Strides In Defence Sector
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh should be more than satisfied. The defence budget has got the highest allocation of Rs 6,21,940.85 crore, which is 12.9 % of total Budget 2024-25 and the highest among the ministries. The capital outlay of Rs 1,72,000 crore is expected to further strengthen the capabilities of Armed Forces and provide impetus to the target of ‘Aatmanir bharta’ in defence.
It is also heartening to note that the defence sector announced the highest ever growth in the value of its production in the last fiscal, reaching Rs 126,887 crore in 2023-24 which is 16.8 percent higher than the value of production of the preceding financial year. Though India continues to be the world’s largest arms importer, there can be no denying that much attention is being given to increasing production in this sector as well as boosting exports of defence equipment.
As per the Defence Ministry’s statement, defence exports touched a record high of Rs 21,033 crore in 2023-24, reflecting a growth of over 32 percent over the last fiscal when the figure was Rs 15,920 crore. India produces raft of weapons and systems, including the Tejas light combat aircraft, various kinds of helicopters, warships, tanks, artillery guns, missiles, rockets and a range of military and vehicles. There is a huge demand in the global market for these items while a lot of these are also needed internally for our defence forces in the coming years.
India plans to achieve the milestone of Rs 3 lakh crore in defence manufacturing and Rs 30,000 crore of defence exports by 2028-29. The government allocated around 13 percent of the budget of Rs 6.21 lakh crore in the present fiscal, up from last year’s Rs 5.94 lakh crore. Undoubtedly, the Modi government is committed to vastly expanding India’s defence manufacturing and exports. The planned modernisation of Su-30MKI fighter fleet along with additional procurement of aircraft, acquisition of engines for the existing MiG-29 fleet and purchase of transport aircraft C-295 and LCA Mark 1ADockyards fighter will be funded out of the budget. Other major deals include three additional submarines from Mazagaon Dockyards, purchase of 26 Rafale Marines from France and long-range drones from the US.
While these are laudable, the question being asked is whether the Indian manufacturers keep the target deadlines of delivery to the armed forces? Apparently, the IAF is facing a shortage of fighter aircraft and there is delay in the delivery of 83 nos. indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft being manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Pointing this out, Air Marshal AP. Singh, Vice-Chief, Indian Air Force stated recently that self-reliance is definitely needed, but this Atmanirbhar bharta cannot be at the cost of the nation’s defence.
“The nation’s defence comes first and foremost”, he observed at a recent seminar organised by the IAF think tank, Centre for Air Power Studies. It is understood that the IAF had given out defence contracts worth Rs 112,000 crore and another Rs 375,000 crore worth of contracts were in the pipeline. Most of these contracts were with Indian partners and industries.
Notably, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been playing a crucial role in defence research. T-90s and T-72s are being designed and manufactured are mainly geared for operation in plains and deserts as they weigh 40-50 tonnes each. The indigenous light tank weigh around 25 tonnes and should be ideally suited for deployment in the higher Himalayas.
However, the bigger challenge before the DRDO is to replace and upgrade the larger fleet of Russian origin tanks that are reaching the end of their life cycles soon. The Army plans to produce combat vehicles to replace T-72s from 2030. This will be done in three stages if all goes as per plan. However, the Army has 2400 T-72s and, as per reports, it plans to upgrade a significant number of these with more powerful engines and better fire detection and suppression systems. But many of these tanks won’t be upgraded, creating a deficit in tank numbers in near future.
Meanwhile, certain developments are reassuring like the Start-up Incubation and Innovation Centre, IIT-Kanpur (SIIC IIT-Kanpur) recently signing a MoU with the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) to nurture and support start-ups and SMEs in the defence sector through its flagship programme ‘Innovations for Defence Excellence’(iDEX) Prime. The government has also established two Defence Industrial Corridors (DICs) in the country, one in UP called the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC) and the other in the south called the Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor (TNDIC), with the goal of attracting Rs. 10,000 crore (US$ 1.31 billion) in investment in each.
The Defence Ministry plans to put 101 defence items (artillery guns and assault rifles) under import embargo to offer potential military hardware manufacturing opportunities to the Indian defence industry. India is also developing high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aircraft for surveillance and reconnaissance applications.
The government is focussing on innovative solutions to empower the country’s defence and security via iDEX, which has provided a platform for start-ups to connect to the defence establishments and develop new technologies/products in the next five years (2021-2026). In the current budget, the government has also made an additional allocation of Rs 400 crore for innovation in defence through the iDEX (ADITI).
Though the ministry target of 70 percent self-reliance in weaponry by 2027 may be difficult to achieve, huge prospects are being created for industry players. The defence ministry estimates a potential contract worth Rs. 4 lakh crore (US$57.2 billion) for the domestic industry in the next five years.
According to experts, over the next few years, the government plans to spend around US$130 billion for fleet modernisation across all armed services. Meanwhile, estimates suggest that India has the world’s third-largest defence expenditure in recent times and expects to export equipment worth US$ 15 billion by 2026. In tune with government thinking, there has been lot of focus in the last two-three budgets towards R&D in defence as around 25 percent has been earmarked for private industry and start-ups which will pave the way for the innovation of new defence technologies in India.
Collaboration with countries such as Russia and Israel for manufacture of defence equipment and technology transfer, prospects appear quite encouraging. Such significant government initiatives have led to the expenditure on defence procurement from foreign sources being reduced from 46 percent to less than 35 percent in the last four years i.e. 2018-19 to 2021-22 and after. However, India’s military spending of US$76.6 billion ranked third highest in the world in 2021.
Finally, it needs to be stated that while indigenous manufacturing is indeed a welcome sign, the production targets must be met. There is also need for technically skilled personnel who would be capable of using these modern weapons. In this connection, the question of revamping the Agnipath scheme gains relevance and the need for intensive technical training to those who are inducted in the armed forces. —INFA