MODERNIZATION AND INDIAN-IZATION OF THE INDIAN AIR FORCE

PAST EVENTS

27 JANUARY 2022

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AGENDA

CHAIR

Air Vice Marshal Suryakant Chintaman Chafekar

Shaurya Chakra, AVSM

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PANELISTS

Air Vice - Marshal Pranay Sinha, VSM

@avm_pranaysinha

Air Vice - Sudhanshu Saxena, VSM

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PCRI celebrates the 73rd Republic Day by organising a series of events under the title “ Hifazat: Upgrading India’s Arsenal- Scope, Challenges and the Outcomes.

The theme of session 2 was Modernization and Indianisation of Indian Air Force.

The session was graced by the presence of AVM Pranay Sinha, VSM and AVM Sudhanshu Saxena, VSM as the speakers. We were also joined by Dr Bharat, Maj. Gen. Rajan Kochhar, VSM and Shri Harjit Sandhu, IPS(Retd.) as our special invitees.

AVM Pranay Sinha started the proceedings by thanking XI Jing ping and his PLA for jolting us from our deep slumber. He said that Galwan happened we all know, and that galvanised the armed forces and there after we felt the need to go for the cutting edge technology advanced weapon system for all the forces and thereafter we realised that capability build up is very much required. He emphasised that defence acquisition is a very big problem. He said that before becoming atmarnirbhar Bharat we need to have a defence industrial based ecosystem. Then he questioned that why is it not happening?

He enlisted the problems thereafter.The first problem according to him is of funds. Defence expenditure is at 2 percent of the GDP and this all goes in the pay pension and the maintenance. He emphasised on increase in the defence budget and talked about firm commitment from the finance ministry, there should be planning and for planning there should be a defence strategy doctrine. He opined that the defence budget should be non- lapse-able capital budget. He talked about some innovative ways of creating funds such as India defence bond. The main problem he stated was of delays from all stakeholders at various levels. According to him, at the user level unrealistic SQR, inter service rivalry and all pulls and pushes from headquarters are some problems. At the acquisition level, Red tapism in MoD is the problem, the bureaucrats wants to be a judge. He said that a lot of refinement has taken place in the defence procurement procedure but a lot needs to be done.

The main thing according to him that is required is the commitment in the acquisition process and let the professionals decide.

He said that at the design and development level the R&D is very uninspiring. He described it as a complex problem and suggested to downsize, restructure and reform and bring the premier institutes like IIt’s, etc to this game. He emphasised that production agency have the problems of slow rate of production, quality is not as desired and very high cost. He suggested to cut the flap and penalise them. He also suggested to bring in the private companies and open the exports. He emphasised to work on the PPP and joint-venture models.

Another problem highlighted by him was the delays of regulatory body as they have no guidelines, no accountability and no timeline.

He suggested there is a need to restructure, resize all regulators under one umbrella.

AVM Sudhansu Saxena started by saying that Indianisation is a very hard pressing requirement. He defined it as delayed opening of doors to industry. He said that what we are seeing today(Mk2 and Mk3) should have been done 25 years before. He said that some opening has been given to production but it requires a lot of capital. He emphasised that the defence industry in India is very good but the only thing is that we delayed the opening of doors, he gave the example of USA where most of the defence equipment is made by private sector. He said that defence is a dynamic field and by the time the equipment comes into trial stage it is delayed by 15 years and by then due to the dynamic nature the headquarter’s need changes. He shared that once he heard scientific advisor to Raksha mantra that research can not be done in a giffy, it takes time and there are only a few countries who have build their whom aircrafts so LCA Tejas it is matter of pride for us but still the engine is not Indian. He said that in case of Indianisation of air borne equipment the people do not want to touch it because of the certification requirements. They have to follow very high standards. Sir said that DRDO is making a lot of efforts but the amount of handholdings which should be done with them is lacking. We need to have a dynamic relationship with DRDO and industries. He told that IAF has described the detailed procedure of Indianisation very well on their website. He shared that the IDDM clause in the DAP has made it more difficult. He said that the procedures that now say 60 percent of Indigenous content should be there is a welcome step.

AVM Pranay Sinha suggested the solutions and mantras to reboot and reform. He gave Four M’s as the mantras. The first is to remove mistrust between the stakeholders(bureaucrats, pilots, designers). The second is to remove mismanagement across all stakeholders. He emphasised at the root to all problems like the quality problem, HR policy problem, etc is mismanagement. The third mantra he gave is motivation. The leadership according to him should motivate and the last M stands for mission mode with passion. He thanked China for the inclusion of the last M and emphasised that the chalta hai attitude should abolish.

Dr Bharat suggested that in the case of red tapism and time taking we should create a very fast corridor for the temporary basis. He said that for that he has developed HDEP which stands for Hybrid Defence Expenditure Program. He said that hybrid is because of shortage of time to counter china and the mother unit that will do a lot of research will continue to do so and along with it we have to create RREP which stands for Research Reinvent Expenditure Program and it will be given to researched oriented institutes like iit’s, etc. He emphasised that let the youth reinvent. He said that we will have to create FREWP which stands for Future Research Experiment Weaponised Program and it can be given to the private sector and after they submit the papers to MoD then the army can brainstorm whatever they want and what they don’t want.

Then he talked about his 3rd plan which he calls FREIND which stands for Fast, Research, Experiment,Indigenous, National, Development. The fourth point he gave was FINGER which stands for Fast Indigenous National Growth Experiment Research. He stressed on this for quality assurance. He gave two more points which are DREAD which stands for Defence Research Experiment Acquisition Development for acquisition part and TEAM which according to him is the most important stands for Test Experiment Analysis and Management.

Maj. Gen. Kochhar said that most of what Dr Bharat said is already there in the system, the research is there and the analysis is there but the problem is that whatever you want to develop you must give the money for it. Without the required budget how can we modernise, he asks. He shared that it was taking 5 to 7 years to induct a new equipment but believes that situation will be better now after Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020. He said that the problem is we go on the internet see something new and change our GSQR. He emphasised that we should see our own requirement and not copy others. He also said that we should not blame the bureaucracy and look at the three services and asks that do we have the jointness? Do we think alike? Are we able to accept each other’s position? Is our operational planning done jointly? Has the CDS made the difference? He left the answers to these questions to the experts.

AVM Pranay Sinha says that simple laws should be made for acquisition and this has been said by Dhirender Singh committee of the ex defence secretary 2016. He again emphasised on the issue of mistrust between stakeholders and says that in the process of acquisition should involve a logistician with professional approach. He said that the Indianisation process of the Navy is the best. He emphasized that we can achieve by collaborations and there is no need to start from scratch. Atmarnirbharta he said is self sufficiency and self reliance and that should not stop us from collaborations. He said that armed forces should become a force and police force should become a service.

Questions from the audience:

Q. Should the military sector become part of private industry and if does can we avoid same pitfalls that the US did in the Iraq war vis-à-vie over charging the government or creating private military cooperations?

AVM Pranay Sinha answers that this is what the DAP says that a

strategic partnership model is there, this is the collaborative model, the PPP model. The models are there but we have to bring them. He questions that we have finished the research of Dhanush but why we are not manufacturing it? He said that HAL is producing 4 Tejas against the value of 16 needed annually. He emphasized on creation of funds.

Q. What is the Indian government’s position and capacity in the field of UAVs being deployed in high risk areas like Kashmir and NE region?

AVM Sudhanshu Saxena answers that already the government has come out with a policy on drones that in which areas and in what capacity and in which number they should be deployed. The thing is that when we come to UAV that initially whoever is making it first they have to be regularised through a regulating body, what are there capabilities and what all sensors it is going to use, so the policy is there available.

AVM Pranay Sinha adds that the answer to drones is with the private industry. He emphasises on investments and funds and points out that the engine of drones is made in coimbatore but for outside companies. He says that the DRDO should become a facilitator and not a researcher. He says that the most appropriate model for this is PPP model.

Maj. Gen. Kochhar answers that Idea forge is manufacturing in India. They have supplied a sizeable number to the Indian Army which have been deployed at the LAC. More than 10 startups has also been identified for drones, the work is in progress. The government has allotted 200 crores for startups. Indian Army has tested swarm drone technology.

Shri Harjit Sandhu says that PPP is a very appropriate model. The basics of PPP model needs to be understood by all: 1. Goal commonality 2. Strength complementarity 3. Credit, risk and responsibility sharing 4. Costs and funding 5. Conflict resolution.

Q. What is your opinion on the deployment of space force? Is it necessary considering the amount of investment and training required for such endeavour ?

AVM Pranay Sinha answers that we have created space agency called defence space agency. We have created at a mediocre level. The command has not been established yet. It has been created at the Major General level. It is at an initial stage. He says that he will not comment on the weaponisation of space.

AVM Sudhansu Saxena answers that space force is very much required and that is the future and if we don’t start now then we will land up in the similar situation that we are now in related to indianisation. He says that so much is controlled from space, we have our navIC and therefore we must defend space no matter what the cost is.

The session was ended with a vote of thanks by Mr Vasu Gupta President, PCRI