DHRUV Helicopter is one among the many successful indigenous defence products made in India
by Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
Recently there has been flurry of Navy related activities. First there was Naval Commanders Conference. This was followed by Indian Ocean, 10 littoral countries Conference in Goa. Then the New defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman's interactions with Navy. One thing which came out loud and clear from all these activities is the new naval resolve to have Mission Based Deployment of Navy. Naval Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba has been categorical on this issue .This is a real good concept of deployment which will ensure Indian dominance of seas of its strategic interest as also Indian presence far and wide . However the big question is do we have this capability? And do the civilian Babus straddling MOD have sense enough to release necessary funds to Navy to achieve this aim?Today starting from Horn of Africa to Persian Gulf to Bay of Bengal to South China Sea and to east China sea, you will find Indian Men of War present .include in this 7500 km Indian coast line and this becomes a very vast area for Indian Navy & Coast Guard to patrol and Guard .Mission based deployment means we will have to keep under surveillance all routes of ingress and Exit of Indian ocean under surveillance at all times.
This means that we will have to station group of battle ships of different kinds located at selected places may be round the year. Needless to say these Mission oriented deployments can only be sustained if we have proper logistics, supply ships and Tankers available with us. Each of these mission oriented deployment will need air cover, submarines, multi task helicopters on board frigates & destroyers and mine sweepers.
Today we have 135 Ship Navy which is too less for the job at hand. What we need is minimum 200-250 ships Navy. Our submarine arm with just 13 rickety obsolete submarines is in bad shape. We must enhance this strength to may be 34 submarines including at least 10 nuclear powered submarines. Our Multi task helicopters are very old and in short supply .Mine sweeper ships are again almost missing .It is time our Netas and Babus realise that India needs a strong Navy to ensure and safe guard our national and strategic interests . We must understand that both Army and Air Force are land based, facing direct Nuclear threat .however same is not true for the Navy which is sea borne. Imagine Indian Nuclear Powered submarines of Arihant Class, armed with nuclear capable ballistic missiles, cruising deep underwater ready to fire Nuclear War heads at our enemies at a moment’s notice? It must be understood that it is next to impossible to detect a nuclear powered submarine submerged in deep waters or cruising ahead. Today best way to ensure that a nuclear capable country does not resort to nuclear warfare is to have own counter nuclear capability which is submarine based. A nuclear powered submarine cruising deep under water is almost undetectable .Besides it can sustain itself for months underwater.
In sum total now India must increase its naval budget from 15% of Defence Budget of now to much more. For this mission based deployment concept, we must enhance naval front line ship numbers, submarines, helicopters and logistic ships .For all this Navy needs money and quick decision making at all levels. It also must be realised that unlike other arms, to build up Navy it takes long time. The present method of functioning of Babus in MOD following Sab Chalta Hai concept will not do.
Can you believe it that now we already have two brand new Scorpene submarines in our Kitty but that Antony, the Cong Def Minister till 2014, has black listed Italian Giant Finmeccanica for corruption charges on Augusta Westland Helicopter Scam as a result these Scorpenes submarines have no torpedoes , the main submarine weapon, because this same Italian firm now black listed, was contracted to supply Torpedoes for Scorpene .Despite the fact that India is the biggest buyer of weapons from abroad Mr Antony had been black listing various world weapon making giants left right and centre. In his seven years of stay as Defence minster why did he not take any action against all those who were involved in bribe taking? We must take steps to overcome these problems on fast track .Our def budget which is just 1.5 % of our GDP is too less. We need minimum of 3% of GDP to deal with combined threat of China & Pakistan. China and Pakistan are spending on their defence budget more than 10% of their GDP.
Brig Arun Bajpai (Retd) is a distinguished Defence and Strategic Analyst. Views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDN. IDN does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same