New Delhi: Over the last few years, there has been an institutional pivot towards prioritising indigenous military manufacturing and procurement in India. Two large-scale commissions in 2022 of the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, and the first indigenous attack helicopter, LCH Prachand, have epitomised this philosophical change.
In April this year, the Army announced that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and private firm Larsen and Toubro (L&T) would manufacture the prototype for another indigenous system— the Zorawar light tank.
However, an analysis by ThePrint has highlighted that these indigenous weapons systems do include imported components that are integrated and are not exclusively made in India — a logical and valid reality. Even major defence producers such as the United States and France import weapons systems.
This points to a larger question — how indigenous is ‘indigenous’ in India’s defence production?
“While the government has done well to promote domestic military manufacturing, there is also an acknowledgement within the establishment that everything cannot be manufactured domestically. There will have to be some imports,” Anit Mukherjee, associate professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore, told ThePrint.
“As a result, even if you see the positive military indigenisation lists issued by the government, they make provisions for certain imports. At times, the economies of scale do not allow domestic manufacturing of weapons systems; in these times, you have to import,” Mukherjee added.
Alluding to the above sentiment, a Delhi-based defence analyst said, “It’s rather hard to develop an advanced weapons system with only technology and components from one country. Imports of the best technologies help make the system more efficient.”
“In a globalised economy with deep supply-chain linkages, some components will invariably be imported. This can be either due to better efficiency in procuring it from abroad or unavailability in the manufacturing country,” the analyst, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint.
Zorawar Light Tank Project
In August last year, given the precarious situation with China in eastern Ladakh, the Indian Army launched Project Zorawar to develop an indigenous light tank that could be used for quick deployment and fast movement in high altitudes, including Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.
Consequently, India’s DRDO and private firm L&T joined hands to develop the tank under the Zorawar project. Then, in April 2023, DRDO and L&T were given the order to manufacture a prototype of the tank for the Army.
“The project for the Indian Light Tank will provide a unique opportunity to the indigenous defence industry to come together and realise a truly ‘designed and developed in India’ initiative,” said a brief from the Army’s integrated headquarters.
Though widely described as “indigenous,” the Zorawar tank will be powered by an engine developed by a German manufacturer, MTU Aero Engines, which is a subsidiary of defence conglomerate Rolls-Royce. Further, mounted on its hull will be a 105-mm gun turret made by John Cockerill, a Belgian engineering company.
Essentially, two central fulcrums of the Zorawar — the engine that will make the tank manoeuvre through mountainous terrain, and its gun — will both be imported.
Despite these direct inclusions from abroad, the tank will be called “indigenous”.
Labelling something indigenous or not is largely a political decision. There is no empirically correct answer to what is indigenisation, Walter Ladwig, a military scholar and lecturer at King’s College London, told ThePrint.
“The percentage threshold you apply, whether you measure ‘indigenous’ in terms of the number of components, their financial value, or some other metric, determines the classification. These are all choices made by the analyst who wants to argue for one status or the other,” he explained.
Beyond the labelling of a weapons system as “indigenous,” the economics is central to its manufacturing. Mukherjee explained this in the context of the indigenous manufacturing of the Zorawar.
“With the Zorawar, the economies of scale will only be efficient if the government orders sufficient numbers to offset the costs of setting up the factory line and production in India. Otherwise, the finances will not allow manufacturing the tank from scratch in India,” he said.
Further, it is not only about domestic manufacturing but also exports. Defence companies that export are successful. That should be the idea with the Zorawar as well, though only from an economic lens. The strategic aspect may prevent this, Mukherjee explained.
However, the Zorawar’s adoption of foreign technology for critical components isn’t necessarily a new concept in India’s defence manufacturing.
Status of INS Vikrant, LCH, & ALH
Aircraft, helicopters and aircraft carriers produced in India have all integrated foreign technology.
The engine of the country’s first indigenously built light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas is made by American conglomerate General Electrics (GE). The fighter, which took around three decades to be commissioned, relies on a foreign engine.
Two significant indigenous military developments from 2022 further symbolise this import dependence.
In September last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned India’s first domestically built aircraft carrier — INS Vikrant.
Vikrant was built with 76 per cent indigenous components. While significant, this implied that 24 per cent would still be imported. According to reports, this 24 per cent included imports for the aircraft carrier’s critical Aviation Facility Complex — the area responsible for maintaining and operating the fighters of the battleship.
The imports for the aviation complex, reports explained, included arrestor gears, short-take-off but arrested recovery (STOBAR) systems for the launch and recovery of fighters, and related aircraft handling equipment from Russia. Further, the ship’s two aircraft lifts were also imported from the United Kingdom, along with the hangar doors being brought from Sweden.
Later in September 2022, the first indigenous Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), Prachand, was commissioned into the Air Force. Its indigenous content is estimated to go up from 45 per cent to 55 per cent in time. However, the chopper’s attack component, its air-to-air missiles, will be Mistral 2 Launchers manufactured by European missile maker MBDA.
Even the indigenously manufactured Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), Dhruv, has significant import dependencies, though it is deemed to have 55 per cent domestically made content.
As Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd) wrote in the Indian Defence Review journal early this year, “Some essential systems (of the ALH) are still imported from the UK, Israel, and France.”
“Its aluminium alloys, composite materials, avionics and weapons are also imported. The aero-engine, which accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the aircraft cost, is still Turbomeca-led and is import-dependent,” Chopra added.
While the INS Vikrant, LCH, and ALH reflect India’s growing indigenous military production capacity — and they all include or will include more than 50 per cent domestically manufactured military content — the data reflects that a significant volume of imported components was integrated into the final systems.
India, however, is not the only country to be dependent on imports for its weapons systems. Major defence-producing nations such the US and France, with large military-industrial complexes, depend on foreign supplies.
According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) between 2018 and 2022, the US imported 365 engines, 271 missiles, and 50 naval weapons. France, in the same period, imported 367 aircraft, 108 engines, and 14 missiles.
Explaining this reality, Lieutenant General Satish Dua (retd), former chief of the integrated defence staff, told ThePrint, “In a globalised world, no military can be 100 per cent self-sufficient”.
“However, India should be predominantly indigenous and have a robust military-industrial base,” he asserted.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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