Taking stock of the defence sector

India remains the largest importer of defence hardware in the world. 

Issues:

• Most submarines currently operated by the Indian Navy are past their operational life, while the Indian Air Force is still saddled with MiG-21 aircraft of 1970s vintage. 
• Defence modernisation remains stuck in procedural and bureaucratic delays. Direct purchase of 36 Rafale jets from France. Time and cost overruns are typical of our procurement process.

Way to go:

• Opening up the defence sector to private players. 
• Creating a single window for defence licensing and FDI approvals for ensuring ease of business.  For example, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) and the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) (Deptt. of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance), which are currently under different departments/ministries, ought to be brought under one umbrella. 
• Accord infrastructure industry status to the defence sector, thereby paving the way for easier credit. 
• Cyber threat in the form of snooping virus present in imported defense systems exists. Indigenous software should be used.
• India should talk transfer of technology. India must insist on co-development and co-production of defence systems that it plans to buy from the U.S. The way we should go with the Americans has to be on the lines of the co-development and co-production of the state-of-the-art Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) with the Russians. India's decision to buy Apache helicopters without Transfer of Technology for local manufacture is unwise.
• Naresh Chandra Committee recommendations on Army reforms: Exploiting technology for intelligence gathering, setting up a NATGRID & NCTC , appointing a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). Reduce the communication gap between political leadership and armed forces community.