Bullish on India | Why India needs to become aatmanirbhar in arms manufacturing on a war footing

Both India's defence spending and domestic manufacturing of arms need to go up, says Major General Ian Cardozo. (Representational photo by Yogendra Singh via Pexels)

Major General Ian Anthony Joseph Cardozo is India’s first war-disabled military officer to head a brigade and a battalion. He served in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, where he was part of a team that was air-dropped in Sylhet (now in Bangladesh) to fight the Pakistani army that had them surrounded.

Vision 2047: Defence

"The year 2047 is too far away in time. The global geo-political equations and situations will change so much that we what we assume today might be completely proven wrong before India turns 100. In such a fast-changing world, a 24-year-long vision or plan is not feasible, we need to think shorter duration. Say, plan for 2030 first. Instead of Vision 2047, it should be Vision 2030 which should be then broken down into 7 one-year phases.

"However long or short the duration, a vision alone is not enough. A vision should evolve into strategy. Then, get infrastructure to back-up the strategy. Then, there should be aim followed by the sequence of objective, policy, procedures, and activities. Only then will any vision come to fruition.

"The role of any army is protection from external aggression and internal dissension. Right now, there is internal strife in the country and the threat from neighbours looms. China is a big threat and if China wages a war against India, Pakistan will not sit on the sidelines and clap. It will join hands with China in the aggression and India will have no allies. In a war-scenario, the US is an unreliable ally. No Western power will support us. India will have no ally, hence, is vulnerable.

"But how do we tackle this vulnerability and make India war-ready? First, we need to spend more on defence. Currently, India spends 13.18 percent of the total budget on defence. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated Rs 1.63 trillion for defence capital outlays - an expenditure that would include new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware for the 2023-2024 budget. If we want to be stronger militarily, we need to increase our defence spending. That’s the need of the hour and will continue to be so in the coming years/decades.

"India remains the world's largest arms importer, with Russia, France and the US as the biggest suppliers. India’s share of global weapons import was 11 percent of global imports in 2018-2022 but the long-term plan should be to curb arms import. We must make our own weapons. In the time of war, never trust the weapons of another country. The Aatmanirbhar Bharat or Self-Reliant India initiative should be pursued more diligently. The government has identified the defence and aerospace sector as a focus area for the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative, with a formidable push on the establishment of indigenous manufacturing infrastructure supported by a requisite research and development ecosystem. The Indian government aims to achieve a turnover of $25 billion including export of $5 billion in aerospace and defence goods and services by 2025. This is the path to take in the military strategic planning. Before India turns 100, arms imports should have dwindled sharply.

"The Indian Navy, which saw the induction of indigenously built Aircraft Carrier Vikrant this year, placing India in the select league of nations, designing and building a warship of the size of 45,000 tonnes, is a shining example of Make in India. The Indian Navy which has pioneered indigenization in Indian armed forces is now committed to make the country fully self-reliant by the year 2047.

"Of late, India has moved steadily in terms of modern weaponization of the armed forces but China is way ahead. We need to tell the world that if we are militarily ready to give the intruder a bloody nose.

"To keep our borders safe, we must strengthen the army. All three units – army, navy, air force – should be given equal importance. Warfare in the air is becoming the norm but we cannot forget that India has a huge maritime boundary that needs to be protected. There have been territorial incursions in the north-east and Ladakh and the army should be well prepared to vanquish the intruders.

"The armed forces should be better trained, have better equipment and there should be enough morale boosters for them."