India’s offer at the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) defence ministers’ conclave in Bengaluru, held as part of the Aero-India 2021 show, is to act as a supplier of missiles and sophisticated electronic warfare systems to member nations – some 27 in all. The offer made by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is impressive if only for the new strides that India aspires to take in such fields. However, there is nothing as yet to show that India has achieved a reputation about the quality of its defence production sector. Herein lies the rub.
Admittedly, India has made commendable strides in space and missile technology and there is lure for the developing nations to look up to India for purchases. India has its own Akash and BrahMos missiles and nations like Indonesia and Vietnam in the Asian region were being sounded for such deals last year. At the same time, India is still dependent on the US and the West for sophisticated missile systems. A $155 million deal was signed with the US last year for such purchases, and a 5.5 billion deal for S-400 air defence missile system — with Russia which is also vying with the US for military sales to India as has been the case for decades.
In matters of defence weaponry quality is of prime importance. With quality comes the price factor too. The West makes its money from manufacture and supply of defence wares, including military aircraft as in the case of the Rafale fighter jets. This is a field that India, despite its huge size, neglected all along and instead depended on the developed world for all kinds of military supplies. At one time, the erstwhile USSR dumped all its military ware on India, as the Communist nation had an edge in producing quality military hardware. Yet, over the years, the quality of its heavily priced submarines etc., was in serious doubt.
After the collapse of the USSR and the NAM arrangement, India turned to the West for more of its arms purchases. Huge commissions changed hands and the beneficiaries were reportedly top politicos in power and top military generals. Admittedly, our satisfaction is that the scenario of such loot here might not be as worse as in countries like Pakistan. There is hardly any war for India to test the quality of its military acquisitions.
The Modi government in its first term talked big about a fillip to production of defence items within the country under the Make In India banner. But, no significant strides have been made in this direction as yet. It all remains in the realm of slogans.