Three Years After Galwan

Why in News?

• Ahead of the third anniversary of the India-China Galwan clash, Senior Colonel of the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, made a remark that “India is unlikely to catch up to China in the coming decades because of its weak industrial infrastructure.”
• Now it is for India’s decision-makers to either dismiss this comment as an attempt at psychological warfare or to use it as a whip for accelerating the ‘Atmanirbharta Campaign. 

 

The Galwan Clash

• On the night of June 15, a disagreement over the continued presence of the PLA in India’s side of the LAC in Galwan led to the bloody clash.
• According to reports, Col B Santosh Babu, commander of 16 Bihar who walked up to ask the Chinese to leave, was manhandled by the PLA troops.
• This led to an escalation and almost five hours of combat involving about 600 soldiers from both sides.
• As an agreement between the two sides forbids the use of firearms, the Chinese used clubs that had nails embedded in them, while the Indian side had fibreglass batons.
• Col Babu died after falling in the ice-cold Galwan river, apparently after being hit. Several other Indian soldiers also died after they fell into the river or were pushed in.
• According to some reports, the Chinese may have lost more men than India.

 

The Harsh Fact About Indian Defence Sector

• Continued Dependency on Imports: Despite being a nuclear-weapon state and space power, with the world’s third-largest defence budget, India remains a top importer of military hardware.
• Misinterpretation of Terms ‘Indigenisation’ and ‘ToT (Transfer of Technology)’
  • India’s technologists and its military and politico-bureaucratic establishments misinterpreted “indigenisation” and “transfer of technology.”
  • This anomaly is best illustrated by India’s aerospace sector.

 

India’s Aerospace Sector: HAL, its Achievements and Reality of Achievements

• HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited): Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), founded by visionary industrialist Seth Walchand in 1940, is today a giant defence PSU (DPSU).
• HAL’s Achievements
  • Post-independence, HAL delivered the first licence-built British Gnat fighter in 1962, followed by the Soviet MiG-21 in 1973.
  • Over the years, HAL has produced 175 Gnats, more than 800 MiG-21s, 200 Sukhoi-30s and hundreds of other aircraft of Indian and foreign design.
  • These seemed commendable achievements for a nation still struggling with the challenges of industrialisation.
• The Reality of Achievements
  • We deluded ourselves by proudly believing that we were manufacturing “indigenous” hardware for our fighting forces.
  • The unfortunate truth was that our DPSUs were engaged merely in the assembly of kits or undertaking “licenced production,” while claiming “indigenous production” and “transfer of technology” (ToT).
  • The DPSUs (and DRDO) failed to seek, from the foreign licensors, transfer of “know-how” as well as “know-why” of aircraft and engine design.
  • As a result, our scientists and engineers acquired only “screwdriver technology.”

 

Consequence of India’s Lack of Design Expertise

• DRDO’s developmental GTX/Kaveri jet-engine project has suffered since 1989.
• The modernisation of HAL-built MiG-21s had to be outsourced to Russia and Israel in 1996.

 

Reason Behind India’s Failure to Seek and Acquire Technology

• Continued Ineffectiveness of MoD (Ministry of Defence)
• For India’s failure to seek and acquire technology from foreign manufacturers even after prolonged production runs, the responsibility falls on MoD.
• Successive defence ministers failed to formulate a long-term vision for the nation’s giant defence-industrial complex.
• MoD bureaucrats lacked the expertise and commitment to energise lethargic DPSUs and ordnance factories.
• The “stove-pipe” structure of MoD engendered a lack of synergy between the military leadership and the DRDO.

 

Understanding China’s Progress as a Military Power in Contrast to India

• China, starting in 1949 from an industrial baseline like India’s, took a different route and is, today standing at par with the USA for global technological leadership. The Chinese focused on:
• Appropriation of Soviet Drawings and Technological Data
  • In the early 1950s, the USSR had undertaken a massive transfer of arms to China, but soon ideological fissures emerged and the Soviets threatened to stop aid.
  • The Chinese leadership ordered the appropriation of drawings and technological data relating to Soviet weapons.
• National Mission of Reverse Engineering
  • Once the split occurred in the mid-1960s, the Chinese launched a national mission of reverse-engineering (guochanhua) of Soviet weaponry.
  • Its first phase enabled China to establish serial production of Soviet-origin weaponry — tanks, artillery, submarines, and jet fighters.
  • Subsequent cycles of guochanhua (to localise production) have helped China acquire the latest military and dual-use technologies through purchase, coercion and, often, via industrial espionage.
• Focus on Development of Indigenous Aeroengine
  • In 1986, Chairman Deng Xiaoping ordered the development of an indigenous aeroengine to replace the Soviet-supplied power plants in use by the PLA Air Force (PLAAF).
  • By 2020, the WS-10 was accepted by the PLAAF for powering its frontline fighters.

 

Current Challenges before India

• Russia's Inability to Meet India's Demand of Defence Equipment: Russia’s continued reliability as a supplier of defence equipment faces challenges due to:
  • First, its growing friendship and dependence on Beijing will fetter Moscow’s freedom of action.
  • Second, Russia’s military-industrial complex, burdened by the Ukraine war and stumbled by US sanctions, is no longer able to support India’s armed forces.
• Continued Aggression by China on LAC
  • Although Chinese and Indian troops have pulled back most forces since the 2020 Galwan clash, China continues to push India into a defensive posture along the LAC.
  • Recently in a provocative move, China renamed 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which it referred to as “Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet.”

 

The US-India Cooperation Under These Circumstances

• Under these circumstances, the Indo-US relationship seems to have blossomed at the right time.
• The ties between India and the US have witnessed considerable improvement owing to the political will of both the countries which ensured that the India-US ties remain on a growth track and become more profound year on year.

 

The US-India Roadmap for Defence Industry Cooperation

• A fortnight ahead of Indian PM’s visit to Washington, Defence Minister of India and US Secretary of Defence met in New Delhi to firm up an ambitious roadmap for defence cooperation on an unprecedented scale.
• There could be an agreement for licenced-production of the General Electric F414 turbofan aero engine in India.
• This would be a welcome development for our aerospace industry as well as the military, since the uncertain availability of an aero-engine has been a big difficulty for India’s indigenous fighter projects.

 

What should be India’s Focus during Negotiation with the US?

• The decision-makers and negotiators must take a long-term view bearing two issues in mind.
• First, no country or company gives precious technology easily and therefore we must be prepared to pay a significant price; financial and/or political.
• Second, the negotiation should include minutest details because it is easy for foreign companies to term “licenced-production” as ToT.

 

Conclusion

• India needs a long-term view and clarity on ToT (Transfer of Technology)and must ensure that its technical personnel acquire advanced expertise in all disciplines, related to diverse fields so that they become future designers and creators — not mere assemblers of old and rusty kits.

 

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Source: The Indian Express