DRDO lets loose ‘missiles’ at armed forces

[sudhir007]

DRDO lets loose ‘missiles’ at armed forces idrw.org

After public bickering among Cabinet ministers, here comes the sharp divide in the defence establishment.

With PM Manmohan Singh, defence minister A K Antony and others watching, the faultlines that underlie the embittered DRDO-armed forces relationship erupted into plain view on Wednesday.

Defence Research and Development Organisation chief V K Saraswat, speaking at the National Technology Day awards function, tore into the armed forces for failing to overcome their “temptation” to induct the latest weapon systems from abroad.

This did not go down well with the forces, represented as they were by Air Chief Marshal P V Naik, Admiral Nirmal Verma and General V K Singh as well as other officers in the audience. Some officers told TOI that DRDO “promises too much” but delivers “too little, too late” and the forces are “forced” to push for import of weapon systems to maintain operational readiness.

“Some awards given today, for instance, are for Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, Nag anti-tank guided missile and Astra air-to-air missile. These are still not operational despite years, if not decades, of trials,” said an officer.

The spat comes just two days after the Navy chief held “a long meeting” with Antony to stress that it was high time DRDO got its act together, said sources.

Wednesday’s award ceremony began normally enough, with Saraswat listing out achievements ranging from launch of India’s first nuclear submarine INS Arihant to the planned test of the 5,000-km range Agni-V ballistic missile in 2011. But then, Saraswat let loose a couple of heat-seeking missiles. It’s grossly unfair to hold only DRDO responsible for the poor level of self-reliance in defence systems, he said.

“The responsibility should be shared by all stake-holders of defence ministry and cannot be placed on DRDO alone, which neither has the power to impose its products on its customer (forces), nor the mandate or capacity to produce
the developed systems all by themselves,” he said.

“Services also must understand that while the temptation may be overwhelming to field proven, state-of-the-art imported systems, they too have a role to play in the country’s economic and industrial growth. No foreign system can be customised to completely address our long-term requirements,” he added.

There is, of course, a lot in what Saraswat said. The armed forces certainly need to fully support DRDO to ensure self-reliance in critical weapon systems, the supply of which from abroad can easily be choked in times of crisis.

But it’s equally true DRDO projects cannot continue to be bedevilled with huge time and cost overruns.

The PM, on his part, said, “We should be able to acknowledge and learn from our setbacks. It’s a fact some projects have been delayed and others have faced difficulties during operational induction.”

 

[shiningindia]

we need another R&D agency for making competition.

 

[Kinetic]

we need another R&D agency for making competition.

While the world is more and more compacting R&D facilities to make an integrated agency you are talking about another agency!!!

If there is delays in delivering systems to the armed forces are due to the following reasons.....

1) No country with established R&D or weapons float global tender for buying arms but our MoD do!!! If equivalent Indian systems available they had to face international arms dealer and manufacturer with well established facilities.

2) Kick backs. For almost every arms deal there are some kick backs for the Babus. DRDO doesn't pays, so they prefer foreign systems.

3) No backing from private industries. In developed countries private industries have huge R&D bases for high tech systems development. They help the Govt agencies in every aspect but here DRDO gets little supports from Indian industry.

4) Poor management and fund allocation. The MoD always wants a world class system to be developed by DRDO with fraction of budget than that used for developing similar systems abroad. DRDO is a R&D org of the MoD but here they need to advertise their systems to get some orders from armed forces.

5) Armed forces one hand talk about indigenous capabilities but at the end come up with a requirement that is sometimes difficult to meet even by the companies of Russia, Europe and America but DRDO have to develop it anyway!!! Now here is another fact, if it is foreign staff some faults can be tolerated but Indian staffs had to be 100% correct! If they don't buy the existing systems than how DRDO will come up with new system? There is no other example of such things around the world... China or Russia... no. Most of the cases if the system has poor performance than also their armed forces had to induct it in numbers making their way for next and better systems.

6) DRDO faults.

a) DRDO should work like a private company rather than any other govt orgs. It has enough talent but the management is weak and didn't follow how the best R&D facilities work. What I mean the working culture should be different than other Govt orgs and companies where employees enjoy the best time of their life. I know DRDO changed a lot than other govt facilities in last ten years.

b) Sometimes they overestimate their capabilities to meet all the requirements of the armed forces. If armed forces come up with something unachievable than should either go for JV with a eligible foreign partner or say to them that it will take time or say simply no. I think DRDO doing it now.

c) They should also get a dedicated commercial arm just like Antrix of ISRO. They should also start and do their best to sell the weapons to foreign countries with MoD approvals. It can be dome... ALH, Brahmos is an example.

Over the years DRDO management and working culture changed a lot. Dr. Saraswat's strong words also only reflects that. They also have a established R&D facility that India didn't have during 90s. With IGMDP, LCA, Arjun, NBC warfare, integrated EW, sonars, torpedo, they got a huge modern facility for future products. All the best.