National Defence University – An Analysis

This is the first of a series of articles on the recently inaugurated Indian National Defence University. It covers the major aspects to be considered to initiate the process. Analysis of curricula, faculty and participation by academia and industry shall be covered as more details are forthcoming. Finally, after years of drawing board exercises, the [...]

Defence Indigenisation

Government should stop paying lip service Gurmeet Kanwal The Defence Minister, Mr A K Antony, has repeatedly exhorted the armed forces to procure their weapons and equipment from indigenous sources in recent months. It is a well-established fact that no nation aspiring to great power status can expect to achieve it without being substantively self-reliant in [...]

Aggressive Indigenisation

The strategic imperative to sustain, prepare and transform for the future are the strategic ways, ends and means to build a balanced military for the 21st Century – an affordable versatile mix of tailor-able and networked organisations operating for current commitments and to hedge against unexpected contingencies at a tempo that is predictable and sustainable.

Prometheus Unbound

The acme of warfighting is to win without fighting. This underscores the need to be prepared for all contingencies. To do so, modernisation is needed as a synergized, ongoing, instead of an off-on process. We need political vision, courage, time-sensitive, financial support, national self-belief, military astuteness and team work – across civil, scientific and military streams, and, within the Army, great clear headedness on the Ends, Ways and Means of military success.

India’s Military Modernization: Plans and Strategic Underpinnings

India’s military modernization, however slow it might be, will lead to a qualitative increase in defense cooperation with the United States and other strategic partners by enhancing the capabilities of the Indian armed forces for joint coalition operations, if they are in India’s national interest. Overall, India will gradually acquire the capability to act as a net provider of security in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. This positive development will allow strategic partners like the United States to reduce their military commitments to the region to a limited extent. Hence, India’s modernization efforts will enhance and further cement U.S.-India relations.

Military Modernisation in India : An Approach

The strategic imperative to sustain, prepare and transform for the future are the strategic ways, ends and means to build a balanced military for the 21st Century – an affordable versatile mix of tailor-able and networked organisations operating for current commitments and to hedge against unexpected contingencies at a tempo that is predictable and sustainable.

Opting for Lean and Mean Armies

Even if Indian forces induct technology aggressively, the nature of threats, terrain and multiplicity of tasks call for a large standing army, albeit technologically matching its prime opponents at least. Insurgencies require boots, as the Americans learnt in Afghanistan. For Indians, with insurgencies being within the country, the tolerance for collateral damage is zero, with boots replacing firepower. Numbers also remain relevant in the Indian context till budgets allow a technology leap.

India’s Military Modernisation – Change for the Better

Because of technology gap with major arms manufacturers the process of indigenisation would be slow. In the interim a mix would have to be resorted to while pressing the pedal for modernising the Indian Defence Industry. Indeginisation in the meanwhile would remain a joint responsibility of the public and private sectors – something that would require both to change and adapt on the run. Foreign participation though not a panacea would have to be resorted to during this period. Finally the aim should be to make India export ready in this critical sector.

Budgeting India’s Military Modernisation with Myopia

Restructuring and modernising the armed forces will require political courage, military astuteness, a non parochial approach and a singularity of purpose. With India’s defence budget now pegged at less than 2.0 per cent of the GDP, the funds available for modernisation of the armed forces are grossly inadequate.

India’s Military Modernisation Programme

Defence Minister A K Antony unveiled a Defence Production Policy that, in an implicit admission of public sector inadequacy, seeks “to build up a robust indigenous defence industrial base by proactively encouraging larger involvement of the Indian private sector”. The industry has reacted differently to the production policy. Khutub Hai of Mahindra Defence Systems had [...]