- Building Bridges Amidst Emerging Strategies
- Strengthening Bonds & Creating New Alliances
New Delhi. 24 January 2025. The new year started with announcement of 2025 being declared as the ‘Year of Defence Reforms’. It has nine major reforms which encompasses Jointness, Integration and Theaterisation as the first one which clearly indicates the priority of the Government as well as the Defence Forces.
This FIRST PILLAR will be the most important game changer for all the three services and will put India amongst the few select nations like USA, Russia and China who have adopted Theatre commands. The Theatre commands being accepted in India have a special fervour which relates to its adoption by all the three services based on consensus as against being thrust upon them. India will become first such country in the world to achieve this with consensus based approach.
The second point relates to new domains of warfare to include cyber and space along with use of niche technologies. These are newly established fields and India has the potential of being ‘at par’ or ‘ahead’ of its adversaries if focused effort is made by all the three services and a pledge is taken on this Republic Day towards this. We have to do a lot of catching up and only mission mode effort can address our concerns. These are the areas where India has the requisite ‘know how’ and these can give out of proportion results in the future warfighting which have become a proven fact during Russia- Ukraine war as well as other ongoing conflicts.
The third point is related to development of shared understanding of operational peculiarities by all the three services, as these are critical to enhance their integrated effectiveness. Joint training at all levels will be needed to develop such capacities. A lot of ground has already been covered on this account and remaining areas will also get addressed in the Year of Reforms recently announced.
The fourth point relates to the need of simplifying the acquisition process. The mere acceptance of this point indicates the acceptance of the challenges being faced by various stake holders despite certain corrections made in DAP 2020. This difficulty was openly articulated by the Defence Secretary as well, while participating in the 21st Subroto Mukherjee Memorial Lecture on 07 Jan 2025. If such acceptance is being articulated at the highest level, it indicates the seriousness of the Government towards modification of Defence Acquisition Procedure. It is obvious that this year DAP 2025 should be rolled out, which should be aligned with ground realities. It should develop the requisite ecosystem for all the stakeholders whether they are big corporate houses, MSMEs or start-ups. The domestic need and export target basket access must be made available to all the stakeholders in most simple and efficient manner. Defence Procurement Manual should also be modified. All the three services must provide realistic inputs for development of this document. The audit authorities should become a facilitator through positive guidance rather than obstructing the processes resulting in inordinate delays.
The fifth point relates to leverage available with Government entities in terms of technology transfer, which must be shared with private sector free of cost. One recalls the statement of Hon’ble RM given in Lucknow during Invest UP Summit that the “flour which has already been grinded, need not be grinded again”, implying there is no need to reinvent the wheel for capacities which already exist anywhere in the country. These must be made available to all those who need them for making the country self-reliant. The three services have also got certain IP rights/licences which they can leverage to the industry for the national good. An institutional mechanism should be announced on this Republic day.
The sixth point goes a step further indicating a collaborative approach by all. With Theatres getting actualised as part of first reform, collaborations will become inevitable. Once the silos are broken and we start functioning with Whole of Nation Approach (WONA), India will change forever. All the three services must demonstrate their capability to lead this change on this Republic Day.
The seventh point is related to making India as an export hub for the defence equipment. It talks of ‘inclusive criteria’ even with foreign OEMs as against them being excluded. This approach will bring in high end technology transfer to India thus shortening the gap between what is desired and what is available. The apprehensions of delayed delivery of Tejas as expressed by Air Chief will get fast tracked with this approach and apprehensions emerging from China’s sixth generation fighters will also diminish. This has to be done in the ‘mission mode’ by all the three services as requisite capability development in current environment is very critical.
Akash missile system The eighth point relates to the welfare of veterans. In fact, veterans have huge potential which can be leveraged for the national good. A ‘Veteran Corps’ getting announced on this Republic Day will indicate the desire of the Government to leverage this untapped capacity in the national interest. They can relieve regular troops partly from training, disaster management and TA roles. They can also undertake large number of tasks which are being handled by regular troops thus relieving them for operational role. As far as their genuine welfare is concerned, aggregated entitlement against multitude of schemes, timely payment of pensions and adequate allotment of funds to ECHS for their welfare will be the game changer.
The ninth point relates to pride in Indian beliefs, systems and equipment while adopting these from those countries who are ahead of us. The fully indigenised defence forces are the need of the hour and what could be better occasion for all the three services to do this on this Republic day.
The nation has moved in Amrit Kaal and is inching towards a Viksit and Sashakt Bharat in 2047. The defence forces have to lead the way for all others this Republic Day. When they march on Kartavya Path, every step should bolster the confidence of our people towards security , peace and unhindered growth..
(Maj Gen Ashok Kumar, VSM (Retd) is Director General Centre for Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS), a Kargil war veteran and a defence analyst. He specialises on neighbouring countries with special focus on China. The views in the article are solely the author’s. He can be contacted at editor.adu@gmail.com).
