I must say that as a Pakistani I am happy at Indian failures at weapon production and procurement as they could be one day used against Pakistan. However Indian members must be unhappy that so much money is devoted to these ends with relatively little success.
In Feb 2011 Maj Gen Mrinal Suman was moved to say in an article:
The last decade has been a chronicle of tall claims, missed opportunities and inability to translate policies into implementable programmes. The current regime has been a total failure. The enormity of failure can be gauged from three visible facts. One, imports have climbed to close to 75 percent rather than dropping to the targeted 30 percent. Two, India has not been able to produce a single defence system with cutting-edge technology. While every critical item is being imported, India continues to be happy producing doors and windows for foreign aviation majors. Three, defence exports (from India’s much vaunted conglomerate of Ordnance Factories) fell from a paltry Rs 41.07 crores in 2008-09 to a laughable Rs 12.28 crores in 2009-10. It is a reflection of the nature and quality of items being produced indigenously.
As a result of the above mentioned failures, not a single objective concerning defence production and procurement has been achieved. Consequently, induction of new equipment has not materialised at the required pace. In his address to a seminar in New Delhi on 15 December 2010, Defence Minister Antony acknowledged, “Despite our best intentions and earmarking huge budgets and allocating money, the modernisation efforts have not borne the desired results.” There cannot be a more candid admission of failure.
India as a defence manufacturing hub
This must be incredibly disheartening for some Indian forum members
In Feb 2011 Maj Gen Mrinal Suman was moved to say in an article:
The last decade has been a chronicle of tall claims, missed opportunities and inability to translate policies into implementable programmes. The current regime has been a total failure. The enormity of failure can be gauged from three visible facts. One, imports have climbed to close to 75 percent rather than dropping to the targeted 30 percent. Two, India has not been able to produce a single defence system with cutting-edge technology. While every critical item is being imported, India continues to be happy producing doors and windows for foreign aviation majors. Three, defence exports (from India’s much vaunted conglomerate of Ordnance Factories) fell from a paltry Rs 41.07 crores in 2008-09 to a laughable Rs 12.28 crores in 2009-10. It is a reflection of the nature and quality of items being produced indigenously.
As a result of the above mentioned failures, not a single objective concerning defence production and procurement has been achieved. Consequently, induction of new equipment has not materialised at the required pace. In his address to a seminar in New Delhi on 15 December 2010, Defence Minister Antony acknowledged, “Despite our best intentions and earmarking huge budgets and allocating money, the modernisation efforts have not borne the desired results.” There cannot be a more candid admission of failure.
India as a defence manufacturing hub
This must be incredibly disheartening for some Indian forum members