Somebody has
filed a petition in a court in Mumbai asking the government the reason for
making our pilots fly old and obsolete flying machines. Wing Commander
Abhinandan was flying such a machine and was chasing a much modern aircraft in
a dogfight high over the POK when he came under ground fire and was hit. He had
to eject himself but, unfortunately for him, his parachute came down in enemy
territory. He was lucky that he was not lynched like his Pakistani counterpart
who, it seems, was so badly roughed up by the local people that he reportedly succumbed
to the injuries he suffered, unfortunately for him, on the ground in his own
country.
The petition in
the court is apparently born out of frustration among the general public about
government’s inability to provide a sense of security to the people. Defense
procurement have always been controversial, steeped in corruption by the
politicians and connected officials and sundry others, including middlemen.
Political machinations also keep the governments busy in finding the truth to
give convincing reply to those who oppose such deals. Procurement of fighter
aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been a victim of political acrimony
so much so that the situation regarding need for new fighter aircraft has been
desperate for quite some years.
In the
circumstances, the IAF has to use the vintage aircraft from its stable in times
of need. Mig 21 is one such aircraft which Wing Commander Abhinandan was flying
before he was brought down to earth. These aircraft are considered as second
generation aircraft that appeared on the scene in 1950s and are being pitted
against fourth generation fighters like F-16 that Pakistan operates. These
aircraft are therefore generally referred to as “flying coffins” as they would
seem to have no chance against a more sophisticated current generation
aircraft. So far 177 pilots have been lost flying these obsolete aircraft. It
is because of this reason that Wing Commander Abhinandan has created history by
downing a F-16, the first ever F-16 that was downed by an aircraft as puny as Mig-21(Bison).
Prime Minister
Modi has recently asserted that with Rafale the results of the air attack on
the Jaish e Mohammed jihadi training facility would have been different.
Perhaps, it would have been so. Rafale is the most modern aircraft and India
has been trying to acquire 126 of them for quite some time. It is a long story.
Perhaps no case of procurement of defense equipment has taken so much time as
this one. The proposal was mooted more than 20 years ago during the time when Late
Atal Behari Vajpayee was the prime minister. Then came UPA I when nothing much
happened except some negotiations.
UPA I
short-listed various bidders and only in 2012 during the reign of UPA II Rafale
was declared as the L 1 bidder. That is when the government got a stroke "policy paralysis". The negotiations were stalled on technology
transfer for manufacture of 108 aircraft at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). The Rafale manufacturer Dassault,
however, was not prepared to offer quality assurance in respect of those that
were to be manufactured by HAL. Besides, HAL estimated it would require 3
crore man hours to manufacture the planes which Dassault said was three times
more than its own estimate of man power requirements. This also, they said,
would inflate the price of each plane. HAL was probably not wrong in estimating
the huge requirement of man hours as it kept in view the Indian public sector
work norms and work ethics.
The contention of the Congress president that
the prime minister had taken away Rs. 30000 crore from HAL and put the amount
in the pocket of Anil Ambani is, therefore, patently false. It is also false on
another count: Dassult’s off-set partners are 70 in number including Anil
Ambani and hence he will not be the only recipient of the goodies if and when
they come. Giving away by Modi of Rs. 30000 crore to Anil Ambani is another
fable woven by the Congress president.
There is no
denying the fact that defense procurement have always been controversial and a
lot of people make mindboggling sums. It is never easy for the government to
navigate through the maze of accusations and counter accusations and in the
process it spends enormous sums to investigate the complaints through its
investigating agencies like Central Bureau of Investigations and the Enforcement
Directorate. The delays that take place frustrate the investigations and retard the country’s preparedness to meet
external threats. The delays also are reasons for hike in total financial
commitment of the government for the acquisitions. But then that is the
democratic process and there are no two ways about it.
Thankfully, the
prime minister has felt that the things would have been different had the
country had the Rafale aircraft with it. Hopefully, politicians across the
board would realize the damage that their political posturing cause to the
country – and its the common people who have to work with the outdated and
obsolete equipment including such vital things as howitzers, flying machines
and various kinds of warships.
While one can only wish good luck to the party
that has gone to the courts, it is felt that nothing much can be achieved
except some platitudinous advice to the government and politicians. Courts
cannot expedite the process of procurement of defense equipment unless the
political class changes its mindset and the Opposition, instead of throwing
spanners in the works, cooperates with the government to acquire new defense
equipment without any let or hindrance.
What the system
needs is honesty right across the spectrum of governance. But, that is,
perhaps, impossible as in today’s world honesty among the politicians is a rare
commodity
*Photo of Mig 21 is from internet
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