Defence Primer

Defence Primer: India at 75
in future in a way that is more efficient than has been the case so far.
Having already lost a lot of time in trying to fix the problem, it would be
pragmatic to make the committee’s report the basis for evolving a dynamic
policy to promote indigenous production and bringing about procedural
changes which expedite the process of finalising defence contracts. This
report is a good reference point because the wide-ranging recommendations
made by the committee reflect the collective wisdom of a cross-section of the
armed forces, defence industry, domain experts and think tanks. It cannot get
any better than that.
This is not to suggest that all recommendations made by the committee must
be implemented or there is no need to go beyond the committee’s vision.
In fact, it may not even be possible to implement every recommendation
immediately since the committee has left it to the government to work out
the details, as in the case of the ‘strategic partnership model’. What is needed
is to evolve a short to medium strategy to galvanise indigenous defence
production and streamline defence procurements. The observations and
recommendations of the committee would be of a great help in doing so.
What is needed is
to evolve a short to
medium strategy
to galvanise
indigenous defence
production and
streamline defence
procurements. The
observations and
recommendations of
the committee would
be of a great help in
doing so.
Any such strategy will have to take into account three factors that have a
direct bearing on defence procurements and production: pragmatic defence
planning, efficient procurement procedures and an eco-system that promotes
indigenous production.
Pragmatic Planning – Key to Sustainable Strategy
for Revamping Procurement System
Alan Lakein famously said, ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’. There are many
who would argue that defence planning suffers on account such macro factors
as the absence of a National Security Strategy and the Chief of Defence Staff.
There may be some merit in this view but, going by the past experience and
the present trend, it is going to take a while before these issues get addressed
either way. What is needed is to come up with a good plan within the existing
limitations for, to quote George Patton, ‘A good plan implemented today is
better than a perfect plan implemented tomorrow’.
The fact is that the existing defence plans are centered on the Defence Minister’s
Operational Directives which, in turn, are based on the government’s threat
perceptions, which are not going to change irrespective of whether or not
there is a National Security Strategy or the Chief of Defence Staff. That
being the case, the government needs to focus on the process of defence
planning.
At present, the 15-year Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP) forms
the basis of the downstream 5-year Services Capital Acquisition Plan (SCAP)
and the Annual Acquisition Plans. However, LTIPP is not a composite
plan as it does not cover the Coast Guard, Boarder Roads, DRDO and the
Ordnance Factories. All of them have their separate plans. Such disjointed
planning goes against the grain of cost-effective, efficient and coordinated
planning. To begin with, there is a pressing need for an overarching entity to
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