There is no doubt that Modi Govt. fares far better than UPA Govt. in defense procurement and modernization. But I am still disappointed with the pace of it.
India has signed many deals in field of fighters (36 Rafale + 12 Sukhoi MKI + 21 Mig 29 plus Tejas), advanced Chinook & Apache helicopters, addition tanks & artillery, new assault Rifles, S-400 air defense system etc. in last 6 years. The new fighters are very essential for Indian Air Force and I hope Modi Govt. would quickly sign a new deal for 108 fighters and 36 additional Rafales. India was outgunned by Pakistani air to air missiles in post Balakot dog fight of 2019. The things have changed now but we still can be caught off-guard in many areas.
Modi Govt. has done well in shortening the time period of signing deals but it has failed in removing the long and tedious approval process. Indian bureaucracy ha still a bigger say in Defense procurement and I hope the post of CDS will minimize that influence. The biggest problem of all Govt. including Modi Govt. is that India lacks synergy in defense procurement. How will American Apache helicopters and French Rafale integrate with Russian S-400 missile defense system? Why is still India operating so many costly weapon platforms. No Army (top 10) in the world has so many diverse weapon platforms. This integration problem has taken its toll on Sukhoi 30 MKI. Russian Sukhoi 30s are still better than Indian ones because they have Russian avionics and electronic. India tried to integrate Russian avionics with Israeli and western electronics. Modi Govt. is still going on the path.
India needs new fighter and submarines soon. The P-75 submarine program is yet to take off and buying a few Rafales and old Sukhois and Mig -29s is not the answer. We must accept that we have funds crunch and we can’t buy everything but then India should have a 10 years vision document and alternatively money can be allocated to three forces on need to need basis. The new OROP has completely altered the finances of defense ministry. and India should let Armed forces to raise its funds (like charging for relief work from Govts). Yes, opposition will accuse the Govt. of corruption in every defense deal and this is a known factor (due to the history of opposition). But India can’t put the lives of its soldiers on line because Rahul Gandhi’s statements. The private sector involvement in defense sector has kicked off but it is still well below expectations. The DRDOs and HALs have basically kept India the biggest buyers of arms due to their inbuilt inefficiencies.
I would give Modi Govt. 6 out of 10 marks in terms of defense modernization. The main reason is that I personally had and has very high expectations from Modi Govt. We are on the right path but we have much distance to cover.
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