Vimarsha on ‘Make in India’ in Defence Sector by Vice Admiral Puri, former Chief of Integrated Defence Staff

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With the ‘Make in India’ drive of the government promising to change the entire industrial landscape in the country, the VIF organised it monthly talk ‘vimarsha’ on the ‘Role of Technology in the Manufacture of Defence Equipment’ on 23 April 2015, delivered by Vice Admiral Puri, former Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, who is presently associated with the Foundation as a Distinguished Fellow. Spelling out the imperatives of ‘Make in India’ in defence, General NC Vij, Director, VIF, said in his opening remarks, India’s excessive dependence on foreign suppliers to meet the critical requirements of the country’s armed forces is an unviable proposition in the long run. While on the one hand, it dents the country’s hard-earned foreign exchange reserves, on the other hand, it also leaves the armed forces with a frightening prospect of supplies getting dry at crunch situations. General Vij, a former Chief of the Indian Army, further stressed that while direct purchases of foreign-made weaponry may be the easiest option to pursue in the short run, a country of India’s size and might can not perennially remain dependent on foreign equipment manufacturers to meet the growing requirements of its armed forces.

Vice Admiral Raman Puri, who long has been associated with India’s premier Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in steering the course of indigenization in defence production, stressed that evolving nature of modern warfare has put the additional onus on the armed forces to continuously upgrade its weaponry. India, which had to put up with sanction regimes in the past, has tried too often with offsets as a measure to boost indigenous production. But, till date technology acquisition through offset has not resulted in acquisition of even a single technology. The speaker urged on the need for government to establish world class science and technology base and provide our Defence Services decisive edge by equipping them with internationally competitive systems and solutions. He expressed optimism that DRDO has the necessary technological edge to move in the right direction. Citing ‘Tejas’ (multi-role combat fighter) and ‘Arjun’ (main battle tank) as the shining examples of success of the DRDO, Adm Puri said experiences gained in research over the past few decades should not be frittered away. The DRDO has often been blamed wrongly for running into cost and time overruns. He, however, said many of the problems associated with the DRDO could be set right by proper planning, but even more importantly, by staying the course. A great advocate of self-reliance in defence production, Adm Puri also opined that joint research with private players would result in spinning off technologies which would be beneficial to both. Views expressed by the speaker found great resonance with the audience who had turned up in sizable strength to hear Raman puri on a very scintillating subject.