Definitely! The management of DRDO in the recent years caused the most pain in the a... for India, but I don't see how ex forces personnel can change that, without the necessary experience and knowledge to manage a company? They surely will bring more operational know how and the developments could be focused more to what the forces needs, but that's not all a manager has to do!
You can add more personnel of the forces in important roles of certain projects, but the company itself must be lead from people that knows about the company, about how it works and about what is necessary to improve it.
Well then the only way to deal with is to put businessmen and strategic entrepreneurs in power rather than idiotic bureaucrats who know jack about either making money and not at all stuff about defence.
Delivering something is one thing, claiming that they are able to develop it is the other and DRDO is "only" claiming but fail to deliver. They wanted to show them as a world class company, but in reality they are far away from that and sadly HAL follows that way as it seems.
Everyone knows that. You think they have any reputation in the foreign lands? The defence contractors there must be laughing their butts off once they return to their countries. The foreign companies we are talking about are world class. These guys have the substance delivered to prove their mettle rather than stupid archaic english from the 50s that is written everywhere on DRDO's or any other defence PSU's site.
The only reason they do that is because they know they cannot be fired.
That's not how it works! A stock company is dependent on financial success, not on good products for the forces.
Here's a simple equation I will tell you:
Quality products + Accountability = better profit margins to be reinvested for research = high employee morale + better Financial returns + better R&D + Clearer accountability.
The Dhruv for example is highly important for India and it's forces, the export success however is limited, therefor it is not beneficiary from the point of view of shareholders.
Dhruv is a capable platform. Its export success is not good because of something called 'product support', which even to the IA is terrible.
Today's game is all about after sales support, parts supply and maintenance and cost management assistance. HAL gives NOTHING. No timely delivery of maintenance parts, no timely dispatch of required components and no service at all except the initial one year.
That's the reason why it is not becoming a success.
Another reason is that where is it promoted in India?
Is HAL doing anything to promote Dhruv? Have you seen how US and EU promote their helicopters? Compare the difference in the class of marketing both do. Dhruv's capability is higher than many of their similar aircraft and is cheaper but still loses out. It is all marketing power and the ability to deliver support to the customer.
Something that sarkari 9-5s will not understand. It is a business management skill.
So should we fire the project managers for not creating enough benefits, or should we support them to keep developing varients of the Dhruv that will help to secure India?
Fire the incompetent decision makers who cannot distinguish between a helicopter and a fixed wing.
The scientists and project leads do their jobs but it is the bureaucrats sitting on top of them that are the problem. Those who handle project finances and decide what to allocate where.
And for heaven's sake don't tell me IAS is the criteria. This is not a Bournvita Quiz Contest for GK we are talking about.
We are talking about India's defence requirements and the requirements of our friendly countries to whom we have sold our helicopters.
Remember, weapons is all about business. Nothing is personal.
Until that changes, we will only be as much a world power in military sense as Gulf countries are: import power. That's all.
I agree that accountability is the biggest issue of the PSUs, but privat companies or privatizing PSUs is not the solution, since accountability for them is different and aimed at financial success only!
Newsflash for you mate: Financial success is what defines the foundation of a company's ability to take R&D to new levels.
Ever wondered why Boeing is the world's largest?
Because they do business. They make stuff that is of class, invest money
and earn profits in order to further their research and make better stuff by innovating.
Government is not an endless treasury of money. It has limits and it has other things to do. If the 9-5 sarkaris cannot function properly,
they SHOULD be fired.
We cannot keep our defence industrial capability a hostage to their lazy and archaic mentality.
We need MoD to take a stronger stand on the PSU heads and to guide them propperly, that's what Antony did in the recent years and what caused obvious improvements in the LCA project for example.
An LCA that till now has seen no light of induction. Yeah.
The result- is what most of us Indians fail to see and we focus so much on the process.
That's the problem.
I have no problem that these companies makes money, I even want them to build stuff for foreign countries too like HAL is building parts for various aero partners. But I don't want them to divert their focus only on fields where they can create the maximum money, but to remain focused on what is needed for the defence of India!
Read my above equation about money, weapons, research and investment.
The defence of the country must have priority for the PSUs, exports and financial success can only be secondary targets.
Exports cover your R&D costs, giving you the economic cushion to keep the best weapons for yourself.
Not really, it just proves it! The US weapon lobby is the most greedy and powerfull in the world and they use their power to make financial success in first place! Same goes for Airbus, Thales, BAE..., that's why Airbus wanted less government share now. The problem is only, without the orders of their governments, they can't survive either, that's why BAE is in trouble now and why the US industries are hit by the budget cuts too.
India has privat industry and should keep inviting them to take a higher stack in the defence industry, but the PSUs must remain under government control, to provide India with what is needed and not with what sells the best.
What you call greed has made these people conquer the world and lead it in technology while Indian PSUs are still stuck giving bheekh to their lazy-a$$ middle level decision makers.
Maybe, but they don't have to be equally good, they only have to deliver what is needed. Currently they aren't delivering at all and that is the problem, not if they are as good as TATA.
I'll give you instance to think about:
Ever heard a colonel 'say please do this' to a lance naik on duty?
Why do you think that's never the case? Think.
Danda ghumae bina to gadha bhi kaam nahi karta, insaan to kya cheez hai.
That is why.