Swiss cheese and defence reforms

Context: In these days of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, clinical analysis of the defence set-up is necessary to obviate any missteps that may prove costly a few years or decades down the line.

Swiss cheese Model in Defence: 

• It is associated with accident investigations and risk mitigation in an organisation having multiple domains (represented as cheese slices, with the holes in them being the imperfections) to align their interest in nullifying their weaknesses. Three such domains in Defence: 

1. Policymaking apparatus (Dept. of Military Affairs(DMA) and Min of Defence(MoD))
2. Defence R&D and domestic manufacturing industry
3. The three services.

Overhaul needed in defence

• Policymaking: With the exponential progression of technological, the setting up of the DMA and the creation of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS ) to achieve synergy was the most fundamental change. 

• Transformation should be thought through clinical analysis without any external pressure.

• Focus on R&D: The presence of two adversaries nearby necessitates capability accretion of the 3 services to proceed unhindered. 

• Quality war-fighting equipment, at the right time and in required quantities must be ensured (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) can produce only 8 Tejas fighters a year)

• Creating Theatre commands: 

• Theaterisation takes time (China’s ‘theaterisation’ concept is still work in progress,  US’s Goldwater-Nicholas Act was debated for decades before it came into force in 1986)
• Careful integration of three services and not ramming through, just to meet publicly declared timeline is needed to avoid not-so optimal war-fighting organisation.

Way Forward

• The three services that constitute the third Swiss cheese slice have to contend with the other two slices being in a state of ?ux. 
• This disruption requires levelheaded non-parochial handling, impractical timelines, and pressures should not be the drivers of a fundamental overhaul.