tejas light combat aircraft under the ‘Make in India’ framework. But there is no clarity as yet on how this proposed project would square up with Trump’s hardline policy on not allowing jobs to be shifted out of the US. Moreover, this was not even discussed during the visit of Modi to Washington.

The joint statement after the Modi-Trump summit noted Washington’s offer to sell 22 Predator Sea Guardian surveillance drones worth over $2 billion to India even as the Pentagon notified the US Congress about the sale of another C-17 Globemaster-III strategic airlifter for $366 million.
This would be welcome as New Delhi is undoubtedly concerned about its neighbours.

Both China and Pakistan have posed threats to the country and international manoevering has resulted in New Delhi and Islamabad buying weapons worth millions of dollars, thereby neglecting the much-needed development of social and physical infrastructure in their respective countries. Unfortunately, while Western powers, which manufacture and sell these military equipments, gain financially, the developing nations are starved of funds to enable them to achieve faster growth of the lowest segments of the population.

Though Trump and many other world leaders have finally realised that State sponsored terrorism has been perpetrated by rogue nation Pakistan, the situation is still continuing and the solution does not lie in arming India against that State. China, on the other hand, taking advantage of the situation, is all too eager to sell its military hardware to Pakistan, triggering an arms race in the region.

The result of all this is lack of real development in both the countries. It is not known how much aid will flow to India or Pakistan to buy arms, but there are no incentives to come out of this arms race. Most nations are interested to manufacture and sell weapons as these have high profit quotient. Moreover, while the world leaders lecture on poverty alleviation, there are a handful of incentives to boost up developmental activities and efforts at uplifting the population above the poverty line.

As regards India is concerned, buying sophisticated arms has become a necessity to fight terrorist activities as also frequent incursions by both China and Pakistan. Both Russia and the US, taking advantage of the situation, are trying to have close defence relation with New Delhi. Thus, the possibility of South Asian solidarity including Pakistan appears to be a distinct possibility in the near future, while China has also taken an anti-Indian posture in recent times.

It remains to be seen whether new defence tie-ups for manufacturing weapons could at least be started in India. All efforts have to be initiated to expand the country’s defence manufacturing which would be greatly beneficial in terms of boosting exports and generating employment opportunities.

Countries such as France and Israel and also our long-term defence partner Russia would help in this regard in transferring sophisticated technology for starting such projects. The challenge before the country is to become self-sufficient in the defence sector, except for sophisticated weaponry.

It may be mentioned here that naval ships are already being manufactured by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers and, as such, there should not be any problem in starting manufacturing bases in other areas too. Tie-ups with Third World countries such as Brazil or other countries could be explored to mutual advantage.

Political funding in defence purchases is well known and there may be vested interests who would not like India to start its own production centres. This problem needs to be resolved through strong political will, putting the country’s interest far above anything else.