Defence acquisition is no supermarket purchase, say former Secretaries
Dr Vijayalakshmy K Gupta
Defence procurement is a complex process involving multiple agencies, multiple requirements and elaborate procedures. This process often consumes a significant amount of time and leads to cumulative capability deficiencies and cost escalation. In addition, acquisitions are prioritised on the basis of operational requirements and budgetary constraints. Several examples could be cited to illustrate this situation, including India’s prestigious Light Combat Aircraft project Tejas, indigenous aircraft carrier, IAF fighter replacement, among many others. SAILORS & WARRIORS spoke to three distinguished and highly accomplished personalities who earlier occupied the crucial post of Secretary, Defence Finance, to seek their views on this matter of prime national importance. Dr Vijayalakshmy Gupta (VKG), Ms Shobhana Joshi (SJ) and and Ms Gargi Kaul (GK) explain the scenario and offer their perspectives on the procurement process. 32 sailors & warriors
Shobhana Joshi
India’s defence procurement is often in the news for the wrong reasons, mainly related to the long delays involved in the process. Moreover, delay in procurement from foreign manufacturers leads to cost escalation. As a person having a deep knowledge as well as experience on the matter, could you explain why procurement is such a time-consuming affair? VKG The first issue which needs to be understood is that defence acquisition is distinct from buying off-theshelf products from the market. As it concerns national security, the end use is an important aspect. It is imperative to check how various parameters stack up against the known adversaries and meet the tactical requirements. So, these factors definitely add to the timeline. SJ Another important aspect is that defence acquisition actually promotes modernisation and therefore highend and futuristic technology is an important component. Many vendors are known to overstate their capabilities and therefore the technology offered has to be assessed and consequently the
Gargi Kaul technical evaluation and trials tend to take a long time. GK An important point to note is that development of weapons and systems under ‘Make’ category will in anyway have a long gestation period because any new technology development has a certain time cycle and the platform has to be proven through robust trial and testing. Incidentally, even in developed countries development and productionizing of new systems is a long-drawn process. What are your suggestions to speed up the procurement process? VKG The introduction of different categories in Defence Procurement Procedure was done precisely for the purpose of allowing the Services a faster route to procure what was needed in a faster timeframe through ‘Buy’ and ‘Buy and Make’ route. Unfortunately, over time, this distinction got blurred and more categories added but that has not helped in speeding up the process. SJ In a bid to leverage high-value
