Kamal Davar | Why reforms in defence sector are crucial for protecting India
Early this month defence minister Rajnath Singh announced at a press conference that the defence ministry has decided to make 2025 the “Year of Reforms”. This is indeed a welcome declaration as reforms and transformation to fight the wars of the future cannot be left to stagnate. It is vital to comprehend that not only is the induction of newer weaponry, platforms and arsenals necessary, but also the introduction of newer doctrines and military structures to successfully face future challenges.
Since Independence, India faced many challenges to its security and fought wars in 1947-48, 1962, 1965, 1971 and 1999, besides facing border clashes and weathering serious terror attacks. Inheriting a Higher Defence Organisation (HDO) bequeathed to it by the departing British rulers, the Indian Army’s principal structures, organisation of its units and formations and even military doctrines never underwent any radical changes, only minor transformations. These were also primarily reactive in nature, to meet immediate shortfalls in its arsenal and also some newer outfits were raised as required which the country could afford.
India’s strategic and security challenges have, unquestionably, grown increasingly and in myriad forms over the past decades. From threats posed by many terror “tanzeems” from Pakistan, India for the last few years also faces an overly aggressive and assertive China, which is determined to disturb the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), while it also tries to expand its footprint in India’s immediate neighbourhood. That China and Pakistan also pose a serious military threat to India, in collusion, is a factor which India’s security establishment has to be prepared for.
India’s restive Northeast region, the turmoil and political instability in neighbouring Myanmar and recently the totally unexpected political changes in Bangladesh, with its current anti-India stance, also pose security threats to India. We must also factor in that Pakistan and China will also be fishing in troubled waters on India’s eastern and northeastern flanks.
Though India has, as mentioned earlier, introduced some reforms in defence, primarily in knee-jerk reactions, the most comprehensive exercise was carried out only after the Kargil War in 1999. The then Atal Behari Vajpayee government had constituted the Kargil Review Committee under former bureaucrat K. Subramanyam whose committee, by all standards, carried out a magnificent review of India’s HDO. Its recommendations were endorsed by the government’s Group of Ministers (GOM), and many suggestions were implemented like the establishment of the office of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Strategic Forces Command, Defence Intelligence Agency and National Technical Research Organisation. A far greater emphasis was laid on “jointness” and the integration of the operational doctrines and structures of the three services. Till recently, reports suggest that out of 75 recommendations, about 63 recommendations, big and small, had been implemented. However, one of the significant recommendations for creating optimal “jointness” and integration, namely, the establishment of Integrated Theatre Commands, has not been implemented yet, primarily due to differences in professional opinion between the three services.
The defence minister, who spelt out the nuances of the “Year of Reforms” at his New Year press conference, said “unprecedented advances” will ensue as a result of these reforms “bolstering India’s security and sovereignty in defence of 21st century challenges”, and it will be a historic step in the modernisation of India’s armed forces. He also stressed upon the significance of jointness and integration in facilitating the establishment of the Theatre Commands, which will ensure synergy of the operational capabilities of the three services. The mission is to transform the armed forces from a manpower-intensive force into a technologically robust combat-ready force. The Theatre Commands, long delayed, will now be given full attention to ensure their emergence. However, it must be understood that professional differences among the three services will need to be resolved before the implementation of this transformation.
The Theatre Commands must be configured keeping in view the Indian context and not simply follow any Western model. But, as this entire exercise aims at the “unity of effort”, clarity on the division of responsibilities between the CDS and the defence secretary, and between the CDS and the three service chiefs needs to addressed.
The defence minister also emphasised on vastly increasing our exports in defence equipment by synergising the efforts and resources of Indian industry, our defence public sector units and in partnership with foreign manufacturers.
However, till the government does not ensure the pruning of bureaucratic hurdles in India, this will remain a pipedream. He, however, stated that from a mere Rs 2,000 crores of defence exports in 2014, India was now exporting defence equipment worth Rs 21,000 crores and the government had set a target of Rs 50,000 crores for such exports by 2029. The minister rightly prioritised the nation’s efforts to acquire proficiency in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning.
Though he did not touch upon the current wars in progress like the Russia-Ukraine conflict or the Israeli-Hamas, Israeli-Hezbollah or the Israeli-Iranian long-range missiles exchanges, it will be prudent to analyse the employment of certain weaponry in use in these kinetic conflicts, as amazingly, many of the well-established concepts of war fighting so far have met their Waterloo in these battles. Important lessons will emerge even for the Indian armed forces, including the fact that smaller nations and non-state actors can create major problems for nations with large armies with the spread of lethal and easily available technologies. The era of unmanned weaponised platforms has also dawned.
The year ahead will present an array of challenges for India, and it will now be the duty of its highly professional armed forces, with the unqualified support of the government, to be fully prepared for multi-spectrum warfare across all domains.
