Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India initiative has helped the defence ministry save more than `1 lakh crore worth of foreign exchange.
In the past two years, as many as six air defence and anti-tank missile projects have been built in India by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), even as several new ones are under its consideration.
Narendra Modi
Senior defence officials said the decision by the government in favour of going for Make in India is also going to help the development of the indigenous defence industry as the money which would have been transferred to foreign vendors will now be spent within the country and will also develop the capabilities of the indigenous players.
Even though three different defence ministers Arun Jaitley, Manohar Parrikar and the incumbent Nirmala Sitharaman have held the office in the last three years, all have shown an inclination towards Indian projects while deciding on whether to buy the missile systems from abroad or go for Made in India systems, the officials said.
The services chiefs have also fully backed the indigenous programmes while allowing the Defence Research and Development Organisation to take time to develop in-house missile systems.
The projects where the government has decided against the foreign vendors and gone for DRDO’s Made in India products include the two separate projects for Short Range Surface to Air Missiles (SR-SAMs) for the Navy and the Army, The Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QRSAM) for Army, AntiTank Guided Missile (ATGM) for the Army, helicopter launched anti-tank guided missiles for the Army and the armoured vehicle launched anti-tank missiles for the ground force.
Army Infantry Combat Vehicles were displayed during the Republic Day parade in New Delhi in 2016
Some of these missiles which will substitute imports have been under development for the last several decades.
It goes to the credit of DRDO that some of the projects that have been undertaken by it in recent times have also reached advanced stage, due to the organisation’s expertise.
Mail Today takes a look at the different projects including the missiles, which the Defence Research and Development Organisation have developed locally and calculates the money the country has saved.
SR-SAM (short range surface to air missiles) project for the Navy (expected cost: `30,000 crore). The Navy wanted the capability to annihilate any incoming enemy aircraft, drones and cruise missiles at a short range altitude of 20-25 kilometres and was keen on going in for a European solution.
Vehicles on parade
Prior to this, Navy had also said no to the indigenous Akash missiles on the grounds that it wanted a more compact system.
The DRDO then proposed to develop an indigenous canisterised version of the short range air defence missile.
Following this, the government decided to scrap the plan to buy the European missile in large numbers and go in for a Make in India solution.
The defence ministry has now decided to go in only for limited procurements from abroad. SR-SAM project for the Army (expected cost `20,000 crore): Under this programme, the Army wanted to buy missiles from global vendors in Russia, Israel and Sweden.
The force demanded that they want a system in which the missile should have a sensor to track and target the incoming missiles accurately. The DRDO then offered its latest version of Akash missile with an indigenous sensor.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 68th Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi
The project was accepted, and the then defence minister Arun Jaitley scrapped the global tender. The new missile named Akash-S1 was tested successfully five times in Odisha, last week.
HELINA (Helicopter Launched NAG missiles) and NAG (expected cost `10,000 crore): The HELINA programme has been going on for several decades and it started showing success in tests in recent times.
Now, defence sources say the Air Force and the Army are going ahead with the indigenous missile.
The NAG missiles, which have been under development for several decades is also coming through and would be soon be used as the main anti-tank weapon of the BMP infantry combat vehicle.
VK Saraswat, head of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at his office in New Delhi
Man portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MP-ATGM) (expected cost: `20,000 crore): The Army was looking at the Israeli SPIKE missiles to meet its requirement of more than 60,000 anti-tank missiles by its infantry units.
Just then the Defence Research and Development Organisation initiated its own programme.
With delays and other issues hitting the foreign acquisition plan, the government decided in favour of the DRDO project while allowing the Army to go ahead for a limited procurement for its immediate requirements.
Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile system (QR-SAM) (expected cost `30,000 crore) The Army wants to equip its Army Air Defence Corps with a system which has the capability of tracking enemy aerial targets while being on the move and engaging them immediately.
The force wanted to go in for a global tender but has agreed to opt for the DRDO developed QR-SAM instead. The system underwent its first successful flight test within six-months of being approved by the government.
The projects where the government has decided against foreign vendors and gone for DRDO’s Made in India products include the two separate projects for Short Range Surface to Air Missiles (SR-SAMs) for the Navy and the Army, the Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QR-SAM), Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) and helicopter launched anti-tank guided missiles for the Army, and the armoured vehicle launched anti-tank missiles for the ground force.
An old policy where only private sector companies were allowed to participate in selected naval tenders is being reconsidered by the government.
The major tender during the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) regime in this regard was the `32,000 crore tender which was kept open only for private shipyards including Pipavav, Larsen and Toubro and ABG Shipyard, while public sector players such as MDL and Cochin Shipyard Limited were not allowed to participate.
‘The main idea behind the policy was that private sector shipyards would prove to be cheaper than their public sector counterparts but in recent times, we have seen that public sector firms such as CSL and GRSE have beaten the private companies hands down in open bids,’ a government source told Mail Today.
‘However, the long delays in delivering projects and a realisation that private sector is not cheaper has forced the government to do a rethink,’ they said.
Recently, government shipyards — Cochin Shipyard Limited and Garden Reach Shipyard Limited—bagged the order to supply 16 antisubmarine warfare (ASW) craft to the Indian Navy which is worth over `12,000 crore.
Major tenders during the UPA regime were kept open for private shipyards only
Among the six companies that participated in the bid, the price offered by the private sector companies was much higher than their public sector counterparts.
In the recent past, there have been cases where Navy and Coast Guard projects have been delayed by private shipyards and in some of the cases, the delay has been by many years.
In one such case, a Gujarat-based shipyard has been able to supply only one out of six survey vessels ordered by the Navy even 10 years after signing the deal.
In another case, a major private shipyard has not supplied even a single patrol vessel out of the contract for five, signed more than six years ago.
Some of the major private sector shipyards are facing serious financial constraints and were cleared by the government for receiving tenders only after conditional clearances were granted to them by the defence ministry’s finance wing.
Due to the improved performance of defence shipyards, the Goa Shipyard Limited was nominated by the government for partnering with the Russians for manufacturing four Talwar-Class follow-on warships worth more than `20,000 crore.