Defence R&D: Mirages on Horizon
19 Jul, 2000 · 388
Wg Cdr NK Pant comments on the poor performance of the Indian Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) over the years
The DRDO is mandated to progressively enhance self reliance in defence supplies by design and development of high-tech weapons in accordance with the QRs laid down by the armed forces. But, despite large annual budgets of over Rs3000 crores, six per cent of the total defence allocation, there is a growing tendency amongst the three Services to prefer foreign defence systems gear involving precious foreign exchange, thereby defeating the very purpose of DRDO’s existence. Even the equipment designed by the DRDO has considerable imported components and cannot be termed wholly indigenous.
Israel
for battlefield surveillance. DRDO’s long delay in developing the multi barrel rocket launcher system Pinaka, has prompted the artillery to look for the latest Russian rocket launching batteries. The weapon locating radars capable of pinpointing enemy gun positions have also met a similar fate. Had they been designed and made available before the Kargil crisis was forced on us by
Pakistan
, many young combatant lives could have been saved on the battlefront. Now the army is reportedly scouting for these exorbitantly priced radars in the international arms markets.
India
’s industrial conglomerates especially in the field of telecommunications and information technology must be tapped national defence. Until this is done, DRDO’s vision of getting “ transformed into a technological leader of world class with a mission of making the nation independent of foreign technology in critical spheres”, is not likely to be realised.
Over the years, DRDO has transformed into a very large organisation with 50 labs backed by 5000 scientists and 25,000 other technical and support personnel. It is engaged in developing defence technologies in various disciplines for the national war effort. Presently, several projects for the development of missiles, armaments, light combat aircraft, radars, electronic warfare systems etc are in hand with success being achieved in some of the fields. However, the organisation has not been able to produce state-of-the-art weapons and equipment and other support systems.
The Comptroller and Auditor General’s report tabled in Parliament in December 1999 brought out several negative points in the development programmes run by the DRDO, many of which are far behind schedule. Moreover, many projects completed after a long haul and huge expenditure have fallen short of the expectations of the armed forces that have had to face the enemy on the borders and the insurgents within the country with inferior weapons and communication equipment.
Let us take a look at some of the high priority projects vital for the nation’s security. The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project initiated two decades back has been acquiring of publicity intermittently for several years but it is yet to take off on its maiden test flight. The IAF’s original plans to replace the ageing MiG-21s with the LCA have gone awry, and it had no alternative but to opt for MiG-21 fleets’ up-gradation which itself is facing unwarranted delays. Similarly, the plan to design indigenous AWACS for the IAF has drawn a blank after one of the modified HS-748 transport aircraft crashed while on a proving mission more than a year back. The unduly long delay in developing of the unmanned air vehicle (UAV) Nishant, has compelled the Indian army to acquire the versatile Searcher-2 UAV from
Roughly two third of our army’s front line units are deployed in the remote Himalayan mountainous belt along the Chinese and Pakistani lines of actual control. The military’s elementary needs for bare survival in these difficult locations such as warm clothing, sleeping bags, gloves, socks, boots and dwellings able to withstand heavy snow and blizzards need to be fabricated for the troops serving in harsh areas such as the Siachen glacier and Kargil region where it is not uncommon for the mercury to go below minus 20 degrees Celsius.
This presents a real challenge to the DRDO scientists who must accord the highest priority to developing equipment for high altitude mountain warfare. The organisation should also collaborate with the corporate sector. The enormous technological strides made by
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