The Indian government is procuring more defence materials from local firms, and the construction of IAC-1 is a big milestone.
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Defence expenditure - Local sourcing and Indigenous aircraft-carrier
- The story: Government informed that India spent Rs 2.02 lakh crore in the past three financial years, on procurement of defence equipment from domestic firms. This was part of a larger policy initiative to boost indigenous defence manufacturing.
- Details: The amount spent on the procurement between 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 included expenditure incurred under both capital and revenue heads.
- An amount of Rs 50,500 crore was spent in procuring defence equipment from domestic sources out of a total expenditure of Rs 93,474 crore in 2018-2019.
- The expenditure incurred on sourcing equipment from domestic firms went up to Rs 63,722 crore in 2019-2020 out of total expenses of Rs 1,08,340 crore, while the amount in 2020-2021 was Rs 88,632 crore.
- The total expenditure on procurement under both capital and revenue heads in 2020-2021 was Rs 1,39,341 crore, according to Bhatt.
- The combined total spent on sourcing the items from domestic firms in the three years comes to Rs 2,02,854 crore.
- The percentage of expenditure incurred on sourcing defence equipment from domestic sources out of the total allocation in 2018-2019 was 54 percent, while it went upto 58.8 percent in 2019-2020 and 63.3 percent in 2020-2021.
- Swadeshi: The measures taken by the government for indigenisation are likely to result in import substitution. The govt. also informed that details provided on expenditure by the three services were based on data received from the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA).
- Reforms in defence: Since 2018, the government has unveiled a series of reform measures and initiatives to make India a hub of defence manufacturing. In August 2020, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced that India will stop the import of 101 weapons and military platforms like transport aircraft, light combat helicopters, conventional submarines, cruise missiles and sonar systems by 2024.
- A second negative list, putting import restrictions on 108 military weapons and systems such as next-generation corvettes, airborne early warning systems, tank engines and radars, was issued in 2021.
- In May 2020, the government announced increasing the FDI limit from 49 percent to 74 percent under the automatic route in the defence sector. The government has been focusing on reducing dependence on imported military platforms and has decided to support domestic defence manufacturing.
- The Defence Ministry has set a goal of a turnover of USD 25 billion (Rs 1.75 lakh crore) in defence manufacturing by 2025 that included an export target of USD 5 billion (Rs 35,000 crore) worth of military hardware.
- Swadeshi aircraft-carrier begins trials: India’s maiden indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-1), built by the public sector Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL), began its sea trials in August. The 40,000-tonne carrier, whose keel-laying was held in 2009, is slated to join the Navy as INS Vikrant late next year. Its induction will give a shot in the arm to the sea control capabilities of the Navy in the Indian Ocean Region. While the Indian Navy currently operates one aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, it wants to add a third one to its fleet in line with its perspective plan to simultaneously operate three carrier battle groups (CBG) so that two of them remain serviceable on either flank at any given time.
- The IAC-1, the biggest warship made indigenously, has an overall length of 263 m and a breadth of 63 m. It is capable of carrying 30 assorted aircraft including combat jets and helicopters. Propelled by four gas turbines, it can attain a top speed of 30 knots (about 55 kmph). The vessel will have a complement of 1,500 personnel.
- Like Vikramaditya, IAC-1 has a STOBAR (short take off but arrested recovery) system of aircraft launch and recovery on the flight deck.
- The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved the carrier construction project in 2002 and the contract for the first phase of construction was signed with the Cochin Shipyard in 2007. The carrier is armed with the Barak LR-SAM (long range surface-to-air missile) air defence and AK-630 close-in weapon system besides a slew of advanced sensors and an electronic warfare suite.
- While the design was with help from the Italian firm Fincantieri, the Russians collaborated in designing and developing the aviation complex. The project gave a boost to indigenisation right from the beginning, with a special grade steel for the construction of its hull developed within India.
- Summary: The IAC-1 construction catapulted India into an elite league of countries capable of building complex aircraft carriers. Coupled with multiple other swadeshi measures, this decade should see India spending much less on defence imports overall.
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