India celebrated its 63rd Republic Day on January  showing off its latest weapons at a military parade in the capital, Delhi. According to the BBC, thousands of people turned up at Rajpath (King’s Avenue) to watch the parade amid tight security. More than 25,000 policemen and paramilitary forces guarded the streets of Delhi and snipers were deployed on high-rise buildings.

The president, Pratibha Patil and the Prime Minster Dr. Manmohan Singh attended the show with the chief guest, Thailand’s  Prime Minister Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra.  Security was tight across India and thousands of policemen have been deployed in major cities and towns.

Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand's Prime Minister (on left, in skirt) with Pratibha Patil, India's President (on right)

Today in California,  I am attending a celebration of Republic Day in San Francisco, hosted by Consul General Parthasarthi and his wife.

More photos from the parade in Delhi, hot off the press courtesy of India’s information bureau

ALH or Advanced Light Helicopters operated by India's Army

India's BSF or Border Security Force, shows off their motorbike skills

India's Defense R&D lab has designed and built this Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Rustom 1

India is now world’s largest arms importer, receiving 9 per cent of the volume of international arms transfers during 2006–11 according to The Stockholm International Peace Research Insititute (SIPRI). While 82 percent of these shipments came from Russia, and while Russia remains a major supplier for the future, American companies have won several multi-billion dollar contracts in recent years.

The four largest importers of weapons in 2006–10 are located in Asia: India (9 per cent of all imports), China (6 per cent), South Korea (6 per cent) and Pakistan (5 per cent). These states have imported, and will continue to take delivery of, a range of major conventional weapons, in particular combat aircraft and naval systems. SIPRI says that the United States  remains the world’s largest exporter of military equipment, accounting for 30 per cent of global arms exports in 2006–10.

India hiked its total defence budget by 11.6% for the year ending March 31, 2012 to $36 billion. The portion allocated to capital equipment is $15 billion; but the Finance Ministry has assured additonal funds if needed. The Indian Army has been granted $14 billion, Indian Navy $2.3 billion, Indian Air Force (IAF) $3.5 billion and Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) $1.3 billion. Out of the $15 billion capital outlay, the Army got $4.2 billion, Navy $1.3 billion, Naval Fleet $1.6 billion and Air Force $6.8 billion.

Takeaway: It is easy to understand why Washington wants American companies to get “their fare share” of India’s largesse. Commerce, State, Defense and the White House continue to pressure India in the direction of American products and services.

India’s defence ministry runs one of the largest research organizations with labs all over the country and its fair share of controversy in recent year. The Defence Research and Development Organization was given a new leader in September 2009. At the helm of DRDO’s affairs today is India’s leading missile scientist, Dr. V.K. Saraswat, who is also the scientific adviser to India’s defence minister. Here are excerpts from his interview last week with Aviation Week magazine.

Dr. VK Saraswat, Director DRDO

On new programs that are real:
“DRDO’s journey in the last two decades has been very bumpy. Though it delivered some very critical systems and missiles, it still didn’t win many hearts in the country…. We havet now started initiating programs that were in the maturity phase of [the] taking-off stage, including the Rustom UAV, long-range surface-to-air missiles, short-range surface-to-air missiles, medium-range surface-to-air missiles, Tejas Mk-II, Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft and Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle.”

On missile technology:
“India today has done exceedingly well as far as missiles are concerned, ever since we consolidated the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program in 1982. This has led to India having tactical missiles, semi-tactical missiles and strategic missiles. We have missiles for virtually every platform. But missing from the kitty is a subsonic missile. The focus of DRDO in the next five years will be to build a subsonic cruise missile for multi-platforms. The work has already begun. Now we are focussing on major building blocks for the missile, which means engines. You will see a couple of jet engines being designed for missiles. ”

On Collaborating with Foreign Entities:
“I am supportive of interenational collaborations. The idea is to accelerate our pace of development and avoid reinventing the wheel. oday, if anyone wants complete homegrown products in critical areas, it is because of the lack of [understanding] of the dynamics of the market and a lack of understanding of what is global competitiveness. We should opt for realizing a technology with minimum cost and maximum efficiency. Low volume and large infrastructure cost-related systems should be made indigenous only under these conditions: a) they are totally denied to you; b) they are strategic in nature; c) the country cannot afford not to have it.”

The 50 laboratories under the Ministry of Defence’s,  Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are being challenged to step up performance.  In order to check time and cost over runs, and improving general functioning of the DRDO, Defense Minister AK Antony informed Parliament that the government intends to implement

• Creation of a Defence Technology Commission

• Decentralization of DRDO Management and Financial Structure

• Revamping of DRDO Human Resource (HR) Structure

Antony reported that DRDO’s productionized work spans almost $25 billion the last five years and covers missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, radars, electronic warfare systems; sonars; torpedos; combat vehicles; bridging systems; combat aircraft; infrared seeker; sensors; NBC decontamination suites; parachutes; propellants and explosives; detonators; composite materials; fuel cells; paints; antennas; and communication system.

Antony confirmed that there are no current plans to establish any new labs under DRDO.

On his first day in India, President Obama announced two measures that will warm the hearts of many American defense companies if further steps follow.

• Speaking to business executives in a 20 minutes charm speech, he promised to loosen export controls on American goods destined for India.  Many of these export controls have prevented U.S.  corporations from offering platforms that incorporate the latest technology developed for the U.S. Department of Defense or other American organizations. India for its part has expressed reservations about buying yesterday’s American technology. Israel, Russia, France, UK, Sweden and Italy have consistently offered current products and services to help India’s security needs; as a result Israel and Russia both see India as their largest defense customer and the two countries alternate as India’s largest source of military products in recent years. The loosening of the American controls will put products from General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications, ITT, Raytheon and many others in the running. So far Boeing has had a lead over all other American suppliers of defense products.

• There is also news that India organizations such as the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (part of ISRO), the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and even Bharat Dynamics Ltd (The government owned defense company that makes missiles) are being removed from the US Department of Commerce’s “Entities List”.  DRDO labs removed from the entities list include India’s Armament Research and Development Establishment, Defense Research and Development Laboratory, Missile Research and Development Complex and the Solid State Physics Laboratory. For American companies, this list is a virtual embargo on shipping anything (without some very special permission, that is rarely if ever granted).  This is  good thing for all concerned.   DefenseWorld reports that DRDO is already hungering for possible lucrative offset contracts that may be offered to its labs by foreign suppliers who are required to spend 30% or more of large new orders on enhancing India’s defense capability.
• Note that organizations working on India’s “strategic” nuclear program, such as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre  (BARC)in Mumbai remain on this embargoed list. The India Expert does not expect BARC and other Department of Atomic Energy groups (IGCAR etc) to come off the entities list any time soon.  (Of course the nuclear utility, NPCIL, is not on the entities list).