What afflicts Indian defence? Our systems and processes

While Nirmala Sitharaman delivered her budget on 23 July and all eyes in India's financial capital were glued towards it, in another corner in the same city, a completely different picture was developing.

At Mumbai's Mazagon Dock, India's largest naval dockyard had a destroyer, INS Brahmaputra, keeled over to her side for the past two days with a junior sailor reported missing. While the hon'ble Finance Minister delivered an increased budget for the Indian Armed Forces, it also begged a question - will more money address a systemic malaise? If you've read commentary on the incident in the following days and weeks, you will realise that strangely enough, this isn't the first time it's happened to a) A navy vessel b) Of the same class of boats and c) At Mumbai port in the past decade or so. It's one of half a dozen such incidents, some of which resulted in total hull loss (hull loss = ship loss). And most often than not, when moored at Mumbai port for refits (when a ship is brought into port for extensive repair and enhancement work, often spanning months or in some cases, years).

Mind you, the Indian Navy is widely regarded as the 'more professional' force, with better control on systems and processes than the other two services. What happened that day was a fire in the midships that was doused using a lot of water, that wasn't quickly drained, as a result creating an imbalance (Centre of Gravity in ships is extremely important), leading to a keeling over. Two things to note here - a) Fire incidents during refits aren't uncommon. Welding in close confines with flammable material when a ship is cut open is an omnipresent hazard. b) Fire fighting probably wasn't professionally managed as is done on ships, more so when they are docked.

Such incidents don’t bode well for the Indian Navy, which has an even greater challenge to face. Its role in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is even more critical as it tries to fend off an ever-aggressive Chinese Navy, which is now the largest Navy in the world (if one considers all kinds of naval capital ships by number) and is increasingly making its presence felt in India's backyard. It also is a part of the QUAD, the four nation grouping of India, Australia, Japan and US that shares vital information and joint training to keep China under firm watch. Its fleet maybe the fifth largest in the world and harbours dreams of a 3 aircraft carrier force, over half a dozen nuclear submarines, 18 conventional submarines and dozens of destroyers, frigates and other ships over the next decade or so. Yet, its size by 2035 will grow from 125-130 ships today to 175 ships while China by then would have grown from approx 300 ships today to 475 ships. By then, not only by number, the total tonnage of Chinese warships too would have outclassed even the US Navy!

Given the terribly stretched resources and our outsized roles, strains will be put on our limited resources for time to come. Defence budgets are a reflection of the size of an economy, and while we are growing economically, we are still a third of the budget of China in terms of defence and a sixth or seventh in terms of GDP as on today. Conservative estimates put us at a $5 tn economy by 2030, and even then we will likely still be a fifth of China's GDP.

It therefore, becomes imperative that India is more efficient and effective in its resources and equipment. Its better planned to mitigate incidents and probably better trained to handle its equipment. What India really needs to lose is its jugaad attitude on defence. Top of the line equipment needs top of the line maintenance. Jugaad should be left only for wartime efforts when resources are stretched to the limit or scarce. Until recently, ship repair even at Mumbai's ports was deemed shoddy. It wasn't uncommon to patch large portions of the hull with M-seal or some such, just to get the ship back into the water. Ammunition for large guns manufactured by the Ordnance Factories were known to fail rather frequently, leading to gun failures as well.

It's not just about answering the problem by putting in more money, but a serious private-public partnership that could help the defence forces stay on top of their game. India may not have the largest Navy by 2035 or even 2050, but an effective one that can protect the sovereignty of its borders and its future aspirations is exactly what the doctor ordered!

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