Double whammy: Outdated weapons & faulty ammo : The Tribune India

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Double whammy: Outdated weapons & faulty ammo

IT is often debated whether it is the man behind the gun who is more important or the weapon. Such debates relate to an era when weapons, by and large, were not undergoing any substantial improvement or change.

Double whammy: Outdated weapons & faulty ammo

UPGRADE NEEDED: Nearly 70 per cent of the Army’s weapons are dated.



Lt-Gen Harwant Singh (Retd)
Former deputy chief of Army staff

IT is often debated whether it is the man behind the gun who is more important or the weapon. Such debates relate to an era when weapons, by and large, were not undergoing any substantial improvement or change. At present, there is a revolution in the development of weapons and weapon systems. Artificial intelligence, automation, robotics, fire-and-forget systems, drones with weapon delivery system, laser guns and a host of other changes are taking place at breathtaking pace. Cyber warfare, surveillance from space and weapon delivery from there are the other areas where developments are gaining ground. Yet, the man who is to operate these weapon systems and others who are to maintain these need to undergo a substantial change in knowledge, operating proficiency and maintenance skills. All this will have to be over and above the soldierly qualities and attributes of the man behind these weapons systems. 

In the case of the weapons of the Indian army, nearly 70 per cent are dated, but there is little effort in way of knowledge and skill development of manpower so as to quickly absorb and master new weapons and systems that would get inducted into the military, hopefully sooner than later. In the case of the Indian military, it is a double whammy: on the one part, it is outdated weapons and weapon systems and on the other, is the faulty ammunition being provided by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) for these weapons. Cases of serious accidents involving battle tanks, artillery, air defence guns and small arms etc have been on the rise due to "poor quality" of ammunition being supplied for these weapons by the Defence Ministry-run OFB. Earlier, ammunition produced by ordnance factories for the 5.56-mm INSAS rifle was persistently faulty which resulted in many accidents and damage to small arms. Eventually, this weapon is being discarded and the military is seeking import of new small arms.  

There are 41 ordnance factories under the OFB, which in turn forms a part of the Ministry of Defence. To keep a check on the quality of items produced by these factories, there is Director-General Quality Assurance (DGQA) which is also a part of the Ministry of Defence. Self-certification by private companies on the quality of their product is an assurance as to their quality and pins the company concerned to its 'self-certification.' In case of any shortfall in quality, the company could be penalised or even blacklisted. 

However, there is no such possibility in the case of poor products provided by the ordnance factories and their certification by the DGQA binds no one. For the military, it is a case of, "take it and simply lump it." As when a military officer told a joint secretary in the MoD (Defence Production) that the military will not accept poor quality products from the OFB, he was told, 'military's father will have to accept it.' 

The other special feature of the OFB is that since it enjoys complete monopoly, it, on its own, lays down the price of  each item, with no system to determine correct valuation of the product. To add cream to this cake, the MoD adds another five to seven per cent to the price spelled by the OFB, as a goodwill gesture. 

Over and above this, ordnance factories are located far away from locations where the product is required. Thus, to start with, raw material has to be transported to these far-off locations and then products moved to other distant locations. All this adds up to the overall cost of the product due to transportation charges over these very long distances. Ammunition for tanks is manufactured at a factory on the East Coast of India (Bolangir), then moved thousands of miles to the other end of the country (J&K, Punjab, Rajasthan). All this adds to the overall cost. Similarly, tanks are manufactured in Chennai and delivered thousands of miles away and once again moved all the way back to Chennai for their overhaul. What a colossal waste of money. But then how does it matter, it goes out of defence budget!

Ammunition has to be kept stored for long periods, especially general staff reserves and first line reserves, in various depots. It is only some special type of ammunition (missiles etc) which requires specialised storage facilities. The rest of the ammunition requires ordinary storage facilities and has a long shelf life. Sometimes, an odd lot is declared unfit for use consequent to some accidents from its use and is segregated. Such ammunition, if used, can damage weapons and result in accidents. So, instructions to that end are issued which, at times, due to some negligence at the unit level get overlooked. Once our Quarter Master, through some error, issued such ammunition and that resulted in major damage to 10 co-axial machineguns of Churchill tank and there was no replacement available for these Second World War vintage machineguns.  

Given the present organisational set-up of the OFB, there is little scope to improve the quality of products produced by ordnance factories, nor can these be correctly priced due to their complete monopoly. It is time to close down most of the ordnance factories and auction these and thereafter pass on the demand for these stores to the private sector and obtain the same on competitive rates. Such a step will not only improve the quality of products but also impart the necessary boost to our Make-in-India drive. It will also result in substantial savings of funds and these can then be usefully deployed to meet some other essential requirements.

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