“Make in India for defense isn’t thought through properly. It is a good slogan, beyond that there isn’t much to show as yet”- wrote Rahul Bedi, a Delhi-based defense analyst.
After facing a humiliating defeat in 2020 at the hands of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Ladakh, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh announced a new defense imports policy in which the purchase of 101 weapons and military platforms from abroad would be phased by 2024. The expensive and frenzied imports of munitions, missiles assorted ordnance and high—altitude gear, amongst myriad other equipment for the Indian military, to counter the threat posed by PLA in Ladakh, was hard to reconcile with the image of a world power that India wanted to project for itself. Therefore, India resorted to the self-reliance mantra. Indian army, air force and navy are still using light helicopters, designed and developed in France more than half a century ago.
Flying old helicopters is not only causing technical complications but is also costing lives. According to records held with the Indian Parliament until December 2021, 31 soldiers were killed and another 19 injured in accidents involving military helicopters since 2017. India’s T-72 tanks are facing problems pertaining to ammunition systems as they sometimes burst in the barrel and 200 such cases have been reported making Indian Army wonder whether its troops will be “afraid” to fire even after seeing the enemy.
An Indian defense ministry official stated that “Almost 80% of India’s chopper fleet has already outlived its 30-year lifespan. Most of the Indian army’s fleet of single-engine choppers will have to be grounded by 2026 even though domestically made light helicopters aren’t likely to be ready before the end of 2023.” Furthermore, the Times of India revealed that the Indian military could not last for much longer than 20 days of intense fighting and reported critical shortage, including in tank and air defense ammunition, anti-tank guided missiles, specialized machine-gun magazines, grenades and mine fuses. There are a number of defective equipment but some are of more prominence than others.
INS Vikrant: an indigenously built Indian aircraft carrier, inducted into its navy in September 2022. Though recently commissioned, INS Vikrant is already close to obsolescence. The INS Vikrant carrier uses older technology of “ski-jump” design to give aircraft taking off a much-needed lift. Since Vikrant’s jets have to ignite and take off autonomously due to its ski-jump system, the amount of fuel, missiles, and bombs each jet can carry is constrained. The rationale for the launch of an aircraft carrier is mainly to counter Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean; Vikrant is a generation behind China’s latest aircraft carrier- the high–tech Fujian in terms of design.
Tejas 1 incompatibility: India’s indigenously made, light-combat single-engine fighter, Tejas 1, which the Indian government stressed under her weapon import substitution formula, falls admittedly behind its counterparts in combat including F-16, JAS 39 Gripen. Tejas has an endurance rate of 59 minutes followed by 20 hours of mandatory service compared to 3 hours of endurance rate of JAS 39 and 4 hours of F-16, with comparatively lesser service timings. Furthermore, the jet lags behind in payload carriage capacity of 3 tons as compared to 6 tons of Gripen and 7 tons of F-16. The jet essentially falls in the category of outdated aircraft, with technology lagging behind its competitors. In 2017, the Indian Air Force requested the government to decrease the number of Tejas 1 from 123 to 40, with the rest being upgraded to Tejas Mark 2.
Replacement of Cheetah and Chetak Helicopters: According to an analysis published by a senior Indian defense analyst in November 2021, India’s Cheetah and Chetak helicopters, numbering 400 in IAF, have long been rendered technically obsolete, while the helicopters are set to reach their total technical life by the end of the year 2022. Owing to the number of incidents these copters have met on a regular basis, they have earned the name of ‘flying coffins’. These helicopters were inducted in Indian Aviation in the 1960s and 1970s but the government has yet to take any effective action to replace them.
Kaveri Burning Turbofan Engine Project: Kaveri afterburning turbofan engine project, was launched in the late 1980s to power indigenous light combat aircraft. The project worth 3.8 billion failed to pass the high-altitude trials in Russia in 2004, due to inefficacy and overweightage. Despite renewed commitments and approaches to the Kaveri project in years 2004 and 2016, the program remains incomplete following 36 years of active pursuit.
Barrel Bursting T-72 Tanks: In terms of numbers, the T-72 tanks are the backbone of the Indian armored fleet and have undergone several upgrades since their induction to be able to fight effectively on the battlefield. During the Annual Firing at Babina Field Firing Ranges in 2013, a tank barrel burst took place. There have been 200 such accidents involving ammunition malfunctions.
While India continues to heavily project its so-called ‘Make in India’ propaganda as a means to garner support for defense indigenization, its defense equipment of critical tactical importance can barely pass off as mostly faulty and incompetent. There is a need to sensitize the countries, particularly those signing defense deals with India or exporting defense material from India, regarding India’s technical snags and inefficient indigenous defense equipment. Despite severe technical shortcomings, India is desperately endeavoring to export the faulty lot of weapon systems to UAE, KSA, Bangladesh and Armenia, with little to no regard of safety of the human lives involved.
