Grasping the defence self-reliance nettle

Context: Promoting self-reliance in defence production will help address vulnerabilities in crisis as well as strategic and national security concerns. 

Concerns in defence production:

• External dependence: one of the world’s largest arms importer (about 9% of global imports), creates vulnerabilities during military crises.
• Conflict of interest : the role of our Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as the government’s sole adviser, developer and evaluator of technologies.

Steps taken by the govt. :

• Formulation of new Defence Procurement Procedures (DPP) 2020 for indigenous supply chain management in defence acquisitions.
• Designated Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) for coordinated defence indigenous equipment acquisitions.
• Reforms during COVID: promotion of self-reliance and opening up of defence production were put forth.  

Opportunities ahead :

• Indigenous sourcing: Encourage domestic private defence manufacturers. Already a range of platforms and subsystems developed in India including missile systems (Akash and Nag), Light Combat Aircraft etc.
• Avoiding delays: Government has promised for time bound defence procurement process. 
• Corporatised Public Sector: Decision to corporatise Ordnance Factory Board would enhance its responsiveness to new technologies and quality demands of modern armed force.
• Balancing between import and export: No overzealous insistence in self-reliance will be given, rather it will coexist with  import of cutting-edge technologies.
• FDI impact: Increasing the limit under automatic route to 74% would now enable domestic sub-contractors to work for Indian defence manufacturing.

Way Forward:

• Long term integrated perspective plan: needed for future requirements incorporating forward looking strategic partnerships.
• Prioritising indigenous: during cost evaluation rather than choosing lowest bidder.
• Defence exports: Door to exports should be open with a transparent policy

Conclusion: Of the key components of any major reform — money, method and mindset, mindset is the most critical and the most intractable. It takes a crisis to change it.