Firing Blanks

When an Indian Air Force MiG-23 trainer went down this week, it was the second crash in the past few days and the seventh this year.

It highlights the growing problem of maintaining technological and operational standards that are concomitant with India's role as a regional power.

Two of the crashes involved planes that are of 1960s vintage. The MiG-21, which forms the backbone of the Indian Air Force, was first deployed in the 1970s.

The T-72 tanks comprising the bulk of the army's armoured corps are at least a generation behind current standards.

The situation calls for a well thought out government response. But that is unlikely to happen while the defence purchase system remains as it is, opaque and plagued with problems.

Obtuse thinking on the part of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and bureaucrats is one of them. Deals to procure new combat aircraft to replace the outdated MiG-21s as well as attack helicopters and light utility helicopters have all recently seen a rash of pullouts by foreign companies because of red tape and inflexible offset clauses. Stipulating that firms plough back as much as up to 50 per cent of the deal amount into a largely state-run Indian defence sector that, they complain, is not able to handle the inflow and deliver on its commitments is simply not workable. With legislation being proposed in the US to limit defence assistance to countries with high offset stipulations, the situation is only likely to worsen.

Corruption is an even more troubling issue.
The Barak anti-missile defence system joint venture, inked in 2000, was on hold for eight years after irregularities resulted in a CBI investigation that revealed just how far the rot had spread with a well-connected Indian arms dealer and politicians being allegedly implicated. This is far from an isolated incident. A $325 million air force deal is on hold for similar reasons and a media expose in 2001 revealed that as many as 15 defence deals possibly involved kickbacks. The biggest danger in all of this is that substandard or unsuitable armaments will be pushed onto the armed forces in a bid to maximize illicit profit.

A country hoping to acquire military capability to match its rising economic clout cannot afford to let this situation continue. Too often, the ministry of defence, DRDO and military work at cross purposes and the result is a labyrinthine tangle. Oversight must be implemented and a far greater degree of transparency brought to the procurement process. The deals may be negotiable but the country's security is not.

Source: The Times of India