@JamD
I finally get it.
In most places, the superficial, quick-fire discussions usually focus on celebrities and athletes. So, in India, you have Bollywood and cricket. In the US, you have the NBA, Hollywood, singers, etc.
Unfortunately, in Pakistan, because we have such a shitty cricket team and such a low-quality celebrity culture, a lot of people find 'entertainment' in discussing the armed forces. This is why everything around the armed forces has this weird celebrity culture, this superficiality, the fan-boyism (or even fan-girlism), etc.
When you have this crowd, then of course the bad apples can get away with bad decisions, e.g., relentlessly buying off-the-shelf from abroad, mismanaging defence industry policies, etc.
For these apples to face pressure, you have to cut through a lot of noise, and (as we can see on this forum right now), the noise is crowding out the serious questions.
Absolutely true.
We have such a hunger for good/feel-good stories that we naturally look towards the one area where our 'achievements' are of any meaning of significance - the military. The sight of the tanks and missiles rolling down the Shakarparian Parade Ground remains perhaps the only sight which can make people 'proud' of our country.
And the military itself - like any human (of which it consists) - has some of that inherent feeling of superiority.
Something like 'Pull ki dusri taraf' - the expression used to distinguish Karachi's DHA from the rest of the city
I think, The compartmentalization is due to the sensitive information involved.
For our lords of the SPD and other orgs, 'sensitive information' is a term they've come into the habit of lightly throwing around. I want to share a few lines with you to convey my point of view about this:
(Ben Rich, Director of Lockheed Skunk Works talking about the DoD's security classification for the F-117 Nighthawk program)
I was informed by a telegram from the Air Force chief of staff that Have Blue was now classified “Top Secret—Special Access Required.” That security classification was rare—clamped only on such sensitive programs as the Manhattan Project, which created the first atomic bomb during World War II. My first reaction was “Hooray, they finally realize how significant this technology really is,” but Kelly set me straight and with a scowl urged me to cancel the whole damned project right then and there.
“Ben,” Kelly warned me, “the security they’re sticking onto this thing will kill you. It will increase your costs twenty-five percent and lower your efficiency to the point where you won’t get any work done. The restrictions will eat you alive. Make them reclassify this thing or drop it.” On matters like that, Kelly was seldom wrong.
Here's what I'd do:
It's not a question of practicality, but creativity and vision.
Don't think in "either/or" but rather, "and."
So, in this case, you can task the STEM community and private sector to figure out the satellite program. Give them the requirements, delivery time-frame, and cost estimate. Start by awarding a $25 m study. Once we do that, the 'satellite group' will figure the rest out on their own.
Remember, they're staffed with PhDs and businessmen with deep pockets and contacts. They can conduct a local audit to see what Pakistan can do domestically, and what it can't. In fact, if there's no silos and "scorty" red tape, we'll find out that Pakistan can actually do a lot, either right away, or with additional R&D funding.
For the areas that Pakistan can't, this 'satellite group' will talk to Turkey, China, South Africa, Ukraine, USA, etc to find the inputs it actually needs. It might even hire seasoned experts from those countries to help with design.
The 'satellite group' will come back to me with a step-by-step action plan with itemized cost quotes of what it will take to develop and launch those satellites. We then see if we can afford it. If we can, then we give the green light and start releasing the funds for each developmental stage.
Of course, we set-up ironclad safeguards -- e.g., if they fail to meet the deadline, they surrender the contract and pay a penalty fee (we can use Turkey's model as an example). But if we had audited the 'satellite group' plan with a sharp eye, we wouldn't end up in this situation.
Anyways, to develop this satellite, the private sector itself will start building a lot of capacity for R&D and manufacturing. In all likelihood, it will start re-using this capacity to sell specific goods and services to other countries, thereby bringing in ForEx and, in turn, improving the quality and localization.
So, when we start tendering the 2nd generation of satellites, the 'satellite group' will come back with a better design with more local content. Obviously, the 'satellite group' will export even more with each generation, so the ForEx return increases, as does our tax revenue, as do the scope and budgets of our programs.
Your answers remind me of how much I still have to learn. Not just about the topics we're discussing but also about describing my views and ideas in a precise manner. So, thank you.
However, to put these ideas into practice, we will need some people with the 'right stuff' - who can challenge the status quo at the cost of their own careers most probably. It is in times like these that the human factor comes into play.
The policymakers of the strategic programs are mostly career soldiers or retired officers who are appointed for a fixed tenure and then leave. They are 'outsiders'. That is the very reason that they have no incentive to make far-reaching changes or to 'shake things up'. They just want to have a quiet, peaceful tenure and then retire to their estates with their hefty pensions. This '
jaisa chal rha hai waisa chalne do' mindset has a trickle down effect at the lowest levels of the organization. Brilliant young engineers and mid and senior-level executives (engineers/managers) see no incentive to actually work hard to solve complex problems, 'fight' the higher management for R&D opportunities, get valuable project experience under their belt, etc. They don't do all this because they know that no matter how good they are, they are only ever going to be second best, because the top job (with the policymaking power) is exclusively reserved for some general who is in the twilight of his career. This compels even young engineers to just do the bare minimum amount of work necessary to stay in the good graces of their superiors who are doing the exact same thing to stay in the good graces of their superiors and so on.
Some counterarguments:
- Our STEM community does NOT have NIL experience. Give them some credit. There are some excellent and experienced engineers within our organizations. Yeh Babur Shaheen Raad Shahpar khud nahin bangayay.
- Our history is checkered BECAUSE our STEM human resource is so badly managed. Not the other way around.
- Practical: Still promoting local R&D because a) we are not rich like UAE and SaudiArabia that we can buy everything that we fancy, and b) its a daldal that we will keep sinking in the longer we let this continue.
- You pay a LOT of premium when you buy from others. You pay extra and you are forced into options and choices you don't want. This can often have dangerous consequences for national security.
If I was a general:
- I would admit I know nothing about R&D.
- I would order that only lifelong members can head SPD organizations. Fauji or civillian doesn't matter, but has to have served AWC all their life to head AWC.
- I would ask the "scorty" establishment to ease off and let engineers do their thing. There are aspects of research you guard but you don't go apeshit in guarding everything.
- I would allow engineers to set their own goals on some level and ask engineers at every level to propose things. That is, I will not bark orders down and expect them to be followed.
- I will make a strict policy about nonperforming engineers. If you sit on your butt all day and drink chaye you WILL be fired.
- I will give out tenders to ONLY local pvt sector companies for things like nuts bolts fasteners chemicals. Gradually more complicated things like small electronics, machines, jigs.
- I will facilitate security clearances for these pvt sector industries.
You can't be more true. We have some very great nerds/tinkerers who happen to have formal engineering degrees and are excellent problem solvers. These are the kinds of people we should be after - the ones who thrive on solving problems, for whom engineering not a profession but a way of life - a small group of them, strategically placed, can do wonders. (Think along the lines of Skunk Works)
Yes that's what they say. That's what I believed till I was 24 when I got first-hand experience with these things. It's in the name of scorty but it's really serving no purpose. A controls group in NDC cannot help out a project at AWC. Do you hear how stupid that sounds? They're both SPD organizations under NESCOM. But a hypothetical project at AWC will suffer because of scorty. So AWC will be expected to develop their own controls group over a decade. Each organization is its own little kingdom. There are better ways to manage this. Obviously.
EDIT: Just a hypothetical example. Obviously AWC has a controls group.
I have seen 4 labs working adjacent to each other, having literally no idea about what the other is doing. And them being off-limits to anyone who is not an engineer at that specific lab.
*threadbump*
Maybe if enough people read these things something will click.
I sure hope so. I am actually looking for a way to save this entire discussion for future reference.
This is a gold mine of ideas and opinions - way too valuable.
I've decided that I'll have to stick around here. Have got a lot to learn from you guys
@JamD and
@Bilal Khan (Quwa)
iA there'll be a day when a bunch of us will butt heads with the ones in charge. One way or another, it will happen, and on that day, the truth will obvious to everyone. I'm being optimistic, but I'll stick to it even if it doesn't come to pass in my lifetime. It'll happen, one day. And folks like us will grin.
My hope is enough young and future officers read these discussions and are swayed enough to make the right decisions once they're in positions of power. Sounds like a pipe dream but no other way. Perhaps people like
@PanzerKiel can someday revolutionize R&D for us. (no pressure lol)
There is nothing stronger than an idea whose time has come
Our time will come too, it's almost inevitable. The point is - will it be too late by then? Will we have missed the bus? Considering our record, it is highly likely. But us crazies can hope.
In the case that we do not miss the bus, will we be ready (in the material sense)?
These are all important questions and I'm pretty sure we all know the answers. And those answers don't give us a lot of reasons to be optimistic. Maybe I'm being overly pessimistic, but our curse as a nation is that we have never been able to utilize the best and brightest of our people - we have always lost them. And that is a highly dangerous scenario - specially in an age where there are a handful of us who are truly great in the first place.
