India's entire weapons acquisitions process is badly broken and beset with huge delays, says an internal defence ministry report
New Delhi, (Pakistan Point News - 27th Feb, 2018) India's entire weapons acquisitions process is badly broken and beset with huge delays, says an internal defence ministry report, pointing out that only 8-10% of 144 proposed deals in the last three financial years fructified within the stipulated time periods, Times of India reported. The scathing power-point presentation, prepared by junior defence minister Subhash Bhamre for Prime Minister Narendra Modi late last year, says the arms procurement process is dogged by "multiple and diffused structures with no single-point accountability", duplication of processes, avoidable redundant layers doing the same thing again and again, delayed execution, no real-time monitoring and no project-based approach, among other things, said sources.
"The presentation said there is a tendency to find faults rather than to facilitate the process," said a source. Consequently, the entire 'Make in India' policy in the defence production sector continues to languish due to procedural delays, without taking off in any concrete manner. From fighters, drones and helicopters to submarines, minesweepers and artillery howitzers, the armed forces continue to grapple with major operational gaps due to the convoluted procurement procedures and the lack of adequate modernisation budgets in the face of ballooning pay and pension bills. The lack of synergy among the Army, Navy, IAF and Coast Guard, who often pull in different directions, as well as the tendency of the different departments within the MoD to work in "independent silos" are the other factors that impede military modernisation, said the report.
