Army to involve industry in its long-term plans

Design Bureau will be set up for project approval

The Army has prioritised the development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Photo shows the Navy's UAV, Heron, flying during its commissioning ceremony. — File photo

On the lines of the Navy’s design bureau which has been successful in indigenising warship design, the Army is attempting a major reworking of weapons design and procurement by incorporating academia and industry in its long-term perspective plans. This will be done under the soon to be set up Army Design Bureau (ADB) the formal approval for which is in the final stages.

“The idea is to bring together academic institutions and the industry to develop indigenous knowhow. Knowledge and ideas are with academia, while industry has the resources. The interactions are meant to identify a series of projects which can be taken under the ADB, a senior Army officer said.

In order to identify joint development projects in critical areas, Lt. Gen. Subrata Saha, Deputy Chief of Army-Planning & Systems is currently holding a series of interactions with the academic institutions and industry across the country and sharing the Army’s long-term requirements.

Some 4-5 teams have been set up which are working on few prototypes and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), Mumbai and Kharagpur are set to join the effort.

“We are willing to share our long-term perspective plans to the extent possible so various stakeholders are aware of our requirements and the Army is involved in the design and development from the preliminary stage,” the officer added.

Small arms, UAVs

Some of the priority areas the Army is looking at include small arms, smart munitions, communication and electronic warfare systems and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), both surveillance and combat.

The Army, which has been traditionally reluctant to engage with the industry, is now opening up with the government’s emphasis on ‘Make in India’.

While the idea is welcome, there is need for policy clarity on how these projects will work within the larger Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) which guides all defence procurements. In fact, DPP 2016 has created a new category, indigenous Design Development and Manufacturing, which will be the preferred procurement route for procurement.