For want of a nail, the war was lost!

Many of us would have heard this story and the above statement. In similar lines, I believe, India is getting very vulnerable with increasing dependence on foreign countries (US, UK, France, Israel, Russia…I don’t know how many more) for its defense needs – big or small nails (aircrafts to carriers to sensors to engines to blades to nuclear reactors) – and in the process we may not have winning edge!

I read an article in Hindu, “Threat to innovative fix-dependent system” [URL]. Reading this, I was appalled that for anything and everything we are dependent on other countries. To retrofit, for accessories, and for many other things & over and above that, we have contractual obligations with these foreign countries, which makes us completely dependent on foreign OEMs to send parts or fly down their personnel – as long as that purchased item is in service!

Earlier I was happy that there was something called defense offset policy, where foreign OEMs are mandated to source components (I don’t know if services are also included) worth 30% of the cost of deal (a very high level pointer, for more info click here). In case of nuclear reactors, if we need to source from US, we need to absolve US vendors from all liabilities, if an accident occurs because of their equipment.

You might have read about delays in manufacture of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) by India. One of the main reasons for the delay was the sanction imposed on India (post nuclear test). During this period, we did not get access to aircraft engines and you know the rest of story. And there could be many instances and fields (medicine, IT, agriculture etc) where India faces challenges. In all these cases we might have got want we wanted but with a catch.

So, the question in my mind is, ‘Why cannot India be self sufficient when it comes to critical areas like Defense?’

Precedence where we had solution to similar problem(s):

Indian visionaries sensed this need and set up IITs, NITs, IISC etc and other educational institutions. Now, over a period of time we are reaping the benefit of having steady stream of graduates from all fields (bear with me for the factory approach but our society and corporate are like that).

Another instance which we can relate to is the ecosystem we have for automobile industry. Early foundation put in place by Government and big companies have paved the way for this industry to be less dependent to a great extent (we are still dependent on foreign partners for design, for safety testing etc).

Questions: Who has the solution to make India independent for defense related technologies and other critical technologies? What is required to be done? Why we are unable to replicate the solutions we had earlier for similar challenges? (India built its own Super Computer when it was pushed to the corner by the so the called developed world).

P.S:-

Another interesting article: It pays to increase R&D spend [Click here to read]

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