Confucius said: “You can strangle the cockerel, but the dawn will not thereby delay its appearance.” Sun Tzu observed, “Always remember danger when you are secure, and remember chaos in times of order, watch out for danger and chaos when they are formless and prevent them before they happen.”At the end of March, along with the BJP’s release of its vision document, came Satish Kumar’s assessment of India’s defence capability. He and his committee on national security, rated India as the fourth largest military in the world. It makes me wonder if we are not deluding ourselves, at least as far as matters military are concerned. My friend, Maj-Gen Fuller, has observed that “the object of the military planner is to obtain the greatest possible output of machine power from the lowest operative manpower. Fighting power is multiplied by equipment and not by heads. He who in war counts heads will soon lose his own.”We appear to be swayed by numbers in our armed forces, as compared to our machine power. That devotion to duty of our personnel is high is apparent to a casual bystander as he watches a goods train carrying T-72 Russian tanks, chug past a level crossing. He sees our soldiers stoically camping in improvised shelters behind their tanks. The only thing that may jar an inquiring mind is that no part of these tanks on which our jawans will hopefully ride to victory are made in India. We have two tank production lines at Avadi. Recently, the manager of an ordnance factory told me of his visit to Moscow to procure a supply of castings for our tanks. Three factories for the manufacture of automotive components have been set up — two at Avadi, and one at Trichy. Alas, after unending imports, only 128 Arjun tanks with imported engines are to be manufactured. The story of waste is endless. Our 42 defence ordnance factories and 12 defense-related PSUs, are run by civil servants. The management of industry is a highly professional task — particularly in defence, where products could become obsolete in 20 years. Correct decisions require to be taken quickly, with an understanding of the technology involved.We are the only nation that accepts loss making production units. Parliament approves the yearly defence budget, showing built in losses. The situation was highlighted in Arms Industries, published by the National Defence University Press at Washington. One contributor, Ralph Sanders, remarked on India’s vigorous R&D programme — the country, he pointed out, was ranked as eighth in the world in the number of papers published. On production, he commented, that while India’s efforts and accomplishments in defence production were significant, it has faced problems since 1962. The year 1962, incidentally, was the year when the ministry took direct charge of production!General V.K. Madhok, writing on India’s military dilemma of lagging behind in technology, suggested a new principle of war: Technical Superiority. There is need for increased technical education for the whole of the armed services, as well as for civil servants, to prevent senior decision makers from hindering the process of technology development. We also need greater synergy between the armed forces and industry. We could, for instance, follow the American pattern and establish a defence industrial college — where industrialists can interact directly with the officers of the armed forces at the intellectual level.I was lucky to have worked alongside a man of rare vision, the late S.Mulgaonkar, who understood the relationship of technology and economics in the world of manufacturing. We spent three years together as members of the Morarji Reforms Commission. Its recommendation — the need to set up an industrial defence college — has been accepted by the government but awaits implementation.If we are to really “shine”, we have to put our house in order and not depend on imported weapons and equipment. We, who depend on weapons development by 9 to 5 pm civil servants, have failed miserably to manufacture even simple firearms for our soldiers.The writer is a former controller, General Defence Production
