DefExpo Special | Big Hype Over Small Gains

Gp Capt. A K Sachdev (Retd)

The Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, unveiled by the government in May 2020 against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, ostensibly related to a financial package designed to provide an economic stimulus to a stifled economy. It essentially repackaged the old Make in India wine (which had by then turned into vinegar) into a new, more alluring, relabelled bottle.

Just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had put his full weight behind Make in India, making it the theme for the 2015 Aero India Show and even inaugurating it (only one edition had been inaugurated by a PM before that), he personally announced Aatmanirbhar and made it the theme for the 2021 edition of the Aero India Show. Just before the show took off, Modi tweeted that “India offers unlimited potential in defence and aerospace. Aero India is a wonderful platform for collaborations in these areas. The government of India has brought futuristic reforms in these sectors, which will add impetus to our quest to become Aatmanirbhar.”

Transcending impressive heights of sloganeering, the term has become a mantra. It is defined as a sacred, awe-inspiring utterance believed to have religious, magical or spiritual powers but recited by many without understanding its real meaning. It is now rare when there is no newspaper report or some political speech or a byte on TV, intoning Aatmanirbhar in strident and thundering grandiloquence, almost as if the government was employing a Goebbelsian campaign to persuade the nation about its unadulterated success. The government is convinced that this is the case. Hence, it is necessary to look at Aatmanirbhar in the context of indigenisation in aerospace and defence, project a whiff of the successes and peel off the fabricated cosmetics over the failures.

BrahMos

Success Stories

It would be erroneous to say that there have been no indigenous manufacturing success stories. The Vikrant set sail last month and is a true triumph, albeit with only 76 per cent indigenous content, the remaining 24 per cent, including the all-important power plant, was imported. But even that success story was diluted somewhat in the absence of any indigenous fighter aircraft to embark on to it.

Of the three services, the navy has been the leading benefactor with several types of vessels, including nuclear submarines, being produced indigenously. The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) is yet to become a potent combat fighter and even when it does, it will have a General Electric engine. Indeed, so will the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) whenever it emerges as an operational fighter. Tata has a contract for producing C-295 transport aircraft indigenously and that is something to be proud of although the transfer of technology would be minimal.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has achieved spectacular successes while in the area of missiles, India is doing extremely well. Radars and sonars are also satisfying areas although the technology for an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) re