Tag Archives: Indian aerospace skilling

IndianSME

Bengaluru Company develops technology for IAF

1 Reply

Bengaluru-based aero defence equipment maker Radel Advanced Technology (RATPL) is eyeing huge opportunities in the defence sector this year and is developing a series of Indigenous technologies for the Indian Air Force (IAF).

“An Electronic Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) for the Dornier (maritime reconnaissance) aircraft is under development and has successfully undergone functional testing at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). It is now in the qualification testing phase”, the company’s managing director, G. Raj Narayan, told IANS.

Also, the company is awaiting integration and flight trial reports from the IAF for an electronic bomb-release controller used on fighter aircraft. “Once this is completed, the unit will enter serial production,” Narayan said.

RATPL has increased the life span of the Jaguar fighter aircraft by indigenizing the distributor used on its rocket pod. The IndianSME  has used modern electronic systems to replace the original, which is now obsolete.

GRajNarayan's Blog

“This unit has undergone successful certification following into serial production,” Narayan said.

The company is also working on the repair of a high voltage power supply component of the Indian Navy’s helicopters.

“The project involves reverse engineering and design of a new power supply module using current electronics technology. The project is nearing completion and the finalized unit will be delivered to the Navy in a couple of weeks,” Narayan said.

The company is certified by CEMILAC (Centre for Military Airworthiness Certification) and has executed 20 Indigenization projects for HAL and the IAF.

It has already designed, developed and supplied a number of ground rigs for testing the avionics on board the indigenous advanced light helicopter (ALH) and the Sukhoi Su-30MKI combat jet. Multiple numbers of these have been supplied to HAL and are operating across IAF bases.

“Repeat orders for these are being periodically executed by us to meet the needs of HAL, “Narayan said.

The original article appeared on Business Standard.

Indiansme

Make in India Campaign and Indian SMEs: The Fine Line

Leave a reply

The biggest highlight of the year for the aerospace manufacturing industry and Indian SMEs without any doubt has been the announcement of the ‘Make in India’ campaign by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Not only has it galvanized the industry in India, but it has also given a renewed confidence to foreign player,s resulting in increased interest from foreign investors to invest in local manufacturing. The Make in India initiative has given new hope to the Indian SME sector and has come as a boost to the sagging morale of Indian SMEs and Manufacturing industry. After the introduction of the Make in India campaign, the industry has started seeing visible changes to the functioning of bureaucracy across the country.

The Union Government has been making all the right noises and is also demonstrating the willingness to take all steps to improve the economy on every front. Works and policies initiated and proposed by the new government in its first few months in power have been very encouraging for the aerospace manufacturing sector.

GRajNarayan's Blog

Several Indian SMEs have overcome the long gestation period associated with the Aerospace & Defence sector and now look to take a leap forward with more prestigious projects.

Tweet this: “The Make in India’ campaign, both in the industrial as well as the A&D sectors, is bound to open up huge opportunities for SMEs with strong design and development capabilities. Radel hopes to capitalize on these and grow into a nationally recognized organisation.”

The successful flight testing of an in-house designed product of Radel in a Jaguar aircraft of the IAF, leading to its certification for regular use in all Jaguars, was the high point of Radel’s performance in 2014. Radel hopes to repeat the above success with another product, which is currently under an advanced stage of testing for the IAF, in 2015. Overall, Radel hopes to grow by at least 60 percent and look for opportunities in the global A&D market.

Demand creation is also a big expectation. While consumer demand will get generated with inflation getting under control, it is critical to jump-start infrastructure, which can and should be the engine of growth for some years to come. Big steps like labour reform and land acquisition would be areas of high importance. They might get addressed this year if the stakeholders come together to work towards the common good.While it will be incorrect to expect all of that to happen in one year, it is encouraging to see a clear sign of a strong beginning of this cycle in 2015.

Aero India 2015

Indian SMEs set to battle it out for Rs 18,000 crore defence pie

Leave a reply

A $3 Billion opportunity for Indian SMEs and Defence MSMEs has been created by Defence Procurement Policy 2013 and the Make In India Campaign. Numerous offsets in the three wings of the armed forces are expected to be executed in the next five years.

According to defence MSMEs, the two key initiatives have opened up an estimated Rs. 90,000 crore business opportunity, identified as the offset opportunity for defence players in public sector undertakings (DPSUs) and also for the MSME sector over the coming five-year period.  It is reported that prospective business worth Rs.72,000 crores has emerged from IAF (Indian Air Force), with the Indian Navy presenting another Rs.13,500 crore possibility. The prospect from the Indian Army would be around Rs.4500 crore. In the last few years the total value of defence offsets contracted in the last few years is valued around Rs.28,800 crore. The Indian Air Force has signed contracts worth approximately Rs.21,600 crore, the Indian Navy worth Rs.5,064 crore and the Indian Army Rs.144 crore.The MSME sector could expect business worth of Rs.18,000 crores, which would be 20 percent of the Defence sector’s overall projection.

The most promsing area that should encourage SMEs in the defence segment is the indigenous manufacture of parts and
sub-assemblies to replace obsolete original equipment (the MRO sector). It includes the design, development and manufacture of complete equipment as a replacements. Serious efforts have to be made to attract SMEs into this obsolescence management sector. In turn, SMEs should rise to this occasion by raising their standards of quality and reliability of  parts and assemblies that are manufactured by them, as supplies to larger players. Large organisations can then outsource in parallel to multiple efficiently managed MSME organizations.

This kind of involvement will certainly reduce the cost and the time of execution of projects, which are chronically plagued by delays today.

IndianSMEs, AeroIndia 2015

Factors and Challenges Related to the Growth of Indian SME

Leave a reply

Indian SMEs have been a hot topic of discussion during last couple of months and have attracted the attention of entrepreneurs, bureaucrats and industrialists. India’s Defence budget has been growing year after year and has reached Rs.2,290 billion for 2014-2015. As a result, the opportunities for Indian SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) have also grown, leading to increased focus of policy makers and Indian Aerospace SMEs on this sector.

A significant thrust has been indicated in the union budget 2014-15 for the growth of Indian SMEs. After agriculture, the major contribution to the GDP (40 percent) is byMSMEs, who also have the largest workforce. MSMEs in all sectors are known for specific distinctive advantages like low-cost operations, unique skill sets, innovation, flexibility and agility. Indian SMEs nowadays are considered to be competitive and focused.

There has been active participation of Indian SMEs in the last decade in the defence arena. MSMEs play a major role in the defence ecosystem by producing sub-systems and components.

It has been estimated that the Indian defence sector currently comprises over 6,000 MSMEs which are fast integrating themselves into the supply chains of national and international majors including the PSUs.

Although the majority of them produce items of low value addition, a few small enterprises have proved their potential by producing sophisticated high quality products at competitive prices.

 

GRajNarayan's Blog

The Opportunities

The Defence Procurement Policy 2011 had encouraged indigenous manufacture of defence equipment. Further changes in DPP 2013 have been made, to give preference to ‘Make in India’ across all categories. Indian enterprise should take indigenous design and manufacture as a challenge to grab the multi-fold business opportunity. This may bring a change – from dependence on imports to self-reliance. It will certainly yield technology spin-offs to various other fields such as automobile and consumer sectors.

Nearly 50 percent of defence equipment that are held by IAF are obsolete. They either need replacement or upgradation to extend their useful life. An opportunity of around US$10 billion exists in this segment. Obsolescence management is a key area where Indian MSMEs  can play a major role. A few Indian SMEs have developed indigenous sub-assemblies as part of obsolescence management, for both defence forces and defence PSUs.

The Challenges

Constraints faced by majority of MSMEs referring to the A&D sector are

  • Lack of awareness and exposure to stringent performance requirements such as high quality, reliability, efficiency and ruggedness to perform in harsh environments.
  • Lack of knowledge of military systems and platforms.
  • Lack of design skills for development of these products or their components.
  • Lack of training facilities for skilling the workforce, including engineers, in this specialised domain.
  • Lack of access to specialised raw materials and testing facilities associated with this sector.
  • Lack of funding to tide over the long gestation period characteristic of this sector.

Need for an A&D classification for MSMEs

The decision to bring out a new policy for MSME by our Union MSME Minister, Kalraj Mishra will open up new opportunities for all  stakeholders. Committees have been formed by Ministries of Finance, MSME and RBI to address all issues relating to the sector and it is hoped that they will provide a comprehensive policy that will reflect the changing business environment. Considering all the problems faced by entrepreneurs in this sector, a special category to classify ‘A&D MSME’ s would encourage more entrepreneurs to enter the sector.

Special schemes for SMEs in Aerospace and defence sector

A few steps that can be taken to encourage MSMEs in the sector are:

1. During the procurement process, whether of PSUs or armed forces, SMEs with aerospace/ defence skills, experience and proven track record, should be given weightage.

2. SMEs with proven track record in a particular field (such as machining or electronics or hydraulics, etc.) but lacking experience in the A&D arena, to be given exposure to specialised processes and requirements of this sector.

3. Commonly used materials and standard parts (For example, fasteners) of approved grades and quality that either need to be imported or manufactured within the country can be consolidated by creation of a raw material bank, operated and managed by NSIC or a similar organisation.

4. This sector is known for the long cycle time, from order to realization of sales. Special funding schemes taking this factor into account, would be a major step in mitigating one of the main elements discouraging MSMEs in this sector.

A&D MSME Clusters — the way forward

MSME clusters for the high technology A&D sector has to be facilitated. Government should encourage, promote and nurture these clusters through funding, training and support schemes. These clusters could also be virtual which form a supply chain for PSUs and defence organisations. Members in virtual cluster will be able to interact and share business and ideas mutually. There is no need for them to be co-located as a cluster. Members of the clusters would then be able to be use their skills to design or manufacture different parts of equipment. Growth of every individual in the clusters can be increased by pooling of complementary domain expertise. This would go a long way to establish the eco-system which is essential for successful and holistic implementation of indigenisation programs.

For indigenous defence industry

As an extension of the cluster model described in the preceding paragraph, a PSU such as HAL or BEL, or the maintenance wings of the armed services could financially partner with a cluster for mutual benefit. This could be a successful implementation of the PPP model that many governments have talked about in the past. This PPP model would be able to address many of the problem areas elucidated above, including the issue of exposure and training in specialised domain areas of A&D. The PPP eco-system will provide the much required impetus to the MSME sector.

While the new PM’s objective of turning the country from a major defence importer to an exporter opens up a much larger opportunity for the MSMEs, going far beyond the cause of self-reliance, there are challenges aplenty. However, these are not insurmountable if all the stakeholders come together and synergise for the common good.

India is today the world’s largest military equipment buyer. This situation can be converted into a multi-fold business opportunity if indigenous design and manufacture is taken up as a challenge by Indian enterprises!

 

GRajNarayan

Your Stamp in the Sky

Leave a reply

Extract from an article that was published in the New Indian Express:

The Narendra Modi government recently allowed private players based in India to manufacture equipment for the Indian Air Force. In July this year, the Defence Ministry approved the construction of 56 transport aircraft by private players. This is the first time that the private sector will design and manufacture aircraft and will not be supported by the government enterprise, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

There has been some shift since the new government is encouraging participation of the private sector. It was not a dynamic environment before, but now we can expect some change and emergence of indigenous technology in the industries.

This has ignited interest in courses on aerospace.

Demand for the course

In India, you can do a course in Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering. BE/ME, BTech/MTech and PhD-level courses are available in the country. Aerospace engineers are required to have both theoretical and practical knowledge. So, most of these programmes will focus on maintenance systems, production planning and control, airframe instruments and industrial management.

GRajNarayan's Blog

“Studying the subject is very interesting as it has practical applications and is challenging compared to computer science or electronics engineering,” says Lynden Martin Gomez, an aeronautical engineering student who graduated last year from KCG College of Technology, Chennai.

Tweet this: “Students get attracted by IT companies and take up jobs there while the passionate few go into core engineering industries” 

Career scope

Aerospace engineers are paid from Rs.15,000 to Rs.50,000 a month depending on the firm and their experience. You can become a general manager, aircraft design engineer or a technician. Some companies where you can seek jobs include Indian Space Research Organisation, Defence Research and Development Organisation, Hindustan Aeronautics and National Aeronautics Labs. While there are many job roles and companies that take in such engineers, “it was hard finding a job immediately after graduation,” says Lynden.

“Very few who come to us have hands-on capabilities. They seem to have pre-conceived ideas that seem dull. Students should be encouraged to innovate and design new equipment.”

 

The original article appeared in the  NewIndianExpress

Why doesn’t India have really good, indigenously built fighter jets ?

Leave a reply

A modern fighter aircraft is a very complex machine. It consists of a high performance aerodynamic airframe, constructed using a variety of modern materials such as aluminium and titanium alloys, carbon/glass fiber composites, etc., and a very high performance jet engine involving cutting edge technology and high precision machined parts. This only constitutes the basic flying platform, which is then equipped with a large variety of systems involving hydraulics, pneumatic, avionics, electrical and weapons related equipment to make it an efficient, sturdy, rugged, reliable, dependable, potent and safe machine. In fact,

“The quality of the systems and weapons fitted on a fighter aircraft is what really determines whether it is a “really good” or a mediocre aircraft”.

GRajNarayan's blog

An equipment indigenised by Radel that fires rockets from Jaguar aircraft

The design and development of a modern fighter aircraft needs a whole set of skills, capabilities, technologies and infrastructure extending over a very wide engineering spectrum. Further, due to the rapid advances in engineering technologies these days, such an industry would need to assimilate technologies as well as innovate their own continuously through R&D.

All these require highly qualified and trained engineers and scientists, who are encouraged and supported with the best of environment, infrastructure, financial backing and most importantly, quality leadership. Such an ecosystem has been sadly missing in this country all these years. With HAL being the exclusive PSU engaged in the development and manufacture of military aircraft for the last six decades, there has been very little opportunity for the private sector to get a foothold in this sector. One must also appreciate the fact that an aerospace industry is highly capital intensive with long gestation periods and hence no private sector organisation would have been able to afford the investments as made by the Govt. of India into HAL.

It is only in the last 15 years that large Indian business houses have evinced interest in foraying into aircraft manufacture. The synergy arising out of the joint participation of various aerospace organisations such as NAL, ADE, DRDO and HAL, by itself has resulted in a quantum jump resulting in the development of the LCA. This needs to be carried further with the active inclusion of the private sector, particularly in the areas of development of the airborne equipment falling under various categories.

What is required is a holistic and planned approach to developing the indigenous capability that synergises the strengths of the Govt. controlled aerospace organisations with the private sector companies that possess proven domain expertise in each of the engineering areas such as electronics, electrical, hydraulics, mechanical, pneumatic, and software engineering.

MSME

Time to lift MSMEs from ‘garage-type’ operations in defence

Leave a reply

Medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) in the defence and aerospace sector can be ‘game changers’ by contributing their bit to the Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ call, but fear they may end up in ‘garage-type operations’ if the required support is not extended.With modern technology in their hands and an instant connect with global trends, what MSMEs need most is credit support and hand-holding by bigger players in the sector.

“There are immense capabilities in MSMEs in aerospace and defence, but they are restricted to being vendors for low value-added services”.

GRajNarayan's Blog

One way to tap into the huge talent pool could be to have special classification of “defence MSMEs’, with special funding and support mechanisms, such as exclusive clusters tied to bigger players in the sector, such as PSUs and the Tata’s.

What has raised hopes among MSMEs in the sector is the ₹100-crore technology fund announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The feeling we get is that a part of this fund will be apportioned to critical projects that involve technology, indigenisation. Also, about a 75 per cent grant for design development… if that happens, it will be great news.

“If India is serious about being self-reliant in defence production, it needs to nurture and offer an enabling ecosystem to MSMEs,” unless this is done, India may have to face “crippling effects’ of over-reliance on imports, which often leads to buying outdated foreign technology.

“In the so-called technology transfers that happen, they only give drawings, no design. And most often, the technology that is given is outdated, at least two generations down, and they make a couple of billion dollars,”

India needs to develop technology on its own. It has the expertise and knowledge, all it needs is mapping of MSMEs in the defence sector and offer credit support.

Indigenous component

7 things you need to know about India’s indigenous defence production and procurement

Leave a reply

India’s recent successes in the areas of indigenous design like the recent PSLV -C26 and its continued efforts towards indigenisation of technology, space exploration, missile technology, fighter aircraft, naval destroyers and submarines, etc. have amply demonstrated the excellent skills and capabilities of its scientists and engineers. With the right kind of support and encouragement from the Indian Government as well as the Armed Services, Indian industry is certainly capable of meeting all the needs of the Indian defence forces over time.

The following benefits would accrue over the long term:

  1. Indigenous design and manufacture assures supplies and prompt maintenance support as and when the country requires it.
  2. Indigenous manufacture is always cheaper than imports and leads to a smaller defence budget, allowing the country to allocate higher budgets for education, health and improvement of infrastructure.
  3. Growth of the domestic manufacturing industry(indigenisation of technology) and the creation of a strong defence manufacturing ecosystem.
  4. Growth of design and R&D agencies, both in the private and public sectors, leading to the establishment and growth of a strong technology innovation ecosystem.
  5. Technology spin-offs to non-defence technology areas such as healthcare, medical diagnosis, automotive engineering, inland security, maritime shipping, etc.
  6. Potential for the country to grow into a defence exporter over the long-term.
  7. Overall potential for growth of industry in general leading to employment generation.
GRajNarayan's Blog

A test equipment for the Sukhoi-30 fighter jet, developed by Radel Advanced Technology

However, one needs to appreciate this from a long term perspective. Defence equipment belong to highly specialised and restricted domains and hence it is not easy for any industry to jump into it. Defence equipment are required to conform to very high degrees of ruggedness, reliability, and quality.  Further, where armaments are involved, issues of safety against accidental ignition also arise. These are issues that are rarely encountered in normal commercial and industrial equipment. It therefore requires an indigenous industry to sensitize itself to these matters before getting involved in the manufacture of defence equipment.

It is evident from the above that the process of indigenisation needs to be implemented in a planned manner with prioritisation based on strategic requirements as well as availability of local talents. Hence, this has to be seen as the long term objective.

Tweet it out!: “7 things you need to know about India’s indigenous defence production and procurement”

Indigenisation

Armouring India: Indigenisation of India’s Defence needs

Leave a reply

A look at the feasibility of complete indigenisation of India’s defence needs

India is the largest importer of defence equipment in the world. It is therefore evident that the domestic industry is not being optimally utilized to meet the country’s defence requirement. Currently, the domestic defence production is met by 41 factories of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and nine Defence Public Sector undertakings (DPSUs) under Department of Defence Production with various units across the country. In addition to this 194 industrial licenses have been issued to 121 private sector companies.

The buzzword today is indigenisation but this is more a fashionable word than work-in-progress. While we jump on to the bandwagon of indigenisation let us truly understand the concept. Indigenisation starts with identifying critical equipment and systems that are being imported”, and then to either reverse engineer these products or design them from scratch using our own knowledge and expertise.

Over the last five decades, the Indian Government has been pursuing the acquisition of new technologies as part of manufacturing licenses from foreign companies. While this has resulted in valuable exposure to the manufacture of state-of-the-art products, as in the case of the Mig-21 and Su-30, Transfer of Technologies (ToTs) have rarely included design technologies of the manufactured product. What is transferred is only the manufacturing technology. It is therefore up to the Indian partner to either reverse engineer or decipher the technology behind the design in order to lead to future indigenous designs.

                                                                               GRajNarayan's Blog
Technology to manufacture is distinctly different from the technology involved in design. Manufacturing of various parts and systems involves mechanical fabrication and machining, assembly of electronic modules and equipment, testing and qualifying to rigid and stringent quality standards. Very few industries in the private sector have exposures to such specialised standards and processes as are applicable in defence equipment. Hence, the need of the hour is to attract more private sector enterprises, more particularly the MSMEs, to this field.
With the competitive growth of the Indian MSME environment, many of whom have highly sophisticated machineries and equipment, and possess specialised expertise in their own small areas of operation, there are many examples of truly outstanding firms who are now manufacturing industrial parts and equipment not only for Indian consumption, but also exporting them to prestigious companies globally.

The technical competence of Indian MSMEs is therefore no longer under question. What is required is a nurturing environment of trust and support going much beyond the token recognition by way of annual awards by the government or trade and commerce bodies.

Tweet this: “MSMEs need only to be empowered with the right kind of exposure and training to raise their capabilities to the demanding and specialised needs of the defence industry”.

Such MSMEs will then graduate over time to developing their own products and processes that would contribute to the creation of a large matrix forming the supply chain for indigenous integrators such as the Jaguar aircraft. PSUs or even the large private sector organisations in the years to come.

The question of value arising from foreign collaborations and ‘manufacturing under license’ can be answered in comparison to the automobile sector in India. The entry of Suzuki and Honda into the country for license manufacture of their vehicles in a collaborative venture with Indian private companies, introduced not only the Indian consumer to high quality, state-of-the-art, re-liable and trouble-free vehicles, but also to modem manufacturing methods, machineries, human skills and management systems. The Indian private sector companies have proven their mettle in absorbing not only the manufacturing technology but also in developing their own design skills.Thus, resulting in their ability to leap-frog and compete by themselves in the global market. Indirectly, this has also spurred the establishment of a supply chain of ancillaries and parts manufacturers of global standards. Thanks to this, a healthy ecosystem of the indigenous automobile industry is firmly in place. This is what needs to be replicated in the defence sector too.India is, and will continue to be, an attractive market for defence related sales for foreign manufacturers.

However, it is certain that no other country would be willing to transfer critical, cutting edge technology to India, with the risk of losing their de-fence superiority as well as financial returns. The solution clearly lies in factoring in all these aspects, and pooling of all resources and the best minds in the military, the public sector, the private sector, the academia and R&D organisations across the country in a strategically planned and executed partnership. The political leadership only needs to set the rules of the game and a level playing field in a transparent system.

Tweet this: “Innovation and indigenisation are literally two sides of the same coin. Innovation is triggered automatically when one is forced into a corner”.

This was amply proved by both DRDO and ISRO in the manner they overcame sanctions and denials of technology and critical parts for their projects. This should give us the confidence that the same can be replicated in other de-fence and aerospace projects.
The MoD, Government of India, should act as a facilitator and enabler in such a way that it stimulates innovation in both design and manufacture of defence related products. In fact, the establishment of a separate category of “Defence MSME” through a qualification and evaluation process would by itself lead to their entitlement to financial grants, tax rebates and lower lending rates for private players successfully developing indigenous defence projects.

This calls for innovative methods of identifying prospective enterprises, evaluation of their skills as well as growth capabilities, special and exclusive funding schemes, training programmes and other support for rapid growth of such enterprises. In short, such companies need to be nurtured in the interest of the country quickly achieving self-reliance.

Tweet this: “Indigenisation and self-reliance in defence technology is no cakewalk and requires dedicated scientists, technocrats and entrepreneurs”.

The user agencies and armed forces need to appreciate this and lend a very supportive hand even when either the performance is slightly below target or delays are encountered.After all, no organisation takes any pride in failures and would certainly like to take up the challenge to improve further and cross the ‘finishing line’. As India has demonstrated in the automobile sector and space technology, Indian defence industry can not only increase the scale of its operation to cater to the domestic requirement but also export to the global market. The export of the ALH Dhruv helicopters, though limited in number, proves this capability.

The new Government headed by a down-to-earth and highly progressive Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has shown signs of a few bold initiatives, that have set a clear direction towards massive indigenisation of defence procurements in the years to come. Public-private partnerships should be the best way for-ward to reach a win-win situation for everyone concerned. This will pave the way for the best talent to be attracted towards this industry consequently leading to industry meeting most of the needs of our defence forces.

Aerospace skilling

Defence JVs without indigenous design pointless

Leave a reply

For over a decade now, India has shopped all around the world looking for deals for more than US$1 billion worth of helicopters to replace around 200 of its military’s ageing light-utility aircraft.

But in August, Modi’s nationalist government surprised many when it abruptly scrapped the request for global bids to buy the helicopters in favour of manufacturing them in India instead.

In recent months, India has tossed down two more proposals for buying transport aircraft and submarines deciding to indigenise them. It’s part of a push by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to foster a domestic arms industry.

India is one of the world’s largest buyer of weapons, accounting for 14 per cent of global imports, three times as many as China.

GRajNarayan's Blog

An Akash missile, made by India, is test fired in Orissa. Photo: EPA

Over the next seven years, India is likely to spend more than US$130 billion importing arms, officials say, to upgrade its understocked, Soviet-era arsenal. Modi wants to upend India’s arms-importer tag and turn the country into not only a defence manufacturer but also a major weapons exporter, much like China has become. “Becoming a defence exporter is a noble aspiration but it will take a lot of doing,” said Arun Prakash, a retired navy chief. Admiral. But does that not mean “We aren’t hard working and not capable of it?” Every MSME owner works hard all day and night.

It’s only the PSUs and the Govt. bureaucrats that take things easy and if all the powers of sanction and decision making is in their hands, nobody can work hard and no results can be produced.

The decision to build replacements in India for the Cheetah and Chetak helicopters using JVs in the Private sector, is indeed a good decision. But it must be ensured that the Indian Pvt. Player does not do the same mistakes as HAL in blindly manufacturing just the shell and importing all the contents of the shell. There must be a sincere and genuine effort to indigenise most, if not all, the equipment. And the indigenisation must begin from day 1 of the JV formation.

As far as exports are concerned, I think our primary focus for the next 5 years should be to become self-reliant and meet our own requirements. Exports with then automatically follow.

26 or 49% – Foreign cos. will always want all the controls and will never let us get any modern technology. In my view, ‘hard work and indigenous DESIGN’ is the only way to go.