2 In the Armed Forces, huge

Modernisation in the shipyard, inter-alia other mea- sures, undertaken in last few years, has enabled the gap in supply and demand shipyard to outperform all other shipyards in the sector and to triple its turnover in last four years and moving it to become the 2nd largest DPSU shipyard by turnover. Inadequate logistics, and shortages of ammunition and spare parts hit Army’s capability This will also enable the shipyard to be ‘future ready’,and undertake indigenous construction of import HE 'MILITARY Balance 2018' re- substitute, weapon intensive projects like Mine Counter MeasureVessels port by the International Insti- and Missile Frigates, adding armour to the Indian Naval Forces. tute for Strategic Studies (IISS) indicates that India overtook Rear Admiral Shekhar Mital, NM, IN. (Retd.), the United Kingdom as the fifth- CMD, Goa Shipyard Limited Tlargest defence spender in the world in 2017 at $52.5 billion,up from $51.1 bil- lion in 2016. According to the report while India continues to modernise its military capa- Goa Shipyard bilities,China“with the world’s second- largest defence budget after the US”re- mains far ahead with three times India’s acute shortage of combat planes — rifles.Currently theArmy is usingAK-47s defence budget at $150.5 billion. while it should be about 42 squadrons; and INSAS.The personal kit of an Indian Limited: helping However,it points out that the overall it is effectively down to about 31 squad- soldier, which includes bulletproof jack- capability of the Indian army is limited rons.The navy needs new warships, air- ets, helmets and shoes, needs to be re- by inadequate logistics,and shortages of craft carriers,submarines,artillery and a placed with lighter kit. India stay ahead ammunition and spare parts. host of equipment for the army. The current capital expenditure outlay “Development and procurement pro- For inducting new hardware for its is not singularly addressing the extent of grammes across the services are aimed forces,the outlay for capital expenditure modernisation of the forces. For the at replacing ageing equipment, but should increase over the coming years. army, the budget allocated is $4.14 bn many projects have experienced signifi- This will also require sustained growth for modernisation,which is barely 60 per cant delays and cost overruns, particu- of the GDP so that adequate funds can cent of the requested funds. The army larly indigenous systems,” the report be set aside for big ticket defence deals. had asked for Rs 37,121 crore to fund finds. In fact,the defence budget to GDP ratio 125 schemes. In the end, it received Even Stockholm International Peace for 2018-19 is 1.49%,the second lowest Rs 21,338 crore in the Union budget pre- Research Institute (SIPRI) has placed In- since 1950,while most experts believe it sented on February 1, a shortfall of dia behind only the US,China,SaudiAra- should be around the 3% mark. Rs 15,783 crore. bia and Russia in terms of defence According to media reports, the gov- The same is the picture with the Navy spending. India’s military expenditure ernment may have to increase the allo- and the IndianAir Force. last year was about $63.9 billion,far less cation for capital expenditure if there are The government has also announced Aerial view of Phase 3A of modernisation than the spending of the US ($610 bil- plans for the speedy acquisition of new that it will develop two defence indus- at Goa Shipyard Limited lion) and China (an estimated $228 bil- platforms such as Predator UAVs from trial production corridors and bring out lion) but more than the spending by the US and artillery guns for the army. an industry-friendly military production SL HAS undertaken a massive modernisation drive in countries widely seen as global military Earlier this year in March,Vice Chief policy to promote defence manufactur- the last few years to increase its capacity multifold powers, such as the UK ($47.2 billion) ofArmy Staff,Lt Gen Sarath Chand,had ing in India.The Finance Minister Arun Gand setup infrastructure for indigenous construction of and France ($57.8 billion). told the Parliamentary Standing Com- Jaitley, in his budget speech, had said technologically advanced vessels for the nation’s security The Indian Defence Budget for mittee on Defence about the difficulty pability upgrades by emphasising the that the government would also bring requirements.With consistent yearly CAPEX of over Rs 100 2018-19 includes a capital outlay of the lack of equipment was causing to the changing threat perception within the out the industry-friendly “Defence Pro- crore, the shipyard has created an enviable modern infra- Rs 99,563.86 crore for new weapon sys- IndianArmy. country as well as in the neighbourhood. duction Policy 2018”to promote domes- structure boasting of 6,000T shiplift, dry berths, outfitting jet- tems and modernisation, which is The Parliamentary Standing Commit- The Infantry has acute shortage of tic production by the public sector, pri- ties and workshops besides unique specialised facility for dwarfed by the revenue expenditure tee report highlighted the continuing de- small arms like assault rifles, sniper ri- vate sector and micro,small and medium construction of advanced Mine Counter Measure Vessels (day-to-day running costs, salaries etc) ficiencies that the three services faced in fles, sten guns, light machine guns and enterprises (MSMEs).The minister said (MCMVs) constructed with niche FRP technology. It’s the of Rs 1,95,947.55 crore and expenditure terms of military modernisation, includ- anti-tank guided missiles.In small arms, private investment in defence produc- only shipyard in SouthAsia to have this unique capability of on pensions. ing the ‘Make in India’ initiative. The Indian SmallArms System Rifles (INSAS) tion had been opened up, including lib- construction of hulls for MCMVs in FRP.To GSL’s credit, the Yet, the Indian Air Force is facing an Army vice chief,had made a case for ca- need to be replaced with modern assault eralising foreign direct investment. entire modernisation drive has been executed without af- fecting the production schedule, though the work is being done in same old location, by demolishing the existing in- frastructure and creating new state-of-the-art facilities in MBDA and India: a lasting partnership lieu. On the contrary,VoP in FY18 has grown to Rs 1,343 crore, three times in last 4 years, and for second year run- BDA HAS been delivering battle- equipping the IndianArmed Forces include lic and private, for over 50 years. Partner- ning,it’s the second highest,amongst DPSU shipyards,after winning capabilities to the Indian the MICA andASRAAM within visual range ships MBDA has formed with Indian indus- MDL. Immediate fallout of upgraded infrastructure along MArmed Forces and collaborating (or dogfighting) missiles.MICA is unique in try have seen over 40,000 missiles of the with strong proven execution skills has been selection of the with Indian industry for over 50 years. possessing both infrared and radar-guided MILAN family produced in India — a note- yard, for construction of 02 Advanced 1135.6 Missile Throughout this history, there have been versions, making it countermeasure resis- worthy and on-going success. MBDA con- Frigates in collaboration with Russia, the production for two guiding principles: to provide the very tant and therefore highly effective. AS- tinues to deepen its relationship with In- which would commence in 2020.With an eye on future tech- best technologies to the Indian Armed RAAM meanwhile has unrivalled speed dian industry, as seen by the recent nologies, the yard has tied up with world leaders through Forces, and to work in true partnership in and range, meaning it delivers superior formation of a joint venture with long- multiple collaborations for induction of most advanced tech- support of the Indian defence industry. end-game performance for within visual standing partner Larsen &Toubro to deliver nologies in the country,the benefit of which on‘Make in In- The Indian Armed Forces are receiving range air combat.These and other tech- a series of important missile programmes dia’ programme would be evident shortly.As the modernisa- the ramjet powered and network-enabled nologies make the Indian Armed Forces under the‘Make in India’ category. tion phase nears completion,GSL,on strength of technology Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air mis- and datalink that combine to provide un- a proud equal to any modern force in MBDA has an excellent track record pro- adoption in recent years,is ready to take challenges of future sile from MBDA.This next generation missile matched end-game speed and manoeuvra- the world. viding both operational and industrial ca- shipbuilding programmes and thereby keeping the Indian is widely recognised as a game changer for bility at greatly extended ranges,resulting in Industrial partnership is of equal impor- pabilities in partnership with the Indian defence ahead of its rivals.The yard for its unparalleled vision air combat, and will provide the Indian Air its all-important ‘No-Escape Zone’ being tance though,given the importance of sov- Armed Forces and Indian defence industry. and performance was awarded coveted “MoD Best Per- Force with an unrivalled air dominance ca- more than three times greater than any ereign industrial defence capability.MBDA The strength of these two pillars make it a forming shipyard”trophy by Hon’ble RM in May 17 pability inAsia.Key to this is Meteor’s throt- other existing or planned BVR weapons. has been assisting the development of long-term true partnership, and one that Rear Admiral Shekhar Mital,CMD,GSL tleable ramjet engine, active radar seeker Other examples of technological edge sovereign Indian missile industry,both pub- should only continue to get stronger. BRAHMOS Supersonic Cruise Missile: Pride of India

S INDIA celebrates 72nd Inde- based target in the Bay of Bengal.With academic institutions of the country. pendence Day with grandeur this maiden launch,BRAHMOS has bol- More than 20,000 specialists,engineers on August 15, 2018, Indian stered the IAF’s air combat capability and technicians in large and medium AArmed Forces are vehemently and completed the tactical cruise scale industries are currently associated defending the country’s borders and missile triad. with BrahMos. also transforming themselves to con- BRAHMOS has also achieved historic The emergence of BRAHMOS has not form to advanced military technologies milestones in the ‘Make In India’ pro- only strengthened India’s technological and weapon systems. BRAHMOS mis- gramme by successfully launching the base but also elevated its image in the sile is a name to reckon with when it BRAHMOS missile with major sub-sys- global arena.As a high technology de- comes towards enhancing the safety tems such as indigenous seeker,critical fence product,BRAHMOS has great po- and security of the nation, modernisa- indigenous components, fuel manage- tential of becoming India’s major tion of the Armed Forces and support- ment system and other non-metallic weapon export in the coming decades ing indigenisation. airframe components;proving the com- giving the country a share of the arms A perfect emblem of India’s growing petency of the missile life extension business. military prowess,the BRAHMOS Super- technologies developed for the first sonic Cruise Missile is a state-of-the-art time in India by test-firing with ad- weapon system which has grown from and a force multiplier in network cen- BRAHMOS has been deployed as a vanced features. strength to strength over the years and tric warfare. It can be launched from prime strike weapon. In its sub-sea BrahMos Aerospace has immensely added new capabilities to meet diver- multiple platforms based on land, sea, launch configuration, the supersonic contributed to the national develop- gent war scenarios. The advanced sub-sea and air.The supersonic cruise cruise missile is set to increase the ment from an economic viewpoint by weapon system,with its versatility,po- missile system has added tremendous Navy’s underwater weapons delivery involving the consortium of more than tentiality and striking capability, has firepower capability to Indian Armed capability manifold by being armed in ing modified to carry 2.5 tonne missile 206 Indian industries, R&D labs and maintained a leading edge over world’s Forces for targets as deep as 300 kms. the future submarines. integrated with half a tonne launcher, other missiles/ weapons. BRAHMOS, BRAHMOS has made its impeccable The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) frontline successfully demonstrated BRAHMOS which is capable of flying at a top speed mark with a series of successful fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKI,after be- missile’s firing capability against a sea of Mach 3, is extremely lethal in strik- launches and subsequent rapid induc- ing down enemy targets in no time.The tion by the IndianArmed Forces. supersonic speed of the missile also The weapon has makes it difficult for interception by the become the mainstay enemy’s air defence system. of the Indian Army’s BRAHMOS missile,the product of an artillery firepower. exemplary Indian-Russian Joint Ven- Similarly, for many of ture,is the most potent weapon system the Navy’s frontline surface ships,